David Brin wrote:
--- Doug Pensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Michael Moore, that dope, said this was a war for US
Oil companies. Easily tested. Do YOU see any Iraqi
oil flowing?
Yes that may have been the aim, and it was done
incompetently. Like so much else.
But always consider the possibility that what you see
was intended.
If so, the masters are not Texas olimen, who have
gained little (except Halliburton).
The winners are a certain ptrokingdom that has seen
its neighbor's oil production drop to zero.
And now we are targeting Iran. Who does THAT serve?
But renewables are an anathema to the Saudis more than anyone. Oil prices
will go nowhere but up as long as the demand remains high. Bush policy
seems to be to do just that - keep the demand high
Here are a few observations.
1. Iraq (with at least half the reserves of S.A. and possibly quite a bit
more) is in a state of turmoil so that its reserves remain largely
untapped. With S.A. and the other sultanates controlling much of the rest
of the world's oil supply they are able to manipulate prices.
2. The price of oil rises rapidly to the point where everyone is ready to
go out and buy a Prius and then it backs off just a bit. Probing the
market to see what it will bear?
3. Another oil rich country, Iraq, feels backed into a corner by U.S.
adventurism. In their own defense they feel they need to develop a
deterrent. The U.S. will never invade Iran, but their nuclear program
justifies (to some) bombing the crap out of their nuclear facilities and
oh maybe a pipeline or two. Guess who has even more control over the oil
supply?
The problem before Bush was that when the Saudis jacked the prices up, the
U.S. leadership took steps such as requiring higher mileage vehicles,
lowering the speed limit and, yes, the development of alternatives. Do
you see any of that after this latest wave of price increases?
Oh and one more thing. We've heard people rail against the idea that
conspiracies can exist (despite Watergate, Iran Contra, the assault on the
Clinton presidency and the California energy crisis), and to some degree
they are correct. There are too many people in this country with high
moral values to conduct any kind of conspiracy to manipulate the life
blood of our modern world.
But what if you based your conspiracy not in the U.S. but in some
despotic, tightly controlled place that was in the center of the largest
oilfields anyway? It becomes much more manageable, much more plausible.
Now, I'm not saying that I know with any certainty that that is what's
going on, but I'm damned suspicious and I think that rather than
pooh-poohing the idea it wouldn't hurt if a lot more of us got suspicious
and maybe looked into it.
--
Doug
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