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Guest Post: The U.S. Airstrikes In Northern Iraq Are All About Oil
Submitted by John B Judis via The New Republic,
This week, President Barack Obama announced that he was authorizing American airstrikes in Iraq. He described his intervention as a “humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain” and as an effort “to protect our American personnel.” One word that he didn’t mention is “oil,” but it lies near the center of American motives for intervention.
The United States is conducting airdrops to aid the Yazidis who have fled the advance of Islamic State militants, but it is conducting airstrikes around Erbil, which is to the east. There are American consular personnel in Erbil, but they could be evacuated if necessary. What Obama left unsaid was that Erbil, a city of 1.5 million, is the capital of the Kurdish regional government and the administrative center of its oil industry, which accounts for about a quarter of Iraq’s oil. The Kurds claim that if they were to become an independent state, they would have the ninth-largest oil reserves in the world. And oil wells are near Erbil.
If the Islamic State were to take over Erbil, they would endanger Iraq’s oil production and, by extension, global access to oil. Prices would surge at a time when Europe, which buys oil from Iraq, has still not escaped the global recession. Oil prices have already risen in response to the Islamic State’s threat to Erbil, and on Thursday, American oil companies Chevron and Exxon Mobile began evacuating their personnel from Kurdistan. But oil traders are predicting that American intervention could halt the rise. “In essence we find U.S. air strikes more bearish than bullish for oil as the act finally draws a line for IS and reinforces both the stability in south Iraq and in Kurdistan,” Oliver Jakob, a Swiss oil analyst, told Reuters.
In portraying American intervention in Iraq as a purely humanitarian effort, Obama is following the script he read from in Libya, when he justified American intervention as an effort to prevent a massacre in Benghazi. In a March 28, 2011 address to the nation, Obama painted the American intervention as a response to “brutal repression and a looming humanitarian crisis.” Oil was not mentioned, even though Libya was the world’s sixteenth-largest oil producer in 2009 and a major supplier to Europe. But oil was most likely involved, as became clear when, after preventing a massacre in Benghazi, the United States and its coalition partners stuck around to topple the regime of Muammar Qaddafi. If the Obama administration wanted to prevent the world’s peoples from brutal dictators and repressive regimes or from takeovers by terrorist groups, there are other countries besides Libya and Iraq where it could intervene. What distinguishes these two countries is that they are major oil producers.
The United States should worry about the global oil supply. It is important for global economic and political stability. And having a significant chunk of it fall into the hands of a group like the Islamic State should certainly be a concern. But if Obama is worried about the world’s oil supply, then he should say so forthrightly and not leave himself in a position where he will be unable to justify or explain further intervention after the airdrops to the Yazidis are completed. And the administration should also have a plan for making sure that in sending out the Air Force, it will actually end a dire threat to Iraq’s oil production and put Iraq back on its feet. In Libya, the U.S. and its partners succeeded in getting rid of Muammar Qaddafi, but not in resolving the country’s humanitarian crisis or in keeping its oil flowing. Oil production has plummeted as Libya has been plunged into anarchy after Qaddafi’s fall. The challenge in Erbil and Iraq is even more daunting.
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Thanks, John. Great reporting!
I think you should definitely take a look at this interview GW...
http://www.syrianews.cc/isis-the-bombshell-interview-to-impeach-obama/
My "guillotine list" got longer.
"No quarter for treason against the American people."l
What? You gonna let forty thousand people starve on a mountain top? The Iraqis were better off under Saddam. Bitchez.
Every US strike in Iraq is about oil
Universal law of war: "War is a racket." Smedley Butler
The "real" racket is that oil is the circulatory system for the military bankster industrial complex...espcially, when they hide zero-point energy technology used in the "real" brave new world of dark reality....
What you are not being told about the latest crisis in Iraqhttp://ian56.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-you-are-not-being-told-about.html
Obama says he is going to start (restart) airstrikes in Iraq and drop "humanitarian" aid because Iraq has become a "catastrophe".
In order to understand what is currently going on in Iraq we first have to understand some of the background, history and the more recent events over the last year or so.
It's getting pretty complicated - so please bear with me while I try and explain.
Prime Minister Maliki
Maliki has now fallen out of favor with Washington DC because he has got too close to Iran.
Obama and the State Department want him replaced with someone else (I don't know who yet).
Maliki signed a deal with Iran and Assad in July 2013 to build a gas pipeline from Iran's South Pars gas field (the largest in the world) to the coast of Syria, for onward export to Europe.
This was the real reason for the sudden escalation in the attempts by the US government to get overtly involved in the Syrian civil war, in late August and September 2013; and to start a massive bombing campaign in Syria.
The chemical weapons attack in Damascus in August 2013, that was immediately blamed on Assad, was actually a false flag attack by Islamic Extremist rebels on rebels in Damascus and was probably engineered and schemed via Turkey.
See 1, information on the Syrian civil war.
Maliki has recently become even more friendlier with Putin and Russia.
There were already some deals for Russia to start drilling for oil in Iraq, from a year or more ago.
In the last couple of months it has been announced that Russia has started producing oil in Iraq and that Russia and Iraq were looking to expand Russia's involvement in developing Iraq's oil assets. See 2.
Maliki became frustrated with the US's refusal to supply any of the previously agreed 36 F-16's (or to supply weapons in general), so he has obtained jets from Russia instead. See 2.
Iran also returned the ~80 Iraqi planes that were sent to Iran in 1991 during the first Gulf War to prevent the US destroying them. These will now be very old.
Maliki's Shia led government has always been favorable to Iran's Shia's.
Hence the calls from DC that Maliki must form a more "inclusive" government with Sunnis (this is just code to move away from Iran).
Maliki fired his Kurdish Foreign Minister in July - see 3.
The Kurds in Iraq
Obama has refused to arm the Kurds in their current fight against ISIS.
The Kurds have urgently requested resupplies of ammunition etc. which Obama has so far refused to do. It is not yet known whether Obama's "humanitarian" airdrops are cover to supply munitions and weapons to the Kurds or if the Kurds are still out of favor - see below.
The Kurds have recently fallen out of favor with both Washington DC and Maliki because they have recently started selling their own oil for their own revenue, bypassing any involvement of Maliki and Baghdad.
If the Kurds can sell their own oil without the involvement of Baghdad's Oil Ministry, they will have the necessary revenue to declare complete independence from Baghdad.
The Kurds are selling their oil in a joint operation with Erdogan and Turkey. Oil tankers are being loaded with Kurdish oil in Turkey and then sold on the open market.
There is an ongoing US court case concerning an attempted delivery of Kurdish oil to the US. See 3.
The Oil Tanker in question which has $100m worth of oil on board.
This is only one of 5 tankers that have been loaded with Kurdish oil in the Turkish port of Ceyhan since May. I do not know how the Kurdish oil is getting from the Kurdish oil fields in Iraq, to Ceyhan in Turkey.
The oil tankers have and are delivering oil to various locations around the world, see 4.
It is not yet known what impact, if any, the current fighting between ISIS and the Kurds is having on the Kurdish oil export business to Turkey.
Update 08/09
From February 2013
Iraq's Oil Rift (Between the Kurds and Baghdad) Deepens Over Exxon Move
Exxon Mobil to develop oil fields in Kurdish areas of Iraq
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/02/15/Iraqs-oil-rift-deepens-over-Exxon-move/UPI-72931360959907/
Erdogan and Turkey
Erdogan has now completely fallen out of favor with, and split from, Washington DC. See 5.
Erdogan started negotiations to buy a $3.4bn missile defense system from China in late 2013, thus snubbing DC.
It is known that Erdogan is very frustrated with DC's lack of action in overtly arming the Islamic Extremist "rebels" in Syria.
Erdogan also became frustrated that the False Flag chemical weapons attack in Damascus, in August 2013, did not result in the start of a massive US bombing campaign in Syria and the subsequent start of an all out American military campaign in Syria.See 1.
The planned massive bombing campaign using over 100 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles just in the initial strike(s) would have had little effect on Assad's military capabilities and would have undoubtedly failed to meet it's supposed objectives to alter the course of the Syrian war. The bombs were always to be merely a stepping stone for more direct American military action, up to and including a significant number of American boots on the ground.
Erdogan is working with the Iraqi Kurds to sell their oil independently of Baghdad.
Erdogan has recently issued strong condemnations of Israel's attack on Gaza.
(This despite reports that one of the Kurdish oil tanker deliveries was to Israel at a steep discount - before Israel's invasion of Gaza.)
ISIS
ISIS captured Fallujah in early January and have been getting stronger ever since, so it wasn't a surprise when ISIS also captured Mosul in June, although the Western media made it out to be something that came completely out of the blue.
ISIS captures Fallujah amid rise in violence in Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-qaeda-force-captures-fallujah-amid-rise-in-violence-in-iraq/2014/01/03/8abaeb2a-74aa-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html
ISIS captured around $1bn worth of American supplied equipment when the Iraqi army threw off their uniforms and ran on the approach of ISIS to Mosul.
ISIS were far fewer in numbers (5,000-10,000) and far less equipped than the Iraqi army around Mosul at the time. This is not the case now.
The captured equipment included a few tanks, 200 to 1,500 Humvees and armored cars, at least one military helicopter, some ManPad shoulder held anti aircraft missiles, 50 Howitzers, RPG's, plus a large quantity of ammunition and other military supplies.
It is unclear whether ISIS also accrued around $425m from banks in and around Mosul. There are now conflicting reports on this.
ISIS's weapon inventory grows
http://www.dailysabah.com/mideast/2014/07/03/isiss-weapon-inventory-grows
ISIS has become the dominant Islamic Extremist group in Northern Syria, forcing out and marginalizing Al-Nusra in a series of battles between the two Islamic groups.
It obtained significant quantities of American/Saudi Arabia/Turkey supplied weapons (either through capture or direct supply) in Syria, before turning it's attention to Iraq around the turn of the year.
The weapons captured in Syria, include tanks, armored cars and TOW wire guided American manufactured anti tank missiles.
ISIS has operated in Iraq, Syria and Turkey for several years, but has only been fighting in Syria until fairly recently.
ISIS has been funded by Saudi Arabia since at least 2007, with the full support of the CIA.
If the NSA is actually fighting terrorism why haven't they stopped Saudi Arabia, Qatar & Kuwait funding Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Nusra?
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2014/06/if-nsa-is-actually-fighting-terrorism.html
US aims in Iraq
The primary immediate aim of the US in Iraq is to remove Maliki from power.
He has become far too friendly with both Iran and Russia.
The "crisis" with ISIS in Iraq provides a mechanism with which to do this.
The overall aim of the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel is to destabilize the Middle East in order to promote arms spending, more war and for Saudi Arabia to obtain a high price for it's oil.
Destabilization of the Middle East and Middle East regimes, except for Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Gulf Oil States who are intimately allied with the US and Israel.
The facts about the oil price and oil politics that the US government, oil majors and major producers don't want you to see
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-facts-about-oil-price-and-oil.html
The activities of ISIS in Iraq promotes instability in the Middle East.
It is unclear, at least to me, what Obama intends to do about Turkey, Erdogan, the Kurds and Kurdish independent oil sales at this point in time. We await further developments.
The one thing that we can be sure of, is that Obama's decision to restart the bombing of Iraq has nothing whatsoever to do with any "humanitarian" concerns.
An additional complicating factor is that the Iraqi Kurds have had good relations for many years with Israel, particularly their current President - Masoud Barzani.
http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2014/06/28/exclusive-iraqs-barzani-family-is-with-israeli-mossad-chief/
For anybody with any doubts about the extent of the co-operation between Saudi Arabia and Israel see this:-
Saudis Bankrolling Israel's Mossad: More confirmation?
http://my.firedoglake.com/barrylando/2014/03/08/saudis-bankrolling-israels-mossad-more-confirmation/#
References
1. Information on the Syrian Civil War
Syria update - the Islamic Extremists are losing the war, so Saudi Arabia wants to supply heavy weapons
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2014/04/syria-update-islamic-extremists-are.html
2. Iraq, Russia & Iran - fighter jets and oil deals
The Russians are drilling for oil in Iraq
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-russians-are-drilling-for-oil-in.html
Russian jets to aid the fight against Sunni rebels in Iraq – PM Maliki
http://rt.com/news/168744-russia-jets-iraq-maliki/
Iraq Buys Used Russian Fighter Jets Amid U.S. Delivery Delay
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-26/iraq-buys-used-russian-fighter-jets-amid-u-s-delivery-delay.html
Iran transfers 88 Russian Sukhoi fighter planes to Iraq
http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iran-transfers-88-russian-sukhoi-fighter-planes-iraq/
These are more than 20 years old, but a much smaller number of serviceable planes will be able to be produced from cannibalizing the parts from less serviceable planes.
7 Iranian Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes have just deployed to Iraq
http://theaviationist.com/2014/07/01/iranian-su-25-iraq/
Petrodollar Under Threat As Russia And Iran Sign Historic 500,000 Barrel A Day Oil Deal
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-06/petrodollar-under-threat-russia-and-iran-sign-historic-500000-barrel-day-oil-deal
3. Rift With Kurds Widens as Iraqi Leader Replaces his Kurdish Foreign Minister
https://hydrablog.csusm.edu/2014/07/rift-with-kurds-widens-as-iraq-1.html
4. Kurdish oil being sold via Turkey
How the U.S. got mixed up in a fight over Kurdish oil — with a unified Iraq or a completely independent Kurdish State, at stake.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-the-us-got-mixed-up-in-a-fight-over-kurdish-oil--with-a-unified-iraq-at-stake/2014/08/04/4a00a6e2-1900-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html
5. Erdogan and Turkey
Turkey, Erdogan, False Flags, Corruption, The Turkish/Chinese arms deal and Fethullah Gulen
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2014/03/turkey-erdogan-turkishchinese-arms-deal.html
Turkish PM Erdogan says Israel 'surpasses Hitler in barbarism'
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/19/uk-israel-turkey-travel-idUKKBN0FO0XD20140719
All good links, you been doing your homework.
This whole drive to control the ME is about oil my friends, he will stop at nothing to prove his beliefs, that was proved years ago.
Iraq Was Only About Oil, Pipelines And Geopolitical Control
Ian56,
Welcome to Zero Hedge. Thanks for the post. I checked you website, too, outstanding!
Well done, my man, well done!
Majestic12,
2005 or 2007 CIA report, if I am not mistaken, calculated that the Pentagon:
Consumes more than a $1 trillion dollars annually. Consumes more oil than the nation of Swede, with 9 million people. And more electricity than Denmark , with 5 million people.
We ain’t seeing the worse, yet!
Ranked tenth largest User of oil in world.
no.
roll the guillotines.. the reason for which the wheel was invented...
What a read. Not sure how any of that turns out well.
The world is unravelling before our eyes... not sure how they are going to be able to put the genie back into the bottle now...
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, HD had a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men, could not put HD back together again.
I call bull shit!
It does not matter who controls the oil. Its going to get pumped out of the ground and sold to the highest bidder.
Right now, those who can't bid high enough for their oil must do without.
If the USA cannot bid high enough then it will have to do without.
If you include the cost of past wars and assign it to the cost of oil, then you would see that the USA bid too high for the oil.
++ on that Jal. Oil is fungible.
with schmegma?
"The United States should worry about the global oil supply. It is important for global economic and political stability. And having a significant chunk of it fall into the hands of a group like the Islamic State should certainly be a concern"
"fall into.. Islamic hands"
I love the subtle imperialism
As others have noted on the most recent coup article, The US has done more to fuck up the stability of Iraq than any other political, economic or military source in a long long time.
The real concern in DC was that ISIS might get its hands on all that oil revenue and then use that revenue for further conquests and perhaps weapons against Israel.
You are right that ISIS control is unlikely to affect supply, but it surely would upset the balance of power in that part of the ME and although it is not PC to mention it, the comfort of Israel is the paramount interest the U.S. protects in that region. And to protect Israel, oil revenue must flow to compliant and unthreatening hands. Oil supply is not the issue. The beneficiary of oil revenue is!
Well, fuck Israel.
I'm really shocked.
Recent history shows that U.S. military actions overseas have led to higher oil prices. Saddam Hussein has to go because he was undercutting OPEC's cartel benchmark crude oil price. The turmoil in Libya since the U.S. got involved in overthrowing Gaddafi has severely cut Libya's oil exports. The Assad family were monsters that the U.S. got along with until Syria became important as a crossing point of a new oil pipeline and as a domino in the plan to isolate the "Big One," Iran and its oil reserves. The CIA was recruiting Libyan mercenaries in Benghazi to fight in Syria when the mercs decided that back another player, which now turns out to be ISIS. The shadowy figure who is the figurehead leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, now seems to be created out of whole cloth. Whether he is actually a Mossad agent named Simon Elliot is unlikely. Still, remember Sidney Reilly, the British double agent in Russia after the Russian Revolution. The time of Netanyahu's attack on Gaza was convenient for ISIS, the Gaza bombardment a diversion timed just as ISIS was striking toward the Kurdish oilfields near Erbil. These incidents in taking over Middle East oil reserves have only one likely sponsor: the murderous criminals who hide behind the name "New World Order."
Now who the fuck downvotes a compliment?
I did.
I actually thought there was an implied sarc tag there. Ya know, like somthin' so sarc it didn't need the tag. That's why I thought it was mostly up-voted.
Thats my one lone red by the way George, I thought you should know, I don't know why in this era of deception but there it is.
Its not great reporting George. Its shilling/advice FOR Obama from the "NWO" if thats what you choose to call it, it was even highlighted:
"But if Obama is worried about the world’s oil supply, then he should say so forthrightly and not leave himself in a position where he will be unable to justify or explain >>>further intervention<<< after the airdrops to the Yazidis are completed. And the administration should also have a plan for making sure that in sending out the Air Force, it will actually end a dire threat to Iraq’s oil production and put Iraq back on its feet."
Iraq, George, is a figment of past world leaders imagination, nothing more.
Iraq, George, is a figment of past world leaders imagination, nothing more.
Actually, you are wrong! IRAQ is an old word for an old land, sure the recent boundaries have been drawn by colonial powers along with that zionist bitch, Gertrude Bell, but Iraq as a multi-race, mult-faith, multi-culture entity existed for many centuries.
Of course to you, Iraq is an "imaginiation", because your zionist tribe have had eyes on it to be part of GREATER Israel.
According to the founding father of Zionism Theodore Herzl, “the area of the Jewish State stretches: “From the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.” According to Rabbi Fischmann, “The Promised Land extends from the River of Egypt up to the Euphrates, it includes parts of Syria and Lebanon.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-mid...
But, then again, you're a typical Zionist Hasbara Troll - kicking a people and a nation whilst they are down, so that you and your tribe can devour the blood and organ of its citizens before stealing their land like these crazed zionists did with Palastine.
My message to you simple: It will never be about the facts or education with you. You are smart, and you need to be push your filthy zionist agenda. So, the only thing I can say to you right now, is that this is Zero Hedge - not some IDF or Fox News chat forum. Your crap won't work here, and your tribal prophecy will fail.
"...sure the recent boundaries have been drawn by colonial powers..."
What the hell is this, confirm what I said and then launch into series of unsubstantiated allegations & personal attacks on me?
It is not me who is butchering their way across "Iraq" right now (beheading Yazidi children & opening the jugular veins of naked women to catch the blood in stainless steel bowls) its people like Tamerlane.
If you're not the staunch zionist, then I withdraw my remarks.
If you are the Staunch Zionists, then your support for Zionism makes you complicit in spirit to all the crimes created by these evil people; for Zionsim is the most evil ideology out there. Nothing comes close.
Now, yes, granted, ISIS are a bastard group no doubt, but a few things:
1. They are learning well from their blood-lusting zionist masters.
2. I think they are vicious, and murder is murder, so finish ISIS by all means; but I've not seen viable reports to confirm your "opening veins" remarks. Also, can you please check to see that those catching the blood aren't wearing a star of david? many thanks! Also, please check for any missing organs!
3. ISIS are evil, when they are in Iraq, ISIS are ok, and need more backing from the UK, US, and EU when inside Syria.What does that tell you? For what its worth Evil is Evil, and ISIS as well as their Zionist backers / mentors are pure evil.
Like I said, if you're not the staunch zionist - then I withdraw my previous remark, otherwise, you know where to go.
I didn't ask for, nor do I desire your approval or anyones elses, for anything. Go fuck another goat and learn something of history before you ever approach me again, start with the quran...
Quran 5:51 - "O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people."
Little twit.
The.Harmless.Jew
Welcome to Zero Hedge. Like your style... But I believe you can do better.
Please consider this:
Carrying capacity of the land! Say that, some culture understood that we live in a finite planet. And the day of reckoning is getting closer.
Then, they came to you and told you that. Let’s assume you believe on that, as well. You are their leader. What would you do?
Lighten up, new guy! nmewn is a smart, witty guy, and from what I've seen, you're better off staying civil and having a proper discussion.
I do begin to think that at least for people like Netanyahu, geographical expansion is a goal - probably southern lebanon and the likud platform is clear enough.... outright colonialist racism and apartheid.
Not sure how much of US foreign policy is actually dicated by Zionist extremists, though.
Money and energy supply seems to explain a lot of it from the Anglo-American Empire's perspective.
Fuck him.
I actually had one of these pricks say "The jizya tax is not very much." I told the dickless wonder, its not the amount. I don't give a damn if its a penny on a million.
I would rather die than pay it on the pure principle of the matter. Free men are second to no one.
Iraq, George, is a figment of past world leaders imagination, nothing more.
So is "Israel," nmewn.
Funny thing, names. Iraq could have been called Sumer and maybe it would possess th faux ancient legitimacy the state that should have been called Khazarian Judea has because it borrowed the name 'Israel' to, well... fool some Christian types, maybe? Not sure, but 'Israel' is long, long gone...they just named the "Jewish" state that.
Lies, more lies, damn lies from the liar in chief.
I for one look forward to Operation Iraqi Liberation.
For an additional $199.99/mo you can add drone coverage to your Obamacares policy...........Cheers
part & parcel. chaos, if you can't win any other way.
"But if Obama is worried about the world’s oil supply, then he should say so forthrightly and not leave himself in a position where he will be unable to justify or explain further intervention after the airdrops to the Yazidis are completed."
You forgot the /sarc tag.
Yup, information asymmetry is a most powerful weapon.
Until the sheople figure this out, the sociopaths will continue their ruinous ways.
Bloomturd deadline:
Asian Shares Rise as Global Geopolitical Fears Ebb.
Lol.....
As far as the article..... Uhhhmmmm ....... No shit captain obvious.
Yeah, the first time in we didn't care about oil so, obviously, we're not going to care about it for the encore.
ok chaps
you have been warned please
no mention of shimon elliot kosher head of isis.
please do not mention the fact the kurds stood down
do not talk about the kurds and the israeli oil and gas deals.
do not talk about the ships docking in israel of iraqi oil stolen by the kurd sold to israel.
do not talk of the turkish israeli jordanian training camps and the israeli field hospitals.
where hot red headed kosher lileths tend for the broken isis hordes
do not question why nuttyyahoo would go visit broke back islamic beards in jewish desert hospitals
no israel does not have a dog in this fight
no sir rebob
Hey, Tony. Time to change your handle. Your screeds are rightfully ignored under this one.
no, they are not.
yessir...
Sour crude, from the Obama protecting New Republic.
Awesome...lol.
No boots means lots of tomahawk and other missles will be using lots of silver. At a higher production cost (oil).
Yup, all about oil and always has been about the resources. Sheople need to wake up and realize that when they are fighting for democracy, they are fighting for their way of life by killing women and children in foreign lands.
It's really that simple. I provided this information to an acquaintance, and he took serious pause....kill women and children or give up my way of life.
And this was from someone reasonably informed and prepared.
The US has a serious entitlement problem. No wonder the DHS is what it is.
This is hurting the Saudis or Russians HOW?
1Aug2014/957 am EDT/1357 GMT
"The tanker carrying the fifth cargo of Kurdish crude to load out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan is currently heading south through the eastern Mediterranean with a destination of Port Said in Egypt, according to Platts vessel-tracking software c-Flow.
The crude tanker Kamari finished loading its cargo of 1 million barrels of medium sour crude from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq on Thursday.
Cardiff Tankers, owners of the Kamari, declined to comment."
http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/london/fifth-cargo-of-kurdish-crude-oil-from-ceyhan-26848145
Don't behead me, I'm just the messenger ;-)
Oyl vey!
lol...no, greek owners as far as I can tell.
You were expecting something more hairy, with larger noses perhaps? ;-)
But what was it priced in? Drachmas? :)
I don't know that the Greeks really care whether its a gazzilion drachmas or a hundred bucks.
Give or take ;-)
Someone cares. And that's a comforting thought, don't you think?
speak of The New Republic...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118549/israel-and-kurdistans-alleged-...
Maybe "Obomba" should try the truth for change.
Fellow Americans.............if you don't want $10 a gallon gas you better let us do what we have to do.
Ten bux says we'd be wanting youtube clips of them getting blown to hell.
Now.........we won't discuss the whole mess, 9-11, etc it's not like I have many doubts and bad attitudes towards all the US's BS.
Sometimes I try to put a positive spin, just to make myself feel better I guess, on such events such as 9-11. There are some very smart people that plot everything.............what if it were one of these cases of the good outweighs the bad? A lot of good it would do us with $10gallon gas and an economy grinded to a halt.....a lot more would die than did in that attack.
Of course the assholes getting rich off it is the sorry part. I don't know, must be the dope talking tonight. It all just seems a last ditch effort. Granted it all seems a world takeover scheme but then again as big and hungry as the US is I suppose it does need the world to keep going.
harumph
Just tell ISIS to surrender or she takes of the moo moo.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2720212/A-straw-visor-muumuu-H...
Gawd, I would hate to be Huma.
I hope she sprays that cooter down with Lysol before she licks on it.
Where are the 'No Blood For Oil' rent-a-mob?
Oops, sorry, that only applies to Republican presidents.
Nah, the US is quickly approaching oil independence.
Any minute, now.
bataboom, batabing...
In the US's mind they own the middle east and therefore are already oil independent. LOL.
It is important for global economic [control] and political stability [control]
Replace oligarchs with open source software. The US has nukes, computers and crypto-currencies. We don't need no stinking oligarchs outside of prisons.
I convinced this is all bullshit...the oil will flow one way or the other. Let those assholes have it and they soon will be looking for a buyer as it does them no good to sit on all that wealth, they will sell it to brokers, countries or corporations and we will get it, price notwithstanding cause that is always open to question and unquantifiable risk The biggest fraud in the world is the idea we must control it if we are to have it, I call bullshit on that. That rational is only used as a cover to cause more chaos and mayhem. Cash from Chaos! Qui Bono?
Oil? I'm sure that the Thief in Chief, er, I mean, Mr. President, would never lie, omit or obfuscate on such an important matter as this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etXAm-OylQQ#t=244
The meeting only took 5 minutes to discuss in the White House taxpayer funded black beast limousine. BTW, that's what the car is called, nothing rasist about it. I have a car in my fleet referred to as the peasant mobile.
/ sarc
is there any single war where the reason is not oil?
Oil ha? Ya think? Duh.
Saudi Arabia needs peace in Iraq, to insure they continue selling their oil in the almighty petrodollar. End of story.
Continually expanding debt.(our system when healthy)
Today we lie bloated and constipated, as ever increasing numbers refuse to expand once again our newly( increased, inflated ) dollars.
There is one final push underway to seal the dollar/debt dominance.
Military might liberally applied.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Yellen and co-conspirators inject heavy doses of enema, and stool softener. To no avail.
The great reset awaits in the wings, advertised by the deviant LeGarde.
All eyes view the fight with very few understanding what is happening.
Clueless.
A loss by the US, will be the closest we come to winning unfortunately.
I prefer my bread without your butter. Thank you.
Food, food, food, food.
Heat.
How many wars the United States will still forgetting about the food?
Invaded Korea and Vietnam, what they did? Bombed food courts of opponents, brought food from home.
The Roman and before them, the Greek army, so they killed the deposed armadua and turned farmers, who read a little more about history knows.
Let's be realistic, imagine a Russian base in Cuba, a base intelligence needs at least four battalions (2,000 men) armed a few more 500 operators, some 1,000 (if good) technical support.
Even with all the whores there, feed this bunch of people (I'm not speaking families) bringing food from Russia, is very expensive, not worth it.
Cuba evil and nastily feed its population, imagine if you had to feed approximately 10,000 more people!
People who do nothing but monitor radio waves!
Cost, cost and cost.
Does any American citizen thought to take the number of soldiers in the smaller base - among the 170 known - around the world and make a simple account of how much it costs?
Swear to you that would be horrified.
It's a lot of money thrown out, that money could have been spent indoors.
Brazil is as "troop UN peacekeeping" in Haiti, concerned citizens want the guys back already spent money on this nonsense. Brazil has been the Suez Canal, nowadays there is a ship in the Mediterranean.
Do not understand the reason.
Maybe if enchêssemos Fox (currently ship Airfield São Paulo) of food and medicine and he was sent to Gaza to help, everyone agreed.
Brazil does not want war but will not flee to fight when needed.
Provided it is within our territory.
hehe.
Couldn't disagree more "and a shirt interview with Senator McCain will suffice" namely "how did the Vietnam war end war for almost twenty years?"
And the simple answer is "it wasn't easy."
This go around shows a complete ignorance of that history....not at the policy level in my view but certainly at the level of execution. In short "Iraq is a war machine" and in order to turn it off it not simply a question of saying no...but in fact DOING no.
In other words the USA has to work at turning off the inevtible..."the war goes on because that is the natural state of the thing"...and when you say "we're looking for an off ramp here" (cough, cough Ukraine cough, cough)...you really MEAN that.
Now instead of "Peace in our Time" (muscular diplomacy of an exit strategy) we have a full engagement and REengagement APPROACH.
I don't think anyone can really decipher a policy at all here actually...other
than....WOAR!...
This is a very frustrating piece. I think Judis is correct in his central point.
But,
"Prices would surge at a time when Europe, which buys oil from Iraq, has still not escaped the global recession."
As opposed to the U.S? Seriously?
Only by magical accounting that falsely declares inflation as negligible and ignored trillions of dollars of quantitative easing (as though that money was the result of productive work and not the pressing of a button) has the U.S. pretended to be out of a recession since 2008.
If Judis will casually swallow lies as blatant and obvious as those, it makes it much harder to trust his work.
No shit!
Stealing goods and resources has been always the game for the US/Western Europe since so long... Don't you love it? So much blood, broken corpses and waisted lands and properties...
If it were all about oil it would still be $40 a barrel and Saddam Hussein would still be alive
.
its about revenge bitchez
Nail gun injury bedtime stories and OPEC suisides. Hollywood casting department can't keep up with the free writing material.
If BHO cared about Iraqi oil, he would not have let it get out of hand like he did. The MIC got to him and convinced him of the need to go in to a degree necessary. Baby steps for now, but there are the seeds for more stuff and our young men's blood.
Clown - no way about oil. Look deeper - it's all Alinsky
Clown - no way about oil. Look deeper - it's all Alinsky
The one word reason is not 'Oil' - it is 'Oops'. If Obama cared about oil he would approve the Canadian pipeline. This is about 'Ooops' where he does not want to be embarrassed after proclaiming how great things were in Iraq such that he could pull out all the US troops. It would be a huge black eye to the Obama legacy to lose Iraq - and would lead to a Republican sweep in 2014/2016. Obama does care about keeping enough Democrats in power such that Obamacare does not get overturned - after all, behind golf his second favorite activity is fund raising.
No, his favorite is gay sex and dope.
I think its still counter intuitive for most but NOT fully approving the pipeline helps keeps North American oil at a discount to Brent simply due to stranding the oil in North America. The Canadians especially are over the barrel on having to sell their oil at lower prices than if they could get it to the Gulf or West Coasts for export. So by whatever means of obfuscation in delaying the pipeline "Interests" are served to keep oil cheaper to U.S. consumers and allow higher profits to those that get to market/transport the oil..... The bagholders are the smaller/midsize oil and gas producers that can't get world market prices for their production. The tables are turning a bit as new drilling seems to be stalling at current prices. Bottom line is leveling or dropping and inventories declining. Last week over an 8 million barrel drop was reflected by EIA. Yet prices continue to drop uh just more market manipulation courtesy of the gubmint. No international conflicts to keep the price of oil going higher Right!
Fvck it. Let IS have the oil and sell it to us. Then we turn around and sell them weapons with their frn's. Win-Win bitchez.
Yes we always drop bottled water and cream pies wherever there might be oil.
Oil in the hands of our enemies is a weapon which they can and do use to buy weapons, etc. to attack us with.
Without oil, Putin would not be able to pay for his current adventures, for example.
So, I hope it is about oil.
Oil is the lifeblood of modern civilization, not some evil substance.
amen brother. most of the ZHers think Oil is the semen of Satan or some other such nonense.
no oil = no society
oil in hands of ISIS = end of world
oil in hands of ISIS = end of world
You are very brainwashed...turn off your tv and seek help immediately
i trust you like living in Saudi Arabia then.
When I see "they should ..." I stop reading because the author is a fantasyland fool.
We all know what should be done. We don't need some Captain Obvious idiot repeating it.
The Kurds don't play well with any of their neighbors.
Before Bush entered the scene, the UN had their little racket that was called "Oil For Food".
It blocked Iraqi production, but was fronted as humanitarian - you know, oil for food.
So what happened to excess production? Well that was sold out the back door to European oil companies and to the Russians at sub market prices and the heads of mid east states were kicked back handsomely.
Paris, France Total Fina was center to this - France, UN, get it??? Bush stepped in and crushed this - weapons of mass destruction was the excuse - and put a boot on Europe's throat and their need for cheap oil and brought Freedom Fries to restaurant menus across the US.
Cheap/sub market priced resources allows Europe to continue down their road to socialist utopia as their oil companies are merely state run departments.
Allowing non-US interests to threaten oil control breathes life back into Europe financially - and we are so close to seeing Europe collapse, it would be a shame to come this far and stop - even Barry knows this.
Europe does this to Africa too - buying up cheap resources and greasing the heads of state - that's a big reason why Africa is a total fkg mess.
It's about lining the pockets of 535 + 2.
Like the movie "3 Kings" scene when Mark Wahlberg gets oil poured down his throat after having been captured. What is this about? OIL!
Israel needs to keep the bargin price oil flowing
Israeli Bankers Scripted
American Ideology of
Homosexual Pothead Ohbama:
Oil is dearer than Blood.
Human soul is only fictitious.
Kill 'em all and grab their gold.
Everybody knows it's all about oil.
but why is it all about oil?
BECAUSE THE PENTAGON WANTS MOST OF WHAT'S LEFT.
And the Pentagon has 20 aircraft carriers,
How many aircraft carriers do you dorks have?
There is always a bigger bully in the neighborhood, that's the part your carriers DON"T understand, that and the word, CONSEQUENCES BITCHES!
Bigger Bully
You must be referring to 'Tiangong', China's space station. China, flush with USD, is the only country to have its own platform in space. The US, Russia and NATO all share a hostel, with a Russian and an American there at all times.
With the proper radar and coordinates from Earth, the 'Tiangong' could probably pick off all 20 carriers in less than 2 hours, with the Chinese version of 'Yakhont'.
Just remember, our lives will never be the same after that fusillade.
when the New Republic tells you its all about oil, that means its all about Israel.
Judis is a smart guy, and not a neocon
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/books/review/genesis-by-john-b-judis.h...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116763/john-b-judis-israel-book-what-...
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/02/27/reading-john-b-judis-very-c...
But he does two things most people do:
1] Assume political/military leaders have the same sense of ethics as "normal people" and
2] Assume that any assertion that some Zionists or some Israelis or some Jews simply means "Jews" and anything about "Jews" that is negative may be dismissed as both hateful and untrue without deliberation.
But, alas, the Likudnik Zionists are psychopaths, they are racist, and along with Shas, many believe in the "Chosen People" mythos and the dark/particularist/megalomaniacal side of Judaism and Jewish eschatology. They want Israel to be the world's superpower, and for that it must expand, and to expand, it must break up regional states.
The cost in blood and treasure doesn't matter to them - most of the blood will be non-Jewish after all, and most of the treasure was merely printed out of thin air and repaid in sweat and tears of people whom they despise.
The Oded Yinon/PNAC line of plans got us into Iraq - not oil, and not even the petrodollar, which was secondary. The "7 countries in 5 years" plan Gen. Clark (who's Jewish, btw) spoke of wasn't about US national interest, or containing Russia, or the petrodollar - it was manifestly about remaking the middle east to weaken Israel's potential military and economic rivals.
Did oil prices go way down after the war? Did the oil pay the cost of the war? Who was advocating for it most loudly in the newspapers and magazines and on the talk shows? Who said the same shit about Syria and Iran?
Neocons - mostly, but not all Likudnik Jews, who form a 5th column, working with the Devil running Israel.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-mid...
You don't have to believe it, but you're an asshole if you think Israel's politicians are somehow not capable of crime and conspiracy and warmongering because they're "Jews" in a state called "Israel."
The real Israel was destroyed many centuries ago, its people scattered. Prior to WW2, newspapers proclaimed that "Judea" declares war on Germany. Naming the state Israel was largely to fool people who relied on the Scoffield Bible - the Southern Evangelicals and "Christian Zionists" who essentially have been Judaized in their theology so much that little remains of the New Testament or Christ, and essentially all they believe in is the racis,t absurd doctrine of "Chosenness", in the impending end of the world based on literal interpretation of the Bible, mostly old testament, and utter hatred for all religious faiths apart from Jews and their own peculiar Protestant, Zionized, Dispensationalist cult.
Anyway, the fruits are as you see them - constant war, constant bombing of Muslim countries, and perpetually confusing effect for cause.
Hey Daffy Schmuck, you really have inferiority issues. Welcome to JewHate Hedge, you have comrads here.
That Iraq was originally about destroying threats to Israel's security is fully documented.
Where is the "Jew hate" in the OP?
I do see anti-Semitism here, maybe - I suppose it's partly where your threshold is for identifying it... but I also see a lot of fairly inane accusations of "joo hate" {what's with the spelling?} in cases where it is very clearly about Israel's government's actions.
Not sure here - where is the "Jew hate" - why didn't you address any specific points? And why is it basically the only comment you made?
In fact, as I read it, it regards basically extremists, specifically indicates its not all Jewish people in general [or even all Zionists, I'd guess]. As for the role of Jewish neocons in cheerleading for the Iraq war - I mean no honest person can dispute that, whether or not that was the primary reason for going into Iraq.
I don't see the anti-Semitism. I see someone crying anti-Semite without substantiation or argument.
The race card, tried and true weapon for decades.As soon as they throw it down, you must be evil and they must saintly victims. End all foreign aid.
Well done, Daffy. Remarkably concise and astute analysis. +1
Cloward–Piven strategy via Obama zebra stripes destruction. If he was living in Kenya, they would just send him to the firing line. I'm sure they would inject him with HIV and Ebola before pulling the triggers. Our US President has gone from Rock star to a crack cocaine star.no shit our economy runs on oil nitwit
And dollar hegemony. Qadhafi was murdered because about a month before he announced he would sell oil for rubles, yuan or (gasp!) gold. So, killing US citizens over the years wasn't a problem, for the banksters, until he ditched the dollar.
Well, let the Euro dudes fly some missions if it's them who uses the oil.
BackDoor Barry is the fucking Tony Stewart of pResidents.
Now Vlad can invade Ukraine for the same reason Bath House is bombing Iraq-- to save lives.
This is all Bush's fault!
Iraq was never and is not now about oil. It was originally about rubble-izing a threat to Israel's security but once that was achieved it created a power vaccuum in the region which has sucked all the adjacent counties into a regional war using proxies. The reason the neocons want to go back into Iraq is because they still want to rubble-ize Syria and Iran.
Regime Change Part Deux.