Excellent Commentary All ................................................................... The bottom line about Iraq and Iran.....is that they have the oil supplies .....at the right production price.... The lifting costs of oil in Iraq runs in the 80cents to $3.80 range per barrel.... Had the US operation went smoothly in Iraq.....today oil would be a lot cheaper....and the OPEC crowd and other not so friendly states.....would have been put at bay..... The oil is still going to come out of Iraq.....It still has the cheapest relative lifting costs around....and once the smoke clears ....perhaps what was intended can take place..... What was intended was cheaper oil....and less control to the unfriendly states.... This can still happen.....If peace can prevail.... Does Russia want the US to have bigger control of oil and its price ? I think not.... Does Iran want the US to have bigger control of oil and its price ? I think not.... Does Saudi Arabia want the US to have bigger control of oil and its price ? I think not.... ............................................................................................ Will the US continue this mission ? Absolutely....this is what they are doing.... ................................................................................................ Iraq has never truly been about terrorists or democracy as a first premise.... Look, oil is a good reason for war if it is detrimental to the country involved..... ............................................................................... It is quite obvious that Iran does not want the US to have this type of control....and nor do the other countries..... Do you think that Chavez would lose his bargaining chip if the US could influence price ? Especially since his oil has expensive lifting costs ? ............................................................................. Look the owner of the 80 cents to $3 lifting cost oil wins the energy game......period.... Everything else has a higher price tag period.... ............................................................................ Unfortunately the price tag for Iraq Oil is a lot more expensive than was planned.... But now at this point.....one has to salvage the plan the best one can....or all could be a total loss as to the quest for cheaper oil..... .................................................................................... This is the story in a nutshell..........as far as what the Bush Mostly Cheney Oil Administration.... was/is thinking.... .......................................................................................... Obviously war was not the right approach.....Commerce, in a Chinese way, not war was/is the right approach..... And the cheap/but expensive Iraqi oil is still waiting to be harvested and used.....with lots of US military sleeping right beside it..... At least until after other options have been put into place.....
Ya think ? What a concept ... Americans actually using commerce and diplomacy rather then bullets. It only took what? ... 8 years of Bush to figure that one out. The first 4 years I chalked up to 911 shock but when you folks put him back in office for a 2nd term I bought gold and looked for every reason to short the US (mostly financial s). Sorry folks but you got what you deserved and your about to get worse. I say oil goes to $8 per gallon before we really see the damage that the Moron has done to your great country. The thing that bothers me the most is you friggin em peach the guy before him for getting a little piece of tail and you let Bush walk free after thousands have died so needlessly It's no wonder the rest of the world (Canada not included) hates the American bullshit machine so much. If I was looking at it from this perspective your "so called" democracy looks no better then a dictatorship run by a power hungry oil state madman.
Excellent Commentary ..................................................................................... Joab wrote.... The thing that bothers me the most is you friggin em peach the guy before him for getting a little piece of tail and you let Bush walk free after thousands have died so needlessly It's no wonder the rest of the world (Canada not included) hates the American bullshit machine so much. If I was looking at it from this perspective your "so called" democracy looks no better then a dictatorship run by a power hungry oil state madman. ............................................................................................... I could not agree more....except for I believe Cheney heavily drove the game....more so than Bush.... And is still doing so....Cheney wants to bomb Iran....and still just might do it.... .................................................................................. One telling item is that if the middle east has no interruption threat....oil would be a lot cheaper....Haliburton has moved to Dubai.... My bet is that Cheney will do everything possible to bomb Iran, and it will be because of someone else ....that he does not.... Notice the recent news by the way..... All Options Are On the Table..... Looks like McCain will be more trusted with the military reins....
I don't get this post. I read through all that and i have no idea what your trying to say because you list alot of statements with no explanation. How does lifting cost have anything to do with the price of oil? The price is set by buyers, the sellers have historically taken whatever price they can get.
Miles Moreland (emerging markets investor) of Blakeney Management: specialty, Africa and Middle East, quote from the book Hedgehogging. A few surprising comments about Iran. He is bullish on Iran. The only ME country that has western style elections. All citizens male and female have equal voting rights. It has an elected parliament. The population is young and dynamic and very interested in western culture. They clearly are chafing under the harsh dictums of the mullahs. There is a rudimentary stock exchange. Big country, aggressive people, evoving towards democratic capitalism. It is possible that a prosperous, progressive, democratic Shite bloc of 100 million people that includes Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan could become a counterbalance to the smaller Sunni gulf states. Imo. the pitter patter in the media is just politicians blowing smoke.
As I have said consistently over the years: Taking Iraq for oil makes practical geopolitical sense for the benefit of Western powers. Saddam was politically and economically isolated. Taking Iraq had zero risk of Russia or China or any formidable military power defending Saddam. And guess what? Iraq has the second or third largest oil reserves. China was getting thirsty. Put it all together. If Saddam still remained in power --sanction free-- he would work against the US in terms of energy policy for the benefit of other emerging powers like China. He would no longer need to answer to the American-led West as the prime energy consumer. No wonder the so-called more "opened minded" Western powers were eager to lift the sanctions against Saddam: they knew they would get better energy deals over the US, which traditionally had the best deals since WWII. Unlike the EU, the US maintained an environment where free markets had access to cheap energy for a long time. That's why even today --even when the dollar falls and even when the price of oil is priced in dollars, the rising price of oil is hurting the EU more than the US Here's the real story on oil: Countries and cultures sitting on large oil reserves and control them are challenging US resolve. We go into Iraq and take the prize, and then screw up, and then show signs of guilt, weakness, and failure. The Surge is the first sign of success and politicians still want us out. What kind of message does this send to the world? What kind of message does this send to our adversaries? Now don't you see why oil goes up?
Bush was not re-elected....Watch the movie "Recount". The Black Vote, plus the Jewish vote was basically ignored. The State of Florida (under Bush's brother) did everything it could to block the recount, even after the courts said it could go through.....And, low and behold, look at the dictatorship Bush set up. I am not American, but if this happens again I would not be surprised it there was outright rioting. Problem is, I heard that many people think Obama is a joke....well, I think McCain is a joke....100 years war?