Saudi-Chinese accord
Tucked away on p. 35 of the Feb. 6, 2006, Oil & Gas Journal is a short item headlined “Saudis, Chinese agree to landmark energy accord.” Although details of the “accord” are not known, its implications for the US are immense.
Saudi oil production is showing signs of topping out and perhaps faltering. Certainly, the time is past when the Saudis’ surplus capacity could absorb the world’s increased demands for crude oil year after year. China views Saudi reserves as an important future source of crude. Similarly, India, with its burgeoning economy, cannot be far behind in relying increasingly on what for them is a prime source of short-haul crude.
The keen interest of the Chinese in Saudi crude is entirely understandable when their domestic crude production falls ever shorter of meeting the nation’s growing internal demand. The Chinese are simply taking steps to protect their national interests by doing what they can to assure future energy supplies.
These developments should trigger alarm sirens in this hemisphere. As more straws dip into the Saudi crude barrel and begin drawing on it, America will find it increasingly precarious and dangerous to rely on this once-bountiful crude source. All of this is simply to say that America does not have the luxury of untold years to expand alternate energy programs or to rely on the development of new, unproven energy technologies to forestall acute energy shortages. We face a serious situation that will grow to become a national, indeed an international emergency. The world faces the “perfect storm” of growing energy demands and inadequate energy supplies.
There is nothing particularly new in all of this hand-wringing. It does, however, underscore the seriousness of the situation. President Bush blandly observed in his state of the union address on Jan. 31, “America is addicted to oil.” Nothing new here either, but he offers no urgent, coherent plan to do something about this longstanding addiction. The administration does not appreciate the third dimension of the energy panorama that is playing out before us.
We know that when energy supplies fall short of demand, prices rise. But less apparent is the human dimension of this equation. As energy becomes scarcer, human misery will increase as a result of privation and the inevitable conflicts involving nations seeking to secure vital energy supplies. This third dimension, the human dimension, will become apparent in growing political unrest leading to military forays and then to wars. Increasingly inadequate energy supplies will impose enormously tragic burdens on populations and pocketbooks. The human cost of doing too little now must be factored into our planning. Reducing these costs to monetary terms would offer powerful new incentives and a driving force that we lack now in our search for meaningful alternative energy solutions. There is a compelling urgency to accelerate this effort to reduce our dependence on petroleum. At the risk of being tagged an alarmist, the future of the world depends on America finding and implementing viable solutions to inevitable energy shortages.
This is something we can’t leave to our children or grandchildren to begin sorting out. By that time it will be too late.
Thomas S. Wyman
Palo Alto, Calif.
Distorted history
After reading the editorial of Feb. 27, 2006 (p. 19), I was stricken by how distorted history and events have become for most people. In this article the question was asked, “would these eruptions have occurred without the foregoing tension over events such as...attacks against the US on Sept. 11, 2001?” Tension? Tension? There were nearly 3,000 innocent people slaughtered in those towers long before there were any Iraqi prisoners to humiliate. Do we recall the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, where the US was welcomed by most of the Arab world, reluctantly for sure, to sort it out? There were sailors killed on the USS Cole long before Saddam Hussein was pulled out of a rathole in the ground proclaiming his stature as president of Iraq and chief butcher of those who oppose him. There were way too many Jewish children blown up while eating an ice cream cone at the beach way before cartoons were published.
The facts are undeniably clear. Whatever the number of jihadist factions within the Muslim world that really exist and who deal in fundamental hatred for all that is non-Muslim, they are wreaking havoc on the planet by slaughtering people all over the world and will find any and all ways to infiltrate by whatever avenue is available to their ends. Whether the port management deal by Dubai Ports World is economically viable, security-neutral, and good for America or not, the facts are that this provides a channel that can be exploited by masters of deception known as Islamic terrorists. They live amongst us now. They certainly did before 9/11. Their intent is our destruction. Just to be inclusive and sensitive, would we award contracts for airport construction to Bin Laden Construction Co. of Saudi Arabia, regardless of their supposed denunciation of the exploits of their progeny?
To be sure, I am convinced this deal would have been of absolutely no consequence to most Americans and camera-seeking politicians, and certainly not the political “opportunity” to be seized that it has become, had it not been for 9/11. Let’s keep the record straight as to who started what. Not in modern times would a great majority of the world population ever conceive of any other group of people who so cowardly destroy life, behead in the name of God, and burn down buildings because of cartoons. If all religions began acting this way the world as we know it would self-immolate in about a week.
Pat Herbert
Houston
