Re: SC30

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HK22Ag01.html

Russia attacks the West's Achilles' heel

Russia has found the Achilles' heel of the US colossus. In concert with its oil-producing partners and the rising powerhouse economies of the East, Russia is altering the foundations of the current US-led liberal global oil-market order, insidiously working to undermine its US-centric nature and slanting it toward serving first and foremost the energy-security needs and the geopolitical

aspirations of the rising East.

All this is at the impending incalculable expense of the West. What is increasingly at stake is secure US access to global energy resources - strategic US energy security - because the West's traditional control respecting those global resources is seriously faltering in the face of the compelling strategies undertaken by Russia and its global partners.

The US giant is increasingly at risk as it faces what is gradually but now more widely being recognized as Russia's clever exploitation of US foreign energy dependency and the hemorrhaging of its all-important economic-geopolitical capital: its traditional global energy leadership and dominance via its onetime virtually all-pervasive oil majors.

US Senator Richard Lugar, who recently labeled Russia an "adversarial regime" that increasingly uses its growing energy dominance as a powerful geopolitical weapon, has warned of economic "catastrophe" for the United States, notwithstanding its status as a superpower. Consequently, informed and reasoned leaders such as Lugar increasingly see the US in energy-based jeopardy..............

.............Odell warned that the Western oil majors were already losing their leadership of the global oil system, had now been reduced to controlling a mere 9% or 10% of the world's reserves, and were unable to win new production rights or even hold on to those granted by current PSAs (production-sharing agreements). Recent developments regarding Russia's Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects, in which the position of the Western oil majors is being threatened, illustrate the ominous trend that is accelerating worldwide.

To rock the US colossus forcefully out of its position of global dominance and credibly threaten to inflict economic and geopolitical "catastrophe" on the West, Russia and its strategic partners need not exceed, nor individually even remotely match, US economic, political or military strength in a conventional head-to-head contest of might.

Instead, they need only to exert effectively their mounting energy-based strengths against US vulnerabilities in that same sphere, not in a conventional head-on confrontation but instead by going after the Achilles' heel by employing a clever asymmetrical end-run strategy around the US. This targets the foundations of the current US-dominated liberal global oil-market order, a strategy that leaves the US giant with significantly reduced secure access to, and control over, global strategic resources.

Once that goal is accomplished, without ever a conventional confrontation with the US giant, then the US economy can be effectively and powerfully held hostage to the political and economic aspirations of Russia and the rising East...............

So new oil discoveries, despite all our modern technology, began decreasing in the early 70's. This realilty alone will put building pressure on all our worldwide, hydrocarbon energy addicted economies. The US, some half a century ago was NO 1 in world oil production. Now of course thats just a distant memory, and the US requires more oil exports every year to meet our quickly growing population, and the energy entensive lifestyles we demand. To put it plainly, Bush and his Pals have made a whole host of enemies in most of the other countries of the world, by his militaristic and illegal premptive moves to control worldwide energy resources. However, the rest of the world is now in the process of developing plans in reference to energy ( like Russia's recent moves ), that will cause the easy availability of cheap and abundant energy for the US, to diminish, and in dramatic fashion. You see just in the last couple of days, Iran, and Syria have opened diplomatic ties to Iraq, for the first time in 25 years. They see how our countries people are not behind this illegal war, are not behind Bushes insane policies, and I think now they even see the possible benifits of what thier cooperation together could bring. You see the signs, and indication on a regular basis, from even the high ranking military leaders, that the Iraq situation is falling apart. Afganistan is in a similiar state. Its clear for all the world's players to see now, that being, the limits of what the current US ground forces can do ( not referencing nuclear options ). Our poor soldiers, in many cases just very young people doing thier best to achieve the objectives given to them by our corrupt US goverment, dying for the lies of our desperate, criminal, leaders, for thier covert policies intent on controlling the vast reserves of Middle East oil and gas. Power is now in the process of shifting, and Bushes illegal and corrupt policy moves have put these changes in high gear. You can read in the article above what Russia is up to. China has been buying up huge oil and gas contracts around the world with any country who will sell to them, and thats pretty much all of them ( supplies not available to the US anymore ). Hugo Chavez is working diligently to unite most of the South American countries against Dictator Bush. Chavez is more and more funneling his oil reserves AWAY from the US, and if he gets what he's after, other South American countries will follow. The Middle Eastern Countries might decide to just work together enough, to kick the US and its 150,000 troops out of thier territories, realizing more and more, just how vunerable the US is becomming, with the Superpowers life blood of hydrocarbon energy needs, being slowly drained from its immense economic body. You put it all together, and it paints a picture of less energy, at increasingly higher prices for the US. It all makes me wish we had true visionary leaders in this country, ones with a sense of solid morals and ethics. But its apparent that those who might initially enter politics with these higher minded ideas, get quickly overwhelmed by the masses of the other kind of " Political Leaders ", like the kind we have running the country now, shortsided, spineless, immoral creatures who are driven by a complete lack of ethics, and a lust for power and money, above all other endeavors, and thier manner, is not going un-noticed, by the other countries in this contentious world we live in.

And here are more wise words of rare truth from our Fearless Leader:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."