Posted by Dilip Hiro at 10:30am, September 23, 2010.
"...As China’s third biggest supplier of petroleum (after Saudi Arabia and Angola), Iran figures prominently on Beijing’s radar screen. So far, Chinese energy corporations, all state-owned, have invested $40 billion in the Islamic Republic's hydrocarbon sector. They are also poised to participate in the building of seven oil refineries in Iran. When, earlier this year, European Union (EU) companies stopped supplying gasoline to Iran, which imports 40% of its needs, Chinese oil corporations stepped in. That was how in 2009, with a $21.2 billion dollar two-way commerce, China surpassed the EU as Iran’s number one trading partner. It is estimated that China-Iran trade will rise by 50% in 2010...
...Given the growing economic strength of China, Brazil, and India, among other rising powers, U.S. influence will continue to wane. The American power outage is, by any measure, irreversible."
Dilip Hiro, a London-based writer and journalist, is the author of 32 books, the latest being After Empire: The Birth of a Multi-Polar World (Nation Books).
Copyright 2010 Dilip Hiro
Neato.
Right wing asshole Republicans who know me personally have wondered why I have a long history of suffering from depression. Gee I wonder? I have lived my whole life in this county, which happens to be one big fucking military base, with the military industrial complex having a large presence. My dad never made the kind of money that some of my middle class friends' dads made because he didn't work inside that group. You might or might not be surprised to learn how many families are dependent on it. Getting those numbers is especially tricky. Even the author of the book I'm trudging through doesn't know them, probably because they are in so many places.
How much Hollywood depends on the propagandistic bullshit is also glaring once you take a look at it. I watched a movie last night that had the myth of American power, prestige, and law enforcement's superiority woven right into it. Not surprisingly, it's been released all over the world . Frankly, I thought sick and twisted dude had a right to be pissed off, but parts of the movie were really stupid. I like thrillers occasionally, but I find the car/foot chases, the explosions/fires and fisht-fight/gunfight scenes as tedious as I'm sure some guys find shit they don't understand in "chick flicks" tedious.
No comments:
Post a Comment