Greed and oil in Middle East shouldn't surprise us

Ask yourself how much the current Middle East problem is related to a safe oil supply

The Straight Goods Cyber Forum
with Larry Solway

Commentary:

  I'm no expert on international oil policy, nor am I especially well versed in the Byzantine politics of Latin America. I do know for sure that business "realities" transcend human needs. I know that when the unemployment rate goes down it is not good for business because it stimulates inflation because with more people working they may be making more money. That's another issue.
  The most alarming truth about the failed coup in Venezuela is what it did to oil prices. The Globe and Mail Report on Business headline screamed: "Chavez return stirs oil supply fear". And if that doesn't make the oil baron's heart skip a beat, then ask yourself how much the current Middle East problem is related to a safe oil supply.
  We used to talk about "making the world safe for democracy". It was a rallying cry. Now the cry is "Make the world safe for trade and profit".
  The Globe story didn't tell us anything we didn't know already. The best kind of government for "stability" is a harsh dictatorship or a mockery of democracy run by a moneyed oligarchy.

As I read some of your comments in SG I realized with sadness that you have been duped

  Without trying to identify the fine hand of American diplomacy in the Venezuelan crisis, it is not hard to imagine the panic when this populist president decided to tread on a few toes by using the national petroleum system as a bargaining chip. Best thing to do, to guarantee an easy supply of crude for America, would be to install a government that understands the new realities of globalization and price "stability". To resurrect an old canard, how important was it to protect Anaconda Copper and Brass from the ravages of a Marxist Chilean President and to install a ruthless military assassin as President? Ho-hum.
  Realpolitic has morphed into "globalization". That catchall for corporate greed is the rubric under which diplomacy and international politics is conducted. But none of this should be new to anyone of us held captive by the relentless need for consumerism and the accompanying need for an avalanche of trade to feed the furnace. Not that I have anything against being a consumer. I enjoy "stuff". I like whatever luxury I can afford. Trade should make us beneficiaries. We have instead become victims.
  It should be no surprise to anyone that the Arab dictatorships control most of the world's oil supply. Where they don't control directly they use the coercive cartel OPEC. So is it any wonder that the Saudis and Saddam and the Ayatollahs can get away with their anti infidel rhetoric? Certainly not. In between us are the helpless: the Jews with their yearning for a country and Palestinians, nurturing their hope for "return" after the historically longest refugee status. No other refugee has been maintaining in that state in history, The Palestinians have been in their camps, now cities and towns, from as far back as 1948. Why are their children educated in hatred? Why have they been kept as pariahs in the Arab world? Why have there been no attempts to resettle them? Why did Jordan literally declare war on them? Why has Lebanon been inhospitable? Why were they the hired coolies of the rich oil elite in Kuwait? And why did their misery increase after they cheered for the Iraqi invasion of the country where they worked as servants and did all the heavy lifting for the Kuwaitis.

So it is still about oil, and the process breeds a bizarre Intifada - a stew of hatred going all the way back to The Crusades and continuing through the years of Western Imperialism

  The major thrust of Arab "diplomacy" has been against Israel. Why? Because the Jews, under constant siege since 1948, make ready targets. When bin Laden suddenly adopted the Palestinian cause he did it only because it made good political sense. His rantings have characteristically been against all infidels, especially those oil executives who inhabit their own enclaves in feudal Saudi Arabia.
  So it is still about oil, and the process breeds a bizarre Intifada - a stew of hatred going all the way back to The Crusades and continuing through the years of Western Imperialism.
  Remind yourself please that Iran once had the chance to be a real democracy. In the 1950s, when countries everywhere were throwing off the chains of colonialism, Iran, newly freed for its protectorate status, elected Mohammed Mossadegh President. He took dead aim at Anglo Iranian oil and promised nationalization. It took no more than a heartbeat for Big Oil, backed by the CIA, to depose Mossadegh and install the insidious tyrant Pahlevi as Shah. There was never a more malevolent dictator in the Middle East.
  Now this untenable state of affairs has become a public relations tool that is winning the hearts of people everywhere. As I read some of your comments in SG I realized with sadness that you have been duped. Maybe Bob Rae was right when he gave up his federal NDP membership. Maybe he'll return since Alexa went public with her disapproval of Svend Robinson.
  It's still all about Globalization and Oil. Don't be innocent dupes!

[ Front Page ]