Sunday, April 02, 2023

Oil prices increase 8%, the US can't take another round of inflation

A little over 20 years ago, the US declared war on Iraq over oil.  How'd that work out?  Not very good.  In September of 2007, Richard Adams (GUARDIAN) reported:


Alan Greenspan, the consummate Washington insider and long-time head of the US central bank, has backed the position taken by many anti-war critics - that the invasion of Iraq was motivated by oil.

His claim comes in his newly published autobiography, The Age of Turbulence, in which he also castigates George Bush's administration for making "grave mistakes" in economic policy.

Sounding more like an activist than a lifelong Republican who worked alongside six US presidents, Mr Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said in an interview with the Guardian that the invasion of Iraq was aimed at protecting Middle East oil reserves: "I thought the issue of weapons of mass destruction as the excuse was utterly beside the point."


A war over oil.  And yet here we are with ever increasing prices.  THAI PBS WORLD notes, "Major oil powers led by Saudi Arabia announced a surprise production cut of more than one million barrels per day on Sunday, calling it a “precautionary” move aimed at stabilising the market."  AP insists, "Higher oil prices would help fill Russian President Vladimir Putin’s coffers as his country wages war on Ukraine and force Americans and others to pay even more at the pump amid worldwide inflation." Australia's ABC adds, "Cuts by Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Algeria and Oman from May to the end of the year will top one million barrels per day -- the biggest reduction since the OPEC+ cartel slashed two million barrels per day in October."  Seban Scaria (ZAWYA) explains, "Last month oil prices plunged close to $70 per barrel following fears of an imminent global banking crisis triggered by the collapse of US-based Silicon Valley Bank and Geneva's Credit Suisse. However, prices came back up to close to $80 a barrel recently following supply disruptions in Iraq." 

The announcements already having an impact.  It's already Monday in other parts of the world and Massoud A Derhally (THE NATIONAL) reports:


Oil prices soared in early trading on Monday after Opec+ producers pledged to collectively cut output by 1.16 million barrels of crude per day on Sunday.

Both Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, and West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, had jumped more than 6 per cent before giving some gains but were still trading strong.

Brent had gained 5.57 per cent and was trading at $84.34 a barrel at 6.37am UAE time, while WTI was up 5.64 per cent to $79.94 a barrel.


CNBC notes the early morning surge and puts it at 8%.  Yongchang Chin and Alex Longley (BLOOMBERG NEWS) offer, "The White House said the OPEC+ decision was ill-advised, while adding the US would work with producers and consumers with a focus on gasoline prices. Last year, President Joe Biden ordered an unprecedented release from the nation’s strategic crude reserves after Russia invasion of Ukraine."  And Amr Salem (IRAQI NEWS) notes, "The Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced on Saturday that oil export revenues for March exceeded 7.4 billion USD."


It's past time to stop the proxy war and if Joe Biden wants to be re-elected or wants another Democrat elected to the White House in 2024, he needs to drop the war on Russia, he needs to stop sending billions of US tax dollars to Ukraine and grasp that the American people cannot stomach another huge round of inflation.  His war of choice has destroyed the American economy.   It's past time to stop funding Ukraine.


Meanwhile, Margaret Griffis (ANTIWAR.COM) reports, "During March, at least 85 people were killed, and 41 more were wounded across Iraq."


Also at ANTIWAR.COM, John V. Walsh explains:

On March 29, the Senate voted to repeal two Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, (AUMF’s), one passed in 1991 and another in 2002. The repeal now goes to the House. But those Authorizations are irrelevant to the present; they apply only to the Iraq war. But a third AUMF, passed in 2001, was left untouched. And that AUMF is the only one that has a bearing on the present moment, because it provides legal cover for the many US military operations, open and secret, around the world.

The 1991 and 2002 AUMF’s gave Congressional approval for two wars on Iraq, known, respectively, as Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the hundreds of thousands left dead and the millions displaced as a result of the US wars on Iraq, the Senate repeal should be filed under "too little, too late. But good PR."

The 2001 AUMF authorizing secret wars left untouched and still in force

The AUMF of 2001, the one untouched by the Senate, is an entirely different matter. Its content and use are explained in a nutshell here:

"The authorization granted the President the authority to use all “necessary and appropriate force” against those whom he determined “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the September 11 attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups…. Since 2001, U.S. Presidents have interpreted their authority under the AUMF to extend beyond al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to apply to numerous other groups as well as other geographic locales. ….Today, the full list of actors the US military is fighting or believes itself authorized to fight under the 2001 AUMF is classified and therefore a secret unknown to the American public.

"The AUMF has also been cited by a wide variety of US officials as justification for continuing US military actions all over the world. (Emphasis, jw)…. According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, published May 11, 2016, at that time the 2001 AUMF had been cited 37 times in connection with actions in 14 countries and on the high seas. The report stated that ‘Of the 37 occurrences, 18 were made during the Bush Administration, and 19 have been made during the Obama Administration.’ The countries that were mentioned in the report included Afghanistan, Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria and Yemen."


Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Ron's Disney World Tantrum" went up earlier today.   The following sites updated:








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