Reported Oil Reserves versus Technical Analysis
The pessimists use technical data, whereas the optimists use the political data. Jean H. Laherrere, renowned oil geologist, ASPO Conference, May 20 0320 Dr. Salameh tackles the thorny question of how accurate are Middle East reserve estimates. His conclusion that these may be overstated by up to 300 bn billion barrels, or roughly five North Seas, will certainly give pause for thought. If his assessments are right, the world faces very major challenges in developing and securing the oil supplies...
Osama bin Ladens Offensive Economics Not Religion
Therefore, I am telling you, and God is my witness, whether America escalates or de-escalates the conflict, we will reply to it in kind, God willing. God is my witness, the youth of Islam are preparing things that will fill your hearts with fear. They will target key sectors of your economy until you stop your injustice and aggression or until the more short-lived of us die. emphasis added Statement by Usama bin Laden, October 6, 200240 Bin Laden dwelled on al-Qaida's economic strategy against...
US Geostrategy and the Persian Gulf
I hereby find that the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt, US President 1933-1945, 19431 We could solve all our economic and political problems by taking over the Arab oil fields and bringing in Texans and Oklahomans to operate them. Former US Saudi Ambassador, Chris Akins, commenting on an article by Miles Ignotus pseudonym , Seizing Arab Oil, The process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long...
US Occupation of Iraq The Unraveling of Neoconservative Geostrategy
Sixty years of western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe, because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty. As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment, and violence, ready for export. President George W. Bush, November 6, 20 0330 Arabs want democracy. They hate their corrupt regimes more than they hate the United...
Straussian Governance Conspiracy Inside the Pentagon
One of the reasons I left was my sense that they were using the intelligence from the CIA and other agencies only when it fit their agenda. They didn't like the intelligence they were getting, and so they brought in people to write the stuff. They were so crazed and so far out and so difficult to reason with to the point of being bizarre. Dogmatic, as if they were on a mission from God. If it doesn't fit their theory, they don't want to accept it. Former CIA official interviewed by Seymour...
Third Stage of the American Century Petrodollar Warfare
This new emerging phase appears to be unfolding with a manifest difference from the two initial phases of the American Century 1945 to 1971, and 1971 to 1999.58 This new phase of unbridled unilateralism and hard power is an attempt to continue US domination in the aftermath of 9 11 and the Iraq War. American power from 1945 to 1999 can be described as predominately that of an accepted global hegemon, based on its vast economic and military capabilities. While a global hegemon dominates power in...
US Structural Imbalances Twin Deficits
The position of the dollar today is similar to that of sterling in the 1920s and 1930s, when sterling ceased to be the automatic global reserve currency and started to face competition from other currencies, notably the dollar. Paul Donovan, economist at the global investment bank UBS, 20 0380 The dollar has been the leading international currency for as long as most people can remember. But its dominant role can no longer be taken for granted. If America keeps on spending and borrowing at the...
Preserving Freedom at Home Protecting the Charters of Freedom
The Patriot Act makes it able for those of us in positions of responsibility to defend the liberty of the American people. President George W. Bush, quoted by the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation, May 200461 The objective of the Patriot Act is to make the population visible and the Justice Department invisible. The Act inverts the constitutional requirement that people's lives be private and the work of government officials be public it instead crafts a set of conditions that...
Buildup to Gulf War II Saddam Hussein and Weapons of Mass Destruction
The propaganda tactics for promoting war, as bluntly revealed by an unrepentant Hermann Goering, are just as effective today as they were during the 20th century. When the press becomes subservient to the desires of political leaders, even modern democracies, such as the US and UK, are not immune to the historical effectiveness of propaganda to bring a frightful population to the bidding of the leaders. Regarding Iraq, the effective use of propaganda techniques by the Bush administration was...
US Media Consolidation Threat to Our Republic
There's really five companies that control 90 percent of what we read, see and hear. It's not healthy. Ted Turner, vice chairman of AOL Time Warner and founder of CNN, April 24, 20031 If media moguls control media content and media distribution, then they have a lock on the extent and range of diverse views and information. That kind of grip on commercial and political power is potentially dangerous for any democracy. Chuck Lewis, executive director of the Centre for Public Integrity, March 20,...
Euro Challenges US Dollar Hegemony
The monetary integration of Europe could alter 'the political character of Europe in ways that could lead to confrontation with the United States' and could lead to a world that was 'very different and not necessarily a safer place.' Martin Feldstein, former head of the President's Council Before 1985 the United States had been a net creditor, gaining more from its foreign investments than it paid to them in interest on Treasury bonds or other US assets. However, since the end of the Cold War,...
Realistic Campaign against International Terrorism INTERPOL and the
Al-Qaida's numbers were grossly exaggerated by the Bush administration and US media. Hardcore al-Qaida members never numbered more than 200-300. Claims that there were 5,000-20,000 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan were nonsense. These wild exaggerations came from lumping Taliban tribal warriors with some 5,000 Islamic resistance fighters from Kashmir, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the Philippines and Chinese-ruled Eastern Turkistan, none of whom were part of al-Qaida. Eric Margolis, Anti-US militants...
March An Oil Currency War to Enforce Dollar Hegemony within OPEC
Oil is Allah's gift to the Arab People. There will be no democracy for the Arab People until the oil runs out. You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror. President George W. Bush, September 20 0286 In the real world . the one factor underpinning American prosperity is keeping the dollar the World Reserve Currency. This can only be done if the oil producing states keep oil priced in dollars, and all their currency reserves in dollar assets. If...
Campaign Finance Structure and Corporate Personhood Elements of ProtoFascism
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. George Washington, US President 1789-1797 I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance of the laws of our country. Thomas Jefferson, US President 1801-1809 Every special interest is entitled to justice full, fair and complete but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to a voice on the bench or to representation in any...
Leo Strauss Philosophical Father of the Neoconservatives
Because mankind is intrinsically wicked, he has to be governed Such governance can only be established, however, when men are united - and they can only be united against other people. Those who are fit to rule are those who realize there is no morality and that there is only one natural right the right of the superior to rule over the inferior The people are told what they need to know and no more. Leo Strauss, thoughts on government and the wise elites' need for secrecy, Natural Right and...
Recycling Petrodollars
In May 1973, with the dramatic fall of the dollar still vivid, a group of 84 of the world's top financial and political insiders met at Saltsjobaden, Sweden, the secluded island resort of the Swedish Wallenberg banking family. This gathering of the Bilderberg group heard an American participant, Walter Levy, outline a 'scenario' for an imminent 400 percent increase in OPEC petroleum revenues. The purpose of the secret Saltsjobaden meeting was not to prevent the expected oil price shock, but...
Project for a New American Century PNAC Neoconservative Policies
Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. There are three additional aspects to this objective First, the US must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect...
Saving the American Experiment
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,...
Eurasia versus the AngloAmerican Alliance
Oil and gas are not the ultimate aims of the US in Iraq . It's about control. If the US controls the sources of energy of its rivals Europe, Japan, China, and other nations aspiring to be more independent they win. Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, January 20 0291 The current clash of petrodollars versus petroeuros, which began in Iraq, is by no means over. Despite the initial US military victory in Iraq, the aftermath of the war has not effectively thwarted other oil producers from stating their...
US Dollar Fiat Currency or OilBacked Currency
What the powerful men grouped around the Bilderberg had evidently decided that May 1973 was to launch a colossal assault against industrial growth in the world, in order to tilt the balance of power back to the advantage of Anglo-American financial interests and the dollar. In order to do this, they determined to use their most prized weapon control of the world's oil flows. On September 24, 2000, Saddam Hussein emerged from a meeting of his government and proclaimed that Iraq would soon...
Operation Ajax to Operation Iraqi Freedom Years of History Lessons Not Heeded
In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's popular prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons. But the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs Neither Iran nor we can forget the past. It has scarred us both. But the question both...