Afghanistan

With 100 Dead, June is Deadliest Month for NATO Troops in Afghanistan (Slate Magazine)

“What are they dying for?” you might ask. Is it protecting our borders, preserving our liberty or bringing democracy to unenlightened barbarians, or to protect our oil supplies? If you guessed oil you are right. And now American firms can also exploit the mineral resources of Afghanistan if enough young men die to prop up a corrupt and unpopular government..

The very first order of business when Hamid Karzai was placed in office was to sign a deal allowing an oil pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan to tap the oil fields of the “stans” around the Caspian Sea.

“In 1998, Dick Cheney, US vice-president but then chief executive of a major oil services company, remarked: ‘I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian.’ But the oil and gas there is worthless until it is moved.. The only route which makes both political and economic sense is through Afghanistan.” [Guardian]

“On February 12, 1998, John J. Maresca, vice president-international relations for UNOCAL oil company, testified before the US House of Representatives’ Committee on International Relations. Maresca provided information to Congress on Central Asia oil and gas reserves and how they might shape US foreign policy. UNOCAL's problem? As Maresca said: ‘How to get the region's vast energy resources to the markets?’ The oil reserves are in areas north of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Routes for a pipeline were proposed that would transport oil on a 42-inch pipe southward thru Afghanistan for 1040 miles to the Pakistan coast. Such a pipeline would cost about $2.5 billion and carry about 1 million barrels of oil per day.” (I am indebted to Bill Sardi http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi7.html )

Yes folks, our young men and women are dying for oil and mineral resources! How many lives for a tankful of gasoline?

BP

President Obama announced that BP will put $20B in escrow to cover the clean-up costs of the of oil spill and to compensate individuals for their losses.

I say not enough:

I think the US should put a lean on every asset that BP has. I think we should start to import every skimmer we can find, load them on these huge C-130's and fly them to the gulf. Furthermore, hire those unemployed due to the oil spill to help clean up the beaches and wet lands and charge BP for every cent. To sweeten the deal, workers should be paid tax free and not have their un-employment benefits reduced to which they’d normally be entitled.

In addition, all board members and top executives of BP be put on notice that criminal charges may be brought against them for misfeasance and violation of public trust.

Personally, I like to see a truck load of dead, oil soaked pelicans delivered to BP’s board offices.

More nonsense in the middle east!

What’s with this revolting attack on a Turkish aid vessel?

I would like to go over there and knock some Arab/Israeli heads together. What both sides fail to realize is that both peoples have every right to be there. The Semitic peoples have lived in Asia Minor from the fertile crescent to the Mediterranean Sea since the start of recorded time.

Traditionally, Palestine refers to the area from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. On the basis of a League of Nations mandate, the British administered Palestine after World War I, promising to establish a Jewish homeland therein.

At the end of WWII, as Britain divested itself of some of its holdings, and in spite of the Balfour Declaration, the British very much favored the Arabs leaving them strategic positions. The Jews, thinking rightly that they were being screwed, fought tooth and nail to secure a homeland for themselves.

For all sorts of “realpolitik” both Palestinians and Israelis are being urged to do one thing or another that doesn’t auger well for peace.

Ignore the USA, UN, NATO and all the other well meaning organizations.

Iran talks tough but doesn’t live next door. Saudi Arabia is busy seeding unrest, and they don’t even let their women drive. Iraq is a mess thanks to Bush/Cheney. Syria is a cat’s paw for Iran.

Dummies! You need one another! Stop listening to outsiders and do what is good for you. If you would stop shooting at each other for awhile, I bet you could find lots of ways you could help each other out. Make the dessert bloom again!

See my previous blog on Middle East Peace.