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Lower the price of oil to begin to heal the Middle East
A fresh thought over at
“>The Washington Note
“He said that there is only one non-military way to break Iran’s current course, and that the military option was not credible and would not be supported in the region. This official said that the only way to stop Iran at this point was to make the price of oil plummet.He said that America could engineer this with coordinated support from oil producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The price of a dramatic increase in oil production would be expeditious movement — real movement — on Israel-Palestine negotiations towards a viable state of Palestine and a clear, coordinated plan on Iran.”
Whether this is viable or not it is nice to have options.
13 Responses to “Lower the price of oil to begin to heal the Middle East”
Huh?
Sorry messed up. Massive production increase? Will not happen. U.S. War with Iran, unless they attack us, will not happen. Israel and Iran, better learn to get along. Thats my opinion.
Hmm…it’s long-term versus short-term. Perhaps it would be better for prices to INCREASE in the short-term, so that demand would decrease in the long-run. We would be forced to become less dependent upon oil. This would benefit the environment, global-warming, and maybe, probably even the economy in the long-run. And, in the long-run, lack of demand for oil would help alleviate the Iran problem.
Also, you could engineer a short-term decrease to $40 per barrel, but this would and could never last indefinitely.
(The hitch is that giving Iran money and power in the short-term via higher prices might permanently increase their power and/or ability to generate nukes.)
Yes, and it’s sad that we didn’t wake up in the mid-70s. I’m quite sure we could have had viable alternative fuels by now if we had done so and the entire Middle East and Islamist radical movement would look much different right now.
Hey as a bonus we would also screw Chevez!!
Yes, and it’s sad that we didn’t wake up in the mid-70′s. I’m quite sure we could have had viable alternative fuels by now if we had done so and the entire Middle East and Islamist radical movement would look much different right now.
Totally agree, CS. Everyone thought Carter was a nut in his cardigan sweater. Wonder if we’ll ever elect two oilmen to the presidency again???? Also, it will be interesting to see if the oil industry continues to hold its lock on the legislative branch. Alternative fuels can’t be in their best interests- even if they are in America’s.
Well, the idea that we should have been pursuing renewable energy sources and the idea that Carter was a nut in a cardigan sweater aren’t mutually exclusive though LOL. I’m kidding, mostly…my take on Carter is the one that says he was a good guy with good intentions but lacked the grasp of realism necessary to create good policy.
Sure they can, if there are enough incentives for the oil corps to invest in them, which is what we should have started doing a long time ago.
Isn’t this a theory of Friedman’s? That as the price of oil goes up, those regimes that are oil dependent grow more unruly, but when it drops, they become more obsequious?
CS- Hmmm what is going on? We agree again- about Carter being well-meaning but ineffective on energy policy.
I disagree about the oil companies, though. They’ve been the recipient of a lot of incentives-with rather poor results. They wrote our energy policy-so its not like they haven’t had input. We can’t expect a multinational conglomerate to be responsible to anyone but their stockholders.
Yes, belli, here’s a link on Friedman on that topic.
Lets say the price of oil does drop, doesn’t that in the long run help us? At least enabling us to consume, Consume, and CONSUME.
Secondly, what was the price oil before the looting and violence erupted in Iraq? It was at least $40/barrel if not less. So how would the drop really affect the Iranians? So they make the same amount of money as they had four years ago?
Thirdly, if there is a glut of oil on the market, then how does one get prices back up? The person makes the item more scarce and causing the prices to go back up (supply and demand). One consequence would be to this endeavor would to either have attacks be done on the oil infrastructure in the Gulf states by those friendly to either Iran or other countries producing oil to the world market.
The Washington Note has been running similar stories about this thread of Sunni Arabs getting ready to drop a load on the Persians – his 29 NOV blog entry has been running counter to what other reporters have been saying of the region. This is in regards to how the US is going to “tilt” if the US wanted to jump to one of the sides – Thomas Ricks and Laura Rozen are on one side saying the US will back the Shi’ites and Clemons is on the other saying the Sunnis are going to be supported (at least indirectly through “friendly” gulf countries).
Kim,
I think you misunderstand what I mean by incentives: I’m talking about the govt investing in new technology through grants that could be facilitated by the oil companies’ R&D, along with tax incentives for them to develop cars that run on renewable fuels, or to develop power plants based on wind or solar power, etc.
And if the price of natural gas declines as well Russia won’t be so full of itself because of its powerful lever against Europe.