The President Speaks About Libya

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About Libya and the No-Fly Zone

about Libya:

my whole thing is, from the beginning - this is NOT our problem.

I know enough about politics and Geopolitics, especially OIL-based politics.

here's the thing - this is NOT ' our' oil.

this is Europe's oil.
this is China's oil.

we BARELY have diplomatic relations with Libya, and somehow, it's OUR problem?

puleeze.

I was watching Roland Martin's show, and how come it's up to the Black folks to break it down. NOWHERE ELSE did I hear it broken down like it was on his panel today.

1. why is this US's problem?
2. How come the ARABS can't enforce the NO-FLY ZONE? they have enough weapons...how do we know this? WE SOLD IT TO THEM.
3. how is it with us barely having diplomatic relations with Libya, does it fall on THIS President.

Cynthia Tucker said it - we only have diplomatic relations with Libya because of George W. Bush...so, if this is anyone's problem, it's HIS.

I am disappointed in our involvement in this, but I don't blame the President, and I'm not going crazy like other folks, mainly because everything that had to happen in order for this President to actually AGREE to this - happened. So, what's the man supposed to do?

I think that the Arab League was shocked that folks took them seriously...AND AT THEIR WORD that they wanted a NO-FLY ZONE. IMO, they thought that the old reliables - CHINA and/or RUSSIA would provide the objecting vote on the Security Council, and then they'd be able to go ' oh well, we wanted a NO-FLY ZONE, but it didn't make it out of the Security Council'. When the abstentions happened, and the NO-FLY Zone passed, they went ' OH SHIT'. Now, we have these suckers trying to do the backtrack to which I say - HELL TO THE NAW on that.

I am not happy, but there are some things in which I'm tired of folks trying to hang on this President, especially when it comes to foreign policy. I don't want no damn Cowboy. I want someone who gets that folks in the rest of the world should have the option for self-determination, even if it's messy. I believe this President understands that.

Thoughts on Libya

I heard Dennis Kucinich call for the impeachment of the President for authorizing US participation in the military operation in Libya, while John McCain -- President Obama's opponent in the 2008 elections is calling for a more robust engagement (I'm assuming that's boots on the ground).  That's quite a wide divergence of opinion.  My friends and colleagues are of various minds on this issue as well.  I would guess that as usual I will fall somewhere in between.

Like many of the World's people I have been watching closely the events unfolding in a region stretching from Tunisia to Iran.  We are seeing popular uprisings, people taking their lives into their own hands, refusing to simply follow the dictates of the powers that be.  I've found it interesting that many here in America are dismissive of these aspirations, suggesting that Arabs and Muslims aren't capable of democracy -- but were we ready for it in 1776?  Some will say that we're already involved in two other wars, why enter a third?   Personally, I wouldn't call this entering a war.  We're participating in an action protecting people seeking to determine their own future.  Yes, that might seem like splitting hairs, but I think the hairs need splitting at this point. 

Whether you agree with the actions taken by Western Governments as authorized by the UN and called for by the Arab League, I would hope that you would sympathize and even empathize with the people of Libya, who have lived under the iron fist of a megalomaniac for decades.  Libya has lots of money, but it has gone to the few and not the many.  We are seeing this unfold in Yemen and Bahrain as well.  The times are changing and we must get ready for what comes next.  It may be messy, but that is the way of revolutionary moments.  It was true for this country, and the concerns that led to revolution in America were not nearly as dire as those experienced in these countries today. 

Do I have a word from the Lord on this?  No, I just have my own gut sense that we are at a tipping point in history and it would be good if we all got on the right side of history!

The President Speaks on the Violence in Libya

Oil Keeps Flowing Despite Unrest, but High Prices Jangle Nerves Worldwide

Oil Keeps Flowing Despite Unrest, but High Prices Jangle Nerves Worldwide

Sunday, February 20, 2011

 By STEVEN ERLANGER, The New York Times

PARIS -- The turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East has helped drive oil prices up to more than $102 a barrel for an important benchmark crude, Brent, although so far there have been no significant disruptions in production or supply, according to experts at the International Energy Agency here.
While Egypt and Tunisia have little oil, Libya is one of Africa's largest holders of crude oil reserves, Algeria and Iran are major suppliers and Bahrain and Yemen both border Saudi Arabia on the peninsula that produces most of the world's oil. Together, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain and Iran represent about 10 percent of global oil production.

Oil markets are famously skittish, especially when there is even the possibility of disruptions in the Middle East and North Africa, which account for some 35 percent of the world's oil production and a greater percentage of the world's known reserves.
That nervousness is likely to spread elsewhere, with so many economies still fragile in the wake of the worldwide economic downturn and with the possibility that higher crude prices could lead to further increases in food prices. The high cost of food has already led to unrest in several countries, even before political revolts began in the Middle East.
The increased price of energy is a "burden that can be a detriment to the global economic recovery," said Nobuo Tanaka, the executive director of the International Energy Agency.
Brent is a global benchmark crude oil that is produced in the North Sea and traded in London. It is typically the benchmark that is used to set the price for most of the oil from the Middle East. Another benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate, closed at $86.20 a barrel on Friday. Each benchmark has an impact on gasoline prices in the United States, with the East Coast more affected by the Brent prices than other regions.
The reserves in the Middle East and North Africa (known as the MENA countries), while long important, have grown even more critical as demand for oil increases. Prices have risen about 30 percent since September, reaching their highest level since September 2008.
Those who track oil prices are especially worried about the renewed turmoil in Iran and the possibility of unrest spreading from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, which could have a major impact on oil's price and its availability.
Richard H. Jones, the energy agency's deputy executive director and a former American diplomat in the Middle East, said that about 17 million barrels of oil passed through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz every day. "So if that shuts down, we're in big trouble," he said.
But so far, Mr. Jones said, the effects of the regional turmoil have been small. Egyptian production and transportation of natural gas have continued despite an explosion at a pipeline in the Sinai as the demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak were under way. (An Egyptian investigator said four gunmen bombed the pipeline.) Although there have been labor protests among workers at the Suez Canal, so far analysts have said there is no danger of the vital waterway being affected by the country's political upheaval.
The unrest in Libya, while serious, has not disrupted its production of oil. Mr. Jones and Didier Houssin, who runs the directorate for energy markets and security at the International Energy Agency, said that Libya was not a major producer, selling "only a little over one million barrels a day" and representing about 2 percent of world production. If there were to be a disruption of supplies from Libya, "We can cope," Mr. Jones said.
Still, a Deutsche Bank commodities analyst, Soozhana Choi, said, "As antigovernment protests have spread from Tunisia and Egypt to the streets of Bahrain, Yemen and OPEC member countries Algeria, Libya and Iran, concerns about geopolitical risk and the potential for supply disruptions have returned aggressively" to the oil market.
The International Energy Agency monitors strategic oil reserves that total about 1.6 billion barrels, Mr. Tanaka said. The agency has sometimes released reserves to smooth out global oil prices, including in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war of 1991 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The agency's chief economist, Fatih Birol, said that with Brent crude over $100 a barrel, "we are entering a danger zone," he said, with oil prices "creating inflationary pressures and risk for economic recovery."
For now, although oil stocks are declining with increased consumption, "there is still plenty of spare production capacity, especially in OPEC countries," Mr. Tanaka said.
Robert B. Zoellick, president of the World Bank, speaking on Saturday at a Group of 20 meeting, said that the Saudis in particular had indicated that they had significant spare capacity, which may help to keep markets calm.
But over the past two years, Mr. Zoellick said, "There is a much closer connection between food and energy prices." Part of the reason is biofuels, he said, but oil is also vital for fertilizers, transportation and agricultural equipment, especially in the developing world, where demand is increasing.
While the world is moving toward more renewable energy sources and re-examining nuclear power, it will be dependent on fossil fuels for years to come, Mr. Birol said. For the future, "90 percent of growth in oil production will have to be met by MENA countries," he said. "If not, we're in trouble."

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Source : Post Gazzette