Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[brightness]

> It's not about Saddam. It's about oil.

And what is wrong with that? Considering that the cost of crude oil production is only $2 per barrel in Saudi Arabia, and not much more in Iraq, the price of oil at $30 per barrel represents a nearly pure tax on industrialized and industrializing societies. During the Cold War, that form of taxation was tolerated because of the need to fight the Cold War; namely, the oil sheiks and Saddam were good client states that turned that ill-gotten oil tax money towards subsidizing weapons making and development in the West through the sustained purchase programs. Now the Cold War is over, and those same tax collectors are channelling the money towards ends that are dangerous and detrimental to the safety and prosperity of the civilized world. Why should we tolerate that form of taxation? Considering the importance of oil to industrialized and industrializing societies, I'm surprised lefties clamoring for atmospherical treaties haven't found an eminent domain issue with oil that should declare all oil extraction in the world should be nearly free, and oil field not being part of the sovereinty of any particular nation-state. Defeating Saddam and reducing oil price to $12 a barrel will go a long way towards that end.