Also the world's largest oil producer is Russia. #3 is the US.

Heuristic: 1% change in the supply of oil results in a +50%/-33% price movement.

"IT WAS IRANIAN TV"

Ok, so now your intellectual ideas have devolved to "because its reported from Iran it cannot be true"?

And you are calling me a fucking twit? That's rich.

how about you cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to show your superior intellectual powers you fucking twit

The Arab League and African Union will never favor the removal of any dictator in any circumstance. When the African Union does act it is generally because the US has applied massive pressure behind the scenes.

Apparently, here is Santa's idea of being an intellectual...

Iran = Liars
Israel = Truth

"how about you cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to show your superior intellectual powers you fucking twit "

LOL...musta struck a nerve, did I?

Anti-semite proclamation in 3...2....

Iranian TV has in the last year accused the Jews of harvesting the eyes of Palestinian children and accused the Mossad of rigging Iranian elections in favor of Ahmadinejad.

We'll see about that tomorrow gopher

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-11/arab-league-may-endorse-no-fly-zone-tomorrow-martonyi-says-1-.html

Santa did not cite Israeli media reports as authoritative sources. He signed Iranian media as being insane propaganda. An opinion shared by, well, basically, all of my Iranian friends.

Darwyn,

I have many issues with Israel, I also have issues with using Iranian propaganda to state something so clearly absurd.

I will admit my mistake when I see the Arab League endorse the actual removal of an actual dictator. The African Union couldn't bring themselves to sanction Sudan or Zimbabwe, or hell, even Liberia.

Well, gopher, all of my American friends think that ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN and MSNBC is propaganda. Now what?

so obviously to compensate we have to go to a nation known to use outlandish propaganda, that must be the truth...

again, fucking. twit.

"I also have issues with using Iranian propaganda to state something so clearly absurd. "

It's not like this isn't Israel's MO. "By way of deception, thou shalt do war."

"I think you have that reversed. American silence on Bahrain is not because they have no oil left, but because they are next to Qatar and Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi that have lots of oil"

And because Bahrain has a Sunni minority government ruling a Shi'a majority population that is sympathetic to Iran. Plus, the US 5th fleet is stationed Bahrain, defending the strategic Strait of Hormuz. As for Libya being richer than Kuwait, I don't get what this is supposed to prove. Kuwait has less than half the population of Libya, and shares revenue with Saudi, as well as having their own massive oil supply. Plus they get to exploit cheap immigrant labor as only 45% of their tiny population is Kuwaiti. Plus Kuwait doesn't have to worry about spending anything on defending their huge oil supply, or defending itself from a western attack. But your thing about Libya not producing to its potential is exactly why the west wants control of Libya.

Obama's speech on Gaddafi is WMDs in Iraq all over again. "Stockpiled weapons vs the US"? Are you kidding me?

"so obviously to compensate we have to go to a nation known to use outlandish propaganda, that must be the truth..."

to compensate for what? I posted a story and you decided to go ape shit over it.

Calm down...take deep breaths. If you don't agree, fine. Calling someone a fucking twit repeatedly does no favors for your argument.

"I will admit my mistake when I see the Arab League endorse the actual removal of an actual dictator. The African Union couldn't bring themselves to sanction Sudan or Zimbabwe, or hell, even Liberia."

And the Sudan move has proved to be correct. Look at what the rebels are doing now with their new country. Zimbabwe did nothing wrong, and many are sympathetic to the land reform movement because they have similar problems, especially in South Africa.

@Darwyn, you seem to miss the oh so subtle distinction between propaganda and "insane propaganda"

Darwyn, I don't doubt that Israel does more than its fair share of dirty deeds, but it doesn't really make sense for them to intervene directly. I doubt they have the contacts or relationships in the region necessary to reliably hire any African mercenaries themselves. Keep in mind that Mossad is a very very small operation compared to, say, the CIA. If Israel is intervening at all, it's probably just by sending Qaddafi suitcases full of cash so he can hire the mercenaries himself (and it would be entirely possible that Mr. Q wouldn't even know where the money is really coming from).

Zimbabwe has far more to do with free trade and a general rural vs. urban conflict than it does with land ownership. As for the Sudan, I would argue that Darfur was a by product of the Arabs losing in the South.

Right, gopher. cuz everything that comes out of Iran is not just propaganda, but INSANE propaganda. Got it.

Qaddafi hardly needs suitcases full of cash from Israel. He has enormous financial resources. His ownership stake in Fiat serves as an indicator of his resources.

Aye, but how liquid are those financial resources? All his investments are supposed to be frozen, and with the big powers turning his back on him, It would be hard even to send a courier to clean out the Swiss bank accounts.

and you ask if it touched a nerve, it did. Same old trope that Jews are behind all the wars of the world. Same trope used by fucking twits on the internet, drunk mel gibson, and Goebbels justifying the murder of my great grandparents. So when you make the accusation show me something better than Iranian news you fucking twit.

its been known that the freezing of the assets hasnt done much to hurt gaddafi, he cleaned out alot of accounts before his asets are frozen, is known to have a great deal in reserve and it has been a nightmare trying to freeze all of his accounts.

Oddly enough Darwyn, I grew up around a great many Iranian ex-pats and while in grad school, both times, I made an oddly high number of Iranian friends (this time international students from post-revolution Iran). And while I will definitely give credit where credit is due for the mullahs building a good education system and in many ways a good social safety net, the regime (or at least to portion/faction in control of the media and military) is by every indicator stark raving insane. Pretty much all of the people I've know who have tended to be almost violently chauvinistic (something I have come to view as a cultural trait of the Persians) have almost universally viewed those in charge of their country and their mouth pieces as being dangerously disconnected from objective reality. So yes, I have no problem severely discounting anything coming from Iranian TV in the absence of independent confirmation.

Oh and a personal comment/joke, my being an Irish Catholic from Texas may explain my making friends with puritanical, hyper-nationalistic Persian in multiple difference environments.

70% of world cocoa production comes from West Africa, and not just Cote D'Ivoire but Ghana is a huge producer of cocoa. The idea that Cote D'Ivoire controls all of it is a big exaggeration. Furthermore, the Ivorians helped Liberian rebels far more than Liberia helped Ivorian rebels. The Model group was essentially an Ivorian funded army. It is true that Bush intervened to force Taylor out, but I don't think it had much to do with the Ivorian civil war, since Burkina Faso had much more to do with destabilizing that country and the war lasted well after Taylor was out of the picture.

At any rate Gbagbo and Taylor are enemies, so maybe doing nothing on CDI is returning the favor for helping to oust Taylor? Maybe in that sense you are right.