Many believe that there is a war going on between radical Islam and Western values. Is it truly a battle of philosophy and religion? I am curious how many people wonder about what drives the price of oil up?
Instability. So let’s look at the top 10 nations by oil reserves.(in billions of barrels)
1. Saudi Arabia (264.3) – Terrorists from 9/11 were primarily Saudi Arabs. What better way to keep the House of Saud rolling in cash than to support terrorism under the table.
2. Canada (178.8) – For 13 years Chretien ruled with an iron fist that tossed cash out left right and center buying votes. Adscam, HRDC, Gun Registry, etc. All the money that could have paid off our debt and reinforced our armed forces blown on cash envelopes and monogrammed golfballs.
3. Iran (132.5) – Spawned Hezbollah and support terrorism openly.
4. Iraq (115.0) – Saddam supported terrorists and ruled with an iron fist to control the oil money.
5. Kuwait (101.5) – A tiny friend among giants.
6. United Arab Emirates (97.8) – Another tiny friend among giants.
7. Venezuela (79.7) – Hugo Chavez is pushing limits of sanity and joining forces with Iran and Russia.
8. Russia (60.0) – Don’t be fooled by Putin’s G8 Status and friendly trade pacts. Putin likes the instability in the middle east which is why the Russians are indirectly supporting nations where terrorists tend to breed.
9. Libya (39.1) – We know what Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s nation did for terrorism in the 70’s and 80’s before Ronnie Reagan bombed his home, killing his daughter and putting the Libyan terrorism on hold.
10. Nigeria (35.9) – A nation ruled by military generals for decades before the people stepped up and put a civilian (Olusegun Obasanjo) in charge. Just when the nation is looking to be turning a corner, rumours are starting that Al Qaeda has moved their base from Afghanistan to Nigeria.
Breaking down these top ten nations we have 6 that have been indirectly involved in destabilizing the oil supplies of the world which lead to higher oil prices. You can almost toss Russia into the mix due to their support via weapon sales to many of the other nations on this list, including Iraq. (just think SCUD missiles).
This leaves Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada.
Our current government’s stance against terrorism is a refreshing change from the previous governments wishy washy approach. Bravo Stephen Harper. Previous PM Paul Martin has received kudos for getting Canada back on track financially when he was the Finance Minister, but he also had a tripling of oil prices since 1999 to ride and the huge tax surpluses created when big oil started raking in the dough.
So when you go fill your tank up and think it is because of a religious war going on overseas, you might want to rethink what the wars and terrorism are really all about.
Follow the money.
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I found your blog while browsing through Technorati today. I thought this was an excellent analysis of the oil situation. In fact, you can apply the “follow the money” theorem to nearly every major geopolitical issue in order to get to the root of the world’s problems…
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Thanks, RSON. I have also touched up the third to last paragraph. It sounded too much like I was indicating Paul Martin was our current Prime Minister in Canada.
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Even when religion is involved you can still follow the money.