Reply #35: Glad to

[Coastie for Truth]

The best recent reads are:

1. "House of Bush, House of Saud : The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties: by Craig Unger

2. "A Century Of War : Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order" by F. William Engdahl

Both of which I cited previously.

Unger describes the personalities - especially Bush's deals with Salam binLadin and with Prince Bandar (as well as Prince Talal of Kingdom Holdings). Some in depth discussion of the Carlyle Group (a mutual fund of oil companies and arms manufacturers, and an influence peddler for friends of the Bush family). A good, gossipy read; lots of www.dailykos.com type stuff and Air America type stuff.

Engdahl's book is a bit more "scholarly" (slow read, lots of footnotes and bibliography), but follows the "diplomacy" and "poli sci" and "economics".

Let me tie it all together (but please read both books) - the "west" especially the US and UK - and to a lesser extent the Netherlands - have been playing "power politics" in ME - through proxies, clients, etc. since the days of Queen Victoria. (Here Engdahl gets into the "Corn Laws" and the "Poor Laws" of the UK, and the deportations to Australia).

His thesis is that the US and the UK have created a lot of the hatreds and rivalries by installing compliant autocrats (i.e., "compliant" to US and UK wishes; autocrats to their own people). And, as long as they kept oil flowing to the US and UK - we let them play their little "War Lord" and "oppression" games. Engdahl treats the whole IP issue as a "diversion" to allow "the children to blow off steam" while "placating local political blocs" in the US and UK. Again, all for oil.

Describing the '67 and '73 wars, Engdahl says that as long as the warring parties did not materially threaten the flow of oil - or the local balance of power - neither the US nor the UK would intervene.

The whole point- according to Engdahl (and to some extent Unger) is that:

1. Israel/Palestine was not the big draw -- oil was.
2. Neither the US nor the UK would intervene


-- as long as the supply of oil was uninterrupted.
-- as long as the balance of power was in relative equilibrium (i.e., the terrorists kept Israel at bay, Israel kept the terrorists at bay)

Filthy and immoral (immoral and cheapening and degrading for everybody -- with the ultimate cheapness and degraradtion being the PNAC NeoCons) --- what we don't do to keep the soccer moms in their Hummers.

AND ACCORDING TO ENGDAHL AND UNGER - THAT HAS LED TO A UNIVERSAL CASE OF "FAILED MORALS."

I have been in alternative, renewable, and "green" energy field most of my professional career. I have seen the filth and slime of the underbelly -- and on a scale with the energy companies, the autocrats, the US, and the UK -- both Israel and the Palestinians are pretty much "clean" (in an honor among thieves sense) in a bad neighborhood and under the slimy thumbs of evil interests. I have been there.