War-Talk and Speculation Drove Oil Prices Skyward

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

"Washington and Tel Aviv waged a kind of terror campaign against the world to create a perfect storm in the oil markets."

The quickening pace of economic disasters, one cascading upon the other in quick succession, sometimes makes mere reporting feel strangely Biblical. It is as if the body of corporate globalism screams from all its orifices, rocked with spasms of convulsive irrationality. Amidst the howling, corporate servants litter the media landscape with counterfeit analyses designed to blame everyone but the Lords of Capital for the unfolding nightmare. By the time the true causes of one disaster become clear, another onslaught is upon us from yet a different sector of the political-economy - bringing more mayhem for which the ruling classes are once again declared blameless.

The oil price storm surge that peaked at $147 a barrel in early July, then subsided to a few bucks more than $100 by September, had no direct connection to the size of planetary oil reserves, and very little to do with demand from fast growing markets like China and India. As should be clear now that the surge is over, the explosion in oil prices that inflicted untold (and ongoing) damage on oil-consuming countries, was caused primarily by speculators - who also hold permanent membership in the ruling class of the Western World.

There is no mystery as to the culprits' identity: outfits like Goldman Sachs, Barack Obama's biggest campaign contributor and past and present employer of so many of his top advisors, and their fellow billionaire bandits in John McCain's corner. There is no question of their guilt: nobody else has both the capital and the mechanisms - the exchanges for trading energy commodities - to pull off a caper so large and complex.

"The months of high-priced agony had little to do with Chinese and Indian demand."

As sustained and clearly massive speculative pressures pushed petroleum prices far beyond the short-range ambitions of any OPEC member nation, the U.S. and Israel battered Iran with threats of Apocalypse in the Persian Gulf. In effect, Washington and Tel Aviv waged a kind of terror campaign against the world to create a perfect storm in the oil markets. An especially scary June 6 Israeli threat to strike Iran caused an immediate $11 spike in the cost of crude.

The American and Israeli threats to Iran's existence greatly accelerated and made more terrifying this spring and summer's oil price nightmare. We can roughly date the beginning of the end of the crisis to mid-July, when the Bush regime stopped screaming like a banshee and agreed to meet - at arms length - with an Iranian diplomat. The Israeli's also turned down the decibels, and the price of oil went into it's slide towards $100.

When OPEC last week voted to reduce oil production, the price of crude went up only $2 per barrel - definitive proof that the months of high-priced agony had little to do with Chinese and Indian demand, and everything to do with western speculators and U.S. and Israeli threats of war. Now the Americans are about to stir up the pot, again, attempting to provoke Iran through sanctions against her shipping lines. Israel will no doubt rev up its war hysteria machine.

A bill that would Stop Energy Speculation will probably get nowhere in the U.S. Congress, not with any teeth in it, anyway. What good would it do? Goldman Sachs and the other speculators own both political parties. The Lords of Capital have total immunity. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

Broadcasters and others who need a downloadable MP3 copy of this Black Agenda Radio commentary may get it from the Black Agenda Radio archive page.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

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