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Originally Posted by Rochard
This is a common misconception - that all oil comes from the Middle East.
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I didn't say that, and I'm aware of the domestic entry points or sources of oil.
Though I only glancingly referred to the corporate interests, in the case of oil these are trans-global and certainly the oil lobby works hard at getting US foreign policy (and by extension the British) to reflect their needs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
Since WWII, the US has been overly concerned with oil production and rightfully so.
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This is debatable to me but it's done, and now it seems the huge western-based multinationals seem to be reaching for every last drop for the world market demand on what's been referred to the beginning/end of peak oil.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
This is not the general policy of the US government or even any department, but instead rouge operatives financing their case of the moment.
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They never become "rogue" until they're outed, though; and though there are usually very skimpy paper trails back to the high offices of government, these kinds of operations are usually undisclosed and "indicators" (and too often not enough proof) point to administration/s that turn a blind eye.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
We've invaded Afghanistan, have we taken over the Opium market? No, of course not.
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I don't know... do you? I mean the whole crack/cocaine epidemic was evidently aided by CIA involvement, if not entirely set up by "rogue" operatives trying to win the drug war in South America - which, statistically, they succeeded in that they destroyed the Colombian networks and operations, but in terms of drug entry to the US they lost big time because of the consolidation of most of the supply to a few, cooperative cocaine kingpins.
More recently we've had unfortunate blowback from the DEA/CIA "Operation Fast & Furious" around the Mexican drug wars and gun smuggling.
When the US first kicked out the Taliban, I expected opium production to start again; European and North American markets had been seriously depressed and had opened up to black market pharmaceuticals and pot trafficking, as well as all kinds of chemical stimulants and opiate substitutes. Then when they installed Karzai as head of Afghanistan and his brother ended up joining the government (after spending a decade in the Chicago "restaurant" business apparently), and his employ by the CIA in forming special Afghan strike teams, etc., you just knew the opium market was going to explode, and start drug and organized crime wars. Sure enough, Mexico went nuts, the US east coast, both north and south, had their regime changes, and even here in Montreal the "old skool" dons and established families had some serious assassinations and mobster related action.
This is all since 2005 or so. There's no actual documented revelations yet (the situation is still too fresh), but lots of incidentals, reports and internal memos have come out about Karzai (who denied everything) and the CIA (who apparently don't have anyone but spokespeople working for them), opium production (which has skyrocketed since the Taliban were ousted) and other juicy details that all point to a new lucrative source of financing and intelligence networking for the "rogues".
I'm just waiting for a Daniel Ellsberg or Seymour Hersh to dig up the dirt...
:D
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