In recent days and months, the price of oil and gas
in U.S.A has been rising steadily. I'd often wondered
if the relation****p between U.S & Iran had anything to
do with this (because a lot of oil and gas has to move
through the PERSIAN GULF). A look at today's paper
gave me a possible clue:
"A civilian ****p contracted by the U.S. military fired
warning shots at two small boats that approached it
in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said Friday, the
latest in a string of similar incidents to trigger concern
in Wa****ngton.
"On several occasions in recent months in the gulf's
narrow Strait of Hormuz, small Iranian boats have app-
roached American war****ps despite warnings to alter
course.
"The Navy said it does not know whether the two
boats that approached the Western Venture cargo
****p on Thursday [04/24/08] were from Iran. Iranian
officials have denied their vessels were involved."
[Based on: News Services article (****p carrying U.S.
cargo fires warning shots), p A26, S.L.P.D., 04/26/08]
*********
"Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news that a
****p under contract to the U.S. Defense Department
fired warning shots at two boats in the Persian Gulf.
Retail gas prices as expected rose further into record
territory, nearing $3.60 a gallon.
"Crude prices rose on initial re****ts that a U.S. ****p
had fired on two Iranian boats; the news raised concerns
that a conflict between U.S. and Iranian forces could
cut oil supplies.
"Light, sweet crude for June delivery hit $119.55
before it settled at $118.52 a barrel."
[Based on: Article (Oil / Prices rise sharply), p A36,
S.L.P.D., 04/26/08]
*********
"Iran is ratcheting up its sup****t for militias in Iraq,
providing them with newly manufactured weapons and
bringing them across the border to receive training from
members of Tehran's elite Republican Guard, U.S.
military officials said Friday [04/25/08]. [....] Mullen
[U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen] warned that the U.S. has the
combat power to strike Tehran if needed. [....] For Iran,
the message is: The U.S. knows what Tehran is doing
and will take action if necessary. [....]"
[Based on: A.P. article (Iran jacks up aid to militias)
by Lolita C. Baldor, p A25, S.L.P.D., 04/26/08]
*********
I remember it was not very long ago when oil at
just $100 a barrel seemed high.
*********
BTW, a little history about who might be affected
most by a rise in gas & oil prices:
"In 1998, Exxon and Mobil signed a US$73.7 billion
definitive agreement to merge and form a new company
called ExxonMobil Cor****ation, the largest company on
the planet. After shareholder and regulatory approvals,
the merger was completed on November 30, 1999. The
merger of Exxon and Mobil was unique in American
history because it reunited the two largest companies
of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil trust, Standard
Oil Company of New Jersey/Exxon and Standard Oil
Company of New York/Mobil, which had been forcibly
separated by government order nearly a century earlier.
As a result of the merger, it became largest merger in
US cor****ate history. [....]
"In 2005, ExxonMobil's stock price surged in par-
allel with rising oil prices, surpassing General Electric
as the largest cor****ation in the world in terms of
market capitalization. At the end of 2005, it re****ted
record profits of US $36 billion in annual income, up
42% from the previous year (the overall annual income
was an all-time record for annual income by any
business, and included $10 billion in the third quarter
alone, also an all-time record income for a single
quarter by any business). The company and the
American Petroleum Institute, the oil and chemical
industry's lobbying apparatus, tried to downplay its
success in order to avoid consumer criticism by
putting up page-long ads in major American news-
papers, such as The New York Times, The Wash-
ington Post, comparing oil industry profits to those
of other large industries such as pharmaceuticals
and banking."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon-Mobil
[This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable
references. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (February 2008)]
*********
Is the price paid for oil and gas in the U.S. tied to
actions in the Middle East? Are economy & karma
related to the extent that one becomes the effect of
the other? Is the War in Iraq but a prelude to a War
in Iran? I can't really say for certain, but activities in
the Persian Gulf can appear to affect the price of oil
and gas.
Other questions I'm starting to ask myself - and
contemplate - are:
"How are the world's wars going to be paid for?"
"Do destructive man-made cataclysms warrant -
by the law of karma - natural disasters in places
that "create" weapons of destruction that harm
the planet (a "living" body) and the people living
on it?
"Is the planet Mars a result of technology gone
bad? And an historical reminder of what could
happen to Earth? (Remember the movie Planet
of the Apes? Where the history of a planet was
controlled by the people in power.)
Etznab
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