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Rated: E · Essay · Business · #1363314
I give a theoretical answer to the question what do we do about our oil situation.
         The war in the Middle East has been in the news headlines since I was in elementary school.  I remember looking at a picture in the newspaper detailing weapons from both sides in a comparison chart just like that for the Super Bowl match up.  I was just a little guy in school when I first heard about this.  I always thought there would be a draft like in previous wars.  That never happened.
          The war in Iraq doesn’t appear to be a fight for anyone’s rights as much as it is a fight to gain control of oil deposits. China is working one of Sudan’s largest oil plants.  China is located a quarter of the way around the map.  What are they doing there?  "This is a message to China and Chinese oil companies to stop helping the government with their war in Darfur," said JEM (The Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement) commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr. He added they had taken two oil workers hostage, one Canadian and one Iraqi.”- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071024/wl_nm/sudan_oil_kidnap_dc_2
         The first reason we had taken action in the Middle East was to protect Kuwait from Iraqi invasions.  This was in the early 1990’s.  The Iraqi’s wanted to control the oil deposits in Kuwait; therefore they invade the little country.  Our reasoning for being in the Middle East has changed numerous times the most recent being to confront terrorism.  This is a good reason if it was an original idea and not just a cover up for the real reason we are there.  We originally went over there to protect Kuwait & its people from being invaded. It seems like we never left.
         “Three war clouds hang over the Middle East. The first represents the possibility of American or Israeli military action against Iran's nuclear installations. The second represents the threat of a fresh civil war in Lebanon. The third points to the growing threat of military clash between Israel and Syria.”
         ”While all three clouds are thickening to become more threatening, the third appears the most likely to break into actual thunder and storm. The issue formed a key part of the talks between President George W. Bush and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Washington recently.” June 2007
         “The United States and Iran, as the true adversaries in the undeclared war now raging in the Middle East, seek to control Lebanon.”
         ”The US sees Lebanon not only as a new springboard for the creation of people-based regimes in the region but also as a key element in exerting pressure on Syria either to detach it from the Islamic republic or, if that fails, bring it into the fold through the use of force.”
         Syria may be in danger of attacks from both Israel & the US          
         “The reason why Syria may be in greater danger is that, for the first time in decades, it has moved into a position from which it cannot back out at will. Pushed by Iran into trying to make a comeback in Lebanon, Syria may be heading for a gamble that is not easy to pull off.”

http://www.1.fm/Community/tm.aspx?m=7738
           The Middle East is an ancient place.  It is thought to be where the creation of man came to be.  Numerous stories from the Bible talk about the holy state of Israel.  In being so old it fuels a fire for pride in the any human being whether Muslim or Christian.  Any of these groups of people are willing to fight over it.  People want to control the ancient lands.  The only problem is that the Muslims dominate it in being the people who were born there.  This reasoning seems to be clouded by the idea that there are rich oil deposits here.  Coincidently oil brings vast wealth to any man who controls such power.  To many Americans surprise, oil control is not the real reason that many Muslims leap to the idea of fighting the foreigner to get out.  Their reasoning fueling the fire of fight is the holy idea that they are sacred & will be saved by Allah if they die.  This is much different from the Americans view that every person ought to be free from dictatorship.  We are there trying to set democratic governments for these people so they can live better lives.  Although, this is a good reason to fight because fighting for a weaker person does have motive.  This reason is not as exceptional as the will to die for one’s spirit to be free from oppression.  This pride will be our demise if we don’t have a strategy that completely severs economic ties from these people.
         For a country like Iran to have nuclear weapons is not safe for our country or any other country.  I believe they are a savage country and would stop at nothing to try and take over the world.  They have demonstrated in the past through terrorist activity that they as Muslims do not like Christian Americans. It is in every right of ours to believe that if obtained, nuclear weapons would be the biggest threat of our freedom since the British.  The secretary of state is the diplomatic ambassador, aside from the president, that negotiates with other countries on the welfare of each country’s relationships.  Clearly it would be to a disadvantage to us if Iran obtained nuclear weapons.  To subdue these activities, our government has imposed sanctions on Iran. 
         "Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability constitutes a grave threat and demands a clear statement from the Security Council. Today, we are placing Iran in the small category of states under Security Council sanctions, and sending Iran an unambiguous message that there are serious repercussions to its continued disregard of its obligations and defiance of this important body."
http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c2404.htm
         If you want to establish a sanction on Iran you must not buy their oil.  The secretary of state cannot establish the US as a threat until the US has severed every economic tie with the nation  Only, then can the State department hold negotiating power to say to Iran “Sop building nuclear weapons or else.”
         We are the most advanced, independent country in the world.  Yet will still have downfalls that are so obvious it hurts.  We are not as independent as we think.  We have established a thriving economy that is built to last.  Wonderful for everyone that knows how to use it, it is based on fundamental principles that anyone can learn.  The ideas of our economy have been patterned from worlds dating back to the ancient.  Just because our country is only 230 years old doesn’t mean that its principles are so young.  We started a country of our own because of religious persecution, & a national government of our own to run it.  It has become a great power with moral & ethical fibers.  I don’t believe that Iran or its people can understand this concept.  I don’t believe it is safe for us to deal economically our money, with these people because they as the older government are spiteful. They will do anything in their power to destroy these luxuries and of course we want them to stop.  Their economies compared with ours are much more in the developing stage.  They cannot provide the hospitality for our dollar that we ask.  It makes no sense in dealing with someone like this.  So why do we not stop?  Dealing with them does not contribute to marginal benefit as much as it adds to the cost.  We must sever economic ties.          
         North Korea has nuclear weapons & has conducted underground tests using the enriched uranium it has discovered.  “In a roundtable discussion with the United States and China in Beijing on April 24, 2003, North Korean officials admitted for the first time that they possessed nuclear weapons. Furthermore, North Korean officials claim to have reprocessed spent fuel rods and have threatened to begin exporting nuclear materials unless the United States agrees to one-on-one talks with North Korea.”
         “Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been running especially high since, in early October of 2002, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly informed North Korean officials that the United States was aware that North Korea had a program underway to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Initially North Korea denied this, but later confirmed the veracity of the US claim.”
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/nuke/index.html
         North Korea has been an annoyance to the US for a long time.  They want the ability to protect themselves from an invasion by the US.  They see our Army moving from Japan to Iran and everywhere in between.  They see us expanding democracy just like an empire for the economy of our money to make the rich even richer.  They are scared and possessing an atomic weapon forces the idiots in Washington to take someone else seriously because WW III is necessarily consistent with future predictions.  Cultures have been forced onto weaker people for centuries; expanding through force by the armies, for example, of Egypt, Greece, & Rome.  The Rosetta stone was deciphered & thought to be the key to the ancient language.  They say it’s the only link to understanding this ancient world.  It’s the only thing left.  It doesn’t take much to understand that much has not changed in the moral & ethical ideas of man since then.  People will fight when someone tells them to.  Weapons still have the affect on people as they did then.  The only thing that has changed is the degree to which this can change.  It’s not like a sandstorm is going to force the people to leave this place.  This time it’s going to be self extinction.  An atomic weapon, one that completely destroys everything in its path is the new gold.  Everybody wants it because it strikes fear into the hearts of people.  We are the country that is responsible for it because we are looking out for the welfare of everyone.  The other countries do not see that.  They only see what they want to see.  That is to see Americans in a country that they do not belong.
         Do you think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is buddies with Osama Bin Laden?  I’ll tell you what with the way things go in Washington how could you doubt it. Secretly it could exist; overtly it would lead to certain death for the president of Iran because the republicans here in the US will do anything to say they did something for the better of humanity.  Iran wants Nuclear Weapons for the same reason that everyone else does.  The saying is if the US has them why not everyone.  Then we can blow each other up.  We are like little children on Christmas.  We have our nukes now let’s invade & demand respect from everyone.  Although it has been said that Iran has suspended its nuclear program it still doesn’t mean that the threat is gone forever.  I wish that if certain people learned to coexist everyone else could “just” live their lives.  .  “The White House has quietly admitted that George Bush lied to reporters at a news conference on Tuesday [12/5/07] when he said he was not informed by intelligence officials that Iran's nuclear weapons program had been suspended in 2003.” “[Dana] Perino stated Bush had been told in August that Iran suspended its covert nuclear weapons program.”  Iran has defended itself in that Nuclear Energy is strictly for the purpose of its electrical power & to help advance its economy.  I do not see anything wrong with that.
http://www.nowpublic.com/politics/bush-lied-about-irans-suspended-nuclear-progra...
         The real front is in Pakistan according to top officials. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte created a stir in Pakistan by telling Congress that Pakistan had to do more to address the "sanctuary" that Taliban fighters enjoy in Pakistan before security can improve in Afghanistan.”- http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/16/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-US.php.  If the front on terrorism lies in Pakistan, also, then you have to fight there, too.  You kill cancer by destroying all of it not just the part you see.  Al-Qaida might be compared to the mafia in Italy.  It is rather new being started in only 1988.  This is differentiated from the mafia because the mafia can be dated back to very old times.  It is not inconsistent with patterns though.  The mafia was a group of people usually from the same family that stuck together to gain political or economical power.  It did not exclude the tactic of violent force.  Al-Qaida has a similar attribute in that it was formed to end the influence of foreign people in Muslim countries.  It will stop at nothing.  The attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 are their most noted.  Being the center of Economic policy in most of the western world it did occur to anyone how vulnerable it was.  Now, we have seen it first hand as did many countries in the Middle East who endured centuries of tyranny rule.  From mass genocide to persecution, that type of travesty has been something of old news for these people.  These people have been there since the time of Christ, possibly before.  Who are we to force something new onto them?  Make them endure new pressures just for US interests.  The US is a country that strategically makes alliances with other nations for the benefit of someone.  Al-Qaida doesn’t know a thing about what the marginal benefit of investing in a certain amount of R&D expenditures will do for their economy.  They know to supply the oil and get paid.  This extreme concentration of unknown pressure to produce and profit is something new to them.  They don’t care if they make $10 million or $10 dollars.  They don’t know what it means in the first place.  How can we as leaders say the best thing for anyone is to be a “police action” in the middle east for the innocent people we think are being mistreated.  It’s been like this forever.  It’s nothing new.  But we as Americans are pampered into believing that everyone must have an opportunity to be the best we can be.  The people in the Middle East know from wisdom that this is about as unrealistic as you can get.  Osama will go into a period of rest for now.  He believes he has accomplished something that we as Americans need to think about.  It’s time to step up to the plate. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaida
         We must offer a solution to the calls from abroad.  To hit a homerun we must make a commanding decision that is sensible.  We are not looking at the big picture close enough.  The answer is very simple.  It doesn’t mean leaving millions of people to die in random acts of violence.  By continuing the pressure from our army will not prove anything to these people.  They have learned from centuries of written history that countries get conquered. Who is to think that this is anything different?  This is nothing new to the way of the world as it has been written for any people of religion, economics, engineering, whatever business you are in.  This will not affect you any differently.  We must offer a solution for ourselves.  There are billions of people in the US that rely on their cars to get to & from work.  I mean that these people “just” go to & from work everyday.  Rarely do they depart from this pattern.  What does a powerful car offer to these people? Answer: simply: Nothing.  They do not need anything spectacular, powerful, sporty, or fast to commute to work every morning.  You don’t need a super large oil intoxicated SSSSUUUUUVVVVV to get to work.  A mandatory law requiring the use of an electric or other form of fuel will eliminate the need to consume gasoline all together!  The billions of people that “just” commute everyday will find it cheaper & safer.  This would create a spirit that many Americans have lost to foreign policy.  What is killing the spirit is the foreign dependence on oil; the dependence to the kind of people who do not care whether we are suffering or not.  By being the first to successfully adapt to the call that is so much in our face will lead the way for other nations who have the same dependability to the kind of cartel that doesn’t listen or even care about you!  Other nations will follow because we are not alone.  By utilizing an alternative form of fuel to power our cars we will be dramatically reducing the dependability on foreign nations.  Foreign competition is good only when it is competitive.  We would be sending a message to the Arab world that says “We do not need your stinking oil!”  We remove the power that these oil supplying nations hold onto us.  By delivering a message to every single American that travels to and from work to switch to another form of fuel power will create an American Pride we have so much lost to foreign nations since the Buy American slogan in the 70’s.  This will eliminate the economic tie that we have with these nations & strengthen our diplomatic negotiation word to these people.  The people of these countries will believe that we are a true power not to be messed with.  Eliminating our economic ties will greatly affect our decision making in our favor.  We will be able to think clearly again.  The smoke will settle & our mission overseas will become clearer; to make everyone free.  We must not mix our economic policy with foreign amnesty.
         In all reality we could not divert completely from the consumption of oil to start.  The billions of people that use inefficient cars “just” to commute to work can make an atomic impact.  The other types of people that would rely on oil could still use oil.  The dramatic difference in the consumption of oil would be seen in getting oil from one supplier or even using the oil that we already produce ourselves, making us even more independent.  Trucks, the army, & other major uses of oil would still need to consume it.  The difference is the billions of consumers that would not be using oil.  They must realize that they would be minimizing the consumption of oil which is the most sensible idea to realize peace in the Middle East.          
         The idea to get oil driven cars off the road is real.  It’s going to be hard work.  The real hard work is dealing with driving a car powered by a battery.  The real hard work is dealing with the fact that you won’t make the extra 2 billion dollars this year.  The real hard work is convincing yourself that this is the right way, and your way doesn’t work.  The real hard work is always left for someone else.  The real hard work is taking all these oil dollars away from a small group of so called fortunate people.  It can happen.  Cars like this can be related to guns, we must get them off the street because they are killing people just like guns.  Gov’t discounts & incentives are as easy as A123systems.com.  To get the ball rolling offer tax reductions & write offs.  The incentives come in the form of American National Pride.  A national pride will establish a reason to want to be American.  Everyone must realize that work begins when you leave the house.  Start using fuel efficient cars & stop using oil.    This will eliminate relations with OPEC countries (three oil based companies are on the Forbe’s top ten list); something that we would love more than life itself.  This would leave an impact even in years to come.  Our kids would study about it in school.  The US becomes more stable economically.  We will not need to spend our dollar votes in foreign countries where the competitive edge that creates a standard of living that both of us love is lost.  This will make us a true world power in the eyes of the world so that we so can fulfill our sincerest desires.  The drastic reduction & elimination of the use of oil is Eco-friendly.  Our planet needs it!  Global warming is not paranoia; it’s real; as real as you can get.  The future is now.  10 years ago you thought people were making it up.  I’d say, you owned an oil company.  Check Out A123systems.com!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s time to make a difference in the world. 
© Copyright 2007 Bob S. Ponge (kngbshpp at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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