Baithak World May 29: US Made Oil Disaster, Headlines, RealNews, Brodner

In response to the collapse of the credit and speculation boom, the Fed has set a deliberate re-inflationary objective in order to reverse falling asset prices. It has aggressively resumed its expansionary monetary policy since August 2007, cutting the federal funds rate from 5.25% to 2% with a consequent faster expansion of money supply, resulting in a rapidly depreciating dollar and disrupting stability in commodity markets, propelling oil prices from US$65 to $135 per barrel.

Iraq is widely predicted as having one of the world's two largest oil deposits. Yet the country, having produced only about 2.6 mbd in 1999 under the United Nations sanctions regime, is today producing even less, at about 1.9 mbd. The broader state of varied political tensions throughout the Persian Gulf region reduces the attraction long-term investment in oil and gas infrastructure. (The extent that this is due to US policies toward the region will be discussed in a future article.) Even so, global oil output could be expanded by up to 10 mbd and natural gas supplies by the equivalent of another 5 mbd within five to seven years if sanctions on Iran were lifted, the Iraqi conflict was brought to a halt, and Saudi Arabia's expansion programs came on stream. That would be enough to transform the global energy market. US-made oil disaster has mileage By Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene


Headlines

Huffpollstrology: Candidates' Horoscopes, Polls And More For May 29
SPIEGEL Interview with Warren Buffett: 'Germans Know Something About Business'
Human Rights Report: 'Germans Have Undermined their own Credibility'
Ex-Bush spokesman says Bush shaded truth on Iraq
Ex-White House spokesman Scott McClellan says senior Bush officials misled him
White House Responds To Scott McClellan's Accusations
Russian think-tank rattles US
John Bolton To Face Citizen's Arrest In Wales
Amnesty: Israel harms Palestinian civilians, exploits foreigners
Bulldozed: "Now we have nothing left"
Tutu leads rights mission to Gaza
Closed-door Arctic deal denouced as 'carve-up'
UK moves to ban cluster bombs
Kay Goldstein: The Inner Life: Putting Life "On Pause": 3 Mini-Meditations for People Who Don't Have Time to Meditate
Dunkin Donuts Pulls Ad Featuring Rachael Ray In A Scarf That Looks Too Arab
WTO's formula for failure
LBJ's Secret Israel Tapes
Dr. Michael J. Breus: Got Sleep Apnea? Go Green, as in Green Tea
Ari Fleisher Tells FOX He's "Hearttbroken" About Scott McClellan's Book
Arianna Huffington: Scotty Come Lately
The unembedded truth
Archbishop Tutu meets devastated Gaza family
Ayaan Hirsi Ali restyles herself with launch of children's book
After Olmert
We are all Olmert's partners
Islam's holiest city set for 130-skyscraper redevelopment
Cardinal urges Muslim leaders to oppose violent jihad
Bill O'Reilly and Dick Morris Worried About Losing Their Jobs
Pat Buchanan Blames Britain For Holocaust

Paul Jay presents RealNews

Spinning the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program US corporate media put slant on report despite IAEA finding no proof of continued nuclear arms program view Why is peace not patriotic? The Washington, DC chapter of Veterans for Peace is barred from DC's Memorial Day Parade view Arctic powers duel for potential energy wealth Arctic powers meet in Greenland to decide the division of vast oil reserves - serious conflict possible view Living on the breadline Guardian: First of series on the world food crisis, struggling to get by in Cairo after price increases view

The full-frontal foreign policy debate gets hotter everyday. McCain thinks there are votes in attacking Obama as "anti-war." These new pieces for The New Yorker are about where that connects with Bush and how that winds up conferring bona fides on Obama in his nomination fight. The print piece is an homage to Diane Arbus' Boy With the Straw Hat. The movie is our special recipe for egg salad. Hanoch Piven calls it "disgusting." Serge Bloch agrees. Well, none of these people have actually tasted this. Maybe that's a good thing!

Brodner's Cartoon du Jour: Boy With The Straw Hat