Watching the oil gauge
Posted January 11, 2007 on 9:33 pm | In the category Iraq, Iran, Middle East, Economy | by KiwiCrude prices dropped 4% in the hours after Bush announced that US ground forces would counter the Shiite militias and the US Navy would be stationing an additional carrier battle group off Iran (Surging total force numbers way beyond 20K or don’t sailors count?).
Given that the war premium in the oil price could be expected to escalate with the war’s escalation, a price REDUCTION might seem puzzling. Or not. It looks as if the Saudis are flooding the market to limit Tehran’s revenues. Saudi Sunnis want to contain Persian Shiites and destabilize Iran’s domestic politics. Or did the Saudis opened the oil spigot merely as a thank-you gesture for Bush’s tilt towards the Iraqi Sunnis?
Are we hearing the opening economic shots in a regional sectarian war? A war we are supposedly “surging” to forestall?
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That is a provocative posting, Kiwi. It highlights the unanticipated consequences of a fight started by a playground bully in a world he does not understand. He has greatly benefitted Iran by fighting in Iraq, has been warned by the Saudis that they will support the Sunnis if he continues to support the Shiites so he decides to threaten the Shiites’ good Iranian friends so the Saudis will not pull the rug out from under our economy. Or something like that.
What worries me is that this is an administration that has proven itself incapable of managing anything remotely resembling a foreign policy so its best laid plans (assuming it has some) could lead only to God/Allah know where. Secretary Rice has proven to be as incompetent a Secretary of State as she was a National Security Council Head. Secretary of Defense Gates has made one of the worst career choices imaginable by joining this group of clowns and the Ringmaster can only blow his whistle and snap his whip and hope for something good to happen. Somewhere. Sometime. Somehow.
Comment by Jeff — January 13, 2007 #