 | | | Status: Public | | Entries: 4 (Private: 0)
| Comments: 1
| | Start Date: Aug 30, 2007
| Last Update: Sep 6, 2007
| | Views: 239
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| | Description: Blog involving my thoughts, politics, oil et al
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| | | | | So close... | | | As you all know President George W Bush is visting Australia during APEC.
Today, despite his 300 man bodyguard and a complete city-wide lockdown. Homegrown stunt team, The Chasers, have managed, using a fake motorcade to get within ten feet of the President's hotel, when one member was dressed up as Osama Bin Laden!
Today's events have highlighted serious security issues with the President's security and both theirs and our ability to actually keep out terrorists.
Perhaps this will be a wakeup call. 300 men without the proper training et al,
If anyone would like to comment please do so, and on a final note the Chasers boys are in custody but they can't really do anything to them, more of a threat than anything else. |
| The Saudi Connection | | | Well, the whole point of today's blog is for me to report on a Saudi American connection that whilst most of you, i believe, already know about, i would like to nonetheless offer this to you.
The background of Saudi Arabia, which is crucial to this discussion, is that it is ruled by a monarchy/dynasty known as the House of Saud. All of the members in this family are known as Wahhabis, basically a "pure" interpretation of the Qu' Ran (i believe that is the spelling), which is taken literally.
The family has been known to use this "connection" to hold onto their wealth and maintain control over the populace.
In 1933, when the British left the Saudi area, the rights for the country's oil rights were sold to the Standard Oil of California Company for USD250 000.
This oil was so under-exploited and under-explored that the amount of oil at that point coming out was extremely minimal.
When it became obvious that they could extract large amounts of oil with minimal effort the Saudis collaborated with the US so they could control the flow.
In fact it was known that by the end of WWII Saudi Arabia was producing 300 000 bpd (barrels per day), which went direct to the US and the Income went direct to Ibn Saud's bank account.
Then later in Egypt, the Saudi leader was the only Arab who met US President Roosevelt and it has been reported that Roosevelt explicitly committed his country to protecting the power base of Saudi Arabia "for the people".
Despite the fact that the $400 million that the US paid for the oil to Ibn Saud between 1946-1953 was never spent on development they did not interfere in their internal affairs, as they did to numerous other countries and still are today.
In 1946 the country spent $150 000 on building schools and $2 MILLION was spent on building Ibn Saud's royal garage.
By 1950 Saudi Arabia and America were intricately linked militarily and financially.
Soon it was time for the US to hold up its end of the deal.
In the 1950's Saudi citizens began to express admiration for Nasser's Egypt, a liberal rule.
1959 it was published in a magazine called Al-Musawar that proved that the CIA was cooperating with Saudi Arabia to set up pro-Muslim political groups all over the country that promoted Wahhabism.
The CIA did this to cement the US' control in the region, as well as this oil in Saudi Arabia would only remain unlimited if the House of Saud was in power, therefore it became crucial to have them in power.
The final piece to this is the foreign policy of the US to the Saudis and vice-versa. It appears to be very convenient and beneficial to both parties. |
| Are we at the end of an Era? | | | m growing more restless with each passing day. And after the conversations I've been having with readers for the past few weeks, it appears that a lot of you are too.
And it's quotes like this that fuel it . . .
"You cannot convince any (OPEC) member to add more crude to the market because we have enough crude, there's enough oil in the market, we don't know what to do with it." --OPEC Secretary General Abdulla El-Badri.
More oil than we know what to do with? I can't help but wonder if they would be comfortable with oil prices over $80 or even $90 a barrel.
It was only a few weeks ago that oil broke past $78 a barrel. Since then, prices fell briefly below $70 before rebounding again. Not surprisingly, oil prices are higher than last year, when a barrel of crude cost roughly $66.45. Around this time in 2004, a barrel of oil was only about $39.39.
The next few months are going to be critical.
In the past, oil prices typically dropped as we get closer to winter. Last January, prices tumbled into the mid-$40 range. Yet there are still some reports estimating that we'll see $95 a barrel before next year.
The truth is that 2007 and 2008 are going to put peak oil to the test. Although I've been saying this all year, it's imperative that we understand this: The world's demand for oil is going to levels that cannot be met by global production.
Production simply will not be able to keep up.
Take China, for example. Last month, the country imported 39% more oil than last year. The massive discovery at Jidong Nanpu is turning out to be smaller than first estimated. Is it still a significant find for China? Absolutely. But it won't be nearly enough to satisfy their oil thirst.
Here's what I'm waiting for . . .
When the world is consuming more than 88 million barrels every day next year and begging OPEC to increase production, will they?
We don't know whether they are even capable of doing so. With the amount of water they're pumping into Ghawar nowadays, it's probably more of an aquarium than an oil reserve.
According to the Hirsch report published a few years ago, "The peaking of world production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem." I couldn't agree more.
Furthermore, the longer we wait to do something, the worse the effects will be.
And just imagine how much energy we'll be consuming when there's over nine and a half billion people in the world in 2050! Or when it becomes apparent that countries like China aren't able to slow their momentum.
One of the worst things that could happen is for oil prices to retreat this winter. It would give us a false sense that everything is just fine and dandy.
Lower oil prices would lead to several problems:
*
There would be less money available to develop unconventional sources like deep water deposits, oil shales and tar sands.
*
Development of alternative and renewable energy projects would be delayed.
*
The lack of new exploration and development would be disastrous as oil production remains stagnant.
Things are going to get very interesting over the next few months, that's for sure. Personally, I'm not too concerned that oil prices will slip below $60 a barrel. We ran out of $50 oil this year.
Maybe restless was the wrong word to use. I think a better one is excitement. Oil field discoveries peaked decades ago. And the last barrels of oil are going to come from unconventional sources.
http://www.energyandcapital.com/arti...vest-opec/502/
There have been many articles and reports such as this suggesting oil has reached its peak and demand is overtaking supply.
Of course the petrol prices would also lead you to believe this is so, but an alternate theory put out by some is that a small family of elite, those that control oil companies, are deliberately choking the amount of oil being put out for consumption thus driving oil prices up.
Whilst it is an interesting theory we must remember that oil was first used back in the middle ages and has been used since then. In fact its growth has been exponential, much like computers.
Just fuel for thought, especially since governments aren't currently investing heavily in other energy forms. |
| My Theories on Humanity | | | Well what better way to kick off my very own blog than stating my laws for the universe!
The first law of Humanity, i realise, is something called the Law of Collectivity.
The Law of Collectivity states that:
' Men of all cultures do not walk alone. Instead they walk in two's or in groups. When you sit alone, you will not be alone for long, your energy draws people towards you in a similar state to your own. Thus if you are positive you will soon attract somebody that is also positive, then another person, and so on.
This Law also states that people seek groups because everyone needs energy. Attention is another form of energy that people like to have. '
My Second Law is the Law of Securities
People like to have security in their own lives and thus, try to change themselves or their security to meet their requirements.
But before i delve into the states i would like to describe some of the syndromes:
Cocky syndrome:
The cocky syndrome is when one attempts to show that he is better than others, attempts to prove it or in anyway inflate his belief in himself to the detriment of others.
Helpful in small doses, dangerously addictive
Tall Poppy syndrome:
The tall poppy syndrome is when attempts to 'drag others down to their level'.
Basically if they believe someone is doing well, they are actively working to destablise them (subconscious) or are trying to lower their self esteem telling them that 'They'll never do it, they're not good enough'
Very dangerous and destabilising to others, also does not help in the creation of positive energy.
Moving on to the states:
It can be classified as three states:- Supremacy
- Oversecurity
- Insecurity
Supremacy:
Supremacy is the state of security achieved when one believes himself to better than all others, not even reason will convince him otherwise. Whilst this is a mentally healthy state it is damaging to networks and friendships.
The associated illnesses of this state are:
The Cocky Syndrome
Oversecurity:
Oversecurity is when one deems himself to be dominant to others, yet there is a level of insecurity.
Whilst the person may appear to the outside world to be calm, confident and in control they are constantly trying to prove themselves to the world. Showing off and such.
These people may sometimes convince themselves that they are better than others.
Their methods for reaching this state are two fold.
They use the cocky syndrome in abandon, not only to try to convince others, but mainly to reassure their own doubts.
They also use the tall poppy syndrome to try to convince others are worthless and to constantly keep themselves above other people.
Insecurity:
Insecurity is a state in the Law of Security when a person is in self turmoil about themselves.
They can be seen as extreme show offs, always flexing their muscles or attempting to be strong-arms. The majority of the people in this state use these tactics to raise their energies.
Passive:
This means the person is passive to discussions and interactions within his peer group. Thus by not following along and acting sad they draw attention to themselves and therefore more energy.
Strong-arm:
These people are the ones that use strong-arm tactics to try to better their image in front of others. They claim respect from others and generally fight those that they know they can beat. They can energy through fear and also feigned respect others show.
The people that fall into this category use tall poppy syndrome in abandon to try to rationalise themselves that "they arent that good"
Well this sums up my Laws on Humanity, any suggestions or things to include just let me know  |
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