Asia Energy, Just One Aspect Of Beneficial Relations With US

From the energy Front 111009.

Hey folks,

Back in 2005, McKinsey Quarterly reported this. Securing Asia's energy future

As Asia's appetite for energy surges, the desire of the region's leaders to ensure a reliable flow of reasonably priced oil and natural gas will also intensify. If they fail, Asia's fast-growing economies could stumble. A race is now under way—between China and India, in particular—to buy energy reserves in such far-flung places as Iran, Russia, and Sudan.

The magnitude of Asia's future energy needs explains this urgency: the region's share of global consumption will nearly double in the next 20 years, to about 48 percent for oil and 22 percent for natural gas. By 2010, the region's oil consumption will surpass North America's. Such rapid growth has led world energy markets to their most critical juncture in more than two decades: today's tight supply and hefty prices could conceivably spark an energy boom and bust like the one that shook the world economy in the 1980s.

Imagine what we could do if we were to be able to participate in this with our OWN resources. Then again, if they do, which they are near now, surpass us in their Energy needs, that would be that Supply and Demand would then shift to THEM and in which case, Raise costs for all.

Then you have to look at the possibility of new and tighter relationships being formed with our LONG time Allies and the Extremist Governments that already do not like us that much. We are losing Allies all over the place, thanks to Obama.

As a matter of fact, according to AOL News - Obama confronts an Asia reshaped by China's rise By CHARLES HUTZLER, AP

BEIJING -Days after coming to power in September, Japan's new prime minister broached forming a new East Asian trading bloc with rival China — one that would exclude the United States.

Some in Washington took it as a snub from the nation that has been America's rock in Asia for decades. Even more, Tokyo's new rhetoric underscored how China's rapid rise to power is challenging Washington's once-dominant sway in the region.

Thank you Obama. "No country is greater than any other. We are all Citizens of the World." Blah, blah, blah.

This is the reality President Barack Obama confronts as he departs Thursday for his first Asia trip, perhaps his most challenging overseas journey yet. He'll find a region outgrowing a half-century of U.S. supremacy and questioning America's relevance to its future. More so than Obama's previous foreign trips, this nine-day, four-country tour has the president on something like a salvage mission.

The trip also comes at a delicate time for Obama at home.

You see, Obama is going to try to fix what Bush messed up. NOPE! He is going to try to bring back the TRUST that they had WITH Bush. This piece admits it in a second.

He is wrestling with one of the toughest decisions of his 10-month presidency, a war strategy for Afghanistan, {Our men and women are DYING at record high numbers. SEND MORE TROOPS!} and is urging Congress to approve his biggest domestic priority, health care. {Socialistic take over of one Sixth of the US Economy}

Those pressing concerns make it notable that he is spending so much time away — a sign of Asia's importance to the U.S. and the need to tend to relationships there without delay — though he put off his original departure by a day over the weekend because of Thursday's deadly shooting spree at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Obama will speak to U.S. troops in Alaska and South Korea, with his much-awaited decision on more troops for the Afghanistan war probably still pending.{Idiot}

Obama stops first in Japan, a traditional U.S. stalwart now looking toward closer engagement with China and the rest of Asia. He makes a two-city stop in China, where leaders proud of their country's one-generation leap to prosperity seek a bigger say in shaping the region's affairs.

The president also visits Singapore for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, where his participation is being cut by a day, and wraps up his trip in South Korea. Those countries are having to accommodate a more muscular China while wondering whether a U.S. weakened by financial crisis is in decline.

Thank you Obama for the out of control, FAILED Spending.

"Asia is changing very fast. It's undergoing a fundamental transition," said Huang Jing, a Chinese politics expert at the National University of Singapore. "This is not the kind of Asia or Asia-Pacific of America's traditional understanding. That old understanding is that America is dominant but friendly to the developing nations and Japan, America's perpetual ally, is No. 1. Asia is now totally different and China is the No. 1, not Japan."

Throughout his travels, starting with a scene-setting speech in Japan, Obama is expected to deliver a message of staunch U.S. commitment to old friends and newer partners alike, promising to help keep what for decades has been one of the fastest growing regions of the world secure and thriving, according to U.S. officials.

In Tokyo, he's likely to call for a reinvigorated alliance with Japan while insisting that new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama live up to a pending agreement on reconfiguring U.S. military bases. He's scheduled to take part in Beijing in the kind of pomp that Chinese leaders crave as a sign of respect, but also plans an event with Chinese university students aimed at telegraphing U.S. values to a broader Chinese audience.

On the sidelines of the gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders, he'll hold a first-ever summit with Southeast Asia's 10-nation alliance, a grouping whose economies are increasingly tied to a growing China but still are anxious about Chinese power.

Included in that meeting will be Myanmar's leader — the first such meeting between a U.S. president and the head of a repressive government formerly shunned by Washington, though now part of a new outreach by the Obama administration.

Throughout, issues like North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs are likely to be raised repeatedly, though little concrete progress is expected.

While popular in some parts of the region, Obama does not have the rock-star appeal in Asia that he has in Europe and elsewhere. He will have to overcome strong suspicions among Asian leaders that he is more concerned about domestic battles over health care and the economy than about matters like freer trade that are so crucial to Asian nations and U.S. businesses.

He IS!

Obama comes to Asia "bringing absolutely nothing to the table" on trade, said Michael Green, a White House Asia adviser during the Bush administration and now an analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Without American leadership on trade, the fear is that the U.S. will be left behind while other nations roar ahead with their own agreements, Green said.
"There is a risk that he will come to Asia for just a star turn and photo opportunities while reserving his strength for other battles. But more is needed and should be expected of him," Simon Tay of the Singapore Institute for International Affairs said.

What you mean a Smile and a well delivered pre-written Speech will not be enough?

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration gained a reputation in Asia for distraction and an overemphasis on security. Meanwhile, China has supplanted the U.S. as the top or leading trading partner of Japan, South Korea and the ASEAN nations. The Chinese economy, a decade ago only slightly larger than Italy's, is on track to next year surpass Japan's, the world's No. 2.

Chief among Obama's goals on the trip will be to make "vividly clear to the peoples of Asia that the U.S. is here to stay in Asia," Jeffrey Bader, Obama's top Asia adviser, said at a public event in Washington on Friday. "As Asia continues to grow and as new groupings and structures take shape, the U.S. will be a player and participant on the ground floor, not a distant spectator."

In Japan, where Obama and his election inspired the public, it looks like the president will have his most difficult stop.

Yup. Because now THEY are seeing him for who and what he really is as well.

Prime Minister Hatoyama won election on an Obama-like message of change. But he's begun rethinking the U.S.-Japan alliance in which Tokyo has often felt itself the junior partner. He proposed the East Asian community that initially excluded the U.S., though he has since sidestepped the issue.

His government plans to end Japan's Indian Ocean refueling mission that supports U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

Thank you Obama.

His review of the agreement on basing 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan has caused particular tension, chiefly over relocating Futenma Marine air field on Okinawa. The U.S. has agreed to a more remote location on the island while Hatoyama has suggested moving the forces off the island. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month demanded Tokyo not put off resolving the issue until next year as Hatoyama has hinted.

In China, sizable distrust over trade tensions, Tibet and other human rights issues and Beijing's robust military buildup are likely to be papered over.

The Obama administration has tried to set a more constructive, cooperative tone for relations, calling Beijing a needed partner in tackling global issues like the economic downturn and climate change. The governments have identified clean energy as ripe for cooperation.

Chief among Obama's tasks in Beijing will be to establish the kind of trust that President Hu Jintao had with George W. Bush, according to Chinese scholars. China reacted angrily to recent U.S. moves to impose punitive tariffs to stem surging imports of low-cost Chinese-made tires, seeing it as reneging on Obama's promise earlier this year not to resort to protectionism during the economic crisis.

Folks, once again we see a Child, Obama, PLAYING President and doing it BADLY. All he cares about is his agenda here. All he cares about is OUR own Government taking over OUR own Country. All he cares about is Obamacare, Cap and Tax, which WILL effect more than just us as well, and taken even more control of our and OTHERS Economies with the nonsensical Global Warming Bunk.

Others see what Obama is doing. Other do not like nor trust what Obama is doing. What happen here in America, effects ALL that deal with America. So whatever the out come, as you can see, others are seeking alternatives. We DO have to deal with our issues, no doubt about it, but if we forget the rest of the World, the rest of the World will forget about us. With no means to take care of our own basic energy needs, WE will be the one that loses.
Peter

Sources:
AOL News - Obama confronts an Asia reshaped by China's rise
McKinsey Quarterly - Securing Asia's energy future

President Bush and over 70 Percent Of Americans Are Right

It's the Democrats that are trying to give the same old tried and incorrect information.

Hey folks

You know, this really is getting sad. It's pathetic that the Democrat Leadership continue to fight, not only against President Bush, but YOU. They are the ones standing in the way of us getting and using our own resources. In light of the fact that most of you, most polls are now showing like 70 percent of you, NOW agree that we need to DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LESS. 1,323,189 of you have now signed the Petition.

The President keeps calling on Congress to stop playing games and do something. They, keep giving us the same old rhetoric and lies. They keep giving us pipe dreams and wonders. No real solutions. No details of how to bring them about. NOTHING. According to the AP - Bush, Democrats bicker over soaring energy prices By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 55 minutes ago

President Bush on Saturday tried to pin the blame on Congress for soaring energy prices and said lawmakers need to lift long-standing restrictions on drilling for oil in pristine lands and offshore tracts believed to hold huge reserves of fuel.

He did not TRY to pin the blame on them Mr. Hunt. They ARE to blame.

"It's time for members of Congress to address the pain that high gas prices are causing our citizens," the president said. "Every extra dollar that American families spend because of high gas prices is one less dollar they can use to put food on the table or send a child to college. The American people deserve better."

With gasoline prices above $4 a gallon, Bush and his Republican allies think Americans are more willing to allow drilling offshore and in an Alaska wildlife refuge that environmentalists have fought successfully for decades to protect. Nearly half the people surveyed by the Pew Research Center in late June said they now consider energy exploration and drilling more important than conservation, compared with a little over a third who felt that way only five months ago. The sharpest shift in attitude came among political liberals.

PEW is a more Liberal group. June? Today more than 70 percent and climbing with most surveys.

Democrats say they are for drilling, but argue that oil companies aren't going after the oil where they already have leases. So why open new, protected areas? they ask. Democrats say there are 68 million acres of federal land and waters where oil and gas companies hold leases, but aren't producing oil.

YOU, Mr. Hunt are asking this as well. But if YOU, Mr. Hunt, did your job you would know that there really is NOT all this area leased and even less if ANY that actually HAVE oil.

"Americans are fed up every time they go to fill up and they're right to demand action. But instead of a serious response, President Bush and his allies simply repeat the same old line more drilling," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said in the Democrats' radio address.

"Democrats support more drilling," he said. "In fact, what the president hasn't told you is that the oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands with the potential to nearly double U.S. oil production. That is why in the coming days congressional Democrats will vote on 'Use It or Lose It' legislation requiring the big oil companies to develop these resources or lose their leases to someone else who will."

{Sigh} Where is the oil on these acres?

"But we know that drilling by itself will not solve the problem of high gas prices," Van Hollen said. "We cannot drill our way to energy independence."

That is the script right there. "We can't drill our way out of this." Just keep saying this without offering any possibilities, real solutions, and or, DETAILS of how, when, and why, we can use. Maybe if you say it enough, they will believe you.

He cited Democrats' calls to tap the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, because it is full and "America's rainy day is now." And he said the country must focus on new energy policies that focus on alternatives to oil.

WHAT? HOW? WHEN? CAN WE? WHY? Details are good.

Bush said that Democrats are at fault and that "Americans are increasingly frustrated with Congress' failure to take action.

"One of the factors driving up high gas prices is that many of our oil deposits here in the United States have been put off-limits for exploration and production. Past efforts to meet the demand for oil by expanding domestic resources have been repeatedly rejected by Democrats in Congress."

Absolutely.

Bush repeated his call for Congress to lift the restrictions, including a ban on offshore drilling. A succession of presidents from George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton to the current president have sided against drilling in these waters as has Congress each year for 27 years, seeking to protect beaches and coastal states' tourism economies.

(This version CORRECTS that Bush and allies think Americans `more willing to allow' drilling. Moving on general news and financial services. AP Video.)

Folks, just the mention of us drilling brought the price down. The Speculators freaked a little and the price went into a nose dive. Then Congress stood up and blocked this, price went UP. This is Congresses fault. We can Drill and find alternative sources of energy at the same time. We really can. As long as the Democrats get the hell out of the way.
Peter

Sources:
AP - Bush, Democrats bicker over soaring energy prices

Iran, LWL, Bush, What a day.

Hey folks,

What a day yesterday was. Happy Thursday to you. So much I want to comment on. Let’s see if I can get it all in. First, I was asked a ver fair question yesterday. Now you folks understand me by now, but this was an occasional visitor to the OPN. He asked me,

"Why haven’t you commented on the whole British Sailors, kidnaping thing? You spent days and weeks, talking about the President of Iran, who you call ‘Little Hitler.’ Now the world is talking about him, and you? You have said nothing about it. Why?"

I HAVE been telling you folks for the past year who and what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is.

I have been warning you that he IS another Hitler rising. A lot of people out there just do not want to see it. I told you that there are so many similarities that is cannot be ignored. Just like now, with all the appeasers out there for this guy. Now he kidnaps 15 British soldiers, in Iraqi waters, and people start to listen to him. Which WAS the whole point. I told you when this first happened, they are British, and Britain said THEY were handling it.

But now, the one I said, "Even if the world is not, I will be watching him." IS being watched by the world. But even though the world is watching, they have decided, he is not such a bad guy. Makes me sick. Get this from the AP-Iran to release 15 British sailors

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defused a growing confrontation with Britain, announcing the surprise release of 15 captive British sailors Wednesday and then gleefully accepting the crew's thanks and handshakes in what he called an Easter gift.

An Easter gift? This guy doesn’t care about Easter. This is just a ploy by him to separate Britain and America. Divide and conquer. One of the oldest and most effective weapons in warfare. To get even more people to go against what he fears most, US.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed "profound relief" over the peaceful end to the 13-day crisis. "Throughout we have taken a measured approach — firm but calm, not negotiating, but not confronting either," Blair said in London, adding a message to the Iranian people that "we bear you no ill will."

The announcement in Tehran was a breakthrough in a crisis that had escalated over nearly two weeks, raising oil prices and fears of military conflict in the volatile region. The move to release the sailors suggested that Iran's hard-line leadership decided it had shown its strength but did not want to push the standoff too far.

They Showed their strength? The hostages did not fight back. They were ordered NOT to.

Syria, Iran's close ally, said it played a role in winning the release. "Syria exercised a sort of quiet diplomacy to solve this problem and encourage dialogue between the two parties," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in Damascus.

The announcement of the release came hours after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with President Bashar Assad in Damascus, trying to show that a U.S. dialogue with Syria — rejected by the Bush administration — could bring benefits for the Middle East. The British sailors were not part of their talks, and it was not clear if the release was timed to coincide with her visit.

WAIT!!Hold it a second. I knew this would be coming. I told someone yesterday, "Watch, Pelosi will get the credit for this. Hence, diplomacy, and Nancy Pelosi is so wonderful. She did what big bad Bush could never do. Blah, blah, blah. You know, anything to make Bush look bad." Read that again. "The announcement of the release came hours after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with President Bashar Assad in Damascus" This suggests that she had something to do with it. But REMEMBER THIS when you start hearing her take outright credit for this, "The British sailors were not part of their talks" She had nothing to do with it. Other than being used as a pawn by the terrorists.

The rest of the story is how the British soldiers were so gracious and thankful of their "host," and how wonderful Little Hitler is. How he is reasonable and can be talked to. Bush lied. He {Little Hitler} is not a terrorist. He is a good little {insane terrorist bent on world domination} guy, just trying to run this poor little country. Let’s just leave him alone. {Sigh}

Speaking of President Bush and the LWL, Reuters reported yesterday this story. You true OPNers out there have already seen this I’m sure. But for those of you that haven’t, actually, I’ll post a second daily article today so you can read the whole thing yourself. It is amazing. Proves that we ARE winning. {Laughing} But that’s a bad thing. I’m not kidding. That’s coming up next.

No folks, I have not fell asleep when it comes to Little Hitler. Yes, I’m still watching. Rest assure, I will tell you for time to time what is going on there, and will correct others, when needed. Like today.

If you want a couple of humorous excerpts from bloggers in Tehran itself, check out The London Times -Tehran bloggers see through smoke and mirrors. Now to this insane Reuters piece.
Peter


Sources:
AP-Iran to release 15 British sailors
The London Times -Tehran bloggers see through smoke and mirrors