The Snake Oil Medicine Show Goes On - Without George

by pessimist

King George wants to be THE world leader somethin' awful - and that's exactly what he is.

Despite the best Bu$hCo efforts toward dominating the world, those intended to be dominated don't seem to have read the PDB. Take, Iran, for example:

Iran struck two blows against the United States on Saturday -- closing in on a gas deal with Pakistan and India that Washington opposes and promising non-U.S. oil customers to keep its exports flowing. Increasingly strident exchanges between the United States and Iran over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme have raised fears that the world's fourth biggest oil exporter may halt flows, or be forced to do so by international sanctions. The United States slapped a unilateral ban on Iran's oil in the mid-1990s, but Europe and Asia remain big customers. "We strongly believe there is no reason for sanctions, but in any case we will not cut our oil exports. During the 8 year war imposed by Iraq we never stopped exporting," [Iranian Oil Minister] Vaziri told Reuters. "We will continue to meet our obligations to all our customers."

That having been said, Vaziri went on to declare that the proposed natural gas pipeline project which so threatens US oil company energy dominance plans in the region is progressing:

[Vaziri] and Pakistan's oil minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon also told Reuters that Iran, India and Pakistan were close to signing a $7 billion gas pipeline deal in defiance of U.S. pressure. When asked about U.S. pressure, Jadoon said: "That's the (Pakistan) president's problem. I'm the energy minister. I must take care of energy needs."

Such was the motivational incentive presented to India by Iran after the recent visit there by US officials - including King George himself - which was supposed in part to wean India away from this deal:

Iran had said it would go ahead without India if it did not agree to join the pipeline by May.

India needs the developing energy resources even more than either Iran or Pakistan do, so despite the recent arm-twisting delivered to them by Bu$hCo, India cast their lot in favor of the pipeline deal:

India, Pakistan and Iran agreed to press ahead with negotiations to finalise a 2,100 km gas pipeline deal in defiance of US opposition to the venture, Qatari newspaper The Peninsula reported on Sunday.

They know, unlike George, what is really important - and George's desires aren't in that category.

The Indian PM publicly drives that very point home:

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Indian journalists Saturday that discussions are on course on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, despite the Iranian nuclear controversy. "We need that gas. And it is in the interests of all the three countries to see that this project goes on," Singh said on board his special aircraft as he flew to Hanover for an official visit to Germany.

"All three of us have agreed to go ahead with the pipeline proposal," said India's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora after emerging from talks with his Iranian and Pakistani counterparts in Doha. The ministers are attending the three-day International Energy Forum (IEF) that began on Saturday. The three men met to discuss the much-delayed project to pump gas through Pakistan to India during the International Energy Forum bringing together 65 government ministers and top executives from 32 oil and gas companies.

I don't have the specifics on which 32 of the world's oil companies attended, but I'd be willing to bet that at least a couple of the US firms were there. The profit stakes are very high, as there is another big player awaiting an invitation to join this pipeline poker game:

The [Pakistani] government has decided to give special attention to prospective investors from China as the country is in dire need of huge investment in oil and gas sector to meet the gap in demand and supply, a senior government official told the Daily Times on Monday. "Investors from everywhere are welcome to invest in the energy sector. However, we want to remain focused on Chinese companies, which have shown interest again and again [by having] first-hand information on the issue of investing in Pakistan’s energy sector," the official said.

Pakistan isn't the only country attracting China's interest:

China Spans the Globe Searching for New Energy Sources

With a growing economy and 1.3 billion people, China is scrambling for energy resources. The hunt for energy sources has the country looking in places like Angola and Iran - countries that are not U.S. allies. But it is also courting U.S. friends like Saudi Arabia.

Other countries in which China is expressing a desire to purchase or develop energy resources include Russia, Kenya, Brazil, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Autralia, Venezuela, and is contracting with Japanese companies to develop energy efficiency and conservation programs.

As long as George is bent on rustling the world's energy herd instead of progressing into other energy development technologies (and maybe save the American economy in the process by truly creating all those high-wage jobs he's been lamely promising for almost six years now!), there will inevitably come a showdown. George has already backed down over the spy plane incident [more here] and when the Chinese refused to revalue the yuan, so why should they not expect that Chicken(hawk) George will do so again? Bu$hCo inaction in supporting our troops is partly why the retired generals are out there denouncing Hizz Hindni$$, and as Sun Tzu would remind Beijing if he were consulted, one looks for such discord in one's opponent prior to launching an assault.

To put it in terms even a moron Texan-wannabee like George can understand - once the dealer changed the deck, all those aces hidden up that Connecticut Yankee sleeve won't work anymore. George is going to have to play poker with the cards he has, not the ones he wishes he has. That should come as quite a shock to him, for he's never played a fair game in his life, and he's up against a contender who will accept high losses in order to eventually win.



Copyrighted [©] source material contained in this article is presented under the provisions of Fair Use.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This article contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of democracy, economic, environmental, human rights, political, scientific, and social justice issues, among others. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this article is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes.