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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Keith Feral who wrote (147943)	10/14/2004 9:26:01 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Keith: I have spent close to a decade consulting in the oil industry. I have a very good handle on why oil is priced as it is right now, and very little of it has anything to do with terrorism. We are our own worst enemies in this regard, continuing to assume that relatively low cost oil would always be available to us - and building a society and cities around that premise. The world is much more complex than I think you'd like to believe, and even though you are willing to engage in speculation on overseas conspiracy, you (and most people) seem perfectly unwilling to look at home to understand what role we have played in all this. Frankly, if I was a leader of a sovereign country, I'd be considering whether I want to sell my oil now, or in the next decade when it will be worth twice (or ten times) as much. You want the benefits of the market? Then play by its rules. The seller gets to decide when he wants to sell and for what price. The buyer decides when he wants to buy and if the price is acceptable.

To: Keith Feral who wrote (147943)	10/14/2004 10:22:11 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

We catered to these people throughout the 90's and it drove them nuts. The price of oil went nowhere. They had to crash planes in the WTC to get our attention. Now they have it and the price of oil has doubled. Do you not acknowledge any blame on the part of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the whole Islamic elements of the OPEC cartel that are profiting from the social chaos they created? You know, I've read this a few times and it makes no sense whatsoever. Are you actually claiming bin Laden did 9/11 to drive up the price of oil? I don't think even Cheney would go that far. Bin Laden is much more of a threat to the Saudi govenment than he is to the US. He might even have been a threat to Saddam, if Saddam hadn't been ruthless in suppression of Islamists. To lump Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden, and Iraq all together into an undifferentiated "they" is, well, pretty typical of W-level thinking, except I don't think even W would go that far.