So, if one of America's objectives of the 2nd Iraq war was the get the oil flowing, lower the price etc - success! The only problem is that low oil prices now seem to hurt the US economy more than help it as relatively expensive tight oil is a significant part of their economy, and they are starting to take efficiency more seriously now!
clv101 wrote:
So, if one of America's objectives of the 2nd Iraq war was the get the oil flowing, lower the price etc - success!
War always has unintended consequences, but surely if there had not been any American led wars against Iraq, their production would never have tumbled and would now be still higher (unless they had peaked already).
clv101 wrote:
So, if one of America's objectives of the 2nd Iraq war was the get the oil flowing, lower the price etc - success!
War always has unintended consequences, but surely if there had not been any American led wars against Iraq, their production would never have tumbled and would now be still higher (unless they had peaked already).
Way too many variables and turning points in the past to draw that kind of conclusion.
Just when would you have American neutrality in the region begin?
Before placing the Shaw of Iran in power perhaps? Or perhaps after the 444 days. Or we could have chosen to stay out of it when Saddam annexed Kuwait so that production might be included in Iraq's figures today.
And how would you estimate the level of oil infrastructure maintenance that Saddam would have actually done given his and his families penchant for Swiss bank accounts and palaces full of slave girls?
biffvernon wrote:America never ever had any business to go to war in the Middle East.
Ah Humm!! I believe the USA got involved when the UK withdrew after world war II. We have been dealing with some sticky wickets you Brits left behind ever sense.
The US did all in its power to break up the British Empire during and after WW2 and relished the prospect of their new Dollar Empire. You've done very well out of it so don't now try and make it seem an imposition! There are costs to running an empire which have to be set against the considerable profits that the US has made.
kenneal - lagger wrote:The US did all in its power to break up the British Empire during and after WW2 and relished the prospect of their new Dollar Empire. You've done very well out of it so don't now try and make it seem an imposition! There are costs to running an empire which have to be set against the considerable profits that the US has made.
I can't think of anything the US did to "deliberately break up" the British empire any time after 1812. The fact is that the UK was broke and exhausted after two world wars the second of which was brought about by British errors of greed after WWI. Not that corporate America wasn't interested in making money in world wide operations and having the US Navy open doors for them but blaming the British withdrawal on the US is quite a stretch. There was the USSR to contend with after all and you could not have held them back without a large USA presence in NATO.
biffvernon wrote:America never ever had any business to go to war in the Middle East.
Ah Humm!! I believe the USA got involved when the UK withdrew after world war II. We have been dealing with some sticky wickets you Brits left behind ever sense.
And the UK had no business to go to war there either!
biffvernon wrote:America never ever had any business to go to war in the Middle East.
Ah Humm!! I believe the USA got involved when the UK withdrew after world war II. We have been dealing with some sticky wickets you Brits left behind ever sense.
And the UK had no business to go to war there either!
There was quite a bit of business involved. After all it was the road to India and all the tea (and opium) in China.
Really Biff if things had gone your way back then the Spanish armada would have carried the day and we'd both be writing this in Spanish.
biffvernon wrote:I didn't write 'business', I wrote 'business to go to war'. There's a world of difference.
Not to the board of directors at Pratt & Whitney or Boeing.
And they can thank us Brits for letting the US have the patents on the jet engine as part of our war repayments. and then there was the computer as well.
vtsnowedin wrote:after two world wars the second of which was brought about by British errors of greed after WWI.
What do you mean by this?
Peter.
If you will look up a bit of history you will find that the war reparations imposed on Germany after WWI impoverished the German people and created the discontent that allowed Hitler to rise to power.
It is more complicated then that of course but that is the short answer.
