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Posts Tagged ‘middle east’

Middle East Meltdown Could Mean Oil at $300 a Barrel, Pump Prices of $9.57 a Gallon

March 3, 2011 Comments off

moneymorning.com [Editor’s Note: U.S. oil prices yesterday (Tuesday) hit their highest levels since September 2008 as investors reacted to fears that Middle East tumult would spread from Libya to such key Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as Iran and Saudi Arabia. But never fear: Even if the Middle East melts down and oil prices soar, there are moves you can make to hedge away your risk. We have two suggestions for you here.] By Martin Hutchinson, Contributing Editor, Money Morning The unrest in the Middle East oil patch is roiling the global oil markets on an almost daily basis. The events in Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other countries are also forcing us to ask that long-dreaded question: What happens if the countries throughout the Middle East region fall to radical governments? The answer is both stunning and surprising. In an absolute worst-case scenario – if the entire Middle East falls under radical control – we could be looking at $300-a-barrel oil and pump prices of $9.57 a gallon. Definitely a stunner. Here’s the surprise: Even such a worst-case outcome would Read more…

Global Food Prices Hit A Record High For The Third Straight Month

March 3, 2011 Comments off

businessinsider.com

Global food prices broke another record in February: higher than January, December and the so-called food crisis of 2008.

The UN index showed a slight decline in sugar prices — still extremely high — with a rise in oil, cereal, dairy and meat.

At this point it’s hard not to see food as a key factor in the Arab revolts.

See Also: 25 Countries That Are Vulnerable To A Food Crisis

chart

Kuwait is the Spear Pointing at the Heart of Saudi Arabia

March 3, 2011 Comments off

Despite the reassurances and promises of change and trinkets for the masses, the front page news continues to reflect that Bahrain is the most dangerous situation for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The reasoning is that the Shi’a will spread their unrest into the Eastern Provinces along the rich oil producing regions of the nation and interrupt the flow of oil operations and embolden the Iranian regime to create mischief against their historic foe. In my opinion, this is a reach as the spear pointing towards the heart of the Kingdom is in Kuwait, a nation which has escaped the mainstream media’s attention up until this point in time.

The reason Bahrain is so key can best be summed up by the United States military interests in the region based there. Unfortunately for the media, the true story is the same one people realized in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Kuwait is the key to destroying the stranglehold the Saudi royal family has held on the Persian Gulf and the revolutionary movements of the region have understood this for twenty years now. When the Iraqi regime was crushed by the U.S. this decade the focus shifted from expelling the various monarchies in the Gulf region to using terror to expel the American “occupiers” as our nation was so labeled.  When the strategy of state sponsored and funded terrorism failed, the revolutionaries and Read more…

Gaddafi warns of bloodbath if West intervenes

March 3, 2011 Comments off

economictimes.indiatimes.com

TRIPOLI: Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi warned on Wednesday “thousands” would die if the West intervened to support the uprising against him, as rebels drove back an attack by his forces on an eastern town.

The chilling warning came as western powers dampened expectations of any early imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, amid a clamour from western states for action to prevent Kadhafi’s warplanes from attacking his own people.

The United States is a “long way” from deciding on whether to impose a no-fly zone, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as two US Navy ships steamed into position off Libya.

The 22-member Arab League appeared to offer an Arab and Read more…

Iran to build permanent naval base in Syria

March 3, 2011 1 comment

www.debka.com

Syria

Just two days after two Iranian warships reached the Syrian port of Latakia via the Suez Canal, Friday, Feb. 25, an Iranian-Syrian naval cooperation accord was signed providing for Iran to build its first Mediterranean naval base at the Syrian port, debkafile’s military and Iranian sources reveal.
The base will include a large Iranian Revolutionary Guards weapons depot stocked with hardware chosen by the IRGC subject to prior notification to Damascus. Latakia harbor will be deepened, widened and provided with new “coastal installations” to accommodate the large warships and submarines destined to use these facilities.

Iran has much to celebrate, debkafile’s military sources report. It has acquired its first military foothold on a Mediterranean shore and its first permanent military presence on Syrian soil. Tehran will be setting in place the logistical infrastructure for accommodating incoming Iranian troops to fight in a potential Middle East war.

According to our sources, the Read more…

Will $200 oil kill the economy?

March 2, 2011 Comments off

money.msn.com

Unrest in key oil-producing nations opens the door to price spikes that could push gas to $7 a gallon and spin the world back into recession. Here’s how we’d get there, and how to protect your portfolio.

Image: Oil drums © Kevin Phillips, Digital Vision, age fotostock


Are your pocketbook and portfolio ready for $200-a-barrel oil?

This kind of dramatic price spike may seem less likely now than a few days ago, with oil markets calming down a bit and the price slipping below $100. But given the instability and unrest rolling through the Middle East and North Africa, it’s a definitely a viable scenario.

For the moment, most oil sector analysts have gone off high alert because of a Saudi Arabian pledge to increase production to make up for any shortfalls sparked by unrest. But that ignores a key angle in all this: There’s simply not enough spare capacity to make up for the production losses we’d see if the rolling crises in the region hit just two or three major producers at once.

This could easily happen, given the heightened Read more…

Bernanke warns on oil price ‘threat’

March 2, 2011 Comments off

news.yahoo.com

Bernanke warns on oil price 'threat' AFP – US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban …
by Andrew Beatty Andrew Beatty

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday warned a “sustained” rise in oil prices could threaten US growth and spark dangerous price rises, as he eyed turmoil in Libya.

Bernanke told Congress he believed unrest in the oil-rich Middle East would result in “temporary” and “modest” increase in US prices, but acknowledged greater risks remain.

“The most likely outcome is that the recent rise in commodity prices will lead to Read more…

Biblical Prophecies Are Being Fulfilled

March 1, 2011 Comments off

examiner.com

Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. God is setting the stage for the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God is setting the stage

Uprisings in Egypt and now Libya are setting the stage for things to come.  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says similar chaos will break out in Europe and North America.  Biblically, all of this will lead to what most of us already know is coming: Read more…

VERY INTERESTING” LEAK”- Resurfaced-The Map of the “New Middle East”

March 1, 2011 Comments off

patriotfreedom.org

The Map of the “New Middle East”
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
A relatively unknown map of the Middle East, NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been circulating around strategic, governmental, NATO, policy and military circles since mid-2006. It has been causally allowed to surface in public, maybe in an attempt to build consensus and to slowly prepare the general public for possible, maybe even cataclysmic, changes in the Middle East. This is a map of a redrawn and restructured Middle East identified as the “New Middle East.”
MAP OF THE NEW MIDDLE EAST

“Hegemony is as old as Mankind…” -Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor
The term “New Middle East” was introduced to the world in June 2006 in Tel Aviv by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was credited by the Western media for coining the term) in replacement of the older and more imposing term, the “Greater Middle East.”

This shift in foreign policy phraseology coincided with the inauguration Read more…

Need Versus Greed

March 1, 2011 Comments off

project-syndicate.org

NEW YORK – India’s great moral leader Mohandas Gandhi famously said that there is enough on Earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed. Today, Gandhi’s insight is being put to the test as never before.

The world is hitting global limits in its use of resources. We are feeling the shocks each day in catastrophic floods, droughts, and storms – and in the resulting surge in prices in the marketplace. Our fate now depends on whether we cooperate or fall victim to self-defeating greed.

The limits to the global economy are new, resulting from the unprecedented size of the world’s population and the unprecedented spread of economic growth to nearly the entire world. There are now seven billion people on the planet, compared to just three billion a half-century ago. Today, average per capita income is $10,000, with the rich world averaging around $40,000 and the developing world around $4,000. That means that the world economy is now producing around $70 trillion in total annual output, compared to around $10 trillion in 1960.

China’s economy is growing at around 10% annually. India’s is growing at Read more…