Tag Archives: oil

International, U.S.

World War 3: Battles continue between Government forces and freedom fighters, 2 NATO/ISAF soldiers killed

The Afghan Interior Ministry reporting that military operations in several provinces are continuing.  They claim dozens of mujahideen have been killed.

Afghan police, Afghan army, Afghan intelligence and U.S./NATO/ISAF forces have been engaged in battles in Nangarhar, Uruzagn, Ghazni and Herat provinces.

On March 22, a U.K. soldier was killed in Helmand Province, when the vehicle he was in hit a mine (aka roadside bomb, IED).

Also on March 22, a French soldier was killed in Kapisa Province.  ISAF officials claim it was not due to combat, but they refused to give a reason for his death.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Oil & Gas Prices: More Hypocrisy; the U.S. exempts EU & Japan from Iran oil sanctions

In a move that is hypocritical, the United States has exempted 10 European Union countries, and Japan, from U.S. imposed Iran oil sanctions.

It also brings up the question: What was the point?

I already showed how, under the Bush jr administration, U.S. corporations were exempted from future sanctions against Iran, back in 2000!

The countries now granted exemptions from the U.S. oil sanctions are Belgium, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Japan.

Again: What was the point of the U.S. imposed sanctions against Iran, if the U.S. is going to grant exemptions to other countries, and, a Republican created law in 2000 already exempts U.S. corporations from having to obey any sanctions anyway?

Business/Economics, International

Oil & Gas Prices: Russian Gasoline exports making big money, Russia imposes big fuel tax! How would you like to pay as little as $2.00 per gallon?

For the first time Russian export gasoline (petrol) sales are making more money that domestic sales.

Last week Russian export premium gasoline hit $1,050 per ton.  Domestically sold premium gas was at $970 per ton.  Russian fuel exports have also increased in volume.

Most of Russia’s exported refined fuels go to Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) members, but export customers also include Virgin Islands and Netherlands.

Interestingly, the surge in fuel exports comes even after Russia imposed a 90% customs tax!  Analysts say even with such an outrageous tax, Russian fuel exports are still profitable because of how high the price of oil is.

According to Russian media, the price of premium gasoline, in the CIS countries, varies from $4.00 per gallon in some parts of Russia, to as little as $2.00 per gallon in parts of Kazakhstan!  ($1.00 per liter in Russia, 50 cents per liter in Kazakhstan)

International, U.S.

World War 3: Russia supports UN resolution on Syria, but only if….

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said Russia will support a resolution on Syria proposed by Kofi Annan, but only if two conditions are met.

One: The details of the resolution are made public.

Two: That it is not an “Ultimatum”, but an on going process of dialog to “…end to violence on all sides…”

International, U.S.

World War 3: Afghans torch NATO convoy, violence against women increases, Karzai shuts down 58 private security companies

In Farah Province it seems the “Taliban” have started the Spring Offensive early.

A convoy of U.S./NATO/ISAF fuel tankers has been destroyed, and several people killed.  Also, in a separate incident two militants were detained and accused of plotting to launch an attack on Afghan forces.

The fuel convoy was being escorted by a private security company, two of the security guards were killed.

Speaking of private security companies, the media hasn’t talked about the Afghan President’s mission to shut them down. Turns out that Hamid Karzai ordered an end to privately run security companies.  So far 58 companies have been shut down.  Another 40 have been given an extra three months to get out a town!

In Kandahar yet more attacks.  Afghan National Security (ANS) forces say several of their troops were killed and wounded in the past 24 hours.  They claim it was the result of military operations against anti-government militants.  Although the ANS listed the types of weapons they confiscated, they did not mention any casualties on the militant side.

Afghan police claim that violence against women is on the increase.  In the latest case a Baghlan Province woman was found with her head shaved, made to sit in the snow, was beaten with cables, and was forced into prostitution by her husband.

Afghan officials are praising their increased efforts to end violence against women, but the woman in the latest case says she had been tortured for the past three years of marriage, and had asked for help from the police several times!!!

Because the Afghan officials are finally doing something about violence against women, it might seem like there’s an increase in the violence.  But like the woman said, in her case it had been going on for three years, and she told the authorities several times.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Obama issues National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order. The closest thing to Martial Law yet! Controls food supply! Preps for Total War!

Very quietly, on March 16, 2012, Nobel prize winning U.S. President Barack Obama issued a new Executive Order: National Defense Resources Preparedness.

If you think the military industrial complex is big now, guess what!

The bulk of the Order focuses on creating a full blown Total War military industry.  Obama stresses the need to “improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the domestic industrial base to support national defense requirements” and “to foster cooperation between the defense and commercial sectors for research and development and for acquisition of materials, services, components, and equipment to enhance industrial base efficiency and responsiveness.”

The Order establishes the officials who will lead the Defense Production Act Committee, and orders the Secretary of Commerce to co-operate with the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security!

It also orders six Departments to begin prioritizing and allocating resources respective to food, health care, transportation, resources for industries, and even water supply (assigned to the Department of Defense)!

“The Secretary of each agency delegated authority under subsection (a) of this section (resource departments) shall plan for and issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources and establish standards and procedures by which the authority shall be used to promote the national defense, under both emergency and non-emergency conditions.”

The Order even gets into the details of providing loans to companies involved with providing for National Defense!

It makes the Secretary of Defense the go to man for funding, as he is now acting  Defense Production Act Fund Manager.

The Order places the Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of the National Defense Executive Reserve (NDER), including the “…establishment, recruitment, training, monitoring, and activation of NDER units…”

The Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Defense, will “…collect and maintain data necessary to make a continuing appraisal of the Nation’s workforce…”  and develop “…policies regulating the induction and deferment of persons for duty in the armed services…”

“Executive Order 12919 of June 3, 1994, and sections 401(3) (4) of Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988, are revoked.”

Executive Order 12919 deals with national defense industrial resource policies and programs.   Executive Order 12656 deals with emergency preparedness responsibilities.

The major differences between this National Defense Resources Preparedness, and those made in the past, is the use of the term “non-emergencies”, several times in the order.  Also, the desire to control food & water supplies as well as health care and transportation.

From Section 201: “…to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense…”

This is for real people! This is basically an order that puts the United States in a Total War stance. “Total war is the practice of war where nearly all the resources of a society are employed to defeat an opponent.”–Silvapages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Oil & Gas Prices: U.S. oil sanctions have actually increased Iranian oil sales! Saudi oil sales increase! Algeria oil increase! Ecuador oil increase! Iraq planning to avoid Strait of Hormuz

According to the Joint Organization Data Initiative (JODI), Iranian oil sales have gone up since the United States started their sanctions games last year!

In January 2012, Iran exported 2.265 million barrels per day. The highest since December 2008!

Of course part of the increase is from customers stocking up now, ’cause they’re afraid the Iranian oil supply will end due to new sanctions and a possible war (again, no thanks to the United States, European Union and Israel).

Those same sanctions, and threats of war, have also increased Saudi Arabian oil sales to the United States.  U.S. officials managed to get Saudi officials to change their minds about not increasing oil production, at a recent IEF meeting.

Canadian media reporting that Saudi oil exports to the U.S. have already increased by 25%.

Algeria and Ecuador have also increased oil production.  Algeria by 18%, Ecuador by 41%!

All this comes at a time when oil industry leaders say there is plenty of oil in the system. It could be a sign of stockpiling before the Third World War gets going full throttle.

Iraq is preparing by planning oil shipment routes that will avoid the Strait of Hormuz. They plan to build new pipelines to Turkey: “Short and mid-term plans will be through boosting crude pumping and upgrading export capacity via Ceyhan port in Turkey. Also to increase the number of trucks that are shipping crude.”-Iraqi government statement

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: More than one year later people still uprising in U.S. puppet Bahrain, Saudi Arabia killing hundreds, U.S. police chief advising evil government

“We have clear demands: An elected government, a parliament with power, an end to sectarian discrimination, a clear redistribution of wealth and power and all demands guaranteed by the international convention on human rights!”-Nabeel Rajab, Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The people of Bahrain began protesting the extreme minority U.S. puppet government in February 2011.  Since then Saudi Arabia invaded with the help of Kuwait and UAE.

“Thousands of people are marching in the streets, demanding the removal of the regime, police fired tear gas and bird shot, using excessive force, that is why people got hurt.”-Maryam Alkhawaja, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, February 15, 2011

The U.S. Navy’s main port of call in the Persian gulf, is in Bahrain, and the Obama administration welcomed the Saudi led invasion: “The discussions highlighted the importance of the U.S. Saudi partnership rooted in strong historical ties and shared interests.”-statement U.S. Department of State

There was also news that Saudi Arabia was building a base to augment the USN 5th Fleet HQ, in preparations for war with Iran.

Today, March 19, 2012, protesters are shouting “Death to Al Saud! Death to Al Kahlifah!”  Referencing the royal families of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

On March 11, 2012, Bahraini officials said they were investigating the deaths of at least 107 protestors.  Observers say the death toll is much higher.

Bahrainis say that at least 3,000 people have been arrested since last year, with hundreds reporting torture, and dozens of women reporting rape.

Bahrainis also reported that the Salafi/Wahab Saudi invaders have destroyed at least 28 Shi’a Mosques.

Ever notice how little information is being reported by western media concerning the uprisings in Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia?  Yet the Western governments are able to come up with instantaneous number concerning deaths in Syria. As if they literally pulled them out of their asses!

By the way, at least half the number of deaths in Syria, reported by the UN and other pro-U.S. groups, are Syrian military and police personnel. Something the Western media doesn’t point out!

As another example of Western media hypocrisy and ignorance concerning the on going uprising in Bahrain, a recent Wall Street Journal article referred to it as “…Bahrain’s unrest last year…”, as if the uprising was finished!

What’s also been ignored by the Western media is that the Bahraini government arrested, and sentenced to 15 years in prison, at least 20 doctors and medical personnel.  They were charged with being traitors for providing medical help to protestors who were wounded by police and Saudi forces!

On March 10, 2012, the Bahraini government said they would consider reducing sentences of five of the 20 doctors, if it would help start talks between the government and opposition parties.

The thing is they never asked the opposition parties: “We haven’t heard officially from them yet.”-Abduljalil Khalil, Wefaq political party

Several people have been killed by Saudi forces since last week.  Those deaths are being caused by excessive use of tear gas. Some people have died after being hit in the head by tear gas grenades fired from grenade launchers.

But most people are dying after their homes are flooded with tear gas.  That’s right, the Saudi forces are firing tear gas into houses, not just at protestors in the street: “Government forces not only assault unarmed street protesters with tear gas during the day, they also attack innocent women, children, and the elderly with tear gas in their homes at night.“-Physicians for Human Rights

The Bahraini government has made it a crime for doctors to list tear gas as the cause of death: “…authorities also reportedly prohibit doctors from listing tear gas as a cause of death. Instead, coerced doctors have reportedly cited natural or unknown causes of death for some tear gas related casualties.”-Physicians for Human Rights

These changes in reporting causes of death come after a former U.S. police chief started advising the evil government. John Timoney, the controversial former Miami police chief well known for orchestrating brutal crackdowns on protests in Miami and Philadelphia, is now working hand in hand with former Scotland Yard copper, John Yates, advising the Bahraini security forces. 

The latest death involved a 41 year old man who died on March 16, 2012, after his house was flooded with tear gas.  He wasn’t even on the street protesting!

 

Tens of thousands of Bahrainis have been protesting in their capital Manama, since March 10, 2012.  One observer said: “It is the biggest demonstration in the past year. I would say it could be over 100,000!”-Reuters’ photographer

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Proof that U.S. forces officially operating in Rogue Mode, detainees placed in prisons known to U.S. forces as torture sites

“They said they would rape me, and one time they took a stick and dipped it into chili powder and threatened to insert the stick into my anus. They tried to pull off my pants. When they did that, I confessed to everything they wanted.”-prisoner at Kandahar prison

“After [the torture] was finished I told them that I only confessed because of the beating. But they responded to that by beating me again. I swear by God and by my children that I am innocent.”-prisoner at Kandahar prison

U.S. forces know prisons use torture because they were told about it in an order in 2011!  However, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has evidence of several cases where people were sent to the torture prisons, after U.S. personnel were ordered to stop such practices, and it looks like U.S. forces also operate their own torture centers!

The United States detains thousands of individuals all across Afghanistan, with the majority held in the Detention Facility in Parwan (DFIP) as well as a number of temporary detention sites, including a secretive U.S. screening facility at Bagram Air Base run by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).-report titled Torture, Transfers, and Denial of Due Process: The Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan

Investigators discovered there are U.S. units that officially operate outside NATO/ISAF command, even though there’s only one commander for Afghan operations: USMC General John Allen.  However there are some U.S. units that are even exempt from General Allen’s authority!

It is important to note that some U.S. forces in Afghanistan operate as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), a U.S. led counter-terrorism coalition that is separate from ISAF forces. Known as U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), most of these non-ISAF U.S. forces are special operations forces and also referred to as Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan (CFSOCC-A). CFSOCC-A forces frequently conduct operations in which individuals are detained. USFOR-A is under the command of General John Allen, who also serves as the commander of ISAF (COM-ISAF). There are also a number of U.S. military units that operate separately from ISAF and USFOR-A forces, and are not under the command of General Allen.-report titled Torture, Transfers, and Denial of Due Process: The Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan

Investigators also discovered that prisoners have tried to report the torture, but are punished for doing so: “I have nothing else to say. They will put me somewhere else after I talk to you. They will disappear me.”-prisoner in Herat prison

They even torture children: “We wrote a complaint letter once, but the director found out, and then we got hit very hard with the pipe after that.”-child prisoner Juvenile Corrections Center in Helmand

The latest investigation was conducted between February 2011 and January 2012.  In September 2011, the United Nations said they found evidence of torture at 16 detention centers in Afghanistan.

The latest report also talks about coalition forces and goes into detail about torture run by U.S. supported Afghan prisons.  Torture, Transfers, and Denial of Due Process:The Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. citizen killed in Yemen, anti-U.S. protests rage, foreign teachers being targeted

March 18, 2012, as protest against the U.S. puppet government of Yemen rage on, a U.S. citizen is assassinated.

Witnesses say two men on a motorcycle shot and killed the director of the Swedish Language Center, located in the city of Taez.  The director is a U.S. citizen.

This follows the kidnapping of a teacher from Switzerland on Friday, March 16.