Saddam Hussein turned off his oil.

[WriterDom]

Should we care? Pretty good timing considering the oil worker strikes in Venezuela. He's also cutting off most of the revenues to his country. I don't think it will last a month. Israel will withdraw, and he'll claim a victory over the Great Satan.

 

[Siren]

Fuck him

 

[WriterDom]

If we could get the world to agree to not buy his oil, he'd be out of power in a month. But that would never work. When he dies, they will bury him upside down so France and Germany can kiss his ass one last time.

 

[Skibum]

He's probably doing it so he can claim it's "for the oil" when the US moves to take out the terrorists hiding in Iraq.

 

[bored1]

This man must be scared shitless,He knows his days are numbered and is doing everything he can to hang on. When our good friends the "Saudis" cut off the oil I'll be concerned. Thats not gona happen because they depend to much on petro dollars.

 

[p_p_man]

This man must be scared shitless,He knows his days are numbered and is doing everything he can to hang on. When our good friends the "Saudis" cut off the oil I'll be concerned. Thats not gona happen because they depend to much on petro dollars.

America is not the only market.

 

[bored1]

America is not the only market.

I know. I believe the US imports about 6% from Iraq. I see where your boy Blair took a bit of a pounding in the press after his meeting with the out of control cowboy.

 

[LarzMachine]

You guys hear about the bullshit a bunch of Middle Eastern countries tried to pull a while back?
They went to the UN with a sob story about how someday the oil is going to run out. So their claim was they deserved a subsidy to maintain the lifestyles they've grown accustomed to. They based their whole economy on oil and charged outrageous prices for something they're literally finding in the ground, and then they expect Us to foot the bill after they're no longer providing the stuff.
Just watch those pansies in the UN go for it, citing human rights or some such nonsense.

 

[Azwed]

Just watch those pansies in the UN go for it, citing human rights or some such nonsense.

Human rights as nonsense hmhhh.

If only I had a time machine to send you back to say Argentina in the late 70's or Chile in the mid to late 80's.

Maybe Rawanda around 1994 would be a good place.

 

[Mensa]

Iraq supplies about 4% of the world's supply. Shutting it off will hardly make a dent, the gesture is purely symbolic. The only ones harmed by this pathetic move is the Iraqi people who need the currency for necessities.

How is Saddam going to make good on his giving the families of every suicide bomber $25,000 if he cuts off his money tap? The man is not dealing from a full deck.

 

[Azwed]

Iraq supplies about 4% of the world's supply. Shutting it off will hardly make a dent, the gesture is purely symbolic. The only ones harmed by this pathetic move is the Iraqi people who need the currency for necessities.

How is Saddam going to make good on his giving the families of every suicide bomber $25,000 if he cuts of his money tap? The man is not dealing from a full deck.

True but not many people know this. I wonder how much this is going to artificaily raise the price of oil in the US and other countries.

 

[Mensa]

True but not many people know this. I wonder how much this is going to artificaily raise the price of oil in the US and other countries.

Saudi Arabia has already declined to follow. The markets have already adjusted. No problem til a more credible source makes a more meaningful threat.

 

[Closet Desire]

When you rattle sabres...

...people pick sides.

Sometimes it comes down to the lesser of perceived evils. Bush has declared enemies with his axis of evil. Israel has occupied Palestinian territories and targeted individuals for assassination with the perceived backing of the US. Iraq enjoys far more support as an underdog than most Americans realise and an unprovoked attack on Iraq by the US to oust its leader will probably have repercussions that will remind Americans of the 73 embargo. Already there is unity on policy among Arab nations that once were more concerned about bickering with one another.

Oil futures are very ticklish things (energy futures helped bring down Enron, Anderson, et.al.) in spite of the fact that oil would keep flowing from Russia and other major producers, but a small fear multiplies into major effects for countries that absolutely, positively must have their petrol.

The bigger picture, which I notice doesn't get reported on CNN, is more worrying. France, which has the largest Euro population of both Muslims and Jews, is experiencing riots and targeted attacks on both groups. The US is perceived as growing even more xenophobic with newly reported requirements for visas by Europeans and a reduction of tourist stays from six months to 30 days, tariffs on steel imports (which protects an industry that employs a mere 160,000), and a dismissal of world opinion whether it comes from the UN, the EU, or Arab states. Even on the domestic front it appears that Orwell might have been right about events and just a bit off on the dates as big brother puts his foot in the door and steps in.

My fourteen year old daughter was asking me this morning if this sounded a bit like the phases a faltering empire (Roman or English...take your pick she says).

Hmmm...gave me pause to wonder.

 

[MechaBlade]

So this'll all blow over soon, right?

 

[Closet Desire]

chuckle chuckle

Life does have a way of going on doesn't it?

I think the US is facing the same challenges that older countries have had to face. How to deal with aging populations, how to relate to other people in the world, how to deal with infrastructures that are no longer new.

It's sort of like growing up. Lots of us, maybe most of us, start out with an ideal that we want to achieve but in the end we have to compromise on a small piece of it.

 

[Closet Desire]

What is meant by...

...the short hairs.

Just a quick tidbit about why the US should worry about Iraqi oil.

Iraq provides 13% of its exports directly to the US (this came as a surprise to me). Iran and Libya have expressed support for sanctions. Iran can easily choke off the Straits of Hormuz and halt virtually all Mideast oil flow.

The US is trying to stage an economic recovery but fiddle with energy and it could fizzle. The US strategic reserves now measure 560 million barrels (about 50 days worth), half what they did in 1985 while it imports 250% more than it did that same year. Oh yeah, it was Bush senior who began selling it down followed by Clinton to help with the bills.

Venzuelan (sp) flow is at zip due to strikes and disputes in the industry.

Does 560M seem like a lot? The EU has 4.2 billion in reserves and uses less than the US.

I think this is what's meant by having someone by the short hairs.

 

[peterpan]

Oil is going to run out anyway.

Worst thing that can happen is if it is provided cheap and on time up till the last drop. Anyone know how long global supplies are predicted to last currently?

 

[Jimi]

True but not many people know this. I wonder how much this is going to artificaily raise the price of oil in the US and other countries.

The oil companies already did raise the price of gas here... Was down to $.56-$.60 /litre now up to $.66-$.72 /litre.

Go figure...

 

[Azwed]

Oil is going to run out anyway.

Worst thing that can happen is if it is provided cheap and on time up till the last drop. Anyone know how long global supplies are predicted to last currently?

Depends who you ask and what their agenda is.

Most of the calculations I have seen put the world hitting peak oil production with conventional technology in 15-20 years.

Unless new ways are found to extract oil more efficiently and to extract oil from oil shales/oil sands cost effectively world oil prices will go up a good bit. I don't know how much and no one else does either. Too hard to predict something that far away because we have know idea what kind of situation the world might be in then.

Global oil supplys should last another 40 or so years give or take 10 years. This is of course assuming several things in the calculations most notably, no major wars, normal growth of a few percent a year, conventional technology used for extraction.

I don't think any of those things are going to stay constant over the next 20 years let alone 50. Canada and the US have the largest reserves in the form of oil shales/oil sands. If someone can figure out how to extract oil from those sources efficently the US and Canada could be nearly self sufficient for oil.

 

[Jimi]

Depends who you ask and what their agenda is.

...I don't think any of those things are going to stay constant over the next 20 years let alone 50. Canada and the US have the largest reserves in the form of oil shales/oil sands. If someone can figure out how to extract oil from those sources efficently the US and Canada could be nearly self sufficient for oil.

Absolutely. Having been to the Athabaska TarSands projects, and having worked on various "enhanced recovery" wells in the late '70s - I can tell you that the technology is coming along - but the DESIRE needs to be there, also.

Technically, we, in Canada are already "sef-sufficient"- and export a good percentage of our Gas to the Lower 48. I don't know how much oil we export to the US, but I suspect that it counterbalances the Mexican/Venezuelan stuff imported into the Maritime provinces.

The major "fear" here is that the US will become so dependent upon Canadian sources that we won't be able to turn them off when we need them ourselves. Your consumption of HydroCarbons is HUGE - in a "macro" sense - while ours, while less-so in automotive "size" terms (tendency to more efficient vehicles) is still greater on a "per-capita basis", because of climate and distances between centres of population. We're gonna continue to need our oil & gas for at least a century, IMHO.

With a Right-wing US Administration, that opens up many cans of worms as far as we are concerned... Not perhaps as serious as some of our "Looney Left + Ultra-Nationalist" fringes believe, but a "background" concern, nonetheless.

 

[Azwed]

It is pathetic what crappy gas mileage the US cars get.

Ford Windstar is about 20 mpg combined city/highway.

Ford Escape is the same 20 mpg.

The Exploder eerr Explorer and Expedition get around 15-17 mpg.


Most of the other manufacturers are the same. That is truly pathetic.

My 1990 Jeep Cherokee got just under 35 mpg highway and about 25 city. This is when it was 10 years old.

My 1989 pontiac Bonneville can get over 40 mpg highway when the weather cooperates. Normaly it gets a little over 35 highway and just about 29 city.


My friends 1966 Dodge Charger gets about 25 mpg on average. With nice cool weather it can get as high as 28 mpg. This is when an old 3 speed automatic tranny.

 

[Jimi]

It is pathetic what crappy gas mileage the US cars get.

Ford Windstar is about 20 mpg combined city/highway.

Ford Escape is the same 20 mpg.

The Exploder eerr Explorer and Expedition get around 15-17 mpg.


Most of the other manufacturers are the same. That is truly pathetic.

My 1990 Jeep Cherokee got just under 35 mpg highway and about 25 city. This is when it was 10 years old.

My 1989 pontiac Bonneville can get over 40 mpg highway when the weather cooperates. Normaly it gets a little over 35 highway and just about 29 city.


My friends 1966 Dodge Charger gets about 25 mpg on average. With nice cool weather it can get as high as 28 mpg. This is when an old 3 speed automatic tranny.

Yup - My '01 Sentra SE - even w/ Mama's obligatory "slush-box" is pretty frugal - as low as 7 litres/100 Km. Her Neon w/ 3-speed is about 8...

(sorry i can't do the math. w/ US gallon - we has Imperial gallon here until 1977).

HOWEVER, there are LOTS & lots of Canucks that DO drive guzzlers... so we in some senses are hoist on our own petard.

That '66 Petty-mobile - I WANT it... Cool ride Post a pic sometime, please!

 

[missy2]

Saddam's oil

maybe his hair won't drip so much now.

 

[gridiron]

The case of the towel heads & their black gold..

Personally.. I can't wait until the day where we can tell those fuckin sand niggers to choke on all that oil.. Soon, we will have engines that can run off of fuel cells.. No, I am not a tree-huggin activist that wants to do away with gas-powered engines.. But frankly, I say fuck the Arabs and their goddamned oil monopolies.. Why do we continue to pay these thieves? Worse yet, why do we do business with Saddam @ all? We should've finished that fuckstick off when we had the chance.. But no.. Instead Bush got cold feet and backed off.. I say let Israel give Arafat hell.. That asshole has been bluffing and stalling long enough.. Kudos to Sharon for taking matters into his own hands to get the job done.. We pussy-foot with these motherfuckers and look what we get? I swear.. If it's one thing that gets me riled up, it's the fact that we continue to let these scum-sucking, bottom-feeding pieces of shit continue to breathe..

-Grid

 

[Azwed]

I can do the conversions. Put those two years of engineering to good use.

There are 3.7854 liters in a US gallon.


So 7 liters is about 1.85 gallons.

There are 1.69 kms in a mile so 100 kms is about 62 miles.