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Saudi al-Qaida urges strikes on U.S. oil sources
MSNBC
Wing of terrorist organization specifically cites Canada, Venezuela, Mexico
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A Saudi Arabian terrorist faction affiliated with al-Qaida has urged Muslim militants to attack oil facilities all over the world, including Canada, Mexico and Venezuela, to stop the flow of oil to the United States, according to an article by the group posted on the Internet.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said in its monthly magazine posted on an Islamic Web site that “cutting oil supplies to the United States, or at least curtailing it, would contribute to the ending of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.” The group said it was making the statements as part of Osama bin Laden’s declared policy. It was not possible to verify independently that the posting was from the terror faction.
(14 Feb 2007)
West Adds to Strains on Iran’s Lifeline
Jad Mouawad, NY Times
Western political and economic pressure on Iran over its nuclear program has chilled foreign investment to the extent that it is now squeezing the country’s long-fragile energy industry, adding strains to a government that is burdened by sanctions and wary of unrest at home.
The world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, Iran sits on the second-largest oil and gas reserves. But it has struggled in recent years to keep its oil production, currently running at about four million barrels a day, from falling.
Some analysts say that if this acute imbalance between stagnant production and rising demand at home continues unchecked, Iran will have no oil left over to export within a decade. Its oil exports, totaling $47 billion last year, account for half the government’s revenue.
“They have a perfect storm of problems feeding into each other,” said Robert Murphy, an analyst at PFC Energy, a consulting firm in Washington. He estimated that Iran might have no more oil to export by around 2015 if it did not rein in runaway consumption and reverse the long-term decline in its oil production.
(13 Feb 2007)
Persian Peril Redux
Stan Goff, Speaking Truth to Power (Carolyn Baker)
[Taking a divergent approach from many who are currently writing about an impending attack on Iran, Stan Goff focuses on energy issues and corporate media’s primary function: to deceive and mislead–CB]
Three years ago, I wrote a series for From The Wilderness, entitled “Persian Peril”,in which I outlined my reasons for disbelieving the breathless rumors that the US was about to attack Iran. Not only have the flames of the rumor failed to abate, the escalation of Bush administration saber rattling has thrown a good deal of gasoline on them. Now the US is dispatching a third naval battle group to the Arabian Sea near the Gulf of Hormuz as part of its campaign to ratchet up tensions with Iran and to shift blame for the Iraq debacle onto its Persian neighbor.
…In 2005, Exxon, and not peak-energy Cassandras, said that natural gas production in the US had probably peaked. This is just one aspect of the broader issue of gas markets. Natural gas is used predominantly for direct industrial power and electricity generation. China and India, both still on steep industrial growth trendlines, are insatiable in their appetites for natural gas… and they are both now positioned to be competitors on the economic stage with the US. These two countries now contain one-third of the earth’s human population. As centers-of-gravity go, one can hardly remain unimpressed.
…The kind of geopolitical losses — however inevitable they eventually may have been — that have been sustained by the Bush administration have accelerated US structural weakness in the world by at least a decade. And while the relative strength of Russia and China have increased, no country anywhere has leapt forward more dramatically in its potential to influence the future of this strategic region more than Iran.
(13 Feb 2007)
Long piece from activist Stan Goff, who has covered peak oil among his many other writings.
India on the front line in energy war
M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times
While the United States has been stealthily finessing a pretext for launching a military attack on Iran, it has also been prevailing on its close allies and friends to stay clear of bilateral political exchanges with Tehran. Isolation and containment of Iran and a “regime change” in that country have become the leitmotif of US foreign policy in the remaining two years of the presidency of George W Bush.
But Washington either made an exception for India, or India after all didn’t belong in the gallery of Washington’s close or “natural” allies. At any rate, New Delhi acted in its best interests when Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee paid a two-day visit to Tehran on February 6-7.
…India and Russia share deep apprehension over Washington’s aggressive stance against Iran. Any US military attack against Iran will threaten to have adverse consequences for India’s energy supplies. Again, while Washington can be expected single-mindedly to try to scuttle Indo-Iranian energy cooperation, Moscow will encourage such cooperation and offer to be party to it.
Finally, while Washington may have plans for inveigling India as a counterweight to China, Moscow hopes to foster greater Sino-Indian understanding within which an Asian market of energy producers and energy consumers could flourish.
M K Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years, with postings including ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-98) and to Turkey (1998-2001).
(14 Feb 2007)
