Iran Has Obama over a Barrel (of Oil)
Although blocking or disrupting oil movement in the Strait of Hormuz could cause most of the world’s aggression to focus on Iran, this is not a strong deterrent for a regime wanting to cause global chaos as a catalyst for the twelfth imam’s return (Islamic apocalypse). Influencing a return is the goal of a small Muslim sect that believes human actions can cause the chaos necessary for the Islamic version of the end of times. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is reported to be a member of this small sect. Their ideology was considered so dangerous to the stability of the Islamic Republic that the Ayatollah Khomeini banned the group in the 1980s.
If what many in and outside of Iran believe about President Ahmadinejad’s intentions to hasten the return of the twelfth imam is true, then his reckless abandon in dealing with the West and Israel is logical.
Bringing the world into chaos would be sufficiently achieved through a global economic crisis. The best way for the Middle East to cause a global crisis would be to manipulate oil prices by limiting supply. Since the Strait of Hormuz moves a significant amount of the world’s oil supply, causing even a temporary disturbance in the transportation of that oil would be devastating to global economies.
Iran has their work cut out for them. It’s proving harder to get Obama to fight than it is to bring on the end of times. Iran’s best chance of drawing the U.S. into conflict would be through Israel. Since 2001, the U.S. has been working closely with Israel on a ballistic missile defense system. One of the largest war games for this program was conducted just this past October off the coast of Israel.
If Iran is successful in drawing the U.S. into conflict through a strike on Israel, they can use the occasion to mine the Strait of Hormuz — creating a U.S./Iran incident explicitly over oil. This would be politically devastating to a far left president who is largely supported by liberals claiming the Bush administration’s wars were for oil.
A global shortage of oil could quickly escalate into a world war (very convenient for Islamic apocalypse). WWIII being led by a man who just won the Nobel Peace Prize would also be a tad politically embarrassing.
On the other hand, delaying military action beyond the point of failed diplomacy shows weakness on the part of the U.S. This scenario works to the advantage of Iranian rhetoric and for jihadist propaganda about American being a “paper tiger.”
If Obama continues to delay action in the face of inevitable war, it buys time for Iran to mine the strait in anticipation of conflict. If this is allowed to happen, the U.S. is ill-equipped to clear the mines quickly. Our military has the capability for clearing mines, but being largely untested and under-resourced in the region, it could take more than a week to conduct mine sweeps and clear a path in the strait with any confidence. All the while, the world economy would spiral from a crippling blow to oil supply.
The decision ultimately lies with President Obama on when and how the U.S. will eventually engage Iran. Considering Obama’s political handicaps and unwillingness to enter into military conflict with Iran, the likelihood of delay will ensure for the U.S. a strategic disadvantage and lost opportunities in an inevitable war.
But of course we can’t drill for oil in our own country, or develop shale oil or natural gas that we know that we have. So called “green energy” as of now is just a pipe dream while gasoline, shale and natural are know and proven. Why not use what we know works while making the developments into the “green energy”?
This president sees the war on us as an inconvenient distraction from the progressive agenda. Unfortunately, while he dithers away at the universal nanny state holy grail our enemies continue to plot our demise. This president refuses to engage in a war that takes our resources and attention away from goals the left has been waiting 80 years to get. What he doesn’t understand is that our enemies have been waiting for 14 centuries to see their dream of a pan muslim state realized. It’s time for Obama to find some resolve. The war isn’t waiting for health care reform or cap and trade.
What OIL shortage? The OIL shortage thangie is propaganda.
So is the price jumping to xxxx dollars per barrel.
Shortage is a bogus issue because it matters not to the USA. We will get our OIL and have more non-liquid reserves then the entire ME combined. If the rest of the world is short, why should we care? America gets NO OIL from Iran and very little, if any thru the strait. Iran mining the straits would cut off OIL to China and India, NOT the USA. Japan gets most of their OIL from Alaska and Mexico.
Please explain to me why the USA should be concerned about China getting their OIL cut off.
As far as the price jumping, that is mostly speculators going for a fast buck. Set a price and any body that sells or buys for a higher price gets taxed at 2,000% or so.
After all, with the government controlling GM, Financial Markets and the Health industry, why not take the OIL industry also?
Bomb Iran and if they mine the straights, lease mine sweeping gear to China. Get back some of those US dollars they are sitting on. As far as the OIL speculators, Fook ‘em and feed ‘em fish heads.
America is not the world’s policeman. We DO have a national interest in stopping Iran’s nuclear program and holding them accountable for breaching the NPT. If we are the world’ policeman, then bombing Iran is what we have to do. Police CANNOT let the criminal’s reaction stop them from doing their duty. Any reaction to the bombing will be dealt with then.
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
uhm, “birther” (you liberals crack me up on this site with your epic fails. you try too hard.)
we should care because all the places depending on that 40% of oil will want to get it from somewhere else when they’re cut off. this means non-gulf suppliers would suddenly have increased demand. shortage is a shortage no matter who your current supplier is. it’s called a “market”. economics 101, literally.
America is not the world’s policeman, but they are Israel’s ally. if Israel gets attacked, that’s the whole point of having allies. no wonder you quoted fdr if you are that ignorant. and liberal-dude/”birther”, when you pretend to be a conservative with dumb comments, you don’t quote your own team, man. u noob. fail.
Ms.Andie Brownlow:
1- how did 8 years of President Bush’s policy toward Iran made any difference? none.
2-where did you get your policy making Degree?
3-where did you get your military degree?
Look simpleton: Iran is a powerful country and you just don’t go to war with them.
Here is what you need to help you out. go to this site and do some shopping. you will have a whole new view of the world’s policy/military and economics
http://www.babeland.com
“2. Blakeney:
This president sees the war on us as an inconvenient distraction ……”
Well, that is a best case scenario.
The moslems learned after 9-11 .. they learned we are not just a couple of buildings. 1-20-09 will dwarf 9-11 in damage to America.
You can make the call if it is another moslem attack, or just coincidence… mere left wing malfeasence.
It’s safe to say many, many, people will die in the coming conflagration, The question is, will this help or hinder “climate change”? Mushroom clouds put a lot of debris into the air, blocking out the sun, however, whole cities and millions of corpses burning probably put out a lot of C02. If the Muslims “win”, we are back to the stone age, with less C02. My bet is it’s a win for combating climate change in the long run.
rrbs:
“It’s safe to say many, many, people will die in the coming conflagration”
What conflagration?
“however, whole cities and millions of corpses burning probably put out a lot of C02″
*shakes head in disbelief*
I’m sorry if this seems morbid, but you did bring it up. Here’s the deal with people – we burn more carbon the longer we live (as food and other external sources of energy), so the shorter our lives the better (as far as emissions are concerned). But the amount of carbon we sequester in our bodies is precisely the same amount we emit as we decay after death (or, as you put it, as we burn). In fact – if we’re oxidized directly, that carbon is emitted as CO2, which is a less harmful greenhouse gas overall than methane, which is what we’d emit as we’re eaten by bugs under the ground. The twist being that any fuel which is used to heat us up during that process adds to the overall emissions – so cremation is generally a bad way to go, emissions-wise (natural gas being the fuel generally used in the west, and wood in the east, and usually quite a lot of it either way).
However … if a nuclear blast is the source of heat, the direct emissions are essentially zilch (light elements like helium aren’t greenhouse gases, as far as I know – and they’re minuscule anyway), so that’s an excellent way to cremate people (from an emissions point of view). Any burnable carbon-based structures in the vicinity of the blast are fuel sources that would have decayed eventually anyhow (probably as methane).
“If the Muslims “win”, we are back to the stone age”
Nah – probably just the early medieval. We’d still have iron, bronze and some decent sorts of steel for making blades. I’ve always suspected that landfill dumps will be treasure-hordes for whoever survives the big one – all that refined aluminum, copper, lead and steel will be fantastic stuff to be able to just dig up.
Obama gets his tail kicked everywhere but here.
King Obama rules the USA while everyone else laughs their guts out..
#9 good afternoon simpleton: when was the last time you left the State of Ohio? the laugh on us when Bush was president. Obama is here to stay for another term. get used to it….
“shortage is a shortage no matter who your current supplier is”
Strawman alert. A world wide shortage doesn’t matter. We are talking about the USA, not the world.
The USA will only has a shortage IF it wants one.
“In the Piceance Basin, an area of 1,100 square miles, the oil shale is over 1 million barrels per acre, or roughly 750 billion barrels of recoverable oil. If you extend outward to Wyoming and to Utah, it is 1.3 trillion. ”
Snipped from here;
http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/hl1015.cfm
Any OIL shortage is artificial. Created by environmentalists. The pilot plant for converting OIL shale to OIL was canceled by Clinton.
That test plant produced about 10,000 barrels to prove that it worked before being shut down Clinton shut it down at the request of Environmental groups.
The FACT is that there is no real OIL shortage, just an artificial one to manipulate markets isn’t even relevant.
As long as the USA gets OIL, the rest doesn’t matter. So they fight over what we leave. Who cares? If you do, why don’t you pack your bags and go someplace else?
North Korea will give you a bowl of rice.
Something you urban liberals never seem to understand. The big dog gets the bone. That is a fact of life, one that no amount of whining by the little dog will change.
Or, to put it another way, might makes right. Nations don’t have Friends, they certainly don’t have morals. Nations have interests. Interests that they defend with Armies, a Navy and an Air Force.
There is NO world state. There never will be a world state.
@11
big problem with your analysis, bucko– the US isn’t allowed to maximize its “OIL” sources yet– we don’t have that “OIL” accessed, refined and usable yet. there can be 1000 fish in a pond, but you still don’t have dinner if you can’t get one on your plate. that means the US is still subject to the world market for most of its “OIL”. blame the liberal environmentalists for that ugly little fact.
“artificial shortage” by OPEC’s price manipulation does matter because they control most of the world’s oil and they’re a cartel- they collude to price fix. when you fill your tank up with gas, the cost is the same whether you _believe_ there is a real shortage or not.
since demand is pretty inelastic for oil (as price rises, demand remains unchanged– up to a point), competitors of OPEC have no real incentive to lower their prices because OPEC isn’t losing market share. sooo… even when the US drills for its own oil, as a competitor to OPEC, they will also set their prices similar to OPEC’s because there is no profit incentive to do otherwise. the best the US can hope for is to bring enough oil supply to the market that it significantly increases supply and forces equilibrium prices down. even then, that won’t happen because demand is always going up.
our best option is nuclear energy. i’m glad you’re at least reading heritage foundation reports. good start.
i still think you’re a liberal. you over-did-it at the end. as a “birther” you should work your profile out to be an avid believer that there IS a world state. then you should say you oppose it. might help your cred. just sayin’…
  In the 2010 elections let us all attempt by including ourselves in the process remove all the Democrats we can and also RINO Republicans and bring sanity back to this nation.
  Please do not sit out but vote to make a real change. Those that sat out the last election are now seeing the result of not doing anything at all and allowing the worst president and administration in my lifetime and most likely the country.
  Drill Here and Drill now! Hey Obama listen to people with some sense and sanity. Green jobs and energy are still a pipe dream so wuit smoking it!
Seldom do I hear anyone acknowledge that Alberta, Canada is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the US. A larger supplier than the Saudis.
We are not an Islamic enemy, and now have a Conservative government in the nations capital trying to fight off the liberal socialists and deal with Obama at the same time – to fend off Obamas protectionist threats.
Next election we in Alberta are going to turf the phoney Progressive Conservatives in this province in favor of a libertarian free enterpriser. Failing that many of us are in favor of separating from the rest of the socialist country.
Those who followed the Copenhagen fiasco may have noticed that Canada got the fossil of the day award from the lefties because of our oil (not tar) sands and no doubt because we are the largest supplier to the US.
Also I haven’t seen anyone write about the Alaska pipeline. This project has been given the green light by our various “officials” and will go from Alaska, through the North West Territories and through Alberta to the US border. Because of the hugh volume of gas, the existing pipeline will have to be 50% bigger. Another boom for Alberta’s workers. When Sarah Palin was Gov of Alaska she visited us many times to get that pipeline project moving.
Alberta, by the way, is the province that supports the country through “transfer payments”, a redistribution of wealth scam imposed on us by the Liberals so they could buy votes in the other provinces courtesy of Alberta’s stolen money.
We didn’t want socialism either but it was shoved down our throats – kicked off by socialized medicine. A dismal failure and very very expensive. First the socialism is incremental, then the Liberals used a “surge” approach – so fast and furious, on a daily basis, that it was hard to keep up with the changes. Now that these bloodsuckers are entrenched its extremely hard to extract them.
Dirty old communist Trudeau, a former Liberal Prime Minister, even went so far as to nationalize our oil industry. It took 20 years to scrap that and get the industry working here again.
Our MSM is sickening with their crap and lies. Now they are trying to create a “scandal” for the Conservative Prime Minister, Steven Harper. They are trying to paint him as a war criminal because some terrorist was allegedly roughed up by the Afgan government jailers. Canadian forces were the ones doing the fighting in Afghanistan while the US was in Iraq. The “allies” did virtually nothing about engaging the enemy.
It p’s me off when I hear misinformed people crediting Great Britain with doing the fighting in WW II and Afghanistan when it was really Canada. We haven’t been a colony of theirs for a long time and they deserve no credit for anything our military has achieved or fought and died for.
Happy New Year!!
(Quote)
mr:
Ms.Andie Brownlow:
1- how did 8 years of President Bush’s policy toward Iran made any difference? none.
2-where did you get your policy making Degree?
3-where did you get your military degree?
Look simpleton: Iran is a powerful country and you just don’t go to war with them.
Here is what you need to help you out. go to this site and do some shopping. you will have a whole new view of the world’s policy/military and economics
(Quote)
Are you serious? Why don’t you try to act above your shoe size. Iran has been a threat for years. Bush didn’t do anything about them, because he was more of a progressive than a conservative. He also wanted to do more than he accomplished, but it’s hard to do with heavily democratic House and Senate. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is mentally unstable. The man truly believes his purpose in life is to bring about world destruction to welcome in the prophet Muhammad. He’s welcoming any show of force to start a war. The military always have plans in place to take care of things under the radar, but the President is the one that makes the ultimate decision. Saudi Arabia is just as dangerous, if not more so, since they provide funding for extremists such as Al-Qaeda.
No, I do not have a degree, LIKE ANDIE DOES. I’ve been a military wife for 13 years, and have studied foreign policy, American history, and whatever materials I could get my hands on concerning the safety and security of the nation. My father served in the Secret Service, and I grew up near just outside the nation’s capital. The stuff I saw and heard growing up would make your skin crawl. My husband has been stationed in Kabul, where the day he arrived a car bomb killed several people a few blocks away while he waited for his transport. At the NATO facility he worked at (in Kabul) for 6 months there were constant rounds pinging off the roof of his quarters and work area. He also was in Saudi in 1996 for the Kohbar Towers. He had to help relocate the barricades and work cleanup. A friend of mine was in the towers. Fortunately he survived, but had a lot of problems with PTSD. His next deployment is possibly Balad in Iraq. That’s still up in the air.
I don’t have a degree because I’ve spent the last 13 years of my life taking care of my home, family, working full time, and taking care of deployed spouses. I don’t waste money on classes that are filled with liberal bias and Marxist views. I’m co-chair for a local group, and a member of another group. I’m also the precinct chair for my precinct for the county GOP. I take the time to review legislation, translate it, and pass on my findings to my fellow conservative group members. I’m active 18 hours a day, with internet research done between everything else I do.
So, if you want to play the part of an adult, go try MySpace for a while. Leave the heavy discussions to those who understand.
Andie, great article!!! I look foward to more!!! Talk to you soon, I hope!