Thursday, February 24, 2011

Europe's refiners struggle to replace Libyan oil! New Phase of Oil War Controlled by USA! Thus,Saudi willing, able to make up Libya oil shortfall!


Europe's refiners struggle to replace Libyan oil! New Phase of Oil War Controlled by USA! Thus,Saudi willing, able to make up Libya oil shortfall!

GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil surges, dollar falls over Libya uprising!



Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 585

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
The first group of Indians to be evacuated are expected to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi this weekend. The passenger ferry, Scotia Prince that can carry 1200 people, is expected to reach Benghazi, the first point of evacuation, on late Saturday or Sunday to take the Indian nationals to Alexandria 
in Egypt.

From there, they are flown out by Air India flights. There are some 3000 Indians in and around Benghazi, which is reported to be under the protester's control. There are 18000 Indians in Libya.Permission from Libyan authorities has been sought for air-lifting the Indians from the capital Tripoli. "In Tripoli the focus will be on air evacuation. Aircraft are on stand by for this purpose. Libyan landing clearance is awaited and should be received soon," the ministry of external affairs said. The other plans include taking the citizens by sea to Valletta in Malta from where they can be flown out.

 Brent crude nears $120 a barrel as Libya output falls

* Swiss franc hits record high as US dollar falls broadly

* U.S. stocks halt this week's slide, hover at break-even (Updates equity market prices)

Europe's refiners struggle to replace Libyan oil! New Phase of Oil War Controlled by USA!However,the loss of Libyan oil is a heavy blow to European refiners who face a costly struggle to replace the easy-to-refine crude because of a shortage of matching grades.Saudi Arabia is willing and able to plug any oil supply gap and has the capacity to provide all types of oil, including the light, high quality crude produced by OPEC member Libya, senior Saudi sources said on Thursday.

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Libya biggest oil risk since Iraq War: markets

Daily Star - Lebanon - Robert Tuttle - ‎18 hours ago‎
"There are some similarities in the current situation with the lead-up to the last Gulf war in Iraq in the sense theoil market is pricing in the potential for outages in crude supply," said Harry Tchilinguirian, the London-based head of ...

Oil price 'could hit $220 a barrel'

The Guardian - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP The continuing violence in Libya and fears that the unrest will spread to other parts of north Africa and the Middle East could create the biggest oil shock since the first Gulf war, analysts have warned. ...

Four oil stocks driven by Brent pricing

Financial Post - ‎3 hours ago‎
Libya exports approximately 1.3 million barrels per day of oil – primarily to European customers – whereas Egypt has no net oil exports. With the threat of a civil war looming and major oil companies evacuating expatriate staff, the likelihood of oil ...

Oil at two-year high as Libya on edge of civil war

The Associated Press - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
Oil prices rose to fresh two-year highs around $96 a barrel Wednesday amid concerns that a violent power struggle in Libya could disrupt supplies, with experts warning the next weeks and months would prove highly volatile. If the chaos spreads to other ...

Oil at Two-Year High as Libya on Edge of Civil War

ABC News - Pablo Gorondi - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
AP By PABLO GORONDI AP Traders work the crude oil options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Oil prices rose to fresh two-year highs around $96 a barrel Wednesday amid concerns that a ...

$100 oil's the pits

New York Post - Mark DeCambre - ‎7 hours ago‎
Global insurrections and fears over Libyan civil war sent oil soaring to the dreaded $100-barrel mark here as one analyst predicted doomsday prices of $220 if the violence worsens. Crude traders scrambled to keep up with one of the ...

Oil could hit $220 a barrel, says Nomura

Citywire.co.uk - Philip Haddon - ‎4 hours ago‎
In a note from its Asian oil and gas analyst team, Nomura said the closest comparison to the current wave of unrest rocking North Africa would be the 1990-91 Gulf War which saw oil prices surge by 21%. Up to yesterday, oil prices had surged 13% since ...

Is the oil price heading for $200 a barrel?

MoneyWeek - John Stepek - ‎7 hours ago‎
With the situation in Libya continuing to deteriorate, analysts are getting worried about the potential for civil war.Oil production in the country has already fallen in half according to some reports. All-out civil war could see it stop altogether. ...

Fears oil prices could put global economy at risk

Sydney Morning Herald - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - ‎4 hours ago‎
LIBYA'S descent into civil war has led to drastic cuts in oil shipments and prompted warnings that an escalation of the crisis could see Brent crude prices double to $US220 a barrel. Nomura's commodity team said oil prices risk vaulting to uncharted ...

Watch the oil!

The Periscope Post - ‎3 hours ago‎
As anxiety over the Middle East and north Africa rises, so too do oil prices. Libya, which produces 2% of the world's oil, may be descending into civil war. At least half of Libya's oil production has already been shut down as violence escalates, ...

Oil price: Should we fear the latest rises?

BBC News - Laurence Knight - ‎1 hour ago‎
The 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1979 Iranian revolution both led to jumps in the oil price that presaged economic downturns. More recently, the recession of 2008-09 was preceded by a record run-up in the ...

Keeping oil prices in check

JoongAng Daily - ‎2 hours ago‎
Oil prices are surging amid growing fears of a supply shock as the possibility of civil war in Libya emerges and as violence disrupts the country's oil production and export activities. Dubai crude, which makes up the bulk of our oil imports, ...

Libya's chaos triggers Mideast oil fears

UPI.com - ‎19 hours ago‎
A civil war would probably pit rival oil-producing regions against each other. The bloodshed has had a minimal effect on oil supplies so far, with production cut by some 50000 bpd. That's only a fraction of Libya's output but by all accounts its oil ...

Nomura's $220-a-barrel crisis oil call

FT Alphaville (blog) - Tracy Alloway - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
For example, during the 1973 Arab-Israel war, OPEC increased oil prices by US$6.5/bbl or 128%, while in 1979-1981 the Iran revolution followed by the Iran-Iraq war saw oil prices move up by about 77%. In fact the only major event that is comparable is ...

Nomura: Oil at $220 in 'Worst-Case' Scenario. Really?

Wall Street Journal (blog) - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
To back up that headline grabber, Nomura compares the current situation to the 1990-91 Gulf War. During that time, oil prices rose 130% in two months, according to our friends at Dow Jones. Nomura defends the comparison by saying "we could be ...

How To Play $220 Per Barrel Oil

Forbes (blog) - Jason Raznick - ‎21 hours ago‎
There have been a few events that drove oil prices higher (from 30% to 130% per event), most of which were during the period in which OPEC controlled oil prices. However, we believe the closest comparison is the 1990-91 Gulf War as this is the only ...

Why high oil prices could knock down the US dollar

Globe and Mail - ‎1 hour ago‎
Second, past episodes of tension in the Middle East suggest that the dollar tends to weaken when there are oilsupply shocks. This was the case during the first Iraq war in 1991 and in the run-up to the second Iraq war in 2003." Mr. Nordvig cited three ...

Oil near $96 as Libya teeters on edge of civil war

WXVT - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
AP - February 23, 2011 5:34 AM ET SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices rose to fresh 2-year highs near $96 a barrel in Asia today amid trader concern a violent power struggle in Libya could disrupt crude supplies. Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 47 ...

Middle East unrest could push oil to $220: Nomura

MarketWatch - Claudia Assis - ‎22 hours ago‎
The unrest could also reduce spare capacity of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to levels last seen during that war and in the summer of 2008, when prices hit $147 a barrel, Lo said. Crude-oil futures closed 2.8% higher at $98.10 a ...

Oil shock fears as Libya erupts

Telegraph.co.uk - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
The spectre of full civil war in oil-rich Libya and reports of the creation of an Islamic emirate in the country's "Barqa" region has moved the Mid-East crisis into a more dangerous phase, setting off an explosive rise in US crude prices. ...

The $100 Oil Panic

Wall Street Journal - ‎16 hours ago‎
This oil trouble has been building for some time, and there's much more at work here than turmoil in the Middle East. The latest price spike follows the outbreak of what looks like civil war in Libya, which produces about 2% of the world's oil...

Gov't considering using oil reserves amid Libya chaos

JoongAng Daily - Lee Eun-joo - ‎4 hours ago‎
The government also released 4.94 million barrels of oil in 1990 and 1991 during the Gulf Warin Iraq. "International oil prices have soared as oil production in Libya has been partially halted," said Yoo Yeon-baek, director of the ministry's petroleum ...

Oil Prices Spike: Blame Libya and Middle East Protests?

Elliott Wave - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
Here's a sample of the latest news stories: These explanations make perfect sense -- after all, how can the threat of civil war in oil-rich Libya not be bullish for oil prices? But read this excerpt from Elliott Wave International's monthly Global ...

Middle East uprisings might mean the end of free-flowing oil: US must find new ...

New York Daily News - Steve Yetiv - ‎20 hours ago‎
For the first time since 2008, the price of a barrel of oil has jumped the significant $100 barrier. If Libya plunges into a civil war, if the Bahrain protests continue and if other OPEC nations catch revolutionary fire, gas prices will only skyrocket. ...

What happens if Libya's oil exports are shut in?

Petroleum Economist - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
Civil war would ensue. Foreign oil firms wouldn't quickly return to the country and, even if conflict didn't disrupt production infrastructure (or Mad Dog's security services hadn't already blown them sky-high), state-owned NOC would struggle to keep ...

FEARS OVER POTENTIAL CIVIL WAR IN LIBYA CAUSED JUMP IN CRUDE-OILFUTURES

Zacks.com - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
Libya is a major oil producing and exporting nation, and with the largest un-tapped reserves of any African nation at 44 billion barrels, remains relatively undeveloped and has a high potential for growth in the sector. From 1992 to 2004, UN sanctions ...

Saudi Oil: Help or Hindrance?

Wall Street Journal (blog) - Andrea Hotter - ‎1 hour ago‎
During the first Gulf War, crude oil prices doubled within a two-month period despite incremental productions from Saudi Arabia, Standard Bank's James Zhang noted. Saudi contagion risk isn't yet priced into oil prices, however. "Today, the market would ...

Oil Hits $100 In New York As Libya's Violent Uprising Carries On

Forbes (blog) - ‎21 hours ago‎
The prospects of a continued conflict and even a civil war have forced companies operating in Libya to reduce or directly halt oil production, sending the price of crude through the roof. Crude prices have been spiking over the board, ...

Could Oil Top $220 per Barrel?

BloggingStocks (blog) - Connie Madon - ‎3 hours ago‎
If such events develop, oil could surge to $220 per barrel, according to Nomura Securities in the Wall Street Journal. Another scenario is based on the action of oil prices during the First Gulf WarOil prices then surged 130% in two months. ...

Equity markets stirred-up as 'peak oil' fears grow amid Libya crisis

Proactive Investors UK - Jamie Ashcroft - ‎4 hours ago‎
Indeed Michael Lo, analyst at Nomura, reckons the closest comparison to the current crisis and rising oil prices is the first Gulf War in 1990/1991. "During the seven months (leading up to) the Gulf War, prices jumped 130 percent as OPEC spare capacity ...

MUAMMAR Gaddafi blamed al-Qa'ida for an insurrection that has wrenched control of much of eastern Libya as he addressed his divided nation for the second time this week to galvanise support for his crumbling regime.

Speaking on state television, the embattled Mr Gaddafi insisted the uprising against his 41-year rule was not a people's revolt as in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, but fuelled by Osama bin Laden's network.

In marked contrast to a 75-minute address from a podium outside his Tripoli home on Tuesday, this time Mr Gaddafi spoke by telephone from an undisclosed location in an intervention that lasted barely 20 minutes.

His decision to speak by telephone rather than make an on-screen appearance has raised questions about his whereabouts, and indicates that his power base may be shrinking.

Amid continued fighting, swathes of the east of the country have fallen to opposition control and others into lawlessness, residents and reporters said.


World oil prices have surged toward $120 a barrel as unrest grips Libya.

Italian oil major ENI <ENI.MI said on Thursday the nation's output had fallen by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd).

Traders and analysts have said the loss of virtually all Libya's production is particularly serious because it is high quality, easy-to-refine oil in contrast to the heavier crudes often associated with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"Saudi is willing and capable of supplying oil of the same quality, either Arab extra light or through blending," one of the sources said.

"OPEC stipulates that it is able to supply all types of oil if needed," the source added. "There is no reason for the price to go higher."

Oil surged to almost $120 a barrel and the safe-haven Swiss franc hit a record high on Thursday on fears turmoil in Libya could spread, but gold eased on talk Saudi Arabia could boost its crude output.

U.S. equity markets also hovered near break-even after this week's sharp slide. Analysts said it was too soon to say a long-expected sell-off on Wall Street was over with unrest in North Africa and the Middle East still alive. For details please see: [ID:nN24282475]

The escalating violence in Libya, home to Africa's largest proven oil reserves, lifted benchmark Brent crude oil to its highest level since August 2008 and kindled concerns of an inflationary spike that might stall global recovery. [ID:nLDE71N1AY]

This week's relentless surge in oil prices stung the U.S. dollar against major currencies. The Swiss franc benefited from the turmoil in North Africa while the euro extended gains against the dollar on expectations interest rates in the euro zone will rise earlier than those in the United States.

The dollar fell to a record low of 0.9240 of a Swiss franc CHF=EBS on electronic trading platform EBS.

"The problem with civil unrest is that we don't really know when it's going to end. It might get worse and the supply of oil might come down even more, and that's a big concern for the market," said Sebastian Lynar, sales trader at IG Index.

Copper, considered a harbinger of economic sentiment, firmed after better than expected U.S. jobless data, but it remained under pressure on concerns that higher oil prices driven by violence in Libya could slow economic growth. [ID:nL3E7DO0Q5]

Brent crude futures for April delivery LCOc1 spiked to $119.79 a barrel before easing to $114.55, up $3.30 on the day.

U.S. light sweet crude oil CLc1 also rose but remained under the $100 mark it touched on Wednesday for the first time since October 2008.

Spot gold prices XAU= rose slightly to $1,412.00 an ounce, up just $2.05.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed official as saying Saudi Arabia was in active talks with European refiners who may be hit by a disruption in Libyan exports.


OPEC has yet to make any formal changes to its output policy.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, said at talks this week the market was still adequately supplied, but it was always ready to release some of its roughly 4 million bpd of spare capacity on to the markets in the event of a shortage.

Reuters reports:
Violent revolt in Libya as Muammar Gaddafi clings to power has shut down as much as three-quarters of its output, according to some estimates.

Concern the disruption could escalate drove Brent crude futures to nearly $120 a barrel on Thursday, a new 2-1/2 year high, which has already wiped out the profits of some European refineries for making gasoline.

So far, there is no overall lack of oil in the world. Inventories are high and OPEC has an estimated 5 million barrels per day (bpd) of spare capacity.

The producer group has said it is willing and able to release oil on to the market but has so far made no formal change to its output.

Even if OPEC decides to act, many European analysts and traders say the crude most readily available from other OPEC nations is not the kind of light, sweet oil Libya can ship to aging European refiners.

"You are going to have to pay a premium for other crudes. If there's any sort of time constraint and you want them in a hurry you'll have to pay up to get in front of the next guy," said Rob Montefusco, a London-based oil trader at Sucden Financial.

Europe imports around 80 percent of Libya's 1.3 million bpd of exports, according to consultancy Facts Global Energy (FGE). The oil is destined chiefly for France, Germany and above all Italy, which buys around 400,000 bpd of Libyan crude. Its dependency is particularly high as it has many older plants.

World governments scrambled to evacuate stranded nationals from the oil-rich country as world crude prices soared.

The 68-year-old leader accused residents of Az-Zawiyah, a town 50 kilometres west of the capital hit by fierce fighting between his forces and rebels, of siding with the al-Qa'ida leader.

"You in Zawiyah turn to Bin Laden," he said. "They give you drugs."

"It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qa'ida," he said, addressing the towns elders. "Those armed youngsters, our children, are incited by people who are wanted by America and the Western world.

He says al-Qa'ida militants were "exploiting" teenagers by giving them "hallucinogenic pills in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe."

Az-Zawiyah is a middle-class satellite town situated on the Mediterranean that is home to a number of pro-Gaddafi military officers and the site of the country's largest oil refinery.

"Those inciting are very few in numbers and we have to capture them. Others have to stay at home. They have guns, they feel trigger happy and they shoot especially when they are stoned with drugs."

The "situation is different from Egypt or Tunisia ... Here the authority is in your hands, the people's hands. You can change authority any way your wish. It's your call. You are the elderly, the head of the tribes, the professors."

"They have been brainwashing the kids in this area and tell them to misbehave. This are the one who are under Bin Laden's influence and authority, under the influence of drugs."

Ten people were killed overnight and dozens more wounded when pro-government forces attacked anti-government protesters in the town.

Quoting its correspondent in Az-Zawiyah, Benghazi-based Quryna added that "the wounded cannot reach the hospitals because of shots being fired in all directions."

Earlier, state news agency Jana said three "terrorists" attacked a security forces post there and slit the throats of three policemen.

Al-Jazeera television, reporting heavy fighting, also quoted witnesses as saying an army unit led by Mr Gaddafi ally Naji Shifsha blasted the minaret of a mosque being occupied by protesters in Az-Zawiyah.

Hundreds of people have been killed since the uprising started in the eastern town of Benghazi on February 15, according to human rights groups, while some politicians say the toll could be as high as 1,000.

In the capital, sustained gunfire was heard in the eastern suburbs during the night. Yesterday morning, the streets were virtually deserted.

In Zouara, towards the Tunisian border, fleeing Egyptian workers said the town was in the control of civilian militias after fierce fighting on Wednesday evening.

There were unconfirmed reports of continuing fighting in the town of Misrata, about 200 kilometres east of Tripoli. Other reports said pro-Mr Gaddafi forces had attacked Sabratha, which lies between Az-Zawiyah and the capital and Sabha, about 650 kilometres to the south.

"Our goal now is Tripoli," one protester told a town hall meeting addressed by defecting generals. "If Tripoli cannot liberate itself."

A dozen army and police commanders came forward in the eastern town of Al-Baida to pronounce their support for the popular revolt, each being wildly applauded by the crowd.

"I have left my job and come to Al-Baida in solidarity with my people," said police General Salah Mathek. "They say I am a traitor but I have principles."

General Abdul Aziz al-Busta said he had refused orders to fire on civilians as the uprising erupted last week. "They asked us to confront the people and I refused. We cannot use our weapons on our young," he said.

Residents in Al-Baida spoke of a bloodbath as the regime tried to cling on to power in the eastern Cyrenaica region, long a bastion of dissent.

The town's main hospital was treating a raft of gunshot casualties, among them two medics, fired on as they attempted to care for the wounded.

Foreigners told of hellish scenes in Tripoli as they fled the chaos engulfing Libya, with countries worldwide urgently trying to get their nationals out.

Thousands of foreigners packed Tripoli's airport hoping to escape the widening crisis, with those who managed to leave describing anarchic scenes, with food and water supplies running low.

Governments sent planes and ships in a bid to rescue their citizens from the mounting lawlessness as Mr Gaddafi pursues a bloody bid to cling to power.

"Libya is descending into hell," said Helena Sheehan, who made it to London Gatwick Airport on the first specially-chartered British rescue flight.

"The airport is like nothing I've ever seen in my whole life," the 66-year-old said. "It's absolute chaos. There's just thousands and thousands of people trying to get out."

Fellow passenger Jan McKeogh added: "It's usually a very, very safe area but there were absolute maniacs over there."

Others told of gunmen standing on roundabouts and getting on buses looking for mercenaries.

The logistical challenges were especially acute for Asian countries with more than 150,000 low-paid workers trapped - including some 60,000 Bangladeshis and 30,000 Filipinos.

China ramped up a massive air, sea and land operation to evacuate more than 30,000 of its citizens, with over 4,000 transferred to the nearby Greek island of Crete yesterday.

Evacuee Jill Wang, 24, a translator working for a construction firm near Benghazi, said: "We did not go outside the compound, but others who did were robbed by gangs and some got injured. We were really scared and afraid that something worse would happen."

Greek evacuee Costas Koumentakos, from Athens, said: "We had local friends, they saved us.

"We were afraid because someone could kill you without answering to no one. There is no police, it's anarchy."

Thailand, which has more than 23,000 workers in Libya, said it was making preparations to get its citizens to Malta.

India said a 1,000-capacity passenger ship had arrived to begin evacuating some of its 18,000 nationals to Egypt.

Migrante International, a support group for Philippines workers abroad, said Filipinos had been left to fend for themselves, as Vice President Jejomar Binay planned to fly to the region to review emergency plans.

A South Korean warship was on its way, while Seoul has chartered a plane to fly some of the estimated 1,400 South Koreans still in Libya to Cairo.

Hundreds of US nationals and other foreigners have boarded a US-chartered ferry in Tripoli but high seas delayed their departure for Malta.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "incredibly sorry" for the delays in getting British nationals home, as the first three planes made it out, carrying adults, children and even a dog.

On Tuesday, Mr Gaddafi vowed to remain as Libya's leader, saying he would die as a martyr in the land of his ancestors and fight to the "last drop" of his blood.

The speech, in which he ordered the security forces to crush the popular uprising, sparked universal condemnation from world leaders.

US President Barack Obama described the crackdown by the regime's remaining loyalists as "outrageous".

Obama urged the world to unite to hold Libya accountable for the crackdown while British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he wanted an international investigation into the "atrocities" taking place.

But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned the West against interfering in others' affairs.

A joint EU-Russia statement said the two sides "condemn and consider unacceptable the use of military force to break up peaceful demonstrations".

Calling for "national dialogue" to resolve problems "that have accumulated within societies", the joint declaration also offered economic and other assistance to Arab countries.

Asked for further comment at a press conference, Putin repeatedly urged the West to refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of other nations.

"People should have the right to determine their future and their destiny ... without any interference from outside," he said.

"We should respect processes" unravelling in other regions of the world," Putin also said. "Of course we should carefully support the phenomenon which takes place there but we should not interfere."

LIGHT CRUDE, BUT FURTHER AWAY

Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, has light crude, and senior sources said it is able to supply more to replace Libyan barrels. How much of it might be available to make the journey to Europe is unclear, however.

The kingdom has asked European refiners to specify the quantity and quality of oil they want, the Financial Times quoted a Saudi official as saying.

"There is the whole variety of different crudes available. It covers everything," said Sadad al-Husseini, an oil analyst and former top official at oil giant Saudi Aramco.

Capacity increments that have taken Saudi Arabia's overall production to 12.5 million barrels per day have included high quality light oil.

Saudi Aramco said on Monday its Khurais oilfield was pumping around 1 million bpd and could produce up to 1.4 million bpd. That alone could in theory make up for lost Libyan exports.

Some analysts say events in the Middle East and North Africa are moving so rapidly that OPEC may decide not to take any formal output decision until more clarity emerges, although Saudi Arabia can always unilaterally add crude to the market.

A defiant Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Thursday warned of chaos if anti-government protests continued in the country and accused Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden of 'duping young people' into participating in the violent demonstrations.

In a phone-in to state TV, the embattled leader warned Libyans that protests will lead to chaos in the country, Xinhua said citing an Al Arabiya TV report.

'If you want to live in this chaos, it's up to you,' he said, adding that he felt sorry for those who got killed in the clashes.

According to BBC, Gaddafi said that young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in 'destruction and sabotage'.

In the phone call from the town of Al Zawiya, broadcast live on TV, Gaddafi said the protesters had no genuine demands and were being dictated to by the Al Qaeda leader.

The telephone call was said to be an address to the people of Al Zawiya, 50 km west of the capital, where there has been renewed gunfire reported in the streets.

'Bin Laden... this is the enemy who is manipulating people. Do not be swayed by bin Laden,' he said.

'It is obvious now that this issue is run by Al Qaeda. Those armed youngsters, our children, are incited by people who are wanted by America and the Western world.

'Those inciting are very few in numbers and we have to capture them.'

The protests against Gaddafi's 41-year rule began after mass demonstrations forced Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power Feb 11, and one month after demonstrators across the border in Tunisia toppled their longtime leader, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

Gaddafi said that Libya was not like Egypt and Tunisia, which have seen their leaders deposed, because the people of Libya had it in their own hands to change their lives through committees.

The Libyan leader said he only has 'moral authority' in Libya. 'I don't have the power to issue laws. The authority is at the hands of the people,' he told the official TV.

He urged families to rein in their sons, saying many of the protesters were underage and beyond the reach of the law.

He also vowed that those carrying out violent protests would be put on trial.

This was Gaddafi's second live TV appearance since the protests erupted Feb 14.

On Tuesday, he said he would die a martyr in Libya and fight to the 'last drop' of his blood.

Meanwhile, opposition politicians and tribal leaders have held a key meeting in the eastern town of Al Bayda to show a united front against Gaddafi.


STEADY OUTPUT POLICY

OPEC has officially held output policy steady since December 2008 when it implemented record supply curbs totaling 4.2 million bpd.

As the oil market has risen, OPEC has unofficially increased the amount it produces above its agreed limits.

Data supplied by Saudi Arabia showed its output reached the highest in two years in December, although its exports had dipped from the previous month.

An industry source also said Saudi Arabia had large amounts of light crude, although he added Saudi Aramco had not yet issued new instructions to increase the rate of pumping.

Early this week, Saudi Aramco invited journalists to Khurais oilfield and told them it could produce up to 1.4 million bpd of light oil. For European customers, the advantage of Libya is that it is only a short journey away across the Mediterranean.

The sources said Saudi Arabia could shorten the journey time for its crudes by shipping them through its East-West pipeline and then to the Mediterranean and on to Europe.

Oil to feed civil war
By Stratfor Global Intelligence
 

Unlike energy produced in most African states, nearly all of Libya's oil and natural gas is produced onshore. This reduces development costs but increases the chances that political instability could impact output - and Libya has been anything but stable of late. 

Libya's 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil output can be broken into two categories. The first comes from a basin in the country's western extreme and is exported from a single major

  
hub just west of Tripoli. The second basin is in the country's eastern region and is exported from a variety of facilities in eastern cities. 

At the risk of oversimplifying, Libya's population is split in half: Leader Muammar Gaddafi's power base is in Tripoli in the extreme west, the opposition is concentrated in Benghazi in the east, with a 600 kilometer-wide gulf of nearly empty desert in between. 

This effectively gives the country two political factions, two energy-producing basins, two oil output infrastructures. Economically at least, the seeds of protracted conflict - regardless of what happens with Gaddafi or any political changes after he departs - have already been sown. 

If Libya veers toward civil war, each side will have its own source of income to feed on, as well as a similar income source on the other side to target. There have not been any attacks on the energy sector yet, but the threats to stability - overt and implied - have been sufficient to nudge most international oil firms operating in Libya to remove their staff. 

These staff are essential. At 6.5 million people, Libya's tiny population simply cannot generate the mass of technocrats and engineers required to run a reasonably sized energy sector. As such, foreign firms do most of the investing and all of the heavy lifting. 

The Libyans are hardly incompetent, but even if their skill sets and labor force simply were deep enough - and they are not - the political instability is keeping many workers at home. Within the past 24 hours we have seen the first reductions in output - about 100,000 bpd is now offline - and more are sure to follow. 

This will be the biggest problem for Italian energy major ENI. That firm's relationship with Libya reflects Rome's, which has had influence in what is currently Libya literally since the time of the Roman Empire. ENI has had boots on the ground in the North African state since the dawn of its energy industry in 1959 and has never scaled back its operations. 

Even in the dark days of Libya's ostracism from the West in the 1980s, when American firms left due to Gaddafi's backing of various militant factions and United Nations and US sanctions were levied after Libyan agents downed Pam Am Flight 103 in 1988, killing 270 people, ENI drilled on. As such, ENI produces some 250,000 bpd in Libya, which accounts for 15% of the Italian firm's global output. It is also the major power behind the country's moderate piped natural gas exports. 

ENI is also a partially state-owned firm and is thus susceptible to inefficiency and a lack of propensity to rise to technical challenges. As such, ENI has simply been unable to secure new energy sources except on terms set by others. Unsurprisingly, it has seen its market share eroded by a more adept private challenger, Edison. 

All told, Italy has to find about 60 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas a year to cover the country's natural gas deficit. Despite the drawbacks of partnering with someone like Gaddafi, Libya can provide about 11 bcm - and ENI, fully supported by the central government in Rome, gets all of it. Italy, via ENI, is also Libya's single largest oil consumer, with most of the rest going elsewhere in Europe. 

Whether ENI loses access to Libyan energy because of safety concerns, supply interruptions or a new government in Tripoli that looks less than favorably on the company that stuck by Gaddafi through thick and thin, there is much risk and little opportunity ahead in ENI's future relations with Libya. 

(Published with permission from STRATFORr, a Texas-based geopolitical intelligence company. Copyright 2011 Stratfor.)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MB24Ak02.htmlhttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MB24Ak02.htmlhttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MB24Ak02.htmlhttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MB24Ak02.html
Libyan chaos could threaten Mediterranean economy
FEB 22, 2011 11:00 EST
By Una Galani
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

LONDON — Chaos in Libya could pose a threat to Mediterranean economies. The unrest in the oil-rich North African country, and the subsequent bloody reaction of its authoritarian regime, could soon present a serious strategic challenge for Western governments and corporate titans that recently embraced the long-pariah state.

But it is Italy, the country's former colonial ruler, which looks set to bear the brunt of the fallout if the situation descends into uncontrolled turmoil.

Four decades of rule under unpredictable Muammar Gaddafi quite expectedly failed to deliver the Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution's vision of a "state of the masses" or "people's capitalism". In one of the most corrupt countries in the world, wealth from the economy, which accounts for 2 percent of global oil production, is hardly visible among the population of 6 million.

Despite its massive failings, Libya, as other similar countries, has won praise from the International Monetary Fund. The country's relationship with Western powers deepened after U.N. sanctions against were lifted in 2003. The United States has increased its oil imports from the country, and unsavoury government dealings have helped the likes of British oil giant BP push on with a $900 million exploration contract in Libya.

The country's strongest external ties, however, remain with Italy. Libya is a prominent feature on the Italian corporate landscape, with stakes in carmaker Fiat, banking group UniCredit and even the Juventus football team. Italian oil giant Eni has a 14 billion euro investment programme in the country, as well as supply contracts stretching to 2047. Overall Libyan oil accounts for around 27 percent of Italy's consumption.

Threats from Gaddafi's son that the country's oil "will be burned" cannot be taken lightly. Even if Libya doesn't descend into all-out civil war, it can afford a prolonged period of disruption despite its economy's absolute dependence on oil production. The country's net foreign assets are estimated to total $150 billion — or enough to cover 37 months of imports.

Italy's politicians are reluctant to condemn Tripoli, but after the country's decision to open fire on anti-government protestors, companies will have to weigh the dubious attraction of counting Libya amongst their shareholders. Energy investments could also now be threatened if sanctions are re-imposed. Meanwhile the near 2 percent jump in oil prices seems to suggest markets aren't overly optimistic.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India are moving staff out of Libya, fearing more violence in the North African nation that is facing a rebellion. 

ONGC has one staffer while OIL had two in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the two state firms are making arrangements to evacuate them by month-end. 

"Contact with the officer has been intermittent," ONGC Chairman and Managing Director A K Hazarika said, "We are working with External Affairs Ministry and the Indian Embassy in Libya to bring him back." 

OIL has been able to deliver air-tickets to its officers of two flights out of Tripoli. 

"Communication through telephone and internet is very difficult. But we have been able to speak to them and have managed to send tickets across for a couple of flights out of Tripoli tomorrow and the day-after," OIL Chairman and Managing Director N M Borah said. 

Both the firms have authorised their staffers to leave Libya by whatever mean possible. 

"We have (asked)our officer to be in touch with Indian Embassy in Libya," ONGC Videsh Ltd Managing Director RS Butola said. 

OVL, the overseas arm of the state explorer, had three blocks in Libya - Block NC-189 in Sirte Basin, Block 81-1 in Ghadames Basin in south-west Libya and Contract Area 43 located in Cyrenaica offshore basin in the Mediterranean sea. 

The company had surrendered Block NC-198 and Block 81-1 after it did not discover any hydrocarbon and was working only on Contract Area 43. 

OIL is the operator of two exploration blocks in scrub desert area of Western Libya. The blocks, where Indian Oil Corp was an equal partner, had turned out to be dry and OIL had decided to relinquish them. 

"We were in the process of winding up operations (when the unrest broke out in Libya)," Borah said. 

OIL had, some weeks back, applied to Libyan authorities for relinquishing the two onshore blocks - Block 86 and Block 102(4) in oil-prolific Sirte Basin. 

OIL was the operator of the two blocks and held 50 per cent stake in the venture, while the rest was held by state refiner IOC. OIL-IOC had won the blocks in the Libyan Exploration and Production Service Agreement (EPSA IV) Bid Round I in 2004. 

The official said OIL also has interest in Area 95/96 (Block 2/1, 2 & 4) with Algerian oil firm Sonatrach. OIL and IOC hold 25 per cent stake each, while Sonatrach is the operator with 50 per cent. 

The onshore block, located in the oil-prolific Ghadames Basin, was won in EPSA Bid Round IV in 2007.

Col Muammar Gaddafi: ''You should not listen to Bin Laden and his followers''


Analysis: Revolt in Libya likely to scar its oil sector

Reuters - Joshua Schneyer - ‎7 hours ago‎
None of several potential outcomes is benign for Libya's oil industry -- the lifeblood of its economy -- or for oilprices. The scenarios run the gamut from all-out civil war and attacks on energy infrastructure to low-level neglect and reservoir ...

Oil soars as Libya braces for civil war

The Standard - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
Libya was last night on the precipice of civil war, with jitters pushing oil prices to a two-and-a-half-year high. Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, produced 1.58 million barrels per day in January, ...

Unrest at Oil's Door

MarketMinder - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
A Libyan civil war—a possibility, though still currently avoidable—could materially impact global energy supplies and prices. Libya has 41 million barrels of proven crude oil reserves—the largest in Africa—representing 2-3% of global energy supplies. ...

FTSE dips after oil prices surge

The Press Association - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
Libya's ongoing crisis has sent the London market into the red as oil prices continued to surge. But the FTSE 100 Index fought back from the worst of its earlier declines, closing down 18 points at 5996.8 as fears over a civil war in the North African ...

GLOBAL MARKETS: European Stocks Fall But Banks Limit Losses

Wall Street Journal - Michele MaatoukIshaq Siddiqi - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
Gadhafi's pledge fueled additional worries that the country could see a civil war, unsettling investors about the state of affairs in the Middle East and North Africa. Traders said that amid such uncertainty, stocks may pause for a while. ...

GLOBAL MARKETS: European Stocks Weak But Banks Shine

Wall Street Journal - Ishaq Siddiqi - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
His pledge fueled additional worries that the country could see a civil war, unsettling investors about the state of affairs in the Middle East and North Africa. Credit Suisse said: trim your risk and then wait and see, in case some clarity turns up. ...

Eni Likely to Reduce Libyan Output Further as Tanks Fill

Bloomberg - Alessandra Migliaccio - ‎53 minutes ago‎
Eni SpA will probably cut Libyan oil production further and may halt it altogether because storage tanks at export terminals are filling up, said two people with knowledge of the situation. ...

Oil surges and FTSE declines as Gaddafi digs in

Citywire.co.uk - Max Julius - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
Oil prices skyrocketed and Britain's benchmark stock index dropped on Tuesday, as Libya's president, Muammar Gaddafi, dismissed reports that he had fled and Libyan war planes were said to have fired on protestors. ...

Libyan violence puts FTSE in red

The Press Association - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
... prospect of civil war. The Footsie fell 68.2 points to 6014.8 by close of business on Monday, while the political unrest also saw oil prices leap to their highest since September 2008, with Brent crude oil jumping to 105 US dollars (£64) a barrel. ...

ENI and Italy the biggest IOC losers in Libya

Gerson Lehrman Group - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
... country breaks out in civil war. Both Italy and ENI "stand to lose a great deal if things fall apart" according to Nicolo Sartori of Rome's IAI Institute for International Affairs, as quoted in the February 22, 2011 edition of Oiland Gas Journal. ...

GLOBAL MARKETS: European Stocks Set To Open Sharply Lower

Wall Street Journal - Ishaq Siddiqi - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
The political crisis in the country appeared to be worsening further, amid mounting violence against pro-democracy protesters, with Libyan security forces reportedly firing on demonstrators from war planes and helicopters. This pushed crude oil prices ...

Italy's ties to Libya in spotlight amid unrest

MarketWatch - Polya Lesova - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
"If the unrest becomes a war, then that will affect Italy's oil and gas supplies," Walston said. "If supplies are cut off for any extended period, then it would be a very serious problem for Italy." Eni said Tuesday that supplies of natural gas from ...

Oil shock fears as Libya erupts

Telegraph.co.uk - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
The spectre of full civil war in oil-rich Libya and reports of the creation of an Islamic emirate in the country's "Barqa" region has moved the Mid-East crisis into a more dangerous phase, setting off an explosive rise in US crude prices. ...

The NATO Plan Is to Occupy Libya

Radio Cadena Agramonet - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
The United States became the lord and master of the huge oil fields that Mother Nature had bestowed upon that sister country. At the end of the last World War, it started to extract greater amounts of oil from the oil fields of Iran, as well as those ...

Libya's Deputy Ambassador Calls for "No-Fly Zone Over Libya"; Crude, Gold ...

FavStocks - Mike Shedlock - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
Libya's Deputy Ambassador has asked for a "No-Fly Zone Over Libya" Oil production in Libya is set to drop dramatically as major international companies and sub-contractors evacuate their staff from the north African country, potentially sending oil ...

London in red on Libyan fears

Irish Examiner - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
Libya's ongoing crisis sent the London market into the red today as oil prices continued to surge. But the FTSE 100 Index fought back from the worst of its earlier declines, closing down 18 points at 5996.8 as fears over a civil war in the North ...

The Libyan question

Straits Times (blog) - ‎13 hours ago‎
But unlike Somalia, Libya is a major oil producer. Any disruptions in its oil wells will have dire consequences on the world's energy supplies. The jitters had already sent Brent crude soaring by 5 per cent to US$111 a barrel – a 2 ½ year peak. ...

Libya's threat to oil supplies

Financial Times (blog) - Alexandra Stevenson - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
If Libya veers towards civil war, each side will have its own source of income to feed on, as well as a similar income source on the other side to target. Stratfor writes that over the last 24 hours, output has fallen by 100000 bpd. ...

Major Oil Companies Flee Libya

Dallas Blog (blog) - Tom McGregor - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
Saif al-Islam Qaddafi called on demonstrators against Muammar Qaddafi, his father, who has ruled the country for 41 years, to engage in dialogue or contend with a civil war, which risks the nation's oil wealth, explaining that "rivers of blood will ...

Oil Stocks That Could Be Affected by Libya This Week

Seeking Alpha - Scott A. Mathews - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
Libya, the 17 th largest producer of oil, shipping 1.8 million barrels a day, and an OPEC member is coming apart at the seams. Likely hundreds have been killed as Libya breaks out in full-on civil war with the military changing allegiances, ...

European shares fall on Libya worries, oils hit

Reuters UK - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
The STOXX Europe 600 Oil & Gas .SXEP index fell 0.8 percent, while oil prices LCOc1 jumped to a 2-1/2 year high on supply disruption fears. Libya exports around 1.1 million barrels per day of crude. Italian oil and gas company Eni fell 4.1 percent on ...

US Stocks Decline as Libyan Government Attacks Protesters; Airlines Drop

Bloomberg - Rita NazarethNikolaj Gammeltoft - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
"If the violence in Libya turns into a prolonged civil war, it will increase the risk that oil supplies could be disrupted with negative implications for the stock market. This could be the catalyst that starts the 5 percent to 10 percent correction. ...

Libya violence hits markets

BreakingNews.ie - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
... Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam warned civil war could hit the country. The Footsie fell 45.8 points to 6037.3 and the political unrest saw oil prices leap to their highest since September 2008, with Brent crude oiljumping to $104.65 a barrel. ...

Eni Declines as Libya Unrest Worsens, BP Stops Exploration

Bloomberg - Brian Swint - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
Libya holds the largest crude oil reserves in Africa and oil prices rose to a two-year high today. Saif al-Islam Qaddafi called on protesters against his father Muammar Qaddafi's 41- year rule to engage in dialogue or face a civil war that risks the ...

U.S. Stock Futures Fall as Oil Price Surges on Libya Uprising

San Francisco Chronicle - ‎4 hours ago‎
With Qaddafi using more force to quash the revolts than Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, analysts said Libya could descend into civil war. In the US, durable goods orders probably rose in January, pointing to production ...

Will the Arab Revolt Challenge Big Oil ?

The Nation. (blog) - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
Start another war? Think thats the answer? Better buy your seeds and gold, oh, and don't forget the bicycle. so regardless of the nature of the face of the post revolutionary middle east, if anything resembling democratic (and remember, islamists could ...

Eni Likely to Reduce Libyan Output Further as Tanks Fill

San Francisco Chronicle - ‎1 hour ago‎
24 (Bloomberg) -- Eni SpA will probably cut Libyan oil production further and may halt it altogether because storage tanks at export terminals are filling up, said two people with knowledge of the situation. While Eni, the largest foreign oil producer ...

Market down as oil price soars

WalesOnline - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
... after leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam warned of the grim prospect of civil war. The Footsie fell 68.2 points to 6014.8 as the political unrest saw oil prices leap to their highest since September 2008, with Brent crude oil jumping to 105 ...

BP Suspends Exploration as Libya Unrest Worsens; Eni Drops

San Francisco Chronicle - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
Saif al-Islam Qaddafi called on protesters against his father Muammar Qaddafi's 41-year rule to engage in dialogue or face a civil war that risks the country's oil wealth, warning that "rivers of blood will flow" if demonstrations continue. ...
China, India in Uganda oil war
Published on: March 29, 2010 at 22:10
KAMPALA, UGANDA (Commodity Online): A new oil war is brewing in Uganda now with India's oil giant ONGC being outbid by China's CNOOC for exploring oil in the African country.

According to reports, China's CNOOC outsmarted India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for exploration rights in the Lake Albert Basin, the epicenter of the emerging new oil zone. 

But a political storm is brewing in the Ugandan capital over alleged corruption in government of President Yoweri Museveni over the lucrative contracts and a swelling grassroots campaign for an equitable sharing of the wealth being generated by the oil boom in the western part of the former British colony. 

Human rights and anti-corruption campaigners claim the contracts are structured so that the risk lies largely with the state, while the oil companies moving into the region are virtually guaranteed a return of up to 35 per cent on their capital investment. 

That's considered three times the internationally recognized norm for fair profit. 

Get geopolitical analysis to spot trends

Museveni initially refused to make the 20-year production-sharing contracts public amid widespread speculation that he had personally negotiated the terms. 

However, a transparency campaign group, Platform, published three of the contracts. These, said Platform campaigner Taimour Lay, pointed to "a resource extraction program designed for profit, not development, and contain a series of provisions that undermine any hope of changing course". 

Platform and others seek to ensure that Uganda's oil wealth -- which is expected to eventually produce around $2 billion a year in revenue -- doesn't enrich the country's elite as it has across Africa, from Nigeria and Angola to Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. 

In these states, heavily dependent on oil revenue, power elites are facing growing unrest over deep-rooted official corruption and inequitable sharing of the national wealth. 

In Angola and Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's largest producers, there are insurgencies that target their oil industries .  
 
Sudan's oil producing region became a battleground in its long civil war that ended in 2005 and may be the focus of renewed conflict if, as expected, the Christian and animist south splits with the Arab-dominated north. 

In Uganda, the prospect of oil wealth is already stirring tribal and ethnic conflict, particularly in the Bunyoro region. This is one of several historic kingdoms within Uganda. 

Lake Albert has historically been part of Bunyoro but under the current policy of Uganda's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development the kingdom's share of the revenue from the Lake Albert basin will be negligible. 

Bunyoro claims other tribal regions will benefit from the oil more than it will and the debate threatens to reignite regional rivalries and tribal violence. 

In the meantime, Museveni's government has sought to secure Bunyoro's oil, by deploying troops to strategic locations in the region. 

In February, Museveni announced the formation of a special army force commanded by son, Muhoozi Keinerugaba, to protect Uganda's oil fields. 

Exploration of the Lake Albert Basin only began in earnest in 2007, with strikes by wildcat independents such as Tullow Oil of the United Kingdom and Heritage Oil of Canada. 

Now larger international concerns are moving in. The Energy Ministry estimates there are reserves totaling the equivalent to 2 billion-6 billion barrels of oil. Production is due to begin later this year and could hit 350,000 barrels per day by 2015. 

That would make Uganda the fourth or fifth largest producer in Africa. 

Tullow, backed by a $1.4 billion loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland, is ready to acquire Heritage's stakes in the region for $1.5 billion once it gains the approval of Ugandan authorities. 

That's expected sometime in the next few weeks. 

According to industry sources, Tullow, which operates in 15 African countries, then intends to bring in Total of France and the state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp., with each holding 33 percent of three blocks.

CNOOC is part of Beijing's global drive to secure oil and gas supplies for China's mushrooming economy, with Africa a key target. 

India, Asia's other economic titan, is waging a similar campaign but is trailing the Chinese badly. 

The failure of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. to snap up Heritage's 50 percent share of Blocks 1 and 3A in the Lake Albert Basin testifies to its lack of success. 

Total, CNOOC and Tullow are expected to invest about $10 billion in development projects in Uganda and to develop the nascent oil sector. 

(Sources: EUNewsNet.com and OfficialWire)

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    Fuel

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Wood was one of the first fuels used by humans and is still the primary energy source in much of the world.[citation needed]

    Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to performmechanical work in a controlled manner. A fuel contains energy, mostly heat, that can be released and then manipulated. Most fuels used by humans undergocombustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air. Other processes used to convert fuel into energy include various other exothermic chemical reactions and nuclear reactions, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. Hydrocarbons are by far the most common source of fuel used by humans, but many other substances, such as radioactive metals, are currently used as well.

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    [edit]Chemical

    Chemical fuels are substances that release energy by reacting with substances around them, most notably by the process of oxidation.

    [edit]Biofuels

    Biofuel can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from biomass. Biomass can also be used directly for heating or power—known as biomass fuel. Biofuel can be produced from any carbon source that can be replenished rapidly e.g. plants. Many different plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacture.

    Perhaps the earliest fuel employed by humans is wood. Evidence shows controlled fire was used up to 1.5 million years ago atSwartkransSouth Africa. It is unknown which hominid species first used fire, as both Australopithecus and an early species of Homowere present at the sites.[1] As a fuel, wood has remained in use up until the present day, although it has been superseded for many purposes by other sources. Wood has an energy density of 10–20 MJ/kg.[2]

    Recently biofuels have been developed for use in automotive transport (for example Bioethanol and Biodiesel), but there is widespread public debate about how carbon efficient these fuels are.

    [edit]Fossil fuels

    Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal and petroleum (liquid petroleum or natural gas), formed from the fossilized remains of ancient plants and animals[3] by exposure to high heat and pressure in the absence of oxygen in the Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years.[4] Commonly, the term fossil fuel also includes hydrocarbon-containing natural resources that are not derived entirely from biological sources, such as tar sands. These latter sources are properly known as mineral fuels.


    [edit]Nuclear

    Nuclear fuel is any material that is consumed to derive nuclear energy. Technically speaking this definition includes all matter because any element will under the right conditions release nuclear energy, the only materials that are commonly referred to as nuclear fuels though are those that will produce energy without being placed under extreme duress.

    [edit]Fission

    Nuclear fuel pellets are used to create nuclear energy.

    The most common type of nuclear fuel used by humans is heavy fissile elements that can be made to undergo nuclear fission chain reactions in a nuclear fission reactornuclear fuel can refer to the material or to physical objects (for example fuel bundles composed of fuel rods) composed of the fuel material, perhaps mixed with structural, neutron moderating, or neutron reflecting materials. The most common fissile nuclear fuels are 235U and 239Pu, and the actions of mining, refining, purifying, using, and ultimately disposing of these elements together make up the nuclear fuel cycle, which is important for its relevance to nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons.

    [edit]Fusion

    Fuels that produce energy by the process of nuclear fusion are currently not utilized by man but are the main source of fuel for stars, the most powerful energy sources in nature. Fusion fuels tend to be light elements such as hydrogen which will combine easily.

    In stars that undergo nuclear fusion, fuel consists of atomic nuclei that can release energy by the absorption of a proton or neutron. In most stars the fuel is provided by hydrogen, which can combine together to form helium through the proton-proton chain reaction or by the CNO cycle. When the hydrogen fuel is exhausted, nuclear fusion can continue with progressively heavier elements, although the net energy released is lower because of the smaller difference in nuclear binding energy. Once iron-56 or nickel-56 nuclei are produced, no further energy can be obtained by nuclear fusion as these have the highest nuclear binding energies.[5]

    [edit]World trade

    Fuel imports in 2005

    World Bank reported that the USA was the top fuel importer in 2005 followed by the EU and Japan.[citation needed]

    [edit]Use over time

    The first use of fuel was the combustion of wood or sticks by Homo erectus near 2 million years ago.[6][page needed] Throughout the majority of human history fuels derived from plants or animal fat were the only ones available for human use.Charcoal, a wood derivative, has been used since at least 6,000 BCE for smelting metals. It was only supplanted by coke, derived from coal, as the forests started to become depleted around the 18th century. Charcoal briquettes are now commonly used as a fuel for barbecue cooking.[7]

    Coal was first used as a fuel around 1000 BCE in China. With the development of the steam engine in 1769, coal came into more common use as a power source. Coal was later used to drive ships and locomotives. By the 19th century, gas extracted from coal was being used for street lighting in London. In the 20th century, the primary use of coal is for the generation of electricity, providing 40% of the world's electrical power supply in 2005.[8]

    Humans have been consuming fossil fuels since the industrial revolution, because they were more readily available then the existing standards such as whale oils, and they were much cheaper to produce.

    Currently the trend has been towards renewable fuels, such as biofuels like alcohols.

    [edit]See also

    [edit]Footnotes

    1. ^ Rincon, Paul (2004-03-22). "Bones hint at first use of fire". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
    2. ^ Elert, Glenn (2007). "Chemical Potential Energy". The Physics Hypertextbook. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
    3. ^ Dr. Irene Novaczek. "Canada's Fossil Fuel Dependency". Elements. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
    4. ^ "Fossil fuel". EPA. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
    5. ^ Fewell, M. P. (1995). "The atomic nuclide with the highest mean binding energy"American Journal of Physics 63 (7): 653–658.doi:10.1119/1.17828.
    6. ^ Leakey, Richard (1994). Origin of Humankind. Basic Books.ISBN 0465031358.
    7. ^ Hall, Loretta (2007). "Charcoal Briquette". How Products Are Made. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
    8. ^ "History of Coal Use". World Coal Institute. Retrieved 2006-08-10.

    [edit]References

    • Ratcliff, Brian et al. (2000). Chemistry 1. Cambridge University press. ISBN 0-521-78778-5.

    [edit]Further reading


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Libya: Past and future? 

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Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has told state TV that Osama Bin Laden and his followers are to blame for the protests racking his country.

In a phone call addressed to residents of the town of al-Zawiya, Col Gaddafi said young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in "destruction and sabotage".

Col Gaddafi is battling to shore up control of Tripoli and western areas.

Protesters have been consolidating gains in cities in the east.

Opposition politicians and tribal leaders have held a key meeting in the eastern town of al-Bayda to show a united front against Col Gaddafi.

'This is your country'

The telephone call addressed al-Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) west of the capital, where there has been renewed gunfire reported in the streets.

Col Gaddafi said the protesters had no genuine demands and were being dictated to by the al-Qaeda leader.

Map

"Bin Laden... this is the enemy who is manipulating people. Do not be swayed by Bin Laden," he said.

"It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda. Those armed youngsters, our children, are incited by people who are wanted by America and the Western world.

Analysis

The fact that Col Gaddafi chose to speak on the telephone to Libyan TV has raised the most serious questions yet over his whereabouts. He gave no indication that he was in the country, whereas on Tuesday he was seen speaking from the ruins of the building in Tripoli bombed by the US in the 1980s.

This latest rant by the Libyan leader has provided the first confirmation of serious fighting to the west of the capital. That could be a clear indication that his powerbase is shrinking, as many observers have speculated. Today's broadcast was a rallying call to the people of al-Zawiya. Col Gaddafi again played the al-Qaeda card to invoke fear of a possible Islamist insurgency led by supporters of Osama Bin Laden.

The telephone call to state TV ended suddenly as Col Gaddafi hung up. Some will say he remains defiant. Others will interpret the latest utterances as a further show of desperation and instability on the part of the Libyan leader.

"Those inciting are very few in numbers and we have to capture them."

He said the young protesters were "trigger happy and they shoot especially when they are stoned with drugs".

He said that Libya was not like Egypt and Tunisia, which have seen their leaders deposed, because the people of Libya had it in their own hands to change their lives through committees.

"This is your country and it is up to you how to deal with it," he said.

Calling the situation in al-Zawiya a "farce", he urged families to rein in their sons, saying many of the protesters were underage and beyond the reach of the law.

But he also vowed that those carrying out violent protests should be put on trial.

This was Col Gaddafi's second live TV appearance since the protests erupted on 15 February.

On Tuesday he said he would die a martyr in Libya and fight to the "last drop" of his blood. The latest broadcast was a lot shorter - about 20 minutes compared with 75 minutes on Tuesday.

Heavy gunfire has been reported in al-Zawiya and there are reports of a police station on fire.

One civilian leaving through the Tunisian border told Reuters: "It is chaotic there. There are people with guns and swords."

Help for UK nationals

  • The Foreign Office is advising against all but essential travel to Libya
  • UK nationals in Libya wishing to get on the charter flight are advised to call the following numbers:
  • 020 7008 0000 from the UK or 021 3403644/45 from within Libya

An eyewitness told Associated Press that soldiers had opened fire on protesters holed up in the city's Souq Mosque, while a doctor at a field clinic told AP he had seen 10 bodies and 150 wounded people.

Information from Libya remains difficult to verify and many reports cannot be independently confirmed.

Zuara, 120km west of Tripoli, was said to be in the hands of anti-government militias and defence committees of civilians, with no sign of police.

Fighting is reported between pro- and anti-government forces in Misrata, Libya's third-biggest city, 200km east of Tripoli.

Pro-Gaddafi forces are said to have also launched attacks in Sabratha and Sabha.

Click to play

British oil worker Bryan Richards describes scenes of 'mass hysteria' at Tripoli Airport (The amateur video accompanying this interview is purportedly recent footage of the scene in Libya)

But Tripoli, under government control, and cities in the east, held by the protesters, are generally said to be calm.

In Benghazi, protesters were building defences against a possible counterattack by pro-Gaddafi forces.

Oil prices climb

Opposition tribal leaders and politicians met in al-Bayda in the east to demonstrate a united front against Col Gaddafi in one of the first signs of organisation for a bigger fight against the government.

At the scene

In a burst of early spring sunshine after a bitterly cold night, hundreds of Egyptian workers sit waiting for transport on the next leg of their journey home from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya. Clutching bundles of belongings, they cross the border into Tunisia in droves on the busiest day this week at Ras al-Jadir, the main land border point between Libya and Tunisia.

"I haven't been home since Mubarak left power so I am looking forward to seeing the new Egypt," said one of the workers. Many of them have been working in al-Zawiya, a town between the border and Tripoli that has been the scene of fierce clashes between opposition activists and loyalist supporters of Col Gaddafi.

Very few Libyans have been among the 10,000 or so people who have poured across the border this week. In addition to the Egyptians there have been many Tunisians as well as Algerians and others.

Most of those who came from Tripoli itself said the capital was largely quiet and more or less under government control.

Pictures broadcast by al-Jazeera showed delegates giving speeches in a conference hall, amid loud chants against Col Gaddafi.

Former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who recently resigned in protest at the violence against anti-government demonstrators, said there would be no talks with the Libyan leader and called for him to step down immediately.

The Libyan ambassador to Jordan has now become the latest senior official to resign his post in response to the situation in his country.

The total number of deaths has been impossible to determine. Human Rights Watch says it has confirmed nearly 300 deaths, but the International Federation for Human Rights says at least 700 people have been killed, while Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of 1,000 dead were "credible".

Masses of foreigners are still struggling to leave Libya with the situation at Tripoli airport described as mayhem.

Briton Helena Sheehan, arriving back in London, said: "The airport is like nothing I've ever seen in my whole life. It's absolute chaos. There's just thousands and thousands of people trying to get out."

Oil prices have hit their highest levels in two-and-a-half years.

Brent crude hit $119.79 (£74.08) a barrel in early Thursday trade, before falling back to $115.04. Oil firms - including Total, Repsol, OMV and Wintershall - have been suspending all or part of their production in Libya this week.

24 February 2011 Last updated at 17:44 GMT

Gaddafi says Bin Laden to blameCol Gaddafi in Tripoli, 13 Feb

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi tells state TV that Osama Bin Laden and his followers are to blame for the protests racking his country.


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American imperialism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American empire (American imperialism) is a term referring to the political, economic, military and cultural influence of the United States. The concept of an American Empire was first popularized in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War of 1898. The sources and proponents of this concept range from classical Marxist theorists of imperialism as a product of capitalism, to modern liberal andconservative theorists analysing U.S. foreign policy.

Countries with a US military presence, As of 2007.

Contents

 [hide]

[edit]Issues concerning the concept of 'imperialism' and 'empire'

On the cover of Puck Magazinepublished on April 6, 1901, in the wake of gainful victory in theSpanish–American WarColumbia– the National personification of the US – preens herself with anEaster bonnet in the form of a warship bearing the words "World Power" and the word "Expansion" on the smoke coming out of its stack.

Use of the term 'imperialism' was first used in a Napoleonic context, and was also used in relation British foreign policy,[1] but its use became more widespread in the mid-19th century.[2] It was first widely applied to the US by the American Anti-Imperialist League, founded in 1898 to oppose theSpanish–American War and the subsequent post-war military occupation and brutalities committed by US forces in the Philippines.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives three definitions of imperialism:

"1. An imperial system of government; the rule of an emperor, esp. when despotic or arbitrary. 2. The principle or spirit of empire; advocacy of what are held to be imperial interests. 3. Used disparagingly. 3a. In Communist writings: the imperial system or policy of the Western powers. 3b. Used conversely in some Western writings: the Imperial system or policy of the Communist powers.[3] "

From its founding there has been a dichotomy in American politics regarding the country's active and passive influence on other nations. On the one hand there is a strong imperialistic drive in terms of the United States' annexation of the North American continent, the development of a powerful trading system backed by a powerful merchant fleet and strong economic and cultural influences over other countries. On the other hand key American leaders have viewed with distrust "foreign entanglements" finding safety in non-interventionism.

"[America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benign' sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.[4] "

—John Quincy Adams, US House, 7/4/1821

This desire to be seen as a benign, positive influence on the world continues to the present. American leaders reject the idea of Empire as a motivation for their policy. Former U.S. President George W. Bush's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said on April 29, 2003, "We don't seek empires. We're not imperialistic; we never have been"[5]

The anti-imperial stance is not universal. Thomas Jefferson, in the 1780s, awaited the fall of the Spanish empire: ". . . till our population can be sufficiently advanced to gain it from them piece by piece [sic]" [6][7] In turn, Leftist historian Sidney Lens notes that from its inception some[who?] in the US have used every means to try to dominate other nations.[8]

Effects labelled "cultural imperialism" occur without overt government policy. Stuart Creighton Miller posits that the public's sense of innocence about Realpolitik impairs popular recognition of US imperial conduct. The resistance to actively occupying foreign territory has led to policies of exerting influence via other means, including governing other countries via surrogates, where domestically unpopular governments survive only through U.S. support.[9]

William Jennings Bryan, Democratic Party presidential candidate in 1896, said:

"Imperialism is the policy of an empire, and an empire is a nation composed of different races living under varying forms of government. A republic cannot be an empire, for a republic rests upon the theory that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and colonialism violates this theory [...] Our experiment in colonialism has been unfortunate. Instead of profit it has brought loss. Instead of strength it has brought weakness. Instead of glory it has brought humiliation.[10] "

That same year, Mark Twain, a leader and founding member of the American Anti-Imperialist League, wrote:

"I have read carefully the treaty of Paris, and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.[11] "

The maximum geographical extension of American direct political and military control happened in the aftermath of World War II, in the period after the surrender and occupations of Germany and Austria in May and later Japan and Korea in September 1945 and before the independence of the Philippines in July 1946.

[edit]American exceptionalism

1900 Campaign poster for the Republican Party. "The American flag has not been planted in foreign soil to acquire more territory but for humanity's sake.", presidentWilliam McKinley, July 12, 1900. On one hand, we see how the situation was in 1896, before McKinley's victory during the elections: "Gone Democratic: A run on the bank, Spanish rule in Cuba". On the other hand, we see how the situation was in 1900, after four years of McKinley's rule: "Gone Republican: a run to the bank, American rule in Cuba" (the Spanish–American War took place in 1898).

American exceptionalism refers to the theory that the United States occupies a special niche among the nations of the world[12] in terms of its national credo, historical evolution, political and religious institutions and origins.

Stuart Creighton Miller points out that the question of U.S. imperialism has been the subject of agonizing debate ever since the United States acquired formal empire at the end of the 19th century during the 1898 Spanish-American War. Miller argues that this agony is because of United States' sense of innocence, produced by a kind of "immaculate conception" view of United States' origins. In Miller's view, when European settlers came to the United States, they saw themselves as miraculously shedding their old ways upon arrival in the New World, as one might discard old clothing, and fashioning new cultural garments based solely on experiences in a new and vastly different environment. Miller believes that school texts, patriotic media, and patriotic speeches on which Americans have been reared do not stress the origins of America's system of government, that these sources often omit or downplay that the "United States Constitution owes its structure as much to the ideas of John LockeJean-Jacques Rousseauand Thomas Hobbes as to the experiences of the Founding Fathers; that Jeffersonian thought to a great extent paraphrases the ideas of earlier Scottish philosophers; and that even the unique frontier egalitarian has deep roots in seventeenth century English radical traditions."[13]

Philosopher Douglas Kellner traces the identification of American exceptionalism as a distinct phenomenon back to 19th century French observer Alexis de Tocqueville, who concluded by agreeing that the U.S., uniquely, was "proceeding along a path to which no limit can be perceived."[14]

American exceptionalism is popular among people within the U.S.,[15] but its validity and its consequences are disputed. Miller argues that U.S. citizens fall within three schools of thought about the question whether the United States is imperialistic:

  • Americans who find it difficult to come to grips with social flaws associated with the "Old World", such as militarism, imperialism, inequality, and misuse of power;
  • Highly patriotic Americans who deny such abuses and even assert that they could never exist in America;
  • Overly self-critical Americans who tend to exaggerate the nation's flaws and fail to place them in historical or worldwide contexts.[16]

As a Monthly Review editorial opines on the phenomenon, "in Britain, empire was justified as a benevolent 'white man's burden'. And in the United States, empire does not even exist; 'we' are merely protecting the causes of freedom, democracy, and justice worldwide."[17]

[edit]Viewpoints of American imperialism

[edit]Imperialism at the heart of U.S. foreign policy

1898 political cartoon: "Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip" meaning the extension of U.S. domination (symbolized by a bald eagle) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines. The cartoon contrasts this with a map of the smaller United States 100 years earlier in 1798.

Many Marxistsanarchists, members of the New Left, as well as some conservatives, tend to view U.S. imperialism as both deep-rooted and amoral. Imperialism as U.S. policy, in the view of historians like William Appleman WilliamsHoward Zinn, and Gabriel Kolko, traces its beginning not to the Spanish–American War, but to Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territory, or even to the displacement of Native Americans prior to the American Revolution, and continues to this day. Historian Sidney Lens argues that "the United States, from the time it gained its own independence, has used every available means – political, economic, and military – to dominate other nations."[18] Numerous U.S. foreign interventions, ranging from early actions under the Monroe Doctrine to 21st-century interventions in the Middle East, are typically described by these authors as imperialistic. Linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky ties the imperialistic ambitions of the US to its origin of what he calls "American Empire". He quotes some of the founding fathers of the USA to highlight this idea :

"Benjamin Franklin, 25 years before the Revolution, complained that the British were imposing limits on the expansion of the colonies. He objected to this, borrowing from Machiavelli. He admonished the British (I'm quoting him), 'A prince that acquires new territories and removes the natives to give his people room will be remembered as the father of the nation.' And George Washington agreed. He wanted to be the father of the nation."[19]

Historian D.W. Meinig argues at length for the use of the words "empire" and "imperial" for the United States, rooted as early as theLouisiana Purchase which he describes as an "imperial acquisition – imperial in the sense of the aggressive encroachment of one people upon the territory of another, resulting in the subjugation of that people to alien rule. The Louisianans were suddenly annexed to the United States without the slightest gesture of interest on the part of either America or France as to how they might feel about it... Louisiana therefore became an unexpected experiment in empire... It began to give the word empire another and not altogether comfortable connotation for America: not just a theoretical term... but an America that included a bloc of captive peoples of foreign culture who had not chosen to be Americans." He also argues that U.S. policy toward Native American Indians was blatantly imperialistic, especially theIndian Removals under which entire peoples were moved to "specified reserves in an entirely different part of the empire" and resettled "under a program designed to remold them into a people more appropriately conformed to imperial desires." Another example given is the military occupation and reconstruction of the American South following the Civil War.[20]

The conservative critique of U.S. imperialism has been identified with historians such as Charles Beard and Andrew Bacevich, part of a tradition of non-interventionism, often referred to derogatorily, if inaccurately, as "isolationism". While Beard believed that American policy had been driven by self-interested expansionism as far back as the writing of the Constitution, many conservative critics of imperialism have a more positive view of America's early era. Writer and politician Patrick Buchanan argues that the modern United States' drive to empire is "far from what the Founding Fathers had intended the young Republic to become."[21] A conservative anti-imperialism is defended both by some on the Old Right, such as Buchanan, and by libertarians such as Justin Raimondo and Ron Paul.

For both leftists and conservatives, a critical historical view is typically continued to present U.S. foreign policy. Bacevich argues that the U.S. did not fundamentally change its foreign policy after the Cold War, and remains focused on an effort to expand its control across the world.[22] As the surviving superpower at the end of the Cold War, the U.S. could focus its assets in new directions, the future being "up for grabs" according to former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz in 1991.[23] Marxist sociologist John Bellamy Fosterargues, in fact, that the United States' sole-superpower status makes it now the most dangerous world imperialist.[24]

Lens describes American exceptionalism as a myth, which allows any number of "excesses and cruelties, though sometimes admitted, usually [to be] regarded as momentary aberrations."[25] Chomsky argues, like many, that exceptionalism and the denials of imperialism are the result of a systematic strategy of propaganda, to "manufacture opinion" as the process has long been described in other countries.[26] "Domination of the media", according to Chomsky, allows an elite to "fix the premises of discourse and interpretation, and the definition of what is newsworthy in the first place."[27]

[edit]Ideological views and theories of the American Imperialism

Caricature showing Uncle Sam lecturing four children labelled Philippines, Hawaii, Porto Rico [sic] and Cuba in front of children holding books labelled with various U.S. states. The caption reads: "School Begins. Uncle Sam (to his new class in Civilization): Now, children, you've got to learn these lessons whether you want to or not! But just take a look at the class ahead of you, and remember that, in a little while, you will feel as glad to be here as they are!"

Although writers of various schools may describe many of the same policies and institutions as imperialistic, explanations for alleged U.S. imperialism vary widely. Journalist Ashley Smith divides theories of the U.S. imperialism into 5 broad categories: (1) "liberal" theories, (2) "social-democratic" theories, (3) "Leninist" theories, (4) theories of "super-imperialism", and (5) "Hardt-and-Negri-ite" theories.[28]

[edit]Liberal

A "liberal" theory asserts that imperial policies are the products of particular elected politicians (e.g. James K. Polk)[29] or political movements (e.g. neo-conservatism: theBush Doctrine and other recent controversies).[30][31][32][33] It holds that these policies are not the natural result of U.S. political or economic structures, and are hostile and inimical to true U.S. interests and values. This is the original position of Mark Twain and the Anti-Imperialist League and is held today by a number of Democrats, who criticize the claimed imperialism and propose the election of officials opposed to it as a solution, notablyRamsey Clark among others.

[edit]Social-democratic

A "social-democratic" theory asserts that imperialistic U.S. policies are the products of the excessive influence of certain sectors of U.S. business and government – the arms industry in alliance with military and political bureaucracies and sometimes other industries such as oil and finance, a combination often referred to as the "military-industrial complex". The complex is said to benefit from war profiteering and the looting of natural resources, often at the expense of the public interest.[34] The proposed solution is typically unceasing popular vigilance in order to apply counter-pressure.[35] The left-leaning Johnson holds a version of this view; other versions are typically held by conservative anti-interventionists, such as Beard, Bacevich, Buchanan, Raimondo, and, most notably, journalist John T. Flynn and Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler who wrote:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.[36] "

Alfred T. Mahan, who served as an officer in the U.S. Navy during the late 19th century, supported the notion of American imperialism in his 1890 book titled The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. In chapter one Mahan argued that modern industrial nations must secure foreign markets for the purpose of exchanging goods and, consequently, they must maintain a maritime force that is capable of protecting these trade routes.[37] Mahan's argument provides a context that also justifies imperialism by industrial nations such as the United States.

[edit]Marxist–Leninist

A "Marxist–Leninist" theory asserts that imperialistic U.S. policies are the products of the unified interest of the predominant sectors of U.S. business, which need to ensure and manipulate export markets for both goods and capital.[38] The Marxist–Leninist theory of imperialism explains that as a capitalist economy expands, business is threatened by falling profits, especially in the financial sector. After waves of mergers and concentration of ownership, business invests in overseas markets, and then will seek to the use the power of the state to protect those markets with military support. The influence of capitalist business on the government leads to international military competition as an extension of international economic competition, both driven by the inherently expansionist and crisis-prone nature of capitalism. This flow of causation from falling business profits to a world empire is quite simplistic, but reflects economic conditions in America leading up to its takeover of the Philippines.[39] Communists believe that the inevitable outcome of imperialism isrevolutionary social and economic change. The theory was first systematized during the World War I by Russian Bolsheviks Vladimir Lenin and Nikolai Bukharin, although their work was based on that of earlier Marxists, socialists, and anarchists.[38]

[edit]Super-imperialist

A theory of "super-imperialism" asserts that imperialistic U.S. policies are driven not simply by the interests of American businesses, but by the interests of the economic elites of a global alliance of developed countries. Capitalism in Europe, the U.S., and Japan has become too entangled, in this view, to permit military or geopolitical conflict between these countries, and the central conflict in modern imperialism is between the global core and the global periphery rather than between imperialist powers. Political scientists Leo Panitchand Samuel Gindin hold versions of this view.[40][41][42][43] Lenin argued this view was wishful thinking.[44]

[edit]"Empire"

The "Empire" theory is closely related to the theory of "super-imperialism", but has a different conception of power. According to political theorists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, the world has passed the era of imperialism and entered a new era. They no longer hold that the world has already entered the new era of Empire, but only that it is emerging. According to Hardt, the Iraq War is a classically imperialist war, but represents the last gasp of a doomed strategy.[45] This new era still has colonizing power, but it has moved from national military forces based on an economy of physical goods to networked biopower based on an informational and affective economy. On this view, the U.S. is central to the development and constitution of a new global regime of international power and sovereignty, termed "Empire", but the "Empire" is decentralized and global, and not ruled by one sovereign state; "the United States does indeed occupy a privileged position in Empire, but this privilege derives not from its similarities to the old European imperialist powers, but from its differences."[46] Hardt and Negri draw on the theories of SpinozaFoucaultDeleuze, and Italian autonomist marxists.[47][48] Many in the traditions of postcolonialismpostmodernism and globalization theory hold related views.

[edit]The "New" Imperialism

In contradistinction to Hardt and Negri, Marxist anthropologist David Harvey posits there has emerged a qualitatively 'new' type of imperialism. Harvey argues that due mainly to geographical distinctions as well as uneven levels of development,[49] there has emerged three new global economic and politics blocs: the United States, the European Union, and East Asia centered around China andJapan.[50] As a result there are significant geostrategic tensions between the three major blocs over resources and economic power. Harvey posits that the US invasion of Iraq was mainly for control over oil in order to prevent rivals from attaining the resource.[51]Furthermore, Harvey argues there can arise conflict within the major blocs between capitalists and politicians due to their, at times, opposing economic interests: capitalists are interested in profit, regardless of the location or the methods of how it is attained.[52]Politicians, on the other hand, live in geographically fixed locations and are, in the US and Europe, accountable to the electorate. The 'new' imperialism, then, has led to a alignment of the interests of capitalists and politicians in order to prevent the rise and expansion of possible economic and political rivals from challenging America's dominance.[53]

[edit]U.S. military bases abroad as a form of empire

Chalmers Johnson argues that America's version of the colony is the military base.[54] Chip Pitts argues similarly that enduring U.S. bases in Iraq suggest a vision of "Iraq as a colony".[55] In this context, certain historians[who?] of the British Empire have emphasized that, prior to 1850, official government policy was generally in favour of acquiring military (especially naval) bases overseas but opposed to the government-backed acquisition of new colonial territories. It is seldom doubted, however, that British policy pre-1850 was nevertheless essentially imperial in nature.[56]

While territories such as Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana IslandsAmerican Samoa, and Puerto Rico remain under U.S. control, the U.S. allowed many of its overseas territories or occupations to gain independence after World War II. Examples include the Philippines (1946), the Federated States of Micronesia (1986), Marshall Islands (1986), and Palau (1994). However most of those former possessions continue to have U.S. bases within their territories. In the case of Okinawa, which came under US administration after the battle of Okinawa during World War II, this happened despite local popular opinion.[57] As of 2003, the United States had bases in over 36 countries worldwide.[58]

[edit]Benevolent imperialism

Military historian Max Boot defends U.S. imperialism of past eras:

"U.S. imperialism has been the greatest force for good in the world during the past century. It has defeated communism and Nazism and has intervened against the Taliban and Serbian ethnic cleansing. It has also helped spread liberal institutions to countries as diverse as South Korea and Panama.[59] "

Boot argues that the United States altruistically went to war with Spain to liberate Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Filipinos from their tyrannical yoke. If U.S. troops lingered on too long in the Philippines, it was to protect the Filipinos from European predators waiting in the wings for American withdrawal and to tutor them in American-style democracy. In the Philippines, the U.S. followed its usual pattern:

"The United States would set up a constabulary, a quasi-military police force led by Americans and made up of local enlisted men. Then the Americans would work with local officials to administer a variety of public services, from vaccinations and schools to tax collection. American officials, though often resented, usually proved more efficient and less venal than their native predecessors... Holding fair elections became a top priority because once a democratically elected government was installed, the Americans felt they could withdraw.[60] "

Boot argues that this was far from "the old-fashioned imperialism bent on looting nations of their natural resources." Just as with Iraq and Afghanistan, "some of the poorest countries on the planet", in the early 20th century:

"The United States was least likely to intervene in those nations (such as Argentina and Costa Rica) where American investors held the biggest stakes. The longest occupations were undertaken in precisely those countries – Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic – where the United States had the smallest economic stakes... Unlike the Dutch in the East Indies, the British in Malaya, or the French in Indochina, the Americans left virtually no legacy of economic exploitation.[60] "

Boot willingly uses the term "imperialism" to describe United States policy, not only in the early 20th century but "since at least 1803".[60]This marks a difference in terminology rather than a difference of fundamental historical interpretation from observers who deny that the U.S. has ever been an empire, since Boot still argues that U.S. foreign policy has been consistently benevolent.[59] Boot is not alone; as columnist Charles Krauthammer puts it, "People are now coming out of the closet on the word 'empire.'" This embrace of empire is made by many neoconservatives, including British historian Paul Johnson, and writers Dinesh D'Souza and Mark Steyn. It is also made by some liberal hawks, such as political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Michael Ignatieff.[61]

For instance, British historian Niall Ferguson argues that the United States is an empire, but believes that this is a good thing. Ferguson has drawn parallels between the British Empire and the imperial role of the United States in the late 20th century and early 21st century, though he describes the United States' political and social structures as more like those of the Roman Empire than of the British. Ferguson argues that all these empires have had both positive and negative aspects, but that the positive aspects of the U.S. empire will, if it learns from history and its mistakes, greatly outweigh its negative aspects.[62]

[edit]American imperialism as an aberration

Another point of view believes United States expansion overseas has been imperialistic, but sees this imperialism as a temporary phenomenon, a corruption of American ideals or the relic of a past historical era. Historian Samuel Flagg Bemis argues that Spanish–American War expansionism was a short-lived imperialistic impulse and "a great aberration in American history", a very different form of territorial growth than that of earlier American history.[63] Historian Walter LaFeber sees the Spanish–American War expansionism not as an aberration, but as a culmination of United States expansion westward.[64] But both agree that the end of the occupation of the Philippines marked the end of US empire, hence denying that present United States foreign policy is imperialistic.

The United States Information Agency writes:

"With the exception of the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, American territory had remained fixed since 1848. In the 1890s a new spirit of expansion took hold... Yet Americans, who had themselves thrown off the shackles of empire, were not comfortable with administering one. In 1902 American troops left Cuba... The Philippines obtained... complete independence in 1946. Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth... and Hawaii became a state in 1959.[65] "

Historian Victor Davis Hanson argues that the US does not pursue world domination, but maintains worldwide influence by a system of mutually beneficial exchanges:

"If we really are imperial, we rule over a very funny sort of empire... The United States hasn't annexed anyone's soil since the Spanish-American War... Imperial powers order and subjects obey. But in our case, we offer the Turks strategic guarantees, political support – and money... Isolationism, parochialism, and self-absorption are far stronger in the American character than desire for overseas adventurism.[66] "

Liberal internationalists argue that even though the present world order is dominated by the United States, the form taken by that dominance is not imperial. International relations scholar John Ikenberry argues that international institutions have taken the place of empire;

"the United States has pursued imperial policies, especially toward weak countries in the periphery. But U.S. relations with Europe, Japan, China, and Russia cannot be described as imperial... the use or threat of force is unthinkable. Their economies are deeply interwoven... they form a political order built on bargains, diffuse reciprocity, and an array of intergovernmental institutions and ad hoc working relationships. This is not empire; it is a U.S.-led democratic political order that has no name or historical antecedent.[67] "

International relations scholar Joseph Nye argues that US power is more and more based on "soft power", which comes from cultural hegemony rather than raw military or economic force.[68] This includes such factors as the widespread desire to emigrate to the United States, the prestige and corresponding high proportion of foreign students at US universities, and the spread of US styles of popular music and cinema. Thus the US, no matter how hegemonic, can no longer be considered to be an 'empire' in the classic sense of the term.

[edit]Factors unique to the "Age of imperialism"

A variety of factors may have coincided during the "Age of Imperialism" in the late 19th century, when the United States and the other major powers rapidly expanded their territorial possessions. Some of these are explained, or used as examples for the various forms of American imperialism.

  • The industry and agriculture of the United States had grown beyond its need for consumption. Powerful business and political figures such as James G. Blaine believed that foreign markets were essential to further economic growth, promoting a more aggressive foreign policy.
  • Many of the United States' peer competitors (e.g. the United KingdomFranceGermanyItalyBelgium, and Portugal) were engaged in imperialistic adventures, and the US felt that in order to be a "great power" among "great powers," it had to behave in a manner similar to its peers.
  • The prevalence of racism, notably Ernst Haeckel's "biogenic law," John Fiske's conception of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority, andJosiah Strong's call to "civilize and Christianize" – all manifestations of a growing Social Darwinism and racism in some schools of American political thought.[69]
  • The development of Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis", which stated that the American frontier was the wellspring of its creativity and virility as a civilization. As the Western United States was gradually becoming less of a frontier and more of a part of America, many believed that overseas expansion was vital to maintaining the American spirit.
  • The publication of Alfred T. Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power upon History in 1890, which advocated three factors crucial to the United States' ascension to the position of "world power": the construction of a canal in South America, which later influenced decision-makers to construct the Panama Canal, expansion of the U.S. naval power, and the establishment of a trade/military post in the Pacific, so as to stimulate trade with China. This publication had a strong influence on the idea that a strong navy stimulated trade, and influenced policy makers such as Theodore Roosevelt and other proponents of a large navy.
  • Early in his career, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt was instrumental in preparing the Navy for the Spanish-American War[70] and was an enthusiastic proponent of testing the U.S. military in battle, at one point stating "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one".[71][72][73]

[edit]Debate over the nature of American foreign policy

Some scholars, however, defend the historical role of the U.S. against allegations of imperialism.[74] Other prominent political figures, such as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for example, have argued that "[The U.S. does not] seek empires. We're not imperialistic. We never have been."[75] Stuart Creighton Miller, however, stated in 1982 that this interpretation was no longer heard very often by historians.[76]

Historians Archibald Paton Thorton and Stuart Creighton Miller argue against the very coherence of the concept. Miller argues that the overuse and abuse of the term imperialism makes it nearly meaningless as an analytical concept.[77] Thorton wrote that "[...]imperialism is more often the name of the emotion that reacts to a series of events than a definition of the events themselves. Where colonization finds analysts and analogies, imperialism must contend with crusaders for and against."[78] Political theorist Michael Walzer argues that the term "hegemony" is better than "empire" to describe the US's role in the world,[79] a standpoint shared by political scientists such asRobert Keohane, for whom a "[...]balanced and nuanced analysis is not aided, however, by the use of the phrase 'empire' to describe United States hegemony, since 'empire' obscures rather than illuminates the differences in form of rule between the United States and other Great Powers, such as Great Britain in the nineteenth century or the Soviet Union in the twentieth."[80]

Other political scientists, such as Daniel Nexon and Thomas Wright, argue that neither term exclusively describes US foreign relations. The US can be, and has been, simultaneously an empire and a hegemonic power. They claim, however, that the general trend in US foreign relations has been away from imperial modes of control.

""The heyday of American formal imperial control extended from its period of westward expansion through the aftermath of the Spanish-American war. The apogee of American informal imperial relations spanned from the post-World War II occupations of significant portions of Western Europe and East Asia through the early decades of the Cold War during which time the United States restructured the domestic and foreign-policy orientations of large portions of Europe and East Asia."[81] "

[edit]Cultural imperialism

The controversy regarding the issue of U.S. cultural imperialism is largely separate from the debate about U.S. military imperialism; however, some critics of imperialism argue that the two concepts are interdependent. Edward Said, one of the founders of post-colonial theory, argues that,

"[...], so influential has been the discourse insisting on American specialness, altruism and opportunity, that imperialism in the United States as a word or ideology has turned up only rarely and recently in accounts of the United States culture, politics and history. But the connection between imperial politics and culture in North America, and in particular in the United States, is astonishingly direct.[82] "

He believes non-U.S. citizens, particularly non-Westerners, are usually thought of within the U.S. in a tacitly racist manner, in a way that allows imperialism to be justified through such ideas as the White Man's Burden.[82]

Scholars who disagree with the theory of U.S. cultural imperialism or the theory of cultural imperialism in general argue that what is regarded as cultural imperialism by many is not connected to any kind of military domination, which has been the traditional means of empire. International relations scholar David Rothkop argues that cultural imperialism is the innocent result of globalization, which allows access to numerous U.S. and Western ideas and products that many non-U.S. and non-Western consumers across the world voluntarily choose to consume. A worldwide fascination with the United States has not been forced on anyone in ways similar to what is traditionally described as an empire, differentiating it from the actions of the British Empire – see the Opium Wars – and other more easily identified empires throughout history. Rothkop identifies the desire to preserve the "purity" of one's culture as xenophobic.[83] Matthew Fraser has a similar analysis, but argues further that the global cultural influence of the U.S. is a good thing.[84]

[edit]See also

[edit]Notes and references

  1. ^ ImperialismOnline Etymology Dictionary
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (1989). "imperialism". Retrieved 2006-04-12.(subscription required)
  3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (1989). "empire". Retrieved 2006-04-12.(subscription required)
  4. ^ John Quincy Adams Address on U.S. Foreign Policy, July 4, 1821presidentialrhetoric.com.
  5. ^ Niall Ferguson, Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire, retrieved 2010-07-11
  6. ^ LaFeber, Walter, Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America (1993) 2nd edition, p.19
  7. ^ Max Boot (May 6, 2003). American Imperialism? No Need to Run Away from Label. Council on Foreign Relations OP-Ed, quoting USA Today. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
  8. ^ Lens & Zinn 2003, p. Back cover
  9. ^ Johnson, Chalmers, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (2000), pp.72–9
  10. ^ Robert McHenry (October 29, 2008). "The '08 Campaign, Part II (1908, that is)". britannica.com. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  11. ^ Mark Twain (October 15, 1900). letter to the editorNew York Herald.
  12. ^ Frederick Jackson Turner, "Significance of the Frontier", sagehistory.net (archived from the original on 2008-05-21).
  13. ^ Miller (1982), op. cit. p. 1.
  14. ^ Kellner, Douglas (2003-04-25). "American Exceptionalism". Archived from the original on February 17, 2006. Retrieved 2006-02-20.
  15. ^ Edwords, Frederick (November/December 1987). "The religious character of American patriotism. It's time to recognize our traditions and answer some hard questions.". The Humanist(p. 20-24, 36).
  16. ^ Miller (1982), op. cit. p. 1-2.
  17. ^ Magdoff, Harry; John Bellamy Foster (November 2001). "After the Attack...The War on Terrorism"Monthly Review 53 (6): 7. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  18. ^ Lens, Sidney (2003). The Forging of the American Empire. Haymarket Books and Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-2100-3. Book jacket.
  19. ^ chomsky, Noam (April 24, 2008). Modern-Day American Imperialism: Middle East and Beyond. Boston University Publishing.
  20. ^ Meinig, D.W. (1993). The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 2: Continental America, 1800-1867. Yale University Press. pp. 22–23, 170–196, 516–517. ISBN 0-300-05658-3.
  21. ^ Buchanan, Patrick (1999). A Republic, Not and Empire. Regnery Publishing. ISBN 0-89526-272-X. p. 165.
  22. ^ Bacevich, Andrew (2004). American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy. Harvard University Press.ISBN 0-674-01375-1.
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  29. ^ who threatened war with Britain and caused the Mexican–American War by annexing Texas and all its territory disputed withMexico
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  73. ^ Tilchin, William N. Theodore Roosevelt and the British Empire: A Study in Presidential Statecraft (1997)
  74. ^ See, for instance, Michael Mann (2005), Incoherent Empire(Verso); Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (2005), "The American Empire? Not so fast", World Policy, Volume XXII, No 1, Spring;
  75. ^ Bookman, Jay (June 25, 2003). "Let's just say it's not an empire". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  76. ^ Miller (1982), op. cit. p. 136.
  77. ^ Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982). "Benevolent Assimilation" The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02697-8. p. 3.
  78. ^ Thornton, Archibald Paton (September 1978). Imperialism in the Twentieth Century. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-24848-1.
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  80. ^ Keohane, Robert O. "The United States and the Postwar Order: Empire or Hegemony?" (Review of Geir Lundestad, The American EmpireJournal of Peace Research, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Nov., 1991), p. 435
  81. ^ Nexon, Daniel and Wright, Thomas "What's at Stake in the American Empire Debate" American Political Science Review, Vol. 101, No. 2 (May, 2007), p. 266-267
  82. a b Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism, speech at York University, Toronto, February 10, 1993. (archived from the original on 2007-10-13).
  83. ^ Rothkop, David (June 22, 1997). "Globalization and Culture"( – Scholar search). Foreign Policy. Archived from the originalon 2008-08-22.[dead link]
  84. ^ Fraser, Matthew (2005). Weapons of Mass Distraction: Soft Power and American Empire. St. Martin's Press.

[edit]Further reading

Libyan evacuation to begin this week-end

Hindustan Times - ‎3 hours ago‎
The first group of Indians to be evacuated are expected to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi this weekend. The passenger ferry, Scotia Prince that can carry 1200 people, is expected to reach Benghazi, the first point of evacuation, on late Saturday or ...

India urging Libya to open Tripoli airport for its flights

Sify - ‎1 hour ago‎
India has urged the Libyan authorities to open up Tripoli airport for its flights so that air evacuation could take place. The developments came as 'Scotia Prince', the ferry ship hired by India to evacuate stranded Indians in Libya began sailing ...

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Foreign minister SM Krishna said, "Whatever needs to be done will be done. The situation is being closely monitored by the external affairs ministry and we are in constant touch with the ambassador there. I am happy to inform that all Indians are safe in Libya."
more by SM Krishna - Feb 22, 2011 - Times of India(23 occurrences)

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Indians to be evacuated from Libya if situation worsens

Times of India - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: As Libya's revolution entered a decisive but violent phase, Indian ambassador in Tripoli Mani Meklai gathered about 192 Indian nurses working there in a hospital, where officials said they are safe. There are about 18000 Indians in Libya. ...

Government to evacuate Indians from Libya

The Hindu - ‎Feb 23, 2011‎
PTI The Hindu "I have personally been in touch with our Ambassadors in these countries and have conveyed that all measures should be taken for the safety and welfare of our nationals there: External Affairs Minister SM Krishna. ...

India condemns Libya violence

The Hindu - Sandeep Dikshit - ‎Feb 22, 2011‎
India came out openly against state violence in Libya even as it explored evacuation options for its nationals trapped in the fighting in several cities. In a statement, the government "deplored" the use of force "which is totally unacceptable and must ...

Govt sets up committee to monitor situation in Libya

Times of India - ‎Feb 21, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: The government today said it has set up a committee to monitor the situation in Libya and prepare plans to meet any eventuality in wake of the unprecedented protest there against the Moammar Gadhafi regime. "The committee would comprise ...

Timeline of articles

Timeline of articles
Number of sources covering this story
India urging Libya to open Tripoli airport for its flights
‎1 hour ago‎ - Sify
India firms up Libya evacuation plan
‎Feb 23, 2011‎ - Hindustan Times
Indian killed while fleeing Libya
‎Feb 22, 2011‎ - Times of India
Libya unrest: India ready with action plan for evacuation, say sources
‎Feb 21, 2011‎ - NDTV.com
Plans under way to ensure Indians' safety in Libya
‎Feb 21, 2011‎ - The Hindu

Images

NDTV.com
NDTV.com
The Hindu
The Hindu
NDTV.com
NDTV.com
All India Radio
India Today
All India Radio


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