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Pistis
01-03-2008, 08:03 AM
Looking at the history of oil prices below, it's revealing to see how rises in oil prices have been mostly associated with US intervention in foreign nations and how this intervention comes back to hurt us. Of course, Ron Paul has been saying this for decades.

My comments in italics.


1970: The official price of Saudi crude oil is fixed at 1.80 dollars per barrel.

1974: Prices pass 10 dollars per barrel after the first oil shock, sparked by the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Kissinger was the main foreign-policy man during this period. The US came down on the side of the Israelis but also supported Egypt (Israel's enemies) and actually stopped Israel from destroying a trapped Egyptian army during the war. This was used as an opportunity to compel Egypt to get rid of Soviet influence in Egyptian affairs and side with the US instead


1979: Prices pass 20 dollars as the Islamic revolution in Iran causes a second oil shock.

You can trace the beginnings of the revolution back to 1953 when the CIA ousted the democratically elected leader of Iran from power and installed the Shah who instituted corruption and nepotism in the way he ruled the country. He eventually rebelled against the US & UK.
Fastforward to 1978 and the US & UK fund protests against the Shah and this eventually leads to the 1979 revolution and the transformation of Iran from a monarchy to an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini


1980: Prices top 30 dollars for the first time and progress to 39 dollars in early 1981 at the height of the war between Iran and Iraq.

The US supported Iraq against Iran in this war partly in a bid to reduce Iranian influence in the Middle-East following the Islamic revolution of 1979.
It was during this war that Donald Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam in that infamous picture. Pertinent to note as well that the UN reported that Iraq had used mustard gas and tabun nerve agent against Iranian troops on the same day Rumsfeld visited Saddam.


Sept-Oct 1990: Prices sneak above 40 dollars per barrel amid tension over Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

The US had just supported Saddam's Iraq in a 10-year war against Iran. In addition, the New York Times reported that the American Ambassador in Iraq said that the US government "inspired by the friendship [with Iraq] and not by confrontation, does not have an opinion" ...on the conflict. Saddam took this as US tacit approval for his invasion of Kuwait, afterall they had just supported him in the war against Iran. He was wrong!


March 2003: On the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the price stands at just over 37 dollars.

This was a war based on two premeditated lies. (1) Saddam was involved in 9/11 by selling enriched uranium to Al Quaeda through Niger -- this was proved false before the war started, but was still used as a reason to go to war, (2) Saddam had weapons of mass destruction -- this was also proved wrong before the war by weapons inspectors and intelligence estimates during the ten-year sanctions and bombing of Iraq by the US prior to this war.


Sept 2004: Amid tensions caused by the war in Iraq, prices breech 50 dollars.

June 2005: Prices shoot above 60 dollars.

Aug 2005: Prices rise above 70 dollars when Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf of Mexico, damaging major offshore oil installations.

For a change, this had nothing to do with US intervention in a foreign country. But it is bitterly ironic that a federal government that prides itself on an interventionist approach did not come to the immediate aid of those that suffered from the damaging effects of the hurricane.


Sept 12, 2007: Prices pass 80 dollars as the market worries about the level of US stocks and increasing tension over Iran.

The US is threatening to pre-emptively strike Iran with nuclear weapons based on a fictitious nuclear weapons programme being pursued by Iran.

Oct 18, 2007: Prices go above 90 dollars in electronic dealing.

At this point, the US dollar is weakening and the US federal reserve is inflating the money supply contributing to rising oil prices. Oil producing nations start to de-link from the dollar.


Oct 26, 2007: Prices pass the 92-dollar mark before floor trading opens, fuelled by fears of Turkish military intervention in Iraq and new US sanctions against Iran.

Turkey bombs northern Iraq with US supplied weapons. US applies sanctions against Iraq weeks before a US national intelligence estimate says Iran has no nuclear weapons programme and isn't planning to start one. It appears Bush has kept this news under wraps for months.

Oct 29, 2007: Prices pass the 93-dollar mark, affected by temporary reduction in Mexican production due to bad weather.

Oct 31, 2007: The 94 and 95-dollar marks are passed after the publication of data showing a strong decrease in US stocks and a decision by the US Federal Reserve bank to drop its interest rates again.

The Fed pours gasoline onto the fire by cutting interest rates. Expect to see oil prices going higher due to US dollar inflation.

Nov 1, 2007: For the same reasons the 96-dollar mark is topped.

Nov 6, 2007: The 97-dollar mark is passed due to speculation about a new drop in US oil reserves.

Nov 7, 2007: Prices hit a new record above 98 dollars and close in on 100 dollars a barrel.

Nov 21, 2007: A fresh record of 99.29 dollars a barrel is reached as traders react to tight global energy supplies amid sizzling tensions between Turkey and Iraq. But prices fall back below 90 dollars by the end of the month

Dec 28, 2007: Oil prices hit 97.79 dollars per barrel after the murder of Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and following a sixth successive weekly drop in US crude reserves.

Jan 2, 2008: Prices hit 100 dollars.

A new record for the price of a barrel of oil. If US foreign policy of past & current administration is continued, oil prices will only continue to rise. Ron Paul is the candidate in either party who will make a clean break from this insane foreign policy


I can't locate the original AFP report, but here's a reprint: http://haaba.com/tags/oil?q=node/52882

itshappening
01-03-2008, 08:04 AM
he needs to say it more and graphically illustrate it i.e how much were you paying for gas in 2002?

jesshwarren
01-03-2008, 08:12 AM
Look at the trend :( our country is going the wrong direction way to FAST.

jesshwarren
01-03-2008, 08:13 AM
If it don't stop what next?

Pistis
01-03-2008, 08:34 AM
Some more comments about the weird & insane world of US foreign policy of intervention.


Dec 28, 2007: Oil prices hit 97.79 dollars per barrel after the murder of Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and following a sixth successive weekly drop in US crude reserves.

* We support Musharraf in his 1999 overthrow of the democratically elected government of Pakistan

* We give him 10 billion dollars over 8 years in military & financial aid

* Musharraf finances radical Islamic schools in Pakistan. Students from these schools make up a large part of the Taleban in Afghanistan and many of them subsequently become involved with Osama bin Laden & Al Qaeda

* After 9/11, Musharraf becomes our partner in the War On Terror. He'll help us find Osama bin Laden

* We have bin Laden cornered in the border regions of Pakistan, but we handover the capture to Musharraf who promptly allows bin Laden to escape

* We are losing the 'capture-bin-Laden' turned 'nation-building' war in Afghanistan. Our soldiers are being killed by the Taleban, mostly radicalised by Musharraf's Pakistani fundamental Islamic schools

* Bhutto is assassinated by [alleged] fundamental & radical islamists

* Now, we're talking about going into Pakistan to secure their nukes from radical islamists

Go figure!

JAlli41
01-03-2008, 09:17 AM
as far as gas prices go, it is bad business to keep prices as high as they are because it would mean a move towards energy independence by its best customer, oil will drop again to get us hooked, and the cycle will restart