At the onset of the insurrection in Libya, I wrote about an oasis town named Ghat (link here) that rests on the north Sahara trade route. Here is today's weather in Ghat:
Current conditions as of 11:00 AM EET
Widespread Dust
Feels Like:85 °F
Barometer:27.65 in
Humidity:15 %
Visibility:4.35 mi
Dewpoint:35 °F
Wind:CALM
UV Index:3
It is always widespread dust in Ghat. I watch the weather there every day because I know, sure as shooting (bad metaphor) that at one point we will have some of our Marines there - just like 200 years ago - in some senseless and oil demanded war to protect our sources.
Libya is a huge place and the fighting we read about all the time occurs along the coast and over to the oil fields where Libyan Sweet Crude is found in some abundance. Italy and France get most of their oil from there and it is premium stuff. They have an interest although commercial in nature...and I guess that is as good a reason as there is to make war and regime change.
We can probably do away with the current dictator of four decades with a couple cruise missiles (like we tried some 20 years back). Probably should as he is mad as a wet hen right now and will pull another Pan Am 103 sure as shooting...probably a lot of them. The question is, of course, why don't we?
The answer is not moral as there is no moral authority in all this. The answer rests in that we know what we have to deal with now and as crumby as it is, it is probably better than what stands off stage in the wings ready to make their entrance. So back to Ghat.
This is the real Libya...not the pomp and wealth of Tripoli and the coast (comparative of course). This is the dust and dependence on water and to these folks, who is in Tripoli commanding troops to kill its own citizens is probably just another dust storm in centuries of dust storms. Places like this don't change. Despots and invaders come and go and 400 years from now when Ghat looks like it does today, this will be yet another showing of an old movie.
We are going to go there, make no mistake. The drums have sounded and you have to be deaf not to hear them.
Of interest to me was a discussion about the cost of energy production. We complain that solar is too expensive to produce and install, that natural gas fracturing costs too much to clean up the water contamination, that nuclear has construction and regulatory costs in the zillions but what about oil? Just pull up the drill and attach the pump right?
What about the cost of putting together a department of defense and its 700 billion budget to stay strong enough to send troops here and there to keep the oil wells flowing on time and on schedule to our shores...how much of that cost is figured in .... and when we station a few hundred Marines in Ghat for a decade and they get killed off here and there, what of that cost?
Anybody there?
Current conditions as of 11:00 AM EET
Feels Like:85 °F
Barometer:27.65 in
Humidity:15 %
Visibility:4.35 mi
Dewpoint:35 °F
Wind:CALM
UV Index:3
It is always widespread dust in Ghat. I watch the weather there every day because I know, sure as shooting (bad metaphor) that at one point we will have some of our Marines there - just like 200 years ago - in some senseless and oil demanded war to protect our sources.
The answer is not moral as there is no moral authority in all this. The answer rests in that we know what we have to deal with now and as crumby as it is, it is probably better than what stands off stage in the wings ready to make their entrance. So back to Ghat.
We are going to go there, make no mistake. The drums have sounded and you have to be deaf not to hear them.
Of interest to me was a discussion about the cost of energy production. We complain that solar is too expensive to produce and install, that natural gas fracturing costs too much to clean up the water contamination, that nuclear has construction and regulatory costs in the zillions but what about oil? Just pull up the drill and attach the pump right?
What about the cost of putting together a department of defense and its 700 billion budget to stay strong enough to send troops here and there to keep the oil wells flowing on time and on schedule to our shores...how much of that cost is figured in .... and when we station a few hundred Marines in Ghat for a decade and they get killed off here and there, what of that cost?
Anybody there?