The other, African oil gulf
Colin Powell accepted with equanimity the boos of delegates to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, last month, and immediately turned north to the oil-producing regions of the continent, the more pressing business on his African itinerary. As MSNBC reported, "analysts generally agree that the driving force behind the courtesy call in Gabon and Angola [was] to secure oil sources in the run-up to a possible conflict with Iraq."
Under the headline, "In West Africa, Oil is the Prize," the article noted that the region around the Gulf of Guinea, including Nigeria, "produced more than 4 million barrels a day in 2000, which is more than Iran, Venezuela or Mexico." The U.S. is seeking to establish a "homeport" in the Gulf of Guinea, "to secure oil and transport routes as the United States depends more heavily on Africa for supplies."
We would add that such bases - infrastructures of "force-projection" proposed by the Oil Policy Initiative Group - will be capable of facilitating "regime-changes" throughout the region, which accounts for 15% of U.S. oil imports.
British Member of Parliament Dalyell has it right. The Bush plan is elegant, simple, and absolutely brutal.
Colin Powell accepted with equanimity the boos of delegates to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, last month, and immediately turned north to the oil-producing regions of the continent, the more pressing business on his African itinerary. As MSNBC reported, "analysts generally agree that the driving force behind the courtesy call in Gabon and Angola [was] to secure oil sources in the run-up to a possible conflict with Iraq."
Under the headline, "In West Africa, Oil is the Prize," the article noted that the region around the Gulf of Guinea, including Nigeria, "produced more than 4 million barrels a day in 2000, which is more than Iran, Venezuela or Mexico." The U.S. is seeking to establish a "homeport" in the Gulf of Guinea, "to secure oil and transport routes as the United States depends more heavily on Africa for supplies."
We would add that such bases - infrastructures of "force-projection" proposed by the Oil Policy Initiative Group - will be capable of facilitating "regime-changes" throughout the region, which accounts for 15% of U.S. oil imports.
British Member of Parliament Dalyell has it right. The Bush plan is elegant, simple, and absolutely brutal.