When the oil weapon was first unsheathed in 1973, it had a dramatic and lasting effect on the world economy and Western states. As a weapon of economic embargo, no one can deny its success, quadrupling the price of the world's major commodity in the space of a few days. However, its political effectiveness is less than clear-cut. United States tends not to be susceptible to quick changes in policy through economic cajoling. Most of the Arab demands in 1973 with regards to the Palestinians and Israel remained unfulfilled, although an amicable cease-fire was brokered by the United States. Today in the Middle East it is widely accepted that, - "Economics.has taken priority over politics, co-operation has replaced confrontation". The Middle East is not in the position it was in 1973 with regards to oil exports, and with natural gas and new oil finds outside the Middle East coming into play it does not have the kind of monopoly on energy that it once had. However it would be foolish to write off the oil "weapon", even if conventional wisdom tells us that it will not be used again. It is worth remembering that firstly 67% of the worlds known oil resources reside in the region, and secondly, - "the principle developments in world oil over the past two decades have come largely as surprises, and many of these have run directly counter to conventional wisdom among policy-makers, analysts, and scholars". The Gulf Crisis of 1991 was essentially about oil, the world fearing a shock on the scale of 1973, assembled the greatest concentration of military might since the end of the Second World War. The control and manipulation of oil will continue not only to dominate the Middle East, but the entire world.
The reason for the split in OPEC in the mid 1970s was due in part from the fact that the economies of OPEC countries were now more than ever before in their history, integrated in the world community.
Venezuela is one of the top five oil exporters in the world. ... Then the Spaniards discovered they could use the oil to help maintain their weapons. ... He sought nationalization of the oil industry. ... With Middle Eastern countries rising oil prices, the call for Venezuelan oil was heard. ... He provided the United States with cheap oil. ...
For the past thirty years Alaska has been a primary source of domestic oil. ... Over the past twenty years, the question of whether or to open the ANWR to oil exploration has become a social problem due to the negative eco-impacts, and has brought increased attention to the American political agenda. ... Because the question of whether or not to drill has become a partisan debate, both sides have significant political power. Although the proposal to drill was led by the Bush Administration and other high-ranking government officials, public opinion was probably one of the most powerful we...
The Electoral College - which consists of politically adept professionals who decide for us who will run our government - was designed by our founding fathers as a way to avoid crucial decisions being made by the politically inept populace. ... Did I also mention that Halliburton not only has the largest contract in Iraq, and the monopoly of the oil and gas industry, they also supplied the weapons, military support services, and through their subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root - an engineering firm - they and Bechtel will be responsible for the reconstruction of the war torn country as well. ....
This enormous source is known as oil. Oil is plentiful in the Middle East with the two largest holders, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, managing the oil price time bomb. ... German and British oil companies negotiated joint ownership of the Turkish Petroleum Company which would produce oil in Mesopotamia(now know as Iraq). ... Britain knew oil would be crucial and the Secretary of the British Cabinet , Sir Maurice Hankey stated: "Control of these oil suppliers becomes a first-class war aim." ... Hussein also accused Kuwait of illegally pumping oil from Iraq's Rumaila oil field. ...
The Political Environment: Political risk assessment thoroughly analyzes the political risks of foreign countries that international businesses may encounter. ... A smaller scale risk is the micro political risk, which applies to only a specific company or industry, such as the nationalization of the oil industry in Saudi Arabia. ... Political risk is high when dealing with oil and gas pipelines because pipelines are the natural resources that countries can exploit for their own economic and political gain. ... Turkey is rated as moderately politically risky and Azerbaijan is rated as high...
Below is a brief and generic description of each of the three traditional weapons of mass destruction - Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Weapons. ... It became a notion of pride for countries to possess nuclear weapons and the numbers of these potentially devastating weapons continued to grow. ... Sophisticated weapons such as bombs, missiles, or simpler methods such as fertilizer planes and other strategic delivery systems can deliver these weapons. ... Biological weapons consist of live cellular-organisms as opposed to chemical compositions in chemical weapons. ... From a milita...
Therefore, the supply of energy and economic issues, as well as diplomatic and political crises crisis need to live being a regional power, Turkey, due to the sensitivity of the energy sector as well as leave in the lurch. ... However, Iran, with its rich oil reserves, geo-strategic location and efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, the United States has an important place strategy. ... This Accordingly, the Eurasia region, its rich oil and natural gas reserves, it is a vital and strategic importance of the region to the forefront extracting. ... USA, nuclear and other purged of conventional wea...
He was an American neoconservative political analyst and commentator. ... William Kristol taught political philosophy and American politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. ... Whereas in 1999, Iraq smuggled only about $3 billion ayear in illicit oil exports. To Syria alone, Baghdad is smuggling something like 200,000 barrels of oil per day. "2 Former chief weapons inspector Richard Butler warns the United States and says, "Iraq remains at work on its WMD program, and that containment is not the answer."3 Lawrence Kaplan and William Kristol a...
Unlike the Cold War when most conflict rose from political and ideological motives, the future is set for global struggles over resources, especially oil and fresh water. ... Unfortunately, two-thirds of the world's remaining oil reserves are in the Persian Gulf region, the least democratic, most politically unstable, least respectful of human right and most prone to terrorism. ... Conflicts over petroleum are the hottest battle field in the world nowadays, and people around the world are convinced that whatever the problems related to nuclear and chemical weapons, the main reason drawing...
