"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Monday, November 21, 2005

THE AGE OF MIDDLE EAST OIL IS OVER

WASHPOST/"Reuters":
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Monday that Moscow plans to build a major oil pipeline from Siberia to the Pacific coast and said oil supplies would eventually flow to major consumer Japan. "We plan to build the pipeline to the Pacific coast with eventual supplies to the Asia-Pacifc region including Japan," Putin said in a speech at a Russia-Japan investors forum in Tokyo.
When Middle East oil producers (Arabian, Iraq, Iran) lose their costumers in the Far East, then they are through as power-brokers in the oil world. They become run of the mill oil-producers - like so many others in Africa and South America. Adding to this likelihood is the fact that, due to the higher cost of a barrel of oil (in current dollars), ALTERNATIVE energy sources can now come to market effectively - such as WIND, SOLAR and OIL FROM COAL.

Lessening the world's dependence on Middle Eatern oil also increases our security: A diversified energy market is also less likely to be held hostage to any given nation or movement.
AND AFTER ALL: It was President Jimmy Carter who (in his 1980 SOTU) first enunciated that oil (specifically Persian Gulf oil) was of VITAL NATIONAL SECURITY INTEREST TO THE USA, AN INTEREST WE WOULD DEFEND WITH ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Perhaps this impending dimunition of Middle Eatern "oil power" and oil wealth was/is a GENERAL motivating factor for the islamofascists and jihadoterrorists: Maybe they see that their time is waning and that, as a result, if they hope to achieve the Caliphate, they must act QUICKLY, before the oil rich Arabs states and the Arab oil magnates who support them become unable to support them because they've lost their cash-cow.

That's one reason why I applaud this deal. It's mo' better for the world for Russia to be the energy power-broker than the Middle East - (unless and until the Middle East becomes a haven for democracy and liberty and stability).

UPDATE: ECONOPUNDIT relates info which may indicate that ALTERNATIVE fuels may have a tougher time getting the financing they need to become major facters. However, this same info reinforces my main point (INHO): Middle East oi-producers are no longer the major power-brokers in the industry.

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