The direct relation to Iraq, oil and world markets
The old adage *it’s a small world* has never been more accurate than it is today. These stories connect the dots for some that may not understand how tightly woven the world financial markets are and how a disaster or act of war can affect us all.
Oil jumps to above $106 on Iraq violence
The price of oil jumped to above $106 a barrel Thursday as an insurgency in Iraq raised the risk of disruptions to supplies at a time when other major crude-producing countries are already pumping near capacity.
The al-Qaida-inspired group that captured two key cities in Iraq earlier this week vowed Thursday to march on to Baghdad. SOURCE
Oil takes an immediate jump in prices and you can just bet we will feel the *pain at the pump* as soon as the oil companies get the word out to their retailers to raise the prices to reflect the new costs.
That never made sense to me.
How can the oil and gas that is already in America suddenly be more expensive because oil that hasn’t come to America as yet is about to take a huge rise in cost at our pumps? I was thinking that oil was already paid for. Surely the oil companies wouldn’t use a thing like war in Iraq to gouge American consumers … would they?
World stocks lag after US data, oil rises on Iraq
LONDON (AP) — World stock markets were sluggish on Thursday after new data showed retail sales grew less than expected in the U.S. in May, while oil prices rose amid escalating violence in Iraq.
Sentiment has been subdued since the World Bank cut its 2014 growth forecast Tuesday, citing a harsh American winter and the tensions in Ukraine. With many stock indexes hitting record highs this week, that prompted investors to become more cautious. SOURCE
More testament to the way the world financial markets are tied together. A harsh American winter and tensions in the Ukraine have cut the 2014 growth forecast.
Wait, what? Did they say *a harsh American winter*? That can’t be right, what about all that global warming?
What is going on in Iraq and why?
An al-Qaida breakaway group, apparently backed by other Sunni groups and fighters, has seized a large section of northern Iraq after previously taking much of northeastern Syria with an eye toward establishing an Islamic state straddling the two countries. The situation on the ground is changing rapidly, but some patterns and explanations are now emerging: Read More Here
Apparently the piece linked above was written by someone that has a finger on the pulse of what is really going on. It reads more like an Intelligence briefing than a news article from the AP. That might be why there was no author named.
The ramifications of what is currently going on in Iraq are staggering until you consider this; we don’t need their oil, world oil markets shouldn’t affect the American economy in any fashion, well, other than making the USA a lot of money from exports.
North America, the Continental United States, Canada and Alaska possess more oil than ALL of the Mid-East and OPEC nations combined. Any time you hear politicians crying about OIL, and any shortage thereof, you need to slap them with a dose of reality. We have the oil, all we have to do is get Congress and the Senate off of their collective asses and authorize the drilling OF that oil.
And last, but surely not least is this.
Obama: Iraq will need additional US assistance
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday Iraq will need more help from the United States as it seeks to push back a violent Islamic insurgency that has captured two key cities and is vowing to press toward Bagdad.
Obama did not specify what type of assistance the U.S. would be willing to provide, but said he had not ruled out any options.
“We do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria, for that matter,” Obama said during an Oval Office meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. SOURCE
I say this in all honesty; Barack Hussein Obama is, without a doubt, the dumbest man to ever hold forth in the White House. He has NO idea what the world is made of and if his advisors are telling him what to do then they are as dumb as Obama himself.
The Jihadists, be they Taliban, al-Qaeda or whatever the current name may be, already have a lot more than a *foothold* in the Mid-East and Asia.
What Obama and Company apparently fails to comprehend is this; what we are currently seeing in Iraq is exactly what we will be seeing in Afghanistan as soon as U.S. forces are out of the country.
History is surely going to repeat itself in that region of the world, and as I have said in past postings; “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Most Americans know Saudi Arabia has a lot of oil, two of the biggest fields, but Rumaila and West Qurna-2 in Iraq are two of the top five fields in the world. If Al Qaeda gains control of them, it would be a disaster for the rest of the world. And Iraq shares a long border with Saudi Arabia.
Agreed Alan but replace Al Qaeda with Islam. Islam is the problem over there and they are already here in America.
So, how far do we go? Sure, they have oil, yes, it would be bad if it all fell into the arms of al-Qaeda but what can WE do about it?? Short of turning the entire region into a sheet of poor quality glass, we’re pretty limited on options…
But as usual Obama is saying “all options are on the table”. Let’s hope he doesn’t do something stupid to divert our attention from his failed administration. The last thing I expect him to do is to put the power of his pen behind the production of oil, natural gas, and coal.
The latest Iraqi insurgency is going according to schedule.
Sounds crazy, huh?
Uncountable conservative commentators warned that this is exactly what would happen when the US pulled out of Iraq.
However, our liberal friends seemed to have pulled their blinders even tighter about their eyes and refused to see, or accept, the world as it really is. For instance:
” … The US spent more than $14 billion on training and equipping Iraqi security forces. When US forces left Iraq at the end of 2011 (because Maliki refused to sign an agreement extending US military involvement), US politicians and military leaders spoke of how the Iraqis were ready to stand on their own, how the seeds of political reconciliation had been sown by a war that cost more than $2 trillion, 4,486 American lives, and more than 100,000 Iraqi ones.” SOURCE: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0610/Why-Mosul-s-fall-is-a-signature-moment-in-Iraq-video?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily&utm_campaign=20140612_Newsletter%3ADaily_Sailthru&cmpid=ema%3Anws%3ADaily%2520Newsletter%2520%2806-12-2014%29
Some of you may recall what Obama told our troops just before the pull out of American troops from Iraq. America’s great leader said the following: “We remember the surge and we remember the Awakening when the abyss of chaos turned toward the promise of reconciliation…. In handing over responsibility to the Iraqis, you preserved the gains of the last four years and made this day possible. In an area that was once the heart of the insurgency, a combination of fighting and training, politics and partnership brought the promise of peace.” SOURCE: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0610/Why-Mosul-s-fall-is-a-signature-moment-in-Iraq-video?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily&utm_campaign=20140612_Newsletter%3ADaily_Sailthru&cmpid=ema%3Anws%3ADaily%2520Newsletter%2520%2806-12-2014%29
Any FOOL could have predicted — with one hundred per cent reliability — that what is taking place in Iraq today would, indeed, happen.
As much as I hate to think it, I am afraid the worldwide conflagration I have so long warned of and have dreaded for so long — as begun.
May God bless America — and quickly!
J. D. Longstreet
So the Mongolian hordes ride again. This now in the name of Allah. Answer? The sad truth it looks like there is no answer. Energy independence would help and we could at least tell the world to go to hell for a bit of time.
We sure as heck have enough energy resources within this country that we can be self sufficient and tell the players in the middle east to go piss up a rope. However, the Islamo/Marxist in the White House will continue to scam this country saying that we need middle eastern oil and prohibit energy independence. On another note, about seven strategically applied nukes within the sand box could settle things real quick.
Any oil from the Middle East is what I term Conflict Oil or Blood Oil.
Conflict or Blood Diamonds are bad, according to Leftists. But they still love and embrace Conflict & Blood Oil.
We CAN become MUCH more energy independent if we but simply decided to.
BZ