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ExxonMobil/Guyana, Fossil fuel industry, Gary Girdhari’s letter to Kaieteur News 01/07/20, Guyana’s Oil Reserves, Middle East Oil, No to War in Iran, The Empire & Oil
Oil drives our global economies. Oil is power. Oil fuels the Empire. Iraq and Iran together produce 8.3 million billion barrels a day of the liquid gold (figures from Offshore-Technology). Their joint oil reserves amount to 300,903 million barrels (figures from World Atlas). While the world’s largest oil producer with 12 mbbl barrels/day, the United States has only 39,230 million barrels of oil reserves. Venezuela tops the list with 300,878 million barrels. It’s no accident that the Empire is embedded in the Middle East. Controlling access to all that oil is vital to its continued survival.
Guyana will soon be part of that blessed-accursed herd of oil producing nations. With six billion barrels, and climbing, of oil reserves, Guyana now overtakes Venezuela in the overheated top seat. As a small country with racial divisive politics, the developing CARICOM member nation is easy prey for the Empire. It’s also corrupted at its core—the scourge of former colonial territories rich in natural resources. Trapped under the claws of the Eagle since its conception, the country is now secure in its nest.
In his letter to the editor of Guyana’s Kaieteur News on January 7, 2020, Dr. Gary Girdhari expresses misgivings about the legacy of oil giants in oil producing countries, even within their own home countries.
Guyana’s leaders, he writes, “ignore elemental facts, namely, in Africa, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere where oil wealth is secured in the pockets of Big Oil and a select few government officials and their cronies; and where inequality and extreme poverty spiral downwards.”
Dr. Girdhari shares my concern about the impact of the fossil fuel industry on Earth’s environment and climate. He reminds the Guyanese people: “The International Press is replete with information regarding fossil fuel and its ruination to the environment – regarding carbon emission, depletion of the ozone layer, and extreme climate change. Already the world is witnessing the effects of permafrost melting in the Arctic and deforestation in Brazil and Africa. The tipping point is approaching sooner than we think.”
I don’t share his hope “for total disbandment of oil in Guyana…and that good environmentally-friendly judgement triumphs.” I believe that it’s too late in the game. Guyana is already in the pockets of ExxonMobil and other players in the fossil fuel industry.
To the Empire, only oil matters. It is prepared to use severe economic sanctions and military force to secure and control Earth’s oil reserves. Our lives—we the people of Earth—don’t matter. Let the trees burn. Let the ice caps melt. Let the wildlife die.
The Empire began 2020 with an act of war against Iran and Iraq. Warfare is Big Business. Warfare is barbaric. Warfare is self-destructive: It turns our young men into killers of innocent women, children, and babies. Heroes for the Empire.
I say NO to war with Iran. I say NO to the never-ending wars of the Empire. I say NO to more failed sovereign states. I say NO to ‘rubblized’ cities and uprooted broken families. I say NO to ecocide.
I say YES to ending our dependency on fossil fuels. I say YES to the Green New Deal.
jfwknifton said:
I think it all started after WW2 when the USA was very quick to get Great Britain to give up its old colonial empire, according to the agreements already made in the United Nations. With the benefit of hindsight, that was no altruistic desire to set the people free, but merely cynical corporations seeing their chance to create an economic vacuum and then to move into it.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
John, I wouldn’t say that Great Britain was guiltless in the mess created in the Middle East and throughout the former British Empire. Now that you’ve voted to break free from the European Union, there’s the risk that Britain could become economically dependent on the USA.
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kamtanblog said:
Absolute hogwash
UK dependant on USA.
The reverse more likely !
By leaving EU (empirically ambitious)
opens UK to trade with world….freely
and fairly.
Free of taxes and tariffs
On a level playing field.
With EU and now USA having introduced
protectionist policies to trade UK can now
become the broker of world trade.
Go figure
Go google WTO trade weigh index.
Kamtan
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kamtanblog said:
Brave words ! Unfortunately it may be a
case iof “too little too late” to save the planet
from “Armageddon” !
However it may help to slow the process…allowing time for future generations
to reconcile their thoughts/future.
Old king oil may reign today
But if/when the revolution in
thinking comes the kings fate will
be sealed.
Post revolutions the Royals were replaced
with republican jackasses …will we return
to Royal rule ? Potus ?
Now Harry and Megan will recolonise USA
nothing surprises me.
At my cynical mostest
Kamtan🇬🇧🇬🇾🇪🇸👽🌍
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derrickjknight said:
You are right, of course. But Mr Trump was recently talking about sending troops in “only to protect the oil”
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Derrick, our Dear Leader is not good at keeping government secrets. His public blunders must make his military men cringe.
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derrickjknight said:
I do hope so
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ashiftinconsciousness said:
Parasites like trump care more about their own comfort than about living beings. He would be more aggressive in starting war if he directly made money from it like his friend Erik Prince, the psychotic Christian Supremacist Mercenary Contractor.
People around trump are less insane and understand the danger involved with starting a war in the Middle East. trump can be kept in check because his motivation – misdirecting attention from his crimes – is still in play. Talking about war may not be as effective as making war, but it still works. And it will likely bring more ignorant flag wavers to the voting booths in November.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Shift, he’s playing a dangerous game within a volatile region.
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Laleh Chini said:
Not people.😔
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Laleh, we fool ourselves that the Empire cares about us.
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Laleh Chini said:
I believe you.😔
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athousandbitsofpaper said:
Interesting post on something I probably don’t think about enough – I wonder what they will all squabble over when renewables are the main source of power for countries economies – it seems there is always something.
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kamtanblog said:
Exactly.
Humanoids greed is insatiable/unstoppable.
Point my finger at the jackasses
we elect to “rule” us !
Vote them out
…
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Kathryn, they will probably squabble over who controls the market for renewable energy.
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athousandbitsofpaper said:
Exactly 😒
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drgeraldstein said:
The saga of our species is a disturbing one, as you point out, Rosaliene. I am reading “These Truths” by Jill Lapore, a single (long) history of the USA. Our materialistic tendencies, to our shame, go back to treating people as things (slaves), “property” defined as 3/5 of a man. Our prejudices and mistreatment of fellow humans and the Earth has aimed at Native Americans, Blacks, Chinese, Irish, Germans, Catholics, Jews, Mexicans, Muslims, etc. Our fight is not a new one, but we must persist.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
We have, indeed, come a long way, Dr. Stein. If we are to survive as a species, we must persist. As you mention in your latest blog post, falling down is inevitable in life. Resilience helps us to get up again and continue the fight…until the next fall.
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Pam Lazos said:
Thanks for this, Rosaliene. Oil and greed have ruined our planet and the powers that be do not seem to be capable of stopping until they’ve taken every last drop out of it out of the ground. I get that much of the world is powered by oil, by why so much fear about exploring renewables? I think it’s just greed. I wrote a book that talks about green technology (“Oil and Water”) — incinerating anything carbon-based to make fuel — and how the oil companies could actually make money by using their pipelines to transfer this fuel. There are ways where everyone can win, but it means that the mindset of all for me and scraps for everyone else has to go away and the world needs to learn to cooperate if we are to get through this next century. Not sure what the odds on that are, but I’m praying. xox
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Pam. A good sign is that our youth are now more engaged globally to call for action on our climate emergency. More of us adults have to get on board.
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Pam Lazos said:
The kids will lead the way!
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maryplumbago said:
In the US, I read, the three branches of government are oil, big pharma and banking.
The priorities will never be people, the environment and the future.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Sadly true, Mary.
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Robert A. Vella said:
Bravo! I say “no” too!
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klmalcolm2014 said:
Bravo. Thank you for this post. Also worth mentioning is how the world’s oil companies have robbed people of their land, murdered and pillaged, and leveraged inequality in their favor. Yes, it’s time we change the foundations of our global econmy.
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kamtanblog said:
Rosie
Echo your sentiments …yes it is happening,
will happen as we become less dependant
on dirty fuel.🙏🎉
Kamtan 🇬🇧🇬🇾🇪🇸👽🌍
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Kim, thanks for dropping by and adding your own firsthand observations of our fossil fuel industry.
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Kreb said:
I too say YES to the Green New Deal, Rosaliene! Thanks for this piece!
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stuartbramhall said:
New Zealand is also in the unenviable position of being pursued by international oil and gas companies, especially here in Taranaki. Even though our oil is of an inferior quality (which means we can’t refine it here), this country’s virtual absence of regulation (ie corruption) makes it very attractive to overseas investors. It’s really heartbreaking the way these foreign frackers have turned a pristine rural environment into an industrial zone.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Dr. Bramhall, it would appear that the fossil fuel industry worldwide is intent on sucking ever drop of oil from the Earth’s surface. To be sure, the elite running these transnational companies have a backup plan in place when the sewerage backs up big time.
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ashiftinconsciousness said:
For many years I’ve debated misguided people who believe the bile manufactured by corporate media and regurgitate cleverly disingenuous talking points. Very often the talking points were desperate attempts to instruct people about the importance of increasing “OUR” access to other peoples’ natural resources regardless of the violence perpetrated in that endeavor. I often ended discussions by telling these people that they were being indoctrinated into the religion of Capitalism. I have since refined that opinion and call it a demonology, not a religion.
I’m starting to believe that we need to take aggressive action against the truly evil people who steal other peoples’ minds in their insidious attempts to control others. To lose (or more often give away) the ability to think for yourself and formulate your own opinion on issues seems a fate worse than death. I’m serious.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Sadly, Shift, this happens when a nation rewrites its own history and the mainstream media feeds the population with disinformation of the country’s actions across the world.
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Sha'Tara said:
I agree that predatory capitalism is entirely demonic; nothing human in it at all. As for disempowering the brainwashers, that’s not so easy. The entire “system” is a brainwash and people are taught to support it from kindergarten on. The first thing would be to demolish public education. It isn’t education, it’s indoctrination from day one. Now they even have the numbnuts going into lifelong debt to continue participating in and funding their own disempowerment. The next thing to bring down is central “government” then banking, then all forms of capitalist corporate power. Then of course, corporate media, organized religion and the military. But that monstrous pyramid of stolen power cannot be brought down through violence, history is quite clear on that. It’s the Lernaean Hydra. If you cut one of its heads, it grows two more. Generally speaking people everywhere are programmed to support these monstrosities, or to believe their energies can be redirected. It’s not ignorance or naivety, it’s programming.
So… how do we bring them down? The solution is as simple as it is unthinkable for the vast majority of the brainwashed. To destroy the power pyramid you have to destroy civilization. Nothing short of that will ever work. The funny part is, it’s going to happen regardless whether people wake up to what’s going on or not but the longer the believers prop up the monster, the more damage and destruction it will spew upon mankind and the planet. To destroy civilization now would be catastrophic. To wait until it collapses from entropy, having eaten the planet’s resources and most of the Earthian population, that will be apocalyptic. And that is how it’s going to end.
People will defend “their” civilization with band aids and prosthetics. They will throw themselves and their children in the ever-widening cracks and refuse to see, not just the futility of it, but the insanity. We’re already well into the patch up mode. Left to its own devices the planet would swallow this anti-life, utterly artificial civilization but the fix-up movements are gaining ground to prevent the collapse. Well, it’s what people do, it’s what they’ve always done… it’s their programming. Climate change is the planet’s way of saying, “I’ve had enough” but it’s the best intentioned who become her most ardent opponents. They’re not fighting to save the planet. They’re organizing and fighting to save civilization, hence to prevent Earth from having a say in her own destiny.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Sha’Tara, we both agree on how we got here, but, understandably, continue to disagree on the best way forward. Cooperation, it seems, may be the decisive factor in the survival of our species as Mother Earth reboots.
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kamtanblog said:
Rosie
Indeed …survival of the most adaptable/diverse
of the species.
Darwin rewritten
Kamtan
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Sha'Tara said:
I know we will never agree on the how of it. Few except die-hard anarchists can understand the point I’m making. I must ask though, can earth reboot itself as long as man remains in control? Answer: never. So then what? Man is an invasive, parasitic, viciously predatory species: can it learn to cooperate? Answer: never. So then what? Then well meaning, self sacrificing or opportunistic individuals will create “new and improved” bandaids and the deadly game of death will continue. Sorry, no silver lining on this cloud.
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ashiftinconsciousness said:
I wish every day for a serious decline in human births. It’s the beginning of the only solution.
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Sha'Tara said:
The truly sad part is, man’s population will be reduced, with or without his cooperation. The projected die-back is now inevitable and irreversible. The only thing we cannot know is how long the process will take and how much suffering will mankind and the planet endure while it is taking place. If man possessed an iota of wisdom he would launch a global awareness program and provide all means necessary to reduce his population down to under 1.5 billions. But man is numbers-driven; his systems are numbers driven and reducing his population voluntarily, completely unthinkable. Hence and therefore nature must have the last word and that word is: ‘Die!’
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kamtanblog said:
Decline in worlds population ?
Wishful thinking !
WW1+2 did not do so …
China experimented with “one” child policy…
India has no policy or incentives to reduce its population/poverty.
African conflicts has stabilised its population
Middle East wars may stabilise theirs
North/South America still on up
EU (richest)) population in decline.
Conclusion
The ones that can least afford it become most populated.
QED
Kamtan
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Ash said:
I agree. Geopolitics is all a chess game and US wants to maintain its hegemony over the world.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
A dangerous chess game, Ash. Nations are mere pawns. We the people are the board on which their moves are made.
Thanks for dropping by 🙂
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DutchIl said:
Thanks for sharing!.. unfortunately it is about greed and elements of world society choosing a certain lifestyle and refusing change.. the people need to unite to make changes but with the numerous closed minded ideologies, it is not going to be easy… 🙂
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
It’s definitely not going to be easy, Dutch. A close member of my family believes that the “free market” will resolve our crisis.
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Sha'Tara said:
When one seriously thinks about it, isn’t the term “free market” a complete oxymoron? What’s free in a world driven by deadly competition in all respects? What’s free in a system that must kill in order to maintain and grow itself?
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kamtanblog said:
Free and fair in principle not practice.
Pipe dream !
Simple Simon says
Free of tax and tariffs
Fair without subsidies or protectionist
policies…as per EU now USA.
BRICS the by product of the “free market”
Trading blocks !
3 steps backward
2 steps forward
Slow train to nowhere.
WTO rules ignored/abandoned
Past sell by date
Not fit for purpose
Corporate financed.
He whomays piper
Kamtan🇬🇧🇬🇾🇪🇸🇬🇧👽
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Sunshiny SA, Kavitha said:
Nope Dutch, change won’t be easy but it’s necessary.
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JoAnna said:
I appreciate that you use the word Empire. It reminds me of the Star Wars movies and the rebel alliance. I know in some ways, they’re just movies, but they give me hope in possibilities. The way you end this post suggests that you still have hope.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
JoAnna, the growing number of people, here in the USA and worldwide, who are calling for a more sustainable way of life give me hope.
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Sarah said:
I wish more people would say No to warfare and Yes to ending our dependency on fossil oils.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Sarah, I’m so glad that we agree on this.
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Bette A. Stevens said:
I’m with you, Roseliene! Sharing…
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Thank you very much, Bette! Much appreciated 🙂
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