DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
Most people know Dubai for its massive skyscrapers and luxurious hotels, but few know that the city was built by modern-day slaves.Video:
Middle East Analysis: WWIII fuse has been litRead the rest HERE.
After extensive investigation and analysis of the events on September 11, 2012, in Libya and Egypt, there is only one conclusion I am able to reach: the official narrative of the details of these attacks, provided by U.S. officials and parroted by a complicit, unquestioning media, are being deliberately misrepresented with regard to what actually happened.
Simply put, we are being lied to. But it’s much deeper and much more sinister than a simple lie, and it’s not over yet. In fact, what we are seeing is just the beginning....
From this source:The new and fresh like Arab Spring Egypt may desecrate the Sphinx...[and destroy]...the country’s $13 billion a year tourism industry while robbing the world of precious, priceless historical artifacts and landmarks. Welcome to Iran 2.0.Fundamentalist Muslims do have a propensity for destroying artifacts. HERE is one example. Other examples abound.
President Barack Obama will travel to Egypt next week. While there, he is expected to deliver a major address to the Muslim world, thus fulfilling a promise made during his presidential campaign. As he fulfills that promise, some say his choice of a venue and the content of his message could prove controversial. You decide.
Though speaking almost one year apart, King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Barack Obama seem to have a penchant for the concept of 57 states. In a TimesOnline article this morning about prospects of Middle East peace, Jordan's King Abdullah was quoted by writer Richard Beeston as saying, “This is not a two-state solution, it is a 57-state solution” — a reference to the number of nations of the United Nations that do not recognize Israel. It comes almost one year after then-candidate Obama referred to having visited 57 states during his presidential campaign.It is often stated that, in order to reduce the power of the Arab/Islamic world, we have to reduce our dependence on oil imports from the nations of the Middle East. On the surface this seems like a truism. However, let us think this over.
First, sorry to be pedantic, but oil is a commodity sold on the world market. The price of oil is dictated by supply and demand. If America buys its oil from the Middle East, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, or any other nation, it is still a bidder on the open market, and its bidding offer effects the price of oil on the world market no matter which country it buys from. In other words, if Saudi Arabia can charge $100 per barrel of oil, then so can Canada, and so can Mexico and any other country selling oil on the open market.
It is a little known fact that, comparatively, the United States gets far less of its oil from Middle Eastern nations, as a percentage, than do the other largest oil importers in Europe and China.
The United States currently gets about 17% of its oil imports from the Middle East.
Europe and China respectively gets approximately 31% and 44% of their oil from Middle Eastern countries.
Ok, so now think for a second what would happen if America were suddenly to make it its policy to buy all of its oil from non-Middle Eastern countries?
First, as America would be limiting the pool of oil suppliers from which it could prospectively buy, the price of oil would immediately go up for American buyers.
Second, since America would then no longer be an importer of Middle Eastern oil, the amount of oil available on the Middle Eastern market would be increased, and the price from those Middle Eastern suppliers, would then drop for Europe and China.
Third, and this is the most important point, to my mind; because the United States would then no longer be a buyer of oil from Middle Eastern countries, whereas the Europe and China would be, the United States influence in the Middle East would decrease, and the influence of China and Europe would increase.
Think of it this way, if you own a shop, the opinion of the customers who come through your door and make purchases matters very much to you.
It is a very crude understanding of economics which says, the seller has the power. The truth is, the buyer and seller have shared interests in the success of each others business. In fact, the buyer and seller are, indeed, partners in the promotion of each others interests.
Were the United States to discontinue buying oil from Middle Eastern nations, our power to influence political decisions in the Middle East would also decrease. In so far as the United States is a force for good on the world stage, it would be dangerous to the world as a whole for our power to decrease in the volatile world of Middle Eastern politics.
All economics, and all sectors of the business world, are composed of groups of organizations who have shared interests. The sum total of these shared interests composes the direction of the economic system on an economic as well as a political level.
Therefore, we must continue to buy oil from Middle Eastern nations until the day that oil no longer matters to the world's economy.
