Jul 12th, 2007, 12:05 pm
Surprise, surprise. Securing energy resources in the Middle East has played a key role in Australia’s involvement in the American-led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation of the the country:
Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has admitted that securing oil supplies is a key factor behind the presence of Australian troops in Iraq.
He said maintaining “resource security” in the Middle East was a priority.
But PM John Howard has played down the comments, saying it was “stretching it a bit” to conclude that Australia’s Iraq involvement was motivated by oil.
Wait, there’s more:
In comments to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Nelson admitted that the supply of oil had influenced Australia’s strategic planning in the region.
“Obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world,” he said.
“Australians and all of us need to think what would happen if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq.
“It’s in our interests, our security interests, to make sure that we leave the Middle East, and leave Iraq in particular, in a position of sustainable security.”
So you’re telling me that Australia and the rest of the “Coalition of the Willing” may have put their troops in danger in a faraway country they probably could care less about not to bring democracy, Wal-Mart, and 50 Cent’s latest album but to get a share of the loot? That’s absurd.
Let’s not be naive here. Securing energy resources is a matter of national concern for all countries, especially developed and newly industrializing nations, so we really shouldn’t be shocked when one country wants to invade another to ensure its survival and well-being. Clearly, we need something to fuel our cars, power our factories, heat our homes, and run our PlayStation3s. But it would just be nice if country A said to country B, “Hey, we need some oil to keep our economy going, so I’m gonna invade your country and take it. Okay?”
Whatever happened to the good ol’ days of colonialism? At least the Europeans made it obvious that they wanted to suck the resources and labor out of the darker-skinned people of the world while they were kind enough to teach them the ways of the white man in return. Everyone was a winner!
Thanks, iMuslim, for the link.
Posted in Politics | 1 Comment | Trackback
Jul 11th, 2007, 11:49 pm
Given the tremendous growth of violence between Muslims over the past few decades and in recent years, I can’t help but wonder whether the real threat to the ummah comes from within. Take the latest string of suicide bombings in Iraq, for example:
Saturday’s blast, at around 8:30 a.m., destroyed several mud homes in the village of Armili, and victims had to be transported in farmers’ pickup trucks to the nearest health facility, in Tuz Khormato, 27 miles to the north, said Capt. Soran Ali of the Tuz Khormato police. Police said one man fled the truck before it detonated with another man still inside.
Saleh Ali, a medic at Tuz Khormato hospital, said 25 dead and 100 wounded were brought to the facility. Residents of the village said more victims remained trapped under destroyed houses and shops, and doctors said many of the wounded were in critical condition, meaning the toll could rise…
The village, 100 miles north of Baghdad is mainly made up of Shiite Turkomen, an ethnic minority that is spread across north-central Iraq, though most of its members are Sunni Muslim.
The night before, a suicide bomber detonated a boobytrapped car at around 9:30 pm outside a cafe near a market stocking Iranian goods in the Shiite Kurdish village of Ahmad Marif, killing 26 and wounding 33, said an official at the joint security coordination committee of Diyala province, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The village - 85 miles northeast of Baghdad in a remote corner of Diyala province - is home to about 30 Kurdish families who had been expelled under Saddam Hussein’s rule and returned after his fall. Many Kurds in the area are Shiite Muslims.
A half hour after that blast, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt in a funeral tent in another Shiite Kurdish village, Zargosh, west of Ahmad Marif. The blast killed 22 people and wounded 17 others, said the head of Diyala provincial council, Ibrahim Bajilan, and a police official in the provincial capital of Baqouba, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
So much for Muslim unity.
Posted in Islam/Muslims, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment | Trackback
Jul 3rd, 2007, 08:54 am
I totally meant to post this the other day, but the first of July marked the fourth anniversary of my blog! Wow, I can’t believe I’ve had this thing for so long.
Inspired by my brother’s blog, I started it after my junior year of high school as a way to document my life and share my random thoughts. So many memories. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to access my old posts from before the re-launch (March 2007) of lungis.com, but I’m still trying to get that figured out. I’ll be devastated if I lose them. Seriously.
I gotta give my brother mad props for being the first person I know to have a blog. I mean, how many of you even knew what blogs were in 2001? Exactly.
Posted in lungis.com | 2 Comments | Trackback
