From the ineffable Thomas L. Friedman:
Have you seen the reports that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is suffering from exhaustion? It's probably because he is not sleeping at night. I know why. Watching oil prices fall from $147 a barrel to $57 is not like counting sheep. It's the kind of thing that gives an Iranian autocrat bad dreams.
After all, it was the collapse of global oil prices in the early 1990s that brought down the Soviet Union. And Iran today is looking very Soviet to me.
From HERE.
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
News Review
Lots of interesting little tidbits of news that all in some way or another indicate how things may turn out in the future.
1) HERE you can find pictures of the Chevy Volt, an electrical car from an American automaker (gasp!). Good for them. This is important because the West's addiction to oil absolutely binds our hands regarding political options. Example: Russia's recent foray into Georgia which has been met by--never mind, they have oil.
2) And HERE, a letter from the Catholic bishops of Denver publicly and clearly outlining Catholic (and catholic) teaching on abortion and telling Joe Biden he's wrong, why he's wrong, and why that's important. Wow, that sounds like prophetic ministry from bishops. Go Denver bishops.
3) And HERE we have a picture of the demographic decline of Hungary, which is now at about 1.35 children per woman, with emigration of young people, and plunging marriage rates. God save them.
1) HERE you can find pictures of the Chevy Volt, an electrical car from an American automaker (gasp!). Good for them. This is important because the West's addiction to oil absolutely binds our hands regarding political options. Example: Russia's recent foray into Georgia which has been met by--never mind, they have oil.
2) And HERE, a letter from the Catholic bishops of Denver publicly and clearly outlining Catholic (and catholic) teaching on abortion and telling Joe Biden he's wrong, why he's wrong, and why that's important. Wow, that sounds like prophetic ministry from bishops. Go Denver bishops.
3) And HERE we have a picture of the demographic decline of Hungary, which is now at about 1.35 children per woman, with emigration of young people, and plunging marriage rates. God save them.
Monday, May 26, 2008
John Gray on petroluem prices and war
The growing populations of the [Arabian] Gulf need high or rising oil prices. The US, Europe, Japan, China, and India need stable or falling oil prices. In itself, this could be a manageable conflict; but it coincides with a steep rise in fundamentalism. Rising population and falling incomes are fuelling anti-western movements. It is not easy to envisage a scenario in which these conflicts are peacefully resolved.
John Gray
Al Qaeda and what it means to be modern, p. 65
Faber & Faber, 2003
John Gray
Al Qaeda and what it means to be modern, p. 65
Faber & Faber, 2003
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Latest from Saudi Arabia
Since the US President is there, here are a few links with recent news from The Kingdom, aka the Custodian of the Two Holy Places:
Bush asks for more oil production
POTUS and King of KSA agree on huge arms deal
Saudi Blogger Al Farhan still imprisoned for, uh, talking and stuff
(Sad ironic note, his surname, Al Farhan, means 'the happy one' in Arabic.)
Bush asks for more oil production
POTUS and King of KSA agree on huge arms deal
Saudi Blogger Al Farhan still imprisoned for, uh, talking and stuff
(Sad ironic note, his surname, Al Farhan, means 'the happy one' in Arabic.)
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Die Welt: Terror...right on your doorstep
A quote from the German-Turkish author Zafer Senocak in the German weekly Die Welt, 29 December 2007 [English translation here]
Even if most Muslims refuse to face this truth, terrorism comes from the very heart of Islam, arriving straight from the Koran. […] You do not encounter the true face of Islam at the Conference of German Islam. You find it in countries like Pakistan. That Islam launched a world war. But the world acts as if it never heard anything about it. For many of our contemporaries, the battle is being waged far beyond Turkey. But in the modern planetary village, there is no "far beyond". There is only a "right on your doorstep." […]
But the free world only watches, paralyzed. American policies in Iraq set off and continue to feed much disdain in Europe. When it comes to criticism, Europeans are really unsurpassable. But when it comes to new ideas and political concepts, there is a vacuum. European politics confronted with Muslim terrorism wears itself out trying to undermine all concrete actions. Some want to negotiate - with Hamas, with the Talibans. They offer nuclear reactors to Qadhafi, they roll out the red carpet for the Saudi sovereign. And finally, everything is counted in petrodollars. The West does not even notice how far it has disintegrated, while terrorists of Islam win one victory after another.
Even if most Muslims refuse to face this truth, terrorism comes from the very heart of Islam, arriving straight from the Koran. […] You do not encounter the true face of Islam at the Conference of German Islam. You find it in countries like Pakistan. That Islam launched a world war. But the world acts as if it never heard anything about it. For many of our contemporaries, the battle is being waged far beyond Turkey. But in the modern planetary village, there is no "far beyond". There is only a "right on your doorstep." […]
But the free world only watches, paralyzed. American policies in Iraq set off and continue to feed much disdain in Europe. When it comes to criticism, Europeans are really unsurpassable. But when it comes to new ideas and political concepts, there is a vacuum. European politics confronted with Muslim terrorism wears itself out trying to undermine all concrete actions. Some want to negotiate - with Hamas, with the Talibans. They offer nuclear reactors to Qadhafi, they roll out the red carpet for the Saudi sovereign. And finally, everything is counted in petrodollars. The West does not even notice how far it has disintegrated, while terrorists of Islam win one victory after another.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Oil Running out Faster than Expected?
It will be a big deal when oil runs out, or more precisely, peaks. I mean, when world-wide oil-production starts going down, and prices will start going up faster than they are already. People always like to say that we will then find some way of getting around oil--technology has no bounds, after all. Right?
Wrong. What you will see is certain countries not being able to bribe their citizens any longer, some will be overthrown, some will squelch those movements. It will not be pretty. (I might mention Venezuela, I might mention Yemen...)
Economies in the developing world and MENA will suffer greatly. And guess what? Those are the countries where people are having babies. So you will see even greater atempts to immigrate illegally to places like the US and the EU, and those governments will either be drowned in illegal immigrants, or they will (violently) resist such immigration. Neither option offers a nice picture of the future.
So this is a big deal.
From The Independent:
Scientists have criticised a major review of the world's remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit.
BP's Statistical Review of World Energy, published yesterday, appears to show that the world still has enough "proven" reserves to provide 40 years of consumption at current rates. The assessment, based on officially reported figures, has once again pushed back the estimate of when the world will run dry.
However, scientists led by the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, say that global production of oil is set to peak in the next four years before entering a steepening decline which will have massive consequences for the world economy and the way that we live our lives.
According to "peak oil" theory our consumption of oil will catch, then outstrip our discovery of new reserves and we will begin to deplete known reserves.
Colin Campbell, the head of the depletion centre, said: "It's quite a simple theory and one that any beer drinker understands. The glass starts full and ends empty and the faster you drink it the quicker it's gone."
Dr Campbell, is a former chief geologist and vice-president at a string of oil majors including BP, Shell, Fina, Exxon and ChevronTexaco. He explains that the peak of regular oil - the cheap and easy to extract stuff - has already come and gone in 2005. Even when you factor in the more difficult to extract heavy oil, deep sea reserves, polar regions and liquid taken from gas, the peak will come as soon as 2011, he says.
This scenario is flatly denied by BP, whose chief economist Peter Davies has dismissed the arguments of "peak oil" theorists.
"We don't believe there is an absolute resource constraint. When peak oil comes, it is just as likely to come from consumption peaking, perhaps because of climate change policies as from production peaking."
Wrong. What you will see is certain countries not being able to bribe their citizens any longer, some will be overthrown, some will squelch those movements. It will not be pretty. (I might mention Venezuela, I might mention Yemen...)
Economies in the developing world and MENA will suffer greatly. And guess what? Those are the countries where people are having babies. So you will see even greater atempts to immigrate illegally to places like the US and the EU, and those governments will either be drowned in illegal immigrants, or they will (violently) resist such immigration. Neither option offers a nice picture of the future.
So this is a big deal.
From The Independent:
Scientists have criticised a major review of the world's remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit.
BP's Statistical Review of World Energy, published yesterday, appears to show that the world still has enough "proven" reserves to provide 40 years of consumption at current rates. The assessment, based on officially reported figures, has once again pushed back the estimate of when the world will run dry.
However, scientists led by the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, say that global production of oil is set to peak in the next four years before entering a steepening decline which will have massive consequences for the world economy and the way that we live our lives.
According to "peak oil" theory our consumption of oil will catch, then outstrip our discovery of new reserves and we will begin to deplete known reserves.
Colin Campbell, the head of the depletion centre, said: "It's quite a simple theory and one that any beer drinker understands. The glass starts full and ends empty and the faster you drink it the quicker it's gone."
Dr Campbell, is a former chief geologist and vice-president at a string of oil majors including BP, Shell, Fina, Exxon and ChevronTexaco. He explains that the peak of regular oil - the cheap and easy to extract stuff - has already come and gone in 2005. Even when you factor in the more difficult to extract heavy oil, deep sea reserves, polar regions and liquid taken from gas, the peak will come as soon as 2011, he says.
This scenario is flatly denied by BP, whose chief economist Peter Davies has dismissed the arguments of "peak oil" theorists.
"We don't believe there is an absolute resource constraint. When peak oil comes, it is just as likely to come from consumption peaking, perhaps because of climate change policies as from production peaking."
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Iran and Energy
While this is article is not about Islam specifically, it sheds some light on one of the tension-spots in the lands of Islamdom. Iran is in a difficult spot: ruled by clerics, Shia not Sunni, Persian not Arab...
On the other hand it seems that the Persians have a much richer patrimony and heritage than do Arabs. Why? Because it is not necessarily linked to Islam. So maybe we can hope for the best inspite of the bad headlines. Pray for Persia. It was once a great center of Christendom and can become so again.
"Iranian leaders say they want to develop nuclear power to free petroleum resources for domestic use or export. The United States and other Western countries believe Iran is using the program as a front for building weapons.
"At a time of relatively high prices, oil is clearly providing the Tehran government with enormous strength, but it is also an Achilles heel."
An_Excess_of_Problems_for_Iranian_Energy
On the other hand it seems that the Persians have a much richer patrimony and heritage than do Arabs. Why? Because it is not necessarily linked to Islam. So maybe we can hope for the best inspite of the bad headlines. Pray for Persia. It was once a great center of Christendom and can become so again.
"Iranian leaders say they want to develop nuclear power to free petroleum resources for domestic use or export. The United States and other Western countries believe Iran is using the program as a front for building weapons.
"At a time of relatively high prices, oil is clearly providing the Tehran government with enormous strength, but it is also an Achilles heel."
An_Excess_of_Problems_for_Iranian_Energy
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