Today most Americans are paying over $4.00 per gallon for gasoline. The price of crude oil is now about $100 per barrel and America imports about 25% of all of the world's oil production. Something has got to give. Here's the story in plain language so all of you can understand the severity of the situation.
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It gets even scarier.
The three most significant events leading to the biggest increases in oil prices are the Yom Kippur War (1973), Iranian Revolution (1979) and the Invasion of Iraq (1991). The Arab Revolt or Arab Spring which began in December 2010, and has affected over a dozen Middle Eastern and North African nations, several of them oil producers. This latest events has the potential to affect the balance of power throughout the world and the U.S. could be its biggest victim.
Yom Kippur War
On October 6, 1973, the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egyptian forces attacked Israel from across the Suez Canal, while at the same time Syrian troops were flooding the Golan Heights in a surprise offensive. After early losses, Israeli counterattacks quickly pushed into Syrian territory in the north, as troops outflanked the Egyptian army in the south. Israel, with help from the U.S., succeeded in reversing the Arab gains and a cease-fire was concluded in November. But on October 17, OPEC struck back against the West by imposing an oil embargo on the U.S., while increasing prices by 70% to America's Western European allies. Overnight, the price of a barrel of oil to these nations rose from $3 to $5.11. [In January 1974, they raised it further to $11.65.] The U.S. and the Netherlands, in particular, were singled out for their support of Israel in the war.
The Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution (also known as the Islamic Revolution or 1979 Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy (Pahlavi dynasty) under Shah Mohammad reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Rubollah Khoemeini, the leader of the revolution.
Demonstrattions against the Shah commenced in October 1977, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that was partly secular and partly religious, and intensified in January 1978. Between August and December 1978 strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah left Iran for exile in mid-January 1979, and in the resulting power vacuum two weeks later Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians. The royal regime collapsed shortly after on February 11 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting. Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, and to approve a new theocratic constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, in December 1979.
Invastion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq (March 19–May 1, 2003), was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War or Operation Iraqi Freedom in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom and smaller contingents from Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations. This phase (March–April 2003) consisted of a conventionally fought war which concluded with the fall of the Iraq capital Baghdad. This was considered a continuation of the Gulf War of 1991, prior to which Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait, and after defeat by Coalition Forces had agreed to surrender and/or destroy several types of weapons, including SCUD missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Arab Revolt 2011
Today we are facing another potential oil crisis an upheavel in the Middle East and North Africa. Several of those countries are major oil producers. The Arab Revolt or Arab Spring or quite literally The Arabic Rebellions, also collectively labeled as the Jasmine Revolutions by some media, groups and individuals, are a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in the Arab world since 18 December 2010. Prior to this period, Sudan was the only Arab country to have successfully overthrown dictatorial regimes, in 1964 and again in 1985. To date, there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt; a civil war in Libya; civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen; major protests in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman, as well as on the borders of Israel; and minor protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Western Sahara. The protests have shared techniques of civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies, as well as the use of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and internet censorship. The slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world has been "The people want to bring down the regime".
Ongoing Status as of 5 June 2011
- Tunisian President Ben Ali ousted, and government overthrown.
- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ousted, and government overthrown.
- Unclear situation in Yemen as Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Sleh leaves for Saudi Arabia for medical treatment and hands over power to his Vice President.
- Libya divided by civil war and experiencing foreign intervention in the form of a no-fly zone and air strikes.
- Civil uprisings against the governments of Syria and Bahrain, despite government changes.
- Jordan, Kuwait and Oman implementing government changes in response to protests.
- Ongoing protests in Algeria, Iraq, and other countries.
What's America's dependency on imported oil costing the US?
So how much oil is still left in the world? This infographic will scare the hell out of you.
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Total renewable energy sources account for 11.14% of our domestically produced electricity. If the U.S. had developed a Manhattan Project-like push to replace fossil and coal with renewable energy sources like wind and solar back in 1979 (assuming technology was available), the U.S. would now be supplying over 50% of its energy needs from renewables. The U.S. imports over 25% of the world's oil. If we had replaced imported oil used to power our motor vehicles with natural gas, demand for imported oil would've plummeted and prices would be about 30% of what they are today per barrel.
Courtesy of an article dated June 8, 2011 appearing in SAI Business Insider and numerous other sources
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Posted by: Belstaff leather | 12/05/2011 at 07:27 PM