Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Israel Protecting Eilat-Bound Planes From Sinai Islamists
US Edging Closer to Military Intervention in Syria
The Pentagon's top general has for the first time laid out specific options for overt military intervention in Syria while warning that any action could backfire.
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Monday, July 22, 2013
Romanian Says She Invented Art Incineration Story
New Twist in Case of Stolen Masterpieces
The Romanian woman who told police she burned stolen art treasures to destroy evidence now says she made the story up.
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Mineral Rich Australia May Contain World's Next Major Oil Find
Arckaringa Basin Could Contain Up to 233 Billion Barrels of Oil
By John C.K. Daly
Courtesy of Oilprice.com
Australia's massive mineral exports allowed it to weather the global recession, which began in 2008, quite nicely.
The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration noted in its country's analysis for Australia, "Australia, rich in hydrocarbons and uranium, was the world's second largest coal exporter in 2011 and the third largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in 2012. Australia is rich in commodities, including fossil fuel and uranium reserves, and is one of the few countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that is a significant net hydrocarbon exporter, exporting over 70 percent of its total energy production according to government sources. Australia was the world's second largest coal exporter based on weight in 2011 and the third largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2012."
Six months ago Brisbane company Linc Energy Ltd.Energy released two reports, based on drilling and seismic exploration, estimating the amount of shale oil in the as yet untapped 30,000 square mile Arckaringa Basin surrounding Coober Pedy ranging from 3.5 billion to a mind boggling 233 billion barrels of oil.
Possibly Six Times Larger than the Bakken
If the upper end estimates are correct then it means that the Arckaringa Basin is six times larger than the Bakken, seventeen times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford U.S. shale deposits.
To put the potential of the Arckaringa Basin in context, Saudi Arabian reserves are estimated at 263 billion barrels.
So, what next for Linc Energy Ltd.? The company has been in discussions to find a partner to develop the Arckaringa Basin after hiring Barclays Plc to help with the process and expects to narrow the talks to one group in a "few weeks," according to Linc Energy Ltd. chief executive officer Peter Bond.
Bond added that Linc Energy Ltd.is talking with at least four parties from outside Australia interested in the shale oil project in the Arckaringa Basin.
Linc Energy Ltd . said that the characteristics of its Australian acreage "compare favorably" to the prolific Bakken and Eagle Ford shale regions of the U.S. Global energy companies including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Statoil ASA and BG Group Plc are already making shale investments in Australia.
Australian State Mineral Resources Development Minister Tom Koutsantonis said, "Shale gas and shale oil will be a key part to securing Australia's energy security now and into the future. We have seen the hugely positive impact shale projects like Bakken and Eagle Ford have had on the U.S. economy. There is still a long way to go, but investment in unconventional liquid projects in South Australia will accelerate as more and more companies such as Linc Energy Ltd.Energy and Altona prove up their resources."
Natural gas?
Six basins in Australia stretching from coastal Queensland to Western Australia's far northwest contain recoverable shale resources of as much as 437 trillion cubic feet of gas, all of which was previously inaccessible because it is contained in shale formations, which could be unlocked by "hydraulic fracturing." But the U.S. Department of Energy predicts that Australia's shale gas industry will develop at a "moderate pace" because the nation's shale oil and gas resources do not as yet have the advanced production infrastructure that has underwritten the U.S. production boom.
And what if estimates for the Arckaringa Basin basin pan out? We'll leave the final word to the EIA, which notes, "Australia's stable political environment, relatively transparent regulatory structure, substantial hydrocarbon reserves, and proximity to Asian markets make it an attractive place for foreign investment. The government published an Energy White Paper in 2012 that outlines its energy policy including balancing its priority of maintaining energy security with increasing exports to help supply Asia's growing demand for fuel."
Accordingly, Adelaide had better upgrade its airport to handle all those energy company corporate jets that may well be visiting soon.
The above article is republished with permission of Oilprice.com.
B'nai Brith Canada: EU Hezbollah Policy Puts Lives at Risk
EU Engaging Iran Terror Proxy's "Political and Social Wings"
B’nai Brith Canada said today that it is concerned about the impact that the European Union’s (EU) decision to list only the "Military Wing" of Hezbollah as a terror entity will have.
By continuing to engage their "Political and Social Wings," the EU has taken a step in the wrong direction, ignoring both the Iranian patronage and terrorist methodology of Hezbollah, B'nai Brith said.
The Jewish human rights organization noted that, just as in Canada, only the listing of the entire entity of Hezbollah could hope to combat its ongoing international terrorism activities.
Flawed Distinction
“In the past, Canada itself made the flawed distinction between the "military" and "social" wings of Hezbollah. After much debate and the strong advocacy efforts of B`nai Brith Canada and others, our then Federal government came to understand the importance of listing Hezbollah in its entirety,” said Frank Dimant, CEO, B’nai Brith Canada. “The EU’s latest decision comes more than ten years after Canada listed all of Hezbollah.”
“While some may view this as a positive step, giving false legitimacy to Hezbollah’s supposedly non-violent wings only serves to weaken international efforts to combat terror and strengthens Iran’s global ambitions," Dimant added. "Hezbollah must be recognized as one organization with one main leader sharing terrorism as its common goal. Until the EU recognizes Hezbollah as the world’s premier terror entity, under the control of the Mullahs of Iran, this latest compromise will only cost more innocent lives."
B’nai Brith Canada has been active in Canada since 1875 as the Jewish community’s foremost human rights agency.
US Continues to Join the Forces of Jihad: In-Depth Analysis
Administration Appears to be Bowing to Muslim Brotherhood Demands
A Policy of Backing People Who Hate America -- Where's the Outrage?
With the June 13, 2013 confirmation by senior Obama administration officials that the President has authorized sending weapons directly to Syrian rebels, there is a trend developing that can no longer be ignored. This is the third country and the third instance in which Barack Obama has leapt into the fray of revolution to the defense of al-Qa'eda and Muslim Brotherhood forces within days of an explicit call for action by Yousef al-Qaradawi, the senior jurist of the Muslim Brotherhood. While no ironclad case for linkage can be proven, even just the appearance, in and of itself, of responsiveness by the U.S. government to declared Brotherhood imperatives ought to be concerning.
Speaking on Al-Arabiya Television on June 9, 2013, al-Qaradawi called for jihad in Syria:
"Jihad is now incumbent upon all Muslims, each according to his capabilities – both individuals and countries. Nobody must spare a thing in helping this country…"
Four days later, on June 13, Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, announced that the intelligence community had arrived at an assessment "that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year." This conveniently-timed and entirely unsourced finding set the stage for the White House announcement the next day about Obama's authorization of military aid to the Syrian rebels. The Supreme Military Council, which claims leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Free Syrian Army and is headed by BG Salim Idriss, has been selected to receive the weapons.
MB Pronouncement Followed by White House Action
This pattern of an al-Qaradawi pronouncement quickly followed by White House action began in Egypt in January 2011. On January 26, 2011, speaking in an interview on Al-Jazeera television, al-Qaradawi issued an unambiguous demand that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak step down: "President Mubarak … I advise you to depart from Egypt … There is no other solution to this problem but for Mubarak to go…"
By January 29, a mere three days later, Obama fell in line and told Mubarak that "an orderly transition must …begin now…"
It was not long afterwards—on February 21, 2011—that al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa, again on Al-Jazeera television, calling for the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. The Islamic revolution against Qaddafi's regime had broken out just days before, on February 17. The news that President Obama had signed a secret order, known as a "presidential finding," to authorize covert U.S. government support for the al-Qa'eda-dominated militias then fighting to oust Qaddafi, emerged in late March 2011. Reports cited "government sources," however, who said the president had signed the finding "within the last two or three weeks." In any event, by March 14, 2011, U.S. envoy Christopher Stevens had been named official liaison to the Libyan opposition, which consisted primarily of al-Qa'eda militias such as Ansar al-Shariah, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), and Libya Shield. The president's cover story about intervening in the Libyan uprising cited a pending "massacre" in Benghazi "that would have….stained the conscience of the world." Of course, there was no such massacre in the offing, but rather the very real possibility that Benghazi, the center of the rebel uprising, might have fallen to Qaddafi's advancing forces. Had Benghazi fallen, the jihad offensive in Libya could well have been stopped in its tracks. So, once again, the U.S. administration lost no time in hopping to follow al-Qaradawi's lead after he called for another Islamic Awakening domino to fall.
Jihad Fatwa Followed by Aid to Syrian Rebels
It might be noted that a similar sequence of events in Syria apparently precipitated the al-Qaradawi call for jihad against Bashar al-Assad and his Shi'ite Iranian and Hizballah backers as well as the U.S. administration's pledge to send weapons (openly) to the Syrian rebels. It was the fall of rebel-held Qusayr to Syrian regime forces on June 5, 2013 that seemed to spur both the al-Qaradawi jihad fatwa and Obama's decision to follow suit and expand assistance to the al-Qa'eda and Muslim Brotherhood-led rebels.
In each of these instances — Egypt, Libya, and now Syria — it is "completely clear," as Barry Rubin writes, "that the United States is backing people who hate it." It is also completely clear that, at least since President Obama green-lighted the Islamic Awakening in his June 2009 Cairo speech, U.S. policy has been turned upside-down: in very tangible terms, the U.S. government has joined the forces of jihad to overthrow the unfaithful Arab and Muslim rulers that the Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi so blatantly threatened (along with the U.S. and Israel) in his late September 2010 call for jihad. In so doing, U.S. leadership is deliberately and proactively enabling the self-declared forces of Islamic jihad and shariah, who make no secret of their enmity and loathing for the U.S. and Western civilization in general, to come to power in country after country of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The results have been disastrous. Christians in Libya, Egypt, and rebel-conquered Syrian territory face attack, ethnic cleansing and slaughter. Strict shariah enforcement is spreading across the region. Since the fall of Qaddafi in October 2011, weapons have been flowing out of Libya in all directions, some of the weapons apparently with the active assistance of the former Benghazi U.S. mission, now closed since the al-Qa'eda attack of 11 September 11, 2012. According to a Libyan intelligence official, speaking to a reporter in a May 2013 interview, Libya has now become the main MENA base for Al-Qa'eda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). "Libya has become AQIM's headquarters," he said, adding that new AQIM terror training camps were opening in the southern part of the country. Egypt, especially in the Sinai, is in no better shape. After falling under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt faces economic disaster, its Coptic Christian minority fears genocide, and its leaders call Israel and America its enemies. In Syria, intrepid reporting from the front lines confirms the jihadist objectives of the anti-Assad coalition that now includes openly pro-shariah fighters from both Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qa'eda (Jabhat al-Nusra) militias. McClatchy Newspapers' David Enders reported in December 2012 that one of these shouted, "When we finish with Assad, we will fight the U.S.!" at him when told he was an American journalist.
From Fighting to Indirectly Backing Al Qaeda
"We have come full circle from going after al Qaeda to indirectly backing al Qaeda," said one U.S. official, speaking about the recent decision to arm these jihadist Syrian rebels. Angelo Codevilla, professor of international relations at Boston University, a former U.S. Naval officer and State Department official, and currently senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, might well have been speaking about the entire contingent of Islamic jihadis with which the U.S. has now associated itself when he summed up the Syrian rebels, saying "They are not our friends and are unlikely to become such."
The sooner U.S. senior leadership realizes that, whether Shi'ite or Sunni, jihadis fight for the same objectives — restoration of the Caliphate (or Imamate) and enforcement of Islamic Law — the better for American core national security interests. Of course, on battlefields such as Iraq and Syria, they go after one another as they always have for the last 1300 and more years; but when it comes to the Dar al-Islam vs. the Dar al-Harb, Shi'a and Sunni find common cause in hating the infidel with an even greater intensity than they hate one another. There are battlefields where U.S. intervention can accomplish good; and there are battlefields such as Libya, Egypt, and Syria where appearing to jump to the tune of Muslim Brotherhood fatwas does no good, and arguably much harm, to U.S. interests and image.
Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Flee to Gaza to Run Egypt Revolt
Sinai Today, Cairo Tomorrow is Uprising Strategy
The so-callled moderate Muslim Brotherhood, ousted from Egypt before turning it into another Iran, is teaming up with an array of Islamists, including Al Qaeda and Hamas, the MB's Palestinian branch, in order to bring down Egypt's interim government. Formerly Egyptian- and Israeli-controlled Gaza (aka Hamas-stan) is the Islamist base.
Hamas, which has been a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) since 1997, is dedicated to Israel's destruction.
Hamas, which has been a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) since 1997, is dedicated to Israel's destruction.
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EARLY WARNING: An effort is underway to remove Hamas from the FTO list and the European equivalent.
EARLY WARNING: An effort is underway to remove Hamas from the FTO list and the European equivalent.
Nigeria Considering Certifying Oil to Combat Stealing
4,000 Barrels a Day Stolen from Southern Ports
Nigeria's government is considering an oil certification scheme.
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Canadian Oil Company Defends Keystone Pipeline Project
TransCanada Says it's Scapegoat for Anti-Oil Sands Movement
The Keystone pipeline project controversy appars to be nearing a conclusion.
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The Case for a Low-Carbon European Economy
Investing in clean power, advanced biofuels and energy infrastructure will make it possible for Europe to lift itself out of recession while combatting climate change that threatens the continent and the entire planet.
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Bin Laden's Ex-Physician Leads Al Qaeda in Sinai
Jihadists Flock to Mowafi Legion
Nearly 12 years after 9/11, Bin Laden's former physician, Dr. Ramzi Mowafi, is leading an Islamist legion in the Sinai peninsula. He's a chemical arms expert.
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