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- almost daily
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- energy crisis, presidential politics, international relations
- Do you have a political blog?
- http://www.thenationalintelligence.com
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Unfortunately, the elite media (the LeftStream Media) in the US has failed to give appropriate coverage to the successes of American and Iraqi forces, apparently to keep the US public believing the war in Iraq has been a dismal failure. That, of course, has great implications for the presidential campaign. Obama has refused to acknowledge that the Surge under Gen. Petraeus is working. Remember certain persons caling him "Gen. Betray-us"?
So, we Americans must go to the UK to get the real news:
The (London) Times Online says this: "American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.
"After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre . . . ."
For the full story from the London Times, go here
I've had an alarming insight into the bitterness of Britain’s obese and stupid underclass Jeremy Clarkson
From The Sunday TimesJuly 6, 2008
Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda Marie Colvin in Mosul
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.
After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.
A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.
Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen yesterday, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians.
Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.
Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes. Hundreds of houses were searched without resistance but no bomb was found, only 60kg of explosives.
American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi’ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had “defeated” terrorism.
“They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,” Maliki said. “But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.”
The number of foreign fighters coming over the border from Syria to bolster Al-Qaeda’s numbers is thought to have declined to as few as 20 a month, compared with 120 a month at its peak.
Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “We’ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they’re mostly not succeeding.”
Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: “I think we’re at the irreversible point.”
By Mignon Evans
www.thenationalintelligence.com
Code RED!
America is under attack! The rising cost of energy threatens our very survival as an independent nation and a world power . The attack is just as devastating as the events of 9/11, even though not as dramatic and visible as the smoking and collapsing towers at the World Trade Center.
Yet our leaders are doing little- - -almost nothing - - - to mobilize us to
defeat this threat, either because they don’t recognize the severity of the threat; or they are too enmeshed in their own political/ social concerns; or they are just cannot let go of their philosophical/ partisan bickering to take constructive action for the good of the country.
Here’s the reality:
We now import about 70% of our oil . That means we are sending more than $700 billion annually overseas, much of it to countries that either are hostile to America or are confronting destabilizing forces at home or in their neighborhoods. The major exporters to us include Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, and Algeria. How do you like the idea of being dependent on them for your air supply?
Quite aside from the price of the oil, consider this:
What would happen if any one or two of these nations were to decide to stop selling petroleum to the US? What would happen if either their domestic pipelines/ facilities were attacked or if international shipping lanes were interdicted? How would our economy be affected?
Yes, it has happened before. Back in October 1973 right after the start of the Yom Kippur War, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to embargo petroleum shipments to the USA and certain Western European nations as retaliation for our support of Israel. We imported only 24% of our oil then.
Those of us with gray hair (or prematurely graying hair) remember it well: the long gas lines; the rationing and price controls; the fear of an inability to get to our jobs or schools or doctors or to pick up our children.
Unfortunately (in retrospect), it ended too quickly. President Nixon had announced a plan dubbed Project Independence to make the US energy independent by 1980. It called for conservation, diversion of funds to mass transit systems, and development of alternative sources.
It probably would have worked (even though the American public would have suffered for a few years). However,, after three months the Arabs turned on the oil spigot again. The crisis was over; Project Independence was shelved; we went back to our carefree, wasteful ways. Sure, the price of gas went up over the next 10-15 years, (oh, my God, by 1980 regular gas was over $1 / gallon!), but that was nothing we couldn’t handle.
Today, it’s different. The exploding price of crude oil hasn‘t ended after a few weeks or a few months. After about a year and a half, it continues its meteoric rise, and that is decimating our economy: Airlines facing bankruptcy; truckers being crushed; automakers / auto dealers shutting down; consumers staying home; retailers and restaurants closing their doors; factories shutting down; employees getting pink slips; government revenues slipping; social services being cut back. The domino effect is breathtaking
It doesn’t have to be this way. The US enjoys the largest deposits of coal in the world. We are the second largest natural gas producer on the globe. Wind turbines located between North Dakota and the Texas Panhandle could produce 20% of all electricity needed in the country. See www.PickensPlan.com
We produce less by a third the electricity generated from nuclear power as do our cousins in the much-smaller European Union. Global oil shale reserves are estimated at 411 gigatons, enough to produce about 3.3 trillion barrels of oil, and the largest deposits in the world are located near the Green River in the Western U.S.
Drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has become a subject of fierce debate. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the OCS (exclusive of Alaska) contains petroleum reserves that could produce about 2.4 million barrels of crude per day in 2030 and 19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas on the same timetable.
That’s a lot of energy, folks! Yet the estimates are probably greatly understated. Be aware of two facts underlying these estimates, both as to quantity and time.
The EIA acknowledges that the timeline assumes that leasing on the OCS would not be available until at least 2012 and that production couldn’t begin before 2017. That sounds a lot like governmental/ bureaucratic foot dragging. A rational person has to wonder how long today’s government bureaucrats - - -if they were transported back in time to 1942,- - -would have estimated the time required on the Manhattan Project to develop the A-Bomb.
As to the quantity of OCS reserves, we need to bear in mind that opportunities to explore these areas have been extremely limited. Therefore, our knowledge of the size of the reserves is likewise extremely limited.
And, one more very important point. A huge amount of publicity has been given by the elite media to the conclusions from the EIA that drilling in the OCS is not economically feasible; will not reach a significant level of production until 2030, and even then will have only a minor, almost insignificant, impact on retail prices. (Of course, it would be money paid to US companies rather than to foreign entities and it would be energy supplies that couldn't be cut off by the whims of a dictator or the violence of terrorists.)
What the public has not been told, however, is how incredibly unreliable this agency’s estimates and projections are.
In its 2007 Report on world price projections for crude oil, EIA offered these numbers (calculated in 2005 dollars):
By 2030
the projected high for a barrel of crude would be $100.
The probable price (“reference price”) would be $60.
The projected low price would be $40.
The EIA tried to correct its absurd estimates in the 2008 Report on Projected Prices (using 2006 dollars). It then came up with these price projections, again for 2030:
The projected high price for a barrel of crude would be $120;.
The probable or reference price would be about $70;
The low price would be about $40
Almost before the report was off the press, we had crossed the $140 -per-barrel line!
The best and perhaps the only conclusion we can draw from this data is that we should not, we dare not, base a major governmental policy regarding offshore drilling on estimates and projections derived from the EIA. That would be akin to entrusting our children and grandchildren to a bus driver who has been known to drive blindfolded and under the influence of alcohol.
The bottom line: We need to act now! We need to come together as a nation and establish a comprehensive energy policy that will establish energy semi-independence in the mid-term. I say, semi-independence because of the substantial quantities we import from Canada and Mexico.
It isn’t only about oil. We must look at the various alternative energy sources and devices: wind power, solar power, biofuels (NOT from corn), natural gas vehicles. We need to develop mass transit. We must, as a people, become conservationists. That could and should be promoted both as an expression of patriotismand as a means of reducing family expenses.
Of course, these projects and modifications won’t solve the crisis overnight or even within a year or two. However, the sooner we get started, the sooner . . .
By Mignon Evans
www.thenationalintelligence.com
CODE RED!
America is under attack! The rising cost of energy threatens our very survival as an independent nation and a world power . The attack is just as devastating as the events of 9/11, even though not as dramatic and visible as the smoking and collapsing towers at the World Trade Center.
Yet our leaders are doing little- - -almost nothing - - - to mobilize us to
defeat this threat, either because they don’t recognize the severity of the threat; or they are too enmeshed in their own political/ social concerns; or they are just cannot let go of their philosophical/ partisan bickering to take constructive action for the good of the country.
Here’s the reality:
We now import about 70% of our oil . That means we are sending more than $700 billion annually overseas, much of it to countries that either are hostile to America or are confronting destabilizing forces at home or in their neighborhoods. The major exporters to us include Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, and Algeria. How do you like the idea of being dependent on them for your air supply?
Quite aside from the price of the oil, consider this:
What would happen if any one or two of these nations were to decide to stop selling petroleum to the US? What would happen if either their domestic pipelines/ facilities were attacked or if international shipping lanes were interdicted? How would our economy be affected?
Yes, it has happened before. Back in October 1973 right after the start of the Yom Kippur War, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to embargo petroleum shipments to the USA and certain Western European nations as retaliation for our support of Israel. We imported only 24% of our oil then.
Those of us with gray hair (or prematurely graying hair) remember it well: the long gas lines; the rationing and price controls; the fear of an inability to get to our jobs or schools or doctors or to pick up our children.
Unfortunately (in retrospect), it ended too quickly. President Nixon had announced a plan dubbed Project Independence to make the US energy independent by 1980. It called for conservation, diversion of funds to mass transit systems, and development of alternative sources.
It probably would have worked (even though the American public would have suffered for a few years). However,, after three months the Arabs turned on the oil spigot again. The crisis was over; Project Independence was shelved; we went back to our carefree, wasteful ways. Sure, the price of gas went up over the next 10-15 years, (oh, my God, by 1980 regular gas was over $1 / gallon!), but that was nothing we couldn’t handle.
Today, it’s different. The exploding price of crude oil hasn‘t ended after a few weeks or a few months. After about a year and a half, it continues its meteoric rise, and that is decimating our economy: Airlines facing bankruptcy; truckers being crushed; automakers / auto dealers shutting down; consumers staying home; retailers and restaurants closing their doors; factories shutting down; employees getting pink slips; government revenues slipping; social services being cut back. The domino effect is breathtaking
It doesn’t have to be this way. The US enjoys the largest deposits of coal in the world. We are the second largest natural gas producer on the globe. Wind turbines located between North Dakota and the Texas Panhandle could produce 20% of all electricity needed in the country. See www.PickensPlan.com
We produce less by a third the electricity generated from nuclear power as do our cousins in the much-smaller European Union. Global oil shale reserves are estimated at 411 gigatons, enough to produce about 3.3 trillion barrels of oil, and the largest deposits in the world are located near the Green River in the Western U.S.
Drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has become a subject of fierce debate. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the OCS (exclusive of Alaska) contains petroleum reserves that could produce about 2.4 million barrels of crude per day in 2030 and 19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas on the same timetable.
That’s a lot of energy, folks! Yet the estimates are probably greatly understated. Be aware of two facts underlying these estimates, both as to quantity and time.
The EIA acknowledges that the timeline assumes that leasing on the OCS would not be available until at least 2012 and that production couldn’t begin before 2017. That sounds a lot like governmental/ bureaucratic foot dragging. A rational person has to wonder how long today’s government bureaucrats - - -if they were transported back in time to 1942,- - -would have estimated the time required on the Manhattan Project to develop the A-Bomb.
As to the quantity of OCS reserves, we need to bear in mind that opportunities to explore these areas have been extremely limited. Therefore, our knowledge of the size of the reserves is likewise extremely limited.
And, one more very important point. A huge amount of publicity has been given by the elite media to the conclusions from the EIA that drilling in the OCS is not economically feasible; will not reach a significant level of production until 2030, and even then will have only a minor, almost insignificant, impact on retail prices. (Of course, it would be money paid to US companies rather than to foreign entities and it would be energy supplies that couldn't be cut off by the whims of a dictator or the violence of terrorists.)
What the public has not been told, however, is how incredibly unreliable this agency’s estimates and projections are.
In its 2007 Report on world price projections for crude oil, EIA offered these numbers (calculated in 2005 dollars):
By 2030
the projected high for a barrel of crude would be $100.
The probable price (“reference price”) would be $60.
The projected low price would be $40.
The EIA tried to correct its absurd estimates in the 2008 Report on Projected Prices (using 2006 dollars). It then came up with these price projections, again for 2030:
The projected high price for a barrel of crude would be $120;.
The probable or reference price would be about $70;
The low price would be about $40
Almost before the report was off the press, we had crossed the $140 -per-barrel line!
The best and perhaps the only conclusion we can draw from this data is that we should not, we dare not, base a major governmental policy regarding offshore drilling on estimates and projections derived from the EIA. That would be akin to entrusting our children and grandchildren to a bus driver who has been known to drive blindfolded and under the influence of alcohol.
The bottom line: We need to act now! We need to come together as a nation and establish a comprehensive energy policy that will establish energy semi-independence in the mid-term. I say, semi-independence because of the substantial quantities we import from Canada and Mexico.
It isn’t only about oil. We must look at the various alternative energy sources and devices: wind power, solar power, biofuels (NOT from corn), natural gas vehicles. We need to develop mass transit. We must, as a people, become conservationists. That could and should be promoted both as an expression of patriotismand as a means of reducing family expenses.
Of course, these projects and modifications won’t solve the crisis overnight or even within a year or two. However, the sooner we get started, the sooner . . .