Oil And Dhimmitude

Interesting excerpt from this commentary over at The Daily Jot, the mission statement of which includes reporting and analyzing current events from a Biblical perspective:

The Saudi Arabian oil minister said there will be no discussion of increased oil production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at their upcoming meeting, meaning that OPEC will stand by and watch record oil prices drain the pocketbooks of American industry and citizens. Increased oil production by OPEC would bring relief to oil prices, which, in turn, would bring gasoline prices down. Instead, a 20-30 cent per gallon increase in gas prices can now be expected at pumps across the United States. This means that not only will prices go up at gas stations, but also the costs of goods transported, produced, and sold with the help of oil products will also rise substantially. Record oil prices be a reflection of an overall strategy of Islam to bring the United States into submission during jihad.

[...]

Dhimmitude is the Islamic system of governing populations conquered by jihad wars, encompassing all of the demographic, ethnic, and religious aspects of the political system. The word "dhimmitude" as a historical concept, was coined in 1983 to describe the legal and social conditions of Jews and Christians subjected to Islamic rule. Dhimmi was the name applied by the Arab-Muslim conquerors of indigenous non-Muslim populations who surrendered by a treaty, called a dhimma, to Muslim domination. All who are in submission to Islam are subject to Sharia law—the radical law of Islam.

Contemporary Islamists believe through dhimmi that when they have been given authority over something, that all of which they have been given is subject to them. For example, Islam receives permission to have a mosque in a town, then the entire town is under Islamic authority. If they have been given control over oil, then those who use the oil are subject to them....

Now, I don't regularly visit The Daily Jot. In fact, I found the above essay via a Google alert for "dhimmitude." Therefore, I don't know if I agree with all the interpretations espoused there. However, part of the last paragraph in the essay jumped out at me; therefore, I want to bring it to our attention here:

Contemporary Islamists believe through dhimmi that when they have been given authority over something, that all of which they have been given is subject to them....If they have been given control over oil, then those who use the oil are subject to them.

When I received my exorbitant heating bill, payment due in a few weeks (almost $800 for less than half a fill!), I certainly felt subject to blackmail, if not specifically pushed into a state of economic dhimmitude. Harvesting and burning my patch of woods in my living-room fireplace go only so far.

In the long run, my personal economic condition is of no importance. However, the global economy is now at the mercy of the oil sheikhs. According to this article in the Washington Post, the financial squeeze is on:

The biggest jump in gasoline prices in five months contributed to another elevated reading on consumer prices in October. With pump prices surging still, inflation is expected to be even worse in November.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that its Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent last month. It was the second straight month at that level after prices had fallen by 0.1 percent in August and risen by 0.1 percent in July.

Economists said consumers should brace for a worse performance in November, given an even bigger increase in gasoline prices so far this month.

Labor Department economist Patrick Jackman said gasoline alone could add four-tenths of a percentage point to overall inflation in November.

[...]

Economists are concerned that rising energy prices will leave consumers with less money to spend on other items and will depress their spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity. That would add to the list of problems already facing a slowing economy.

"Consumers are getting squeezed between falling house prices, rising mortgage payments and now rising oil prices," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York....

Today, the following photo appeared above the fold in the business section of the Washington Post:


Caption:

Delegates pass a portrait of the late King Saud at OPEC's third summit in its 47 years, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The twenty-first-century sword of Islam is control of the oil market. The following excerpt from this article accompanying the above picture bears out my contention:

Friday, November 16, 2007

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- In September 1960, after the mighty Standard Oil of New Jersey dictated a cut in the price it was willing to pay for Middle Eastern oil, an angry group of leaders from the region and Venezuela got together and founded the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

No one paid much attention. Two months later, a 43-page CIA report on "Middle East Oil" devoted only four lines to the new group, according to Daniel Yergin's history "The Prize."

Few would dismiss OPEC with such brevity today. Its often-squabbling members have wrested control of their oil fields from the big oil companies. In the 1970s, they administered two price shocks to the world economy. And now, a decade after oil prices collapsed during a financial crisis in Asia, unrefined crude is hovering around its all-time inflation-adjusted peak, channeling as much as $700 billion a year to exporting nations and threatening to slow even the world's strongest economies.

That's why this weekend, when the heads of state from the 13-member group gather here for OPEC's third summit, it should be a celebration. Yet the summit's Saudi hosts worry that the meeting could turn into a political embarrassment.

Concerned about their image abroad, the Saudis do not want to be seen as the villains behind the new oil shock and are pointing fingers at speculators, institutional investors and traders. And they fret that feisty leaders such as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could turn the summit into an anti-American political circus rather than a sober reflection on OPEC's future.

[...]

There is a paradox about OPEC on the eve of its summit. Decades after its founding, higher prices are still central to the group's purpose. Yet OPEC's bland slogan for this meeting is "providing petroleum, promoting prosperity, protecting the planet."

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah bin Salem al-Badri insists that the organization doesn't have a target price and that it simply wants to stabilize the volatile oil market for consumers, producers and investors.

[...]

Ultimately, power in OPEC is wielded largely by Saudi Arabia, which holds the overwhelming majority of the cartel's spare production capacity. That, plus its willingness to trim production to boost prices, makes Saudi Arabia the group's swing producer.

"OPEC is an organization that is supposed to have a big say on the market," said a Saudi government strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the government. "Instead, it is an organizational front for the policy of one country while giving a lot of publicity to countries that wouldn't get as much attention otherwise."

Other OPEC nations are producing near maximum capacity. War-torn Iraq is far short of its production peak. Its oil minister yesterday said production was up to 2.5 million barrels a day. About a third of Nigeria's production has been shut down by an insurgency. Venezuela's disputes with foreign oil companies and its own oil-patch professionals has led to sagging output. And Iran, due to its stubborn bargaining and international economic sanctions, has been unable to lure foreign expertise and investment to fully exploit its big oil and gas reserves.

Altogether, these developments have sliced at least 2.5 million barrels a day, or about 8 percent, from OPEC output without any organizational decision to restrict production.

The Saudi kingdom, however, is in the middle of boosting its production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009, up from 11.3 million. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi says that ample inventories indicate that there is no need to pump more oil now, though some Saudi officials say the kingdom will do that next month anyway to force down prices.

But if OPEC forecasts are wrong and consumption outpaces production, then OPEC could become no different from non-OPEC producers, simply pumping as fast as possible while the price finds a balancing point.

Economists say it is difficult for any cartel to survive for long. Artificially high prices tend to bring suppliers into a market or drive customers to substitute other materials. But in the oil industry, those alternative paths are lengthy ones. New oil supplies take years to find and develop, and they tend to be in more and more difficult places....

Thanks to lack of foresight (Something else?) on the part of our leaders, the West is being held hostage by oil. Loosing those shackles will take time. Meanwhile, our economy is in a squeeze, whether or not each of us yet feels that squeeze.

How much more belt-tightening is possible with OPEC in control? Another 9/11 isn't necessary. Economic jihad is in full play, and the West is about to pay a terrible price for its addiction to oil.