I will believe the Saudis don't see any upcoming problems with Ghawar when they cancel one of their projects due to low oil prices. If they continue to be full steam ahead with increasing their capacity then I think they are aware that Ghawar may not be as robust in 5 years time as they would like us to believe.
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 5:49 pm Post subject: THE Bush Administration Thread (merged)
Quote:
Under the $7.5 billion Plan Colombia, the nation is the third-largest recipient of U.S. assistance. The U.S. is spending $680 million this year to help Colombia fight drug-funded insurgents. Only Israel and Egypt receive more U.S. aid.
Heres an excerpt from my book on the real story behind Plan Columbia:
Quote:
The public facade of U.S. policy toward Colombia has long been the war on drugs. U.S. officials say the aim of Plan Colombia, a $1.3 billion aid package signed into law on July 13, 2000, is for fighting śnarco-guerrillas and eradicating coca crops. But that's just part of the agenda. Plan Colombia is also about oil.
Colombia’s petroleum production today rivals Kuwait’s on the eve of the Gulf War. Contrary to what you might think, the United States imports more oil from Colombia and its neighbors Venezuela and Ecuador than from all Persian Gulf countries combined. In June of 2000, Colombia announced its largest oil discovery since the 1980s. The Colombian government and transnational oil companies are eager to secure their exploration and production activities with U.S. military might. Major investors in Colombian oil have included Exxon, Shell and Elf Aquitane. The transnationals have helped boost the nations oil production almost 80 percent over the last decade. Most of the exports have gone to the United States, putting Colombia among the top eight U.S. oil suppliers.
Many of these companies have led the fight for U.S. military aid to Colombia, the worlds third-largest recipient of U.S. security assistance. In 1996, BP Amoco and Occidental joined Enron Corporation, a Houston-based energy firm, and other corporations to form the U.S.-Colombia Business Partnership. Since then, backed by hefty oil-industry donations to political candidates, the partnership has lobbied hard for increased aid. Lawrence P. Meriage, Occidental’s public-affairs vice president, not only pushed for Plan Colombia in 2000 but urged a House subcommittee to extend military aid to the nation’s north to “augment security for oil development operations.” The firms have allies in the U.S. national-security apparatus. In 1998, Gen. Charles Wilhelm, then head of the U.S. Southern Command, told Congress that oil discoveries had increased Colombia’s “strategic importance.” In April 2000, Sen. Bob Graham (D-Florida) and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft warned in a Los Angeles Times editorial that Colombia’s reserves would “remain untapped unless stability is restored.”
Since 1986, according to Colombian government sources, the country’s guerrilla groups have bombed oil pipelines more than 1,000 times and have kidnapped hundreds of oil-company executives and employees. Using these operations as leverage, the guerrillas have generated roughly $140 million per year in ransoms and extortion payments. They also squeeze “taxes” from local contractors working for the companies. In all, the oil revenue rivals conservative estimates of guerrilla earnings from the cocaine and heroin trades.
Some U.S. military officials harbor no illusions about their role in Colombia. Stan Goff, a former U.S. Special Forces intelligence sergeant, retired in 1996 from the unit that trains Colombian anti-narcotics battalions. Plan Colombia’s purpose is “defending the operations of Occidental, British Petroleum and Texas Petroleum and securing control of future Colombian fields,” said Goff, quoted in October 2000, by the Bogotá daily El Espectador. “The main interest of the United States is oil.”
Petroleum is also playing an important role as the Colombia 50-year guerrilla war expands into southern Venezuela. In February 2002, the Bush administration asked Congress for $98 million in the 2003 budget to train, arm and provide Black Hawk helicopters for Colombian troops to defend the Cano Limon oil pipeline which snakes almost 500 miles across northern Colombia. This move marked a shift from the previous covert U.S. policy of providing military aid under the guise of anti-narcotics operations, to a blatantly overt one of outright military intervention. President Chávez of Venezuela has barred U.S. “counternarcotics” flights over its airspace, calling them a violation of national sovereignty.
The top source of cash for George W. Bushs presidential and Texas gubernatorial bids was Enron and its employees, including CEO Kenneth L. Lay, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Enron, one of the companies that led lobbying for Plan Colombia, owns Centragas, a 357-mile natural gas distribution system in northern Colombia.
_________________ A Saudi saying, "My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet-plane. His son will ride a camel."
Live in Arizona? Check out: http://sustainablearizona.org and read my blog.
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 435 Location: Hiding from the All-Seeing Eye
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:57 pm Post subject: Possible 3rd Term - Will Bush try to amend the Constitution?
What does everyone think? Will Emperor Shrub try to go for a third term? _________________ "Your failure to be informed does not make me a wacko." - John Loeffler
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 435 Location: Hiding from the All-Seeing Eye
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:58 pm Post subject:
Yes? No? Who gives a rat's ass, we're screwed any way you look at it. _________________ "Your failure to be informed does not make me a wacko." - John Loeffler
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 435 Location: Hiding from the All-Seeing Eye
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 10:12 pm Post subject:
I don't think the Bush family is done yet. Damn if those huricanes didn't give Jeb a lot of free press. _________________ "Your failure to be informed does not make me a wacko." - John Loeffler
Joined: Sep 08, 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Right Here
Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 1:53 pm Post subject:
I've heard somebody put that theory forward before. Something to the effect that he would acknowledge that he wasn't really elected the first time around so he would somehow be able to run again. I for one would find complete civil unrest an appropriate response to such shenannigans. If I hear of him testing the waters for a third run, you bet your ass i'd be in my garage starting to mix moltovs and collecting tossable bricks.
The Ah-nold in 2008 element will be an interesting one to watch as well. He's a strange sort of Republican and even if he isn't allowed to try for the Top Dog position I wouldn't be suprised to see him in a cabinet position if the Republicans win again. Maybe he should try the Senate first though. Wow, I never thought I'd LIKE to watch a Republican try and gain more power. Must be the whole car crash can't-look-away thing. A horribly frightening and strangely mesmirizing thing to see.
The Iraq war may have knocked Colombia off the front page, but Mideast chaos has made South America's energy resources more strategic to the United States. Colombia itself is among the top 15 global suppliers to the United States, and Uribe hopes to privatize the country's oil industry as part of his push to join President Bush's Free Trade Area of the Americas. Venezuela, bordering Colombia, is the fourth-largest U.S. supplier after Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Canada. Venezuela's populist leader Hugo Chavez is himself a White House target for Western hemisphere "regime change" - as seen by the current push for sanctions.
link _________________ A Saudi saying, "My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet-plane. His son will ride a camel."
Live in Arizona? Check out: http://sustainablearizona.org and read my blog.
Joined: May 24, 2004 Posts: 3429 Location: California, USA
Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:31 am Post subject:
I was relieved to find that there was not a news story about an actual attempt to amend the Constitution to do away with the 2-term limit. Sh*t, there have been too many efforts by extremists to tamper with the Constitution already...
Now IMHO, Gov. Schwarzenegger would probabaly make a darn good President. He's an oldschool conservative, and has been doing a good job there, certainly far better than I originally expected would even be possible with no prior background in public office. However, I have become downright allergic to all this talk about Constitutional amendments, and there is a good case to be made for a security issue: think of the potential number of countries and subnational groups that would love to get one of theirs in office. Think "sleeper cells" but on a more significant level.
And what about Colin Powell...? I'd vote for him in a flat second, and there's no need to risk another Constitutional amendment.
Y'know, it just occurs to me: Constitutional amendments could end up becoming a tactic like enormous lawsuits. Solve any social or political problem by suing some company or industry into bankruptcy. Solve any social or political problem by proposing a Constitutional amendment. Same kind of thinking. Fortunately the Founders made it a good bit too difficult to do it casually.
Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:26 am Post subject: ARgh
I don't think Arnold should be allowed, no matter his credentials. By changing the law now, you don't know what kind of havoc could be caused in the future. And if Bush tried for a third term, I'll be joining Josephus' strategy.
Joined: May 17, 2004 Posts: 1969 Location: Democratic People's Republic of Washington
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:54 am Post subject:
Josephus wrote:
If I hear of him testing the waters for a third run, you bet your ass i'd be in my garage starting to mix Molotov's and collecting toss able bricks.
Gee, that's funny. I had the exact same thought if Hillary Clinton decides to run for president in 2008. I would only do it if she were elected though, and you can be assured that it would be a far better explosive than a puny Molotov cocktail. Also, the objects I would be throwing would be far more deadly than a brick. Want to take my guns? HA! Good luck doing that when you are blown to pieces, and your house is now a 5 meter deep crater. If Comrade Clinton is elected, it will be time for a revolution. Bring the communist to her knees, and eliminate the threat to liberty. If it requires a coup d'tat to take place, or a full scale revolution, then so be it. I will voluntarily contribute to that cause if the end result is the end of communistic tactics of government. Comrade Clinton is just a female version of Stalin, Ho Chi Mihn, or Kim Jung Il. ˇViva La Revolucion! _________________ Here Lies the United States Of America.
Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: San Diego, Ca.
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:49 am Post subject:
IBTL. _________________ "Peak oil isn't more than an interesting industry factoid and doesn't have anything to do with the hysterics speculated on ad nauseum around here!" ReserveGrowthRulz
Two points only, what makes anyone think the 'people' have any say in who the CEO is?? Two fixed elections in a row should underline the point that citizens do not decide who the President is.
secondly, I go for the martial law scenario by 2008- dispensing with the tiresome process of election scamming.
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 435 Location: Hiding from the All-Seeing Eye
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:04 pm Post subject:
Marco wrote:
Two points only, what makes anyone think the 'people' have any say in who the CEO is?? Two fixed elections in a row should underline the point that citizens do not decide who the President is.
secondly, I go for the martial law scenario by 2008- dispensing with the tiresome process of election scamming.
Absolutely. A lot of my friends and I have been discussing this very same thing.It seems as though there is some nervous energy in the air. I think the majority of people are tired of this whether they realize it or not. _________________ "Your failure to be informed does not make me a wacko." - John Loeffler
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