Russians in Ukraine
Posted by: JamieWednesday on 28 February 2014
Perhaps inevitable but wtf?!?!?
Dear CFMF,
I think one of the things that one never knows when trawling the internet is whether any specific author is a place man with an undisclosed agenda, whether it be KGB style or even CIA style.
My Englsih grandfather had it right when he said that you should believe nothing you heard and not more than half you read, and at least then you may have a quarter of the truth.
I thought that sounded like a tru-ism when I thought about it, but really he was right.
Skepticism all the way is crucial. And carefully assessing sources of news and other important information over a long term scale, rather than just searching the net for a quick backing up of one's own ideas.
The usual judgement in the truth of the matter in any given case comes long after with the verdict of history, and even then history comes with a perspective. There are those even today who would have it that had WW2 ended with a different victory then Euopean culture would have been better served. I find such a view abhorrent but the truth remains that my perspective is of living in a country that was one of the victorious allies ...
ATB from George
George
I like your "tongue in cheek" style.
I never met your Grandfather; old people say all kinds of things.
I take a special interest in energy related matters.
The events of the last few years have had a common thread running through them that an astute observer such as yourself should have picked up on long ago.
You should brush up on the Carter Doctrine.
Controlling the transfer of petroleum and natural gas from the Persian gulf and Central Asia is a really big hint.
But someone so insightful should already know all this.
Figure it out already!
ATB
BBM
The usual judgement in the truth of the matter in any given case comes long after with the verdict of history, and even then history comes with a perspective.
Exactly George, and yet national leaders are required to turn on a sixpence and make swift decisions based on the best intel of the moment. Scary, yet the benefit of hindsight is always set in the future when the decision has to be made. Tardis anyone?
CFMF, I'm skeptical about that interpretation of geopolitics. America has more than enough natural resources for its gas and petroleum requirements, for her needing to worry about controlling/gaining access to other countries' supplies.
Well if that's what you think, look at this...
US will always remain a crude oil importer
Note that US oil production peaked in 1970 (blue line), and then look at the black line representing total petroleum imports. Then read the article.
I also suggest reading about the Carter Doctrine...
BBM
CW,
If you want to learn more about the World energy situation, I suggest watching this video featuring David Hughes speaking at Cornell University. I have met David, and he is extremely knowledgable and sincere. He spent 32 years as a geoscientist with the Canadian Geological Survey...
J. David Hughes: The Energy Sustainability Dilemma
Next, we have a video featuring Steve Kopits speaking at Columbia University. He discusses the two means of predicting future oil supply, among other things. Watch for slide #18, where Kopits shows that the oil industry has spent 2.5 trillion dollars since 2005 on finding new conventional oil reserves, with a net result of a 1 million barrels per day drop in production. This is compared to the years 1998 - 2005 where 1.5 trillion in spending raised production by 8.6 million barrels. He covers a lot in a relatively short time, so pay attention...
Oil Supply and Demand Forecasting with Steven Kopits
Next, we have an excellent article by Gail Tverberg that discusses capital expenditures (capex) in the oil industry, and how the oil majors are cutting back in this area. She makes many references to the Kopits presentation, but her specialty is finance, so a very worthwhile read...
Beginning of the End? Oil Companies Cut Back on Spending | Our Finite World
Lastly, sustained high World oil prices are causing a drag on GDP growth in the industrialized economies. Here's an excellent article on this topic...
Financial Press - Breaking Business & Economic News
Enjoy
BBM
George
I like your "tongue in cheek" style.
I never met your Grandfather; old people say all kinds of things.
I take a special interest in energy related matters.
The events of the last few years have had a common thread running through them that an astute observer such as yourself should have picked up on long ago.
You should brush up on the Carter Doctrine.
Controlling the transfer of petroleum and natural gas from the Persian gulf and Central Asia is a really big hint.
But someone so insightful should already know all this.
Figure it out already!
ATB
BBM
Dear CFNF,
The USA promoting regime change to secure oil supplies did not start with Carter.
Read about the toppling of the Mosadeck [I am afraid that spelling may well be wrong as I am going off general knowledge rather than recent reading] in Iran in 1952, where the USA and the UK oversaw a firstly unsuccessful and second go successful change of regime and the return to Iran of the Shah of Persia.
Of course in 1952 Britain was still an important World Power and an equal partner to the USA in this coupe.
One does not need to be privy to the inner workings of MOSAD, the CIA or the British Secret Intelligence Services to know that there is a great deal of under-cover work being done to secure the interests of the Western Economies by these organisations.
It is my view that the UK is now a third rate World Power and demonstrably morally bankrupt, and so we should strip down our military capacity to level of GDP equivalent to the rest of Western European Nations, and stop bothering to support the USA in its gung-ho approach to World Affairs.
I was talking earlier to a Polish friend and he assured me that the Ukrainians of Russian or Ukrainian descent have little sympathy from many Poles. "The're all Russians really, so let Russian have the Ukraine as a buffer against Europe ..."
"Let's keep from a World War over the place."
A salutary thought perhaps.
ATB from George
George
You are exactly right regarding the overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran in 1953. I did not mention this because it is a contentious issue in some minds in the West, and I've already been accused of speculation, and even of being delusional. Oh well...
The Carter Doctrine was a response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The US wanted to maintain it's hegemony in the Persian Gulf, and Carter's policy was meant to deter the Soviets from trying to change that. This policy is still in use to the present day, and it explains the Iraq War and the present standoff with Iran. Iraq has 140 billion barrels of light sweet crude, and Iran has 155 billion barrels...
Venezuela and Canada can really be removed from the above list because their proven reserves are almost entirely made up of unconventional oil, which is either extremely heavy sulphur-laden crude, or tar sands. Both of these are hard to extract and costly to refine, so they really belong in another category altogether. One can then see the importance of the reserves in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE. Kinda puts things in perspective, huh?
This crisis in the Ukraine is part of the Great Game still being played by the US and Russia. It's all about spheres of influence, and the control of energy flows.
I agree completely regarding World War.
BBM
Dear CFMF,
Though I wrecked your name initially, I think you will appreciate that I am not a child [or childish], and have a long view.
We are little people [the normal people in the UK], who have a vote on occasion, but the reality is that the powers that be will continue to have their way, be they Russians or American Plutocrats. But as little people in a little nation like Britain, we need to get out of the way and have a democracy on the lines of the Norwegians [I am half Norwegian], now that we are not a World Power on the Norwegian level. We should consider a neutrality based on European mutual defines including our good friends the Polish.
From that position we might regain some authority to spell the truth in a more dispassionate way.
ATB from George
Am important documentary about the Arctic Convoys that helped defeat the Nazi threat ant strangely leave us with questions about our relations with Putin in Russia concerning the fate of the Ukraine.
ATB from George
I wonder what Salvador Allende thought about paranoid fantasies...
I don't know who "your" is in regard to nascent utopianism, but it ain't mine...the US just keeps trying a bigger hammer, and it is largely in concert with the EU in many ways - same cabal behind them.
I see tough times ahead for most everyone, until this unwinds (not Ukraine, but the bigger picture.)
Tough times for everyone except the elite who profit from every crisis, is the most likely outcome.
On that, Char, we agree...
An interesting article on American exceptionalism and hypocrisy...
Reagan-Style Hypocrisy and the Ukraine Crisis | Common Dreams
BBM
We are surely qualified to help and mediate the situation!
Probably shooting at a Russian sub.
I remember visiting Norway [in the early 1970s] and the Norwaegians had trapped a Soviet "sub" in the Oslo Fjord. There was a serious diplomatic stand-off, and while there the NMOD announced they had "lost" the USSR sub.
Bloody amazing really!
ATB from George