International Affairs: September 2011 Archives
The global economic and political order is shaped more by geography than most people realize. Does it bother you that most of America's enemies are funded by American dollars spent to buy oil? Well an American oil boom is the leading edge of a global realignment.
Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half. And by 2017, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts the US could be poised to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world's largest oil producer. ...Amy Myers Jaffe of Rice University says in the next decade, new oil in the US, Canada and South America could change the center of gravity of the entire global energy supply.
"Some are now saying, in five or 10 years' time, we're a major oil-producing region, where our production is going up," she says.
The US, Jaffe says, could have 2 trillion barrels of oil waiting to be drilled. South America could hold another 2 trillion. And Canada? 2.4 trillion. That's compared to just 1.2 trillion in the Middle East and north Africa.
Glenn Reynolds says that if he ran Russia or Saudi Arabia he'd be funding American environmentalist groups in an attempt to slow down the boom -- and Glenn certainly knows that Saudi Arabia is already campaigning against "ethical oil".
This energy boom may be the most globally significant event right now, thought it will take many years to be fully realized.
The mainstream media continues to ignore Fast and Furious. Recap:
Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another. Instead, it heightens the culpability of the federal government as Mexico, according to sources, has opened two criminal investigations into the operation that flooded their country with illegal weapons.
Hundreds of people were murdered with these guns, and the Left has been attempting to argue for more restrictions on gun ownership based on anecdotes about American weapons making their way south.
The American media has been ignoring this atrocity for too long, but I don't think they'll be able to muffle it forever.
The Palestinians are trying to get nine Security Council members to vote in favor of creating a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians hope to enlist nine members behind them, even if "the U.S. is going to veto it and embarrass itself," he told Voice of Palestine Radio from New York.For any decision to pass in the 15-member Council, nine affirmative votes are needed, as well as no veto by any of the permanent Security Council members. The United States holds a veto and has promised to use it, if necessary. ...
The Palestinians are trying to win over Gabon, Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The first, west-central African state seemed to have made up its mind to vote for the Palestinians, but the other two remained hesitant, Malki said.
Portugal, earlier still defined as undecided, by Tuesday seemed inclined to vote with the Palestinians, Israeli officials said.
Gabon, Nigeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Portugal. These countries are all impotent in the Real World but thanks to the absurdity of the United Nations we're now forced to beg them hat-in-hand not to hand us a diplomatic defeat.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should have headed off this embarrassment months ago.
(HT: Hot Air.)
Remind me how many people died in Watergate?
The investigation into Gunwalker continues.
After reiterating that every law enforcement agent that has been asked about Operation Fast and Furious has said that there is no way that it could have been a viable law enforcement operation, I asked Chairman Issa if there was any evidence of another reason for the implementation of Operation Fast and Furious and the other alleged gun-walking operations."This was dumb, it was useless, and it was lethal," was the soundbite most of us will take away from the call in answer to that question, but his longer answer -- which I regret I do not have a transcript of -- is far more telling. ...
Issa put it rather bluntly: "The administration wanted to show that guns found in Mexico came from the United States."
He elaborated a bit when he noted that while he wouldn't presume to know the precise goals of Operation Fast and Furious, it certainly did seem to tie in with the narrative the Obama administration was trying to push -- that U.S. guns were turning up at Mexican crime scenes. That allowed, the suggestion hanging in the air was that a goal of the Administration was indeed a "Reichstag fire" designed to support a narrative that has been publicly woven by Attorney General Holder, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano, and President Obama himself on multiple occasions.
I hope that the truth comes out and that all wrongdoers are brought to justice.
Saudia Arabia apparently doesn't like Canada marketing its oil sands as "ethical oil".
Is Saudi Arabia losing its cool over Canada's growing oil sands? It certainly seems that way, based on the Middle East kingdom's bizarre over-reaction to television commercials that promote Canada's "ethical oil," in contrast to oil coming from Saudi Arabia, a regime that oppresses women.The commercials are sponsored by a tiny grassroots organization based in Toronto, EthicalOil.org, that encourages consumers to favour "ethical" oil from Canada over "conflict" oil that comes from undemocratic regimes, where most of the world's oil reserves are located.
I think that "ethical oil" is a great term, and I'm glad it makes our good buddies in Saudia Arabia uncomfortable.
