How oil money has corrupted the world
By Neville Berman
The tiny mountain pine beetle has the ability to dig into a tree and then mate and quickly multiply. Once this takes place, a slow steady process of hollowing out the tree from within begins. This hollowing out prevents the nutrients derived from the roots of the tree from reaching the branches and leaves of the tree. In time the tree withers and finally dies. These tiny beetles, measuring the size of a grain of rice, are able to infect entire forests. Thousands of acres of healthy forests have been destroyed by these tiny beetles. The above is a metaphor for what is currently taking place in the liberal Western world.
The world runs on oil and gas. A staggering amount of over 102 million barrels of oil are consumed daily. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is natural gas cooled to minus 162 Celsius. This reduces the volume to a fraction of its original volume. Both oil and LNG can be transported in pipelines and specially constructed ships and tanker trucks across the world. LNG can be used to produce electricity with a lower carbon footprint than using coal. Currently LNG consumption exceeds 4.2 billion cubic meters per year. French President Charles de Gaulle stated that countries do not have friends, countries have interests. The world clearly has important interests in maintaining its relationship with the major oil and gas exporting countries in the Middle East. Common values of democracy, and all the rights and freedoms that are the basis of the liberal Western world are mutually exclusive to interests.
Whether these oil or gas exporting countries are democracies, dictatorships, or autocracies is irrelevant. Whether they practice the rule of law, have human rights, freedom of religion, a free press, women’s rights, gay rights or any other rights that seem so important to the liberal Western world, is immaterial if they export oil and gas. Western liberal principles are simply ignored when vital interests are at stake. The bottom line is that money makes the world go round, and oil and gas are mega money earners.
What is happening is that the major oil exporting countries and the oil traders are colluding to limit the supply of oil in order to raise the price and increase their profits. No other commodity has the huge profit margins of oil and gas. The vast bulk of oil consumed in America is produced in America. The cost of producing oil in America has not risen as a result of the war in Iran. What has risen is the selling price of oil at the pump. America and the world have been hoodwinked by the greed of the oil industry. At the same time that the majority of countries in the world are going into massive debt, the oil and gas exporting countries are rolling in money. According to a report by the World Bank, total government debt in 2025, reached a record $324 trillion. The situation is unsustainable. The question that now arises is what are the incredibly wealthy oil exporting countries in the Middle East doing with their wealth?
Saudi Arabia has been run for over a century by one family. The present King is Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He is the last surviving son of Abdulaziz who founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. King Salman is over 80 years old and is not well. He has appointed one of his sons, Muhammed bin Salman known as MBS as the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has a Public Investment Fund with nearly a trillion dollars under its management and control. For decades Saudi Arabia has been fully funding the construction and running costs of mega Mosques across the western world. The Imans in these Mosques are hand picked to promote the conservative, fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam that is practiced in Saudi Arabia. Subjugation to sharia law and gender separation has been promoted in the West. The Saudi appointed Imans in these mega Mosques have radicalized tens of thousands of their followers living in the West to oppose western values and culture. They should not be viewed as friends of the West.
Qatar is a peninsula in the Arabian Gulf with a border in the south with Saudi Arabia. Approximately 320,000 of its 3 million population are Qatari citizens. Since its inception in the 19th century, Qatar has been ruled by one family known as the House of Thani. The current Emir is Sheik Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani who has ruled Qatar since June 25, 2013. Qatar is an absolute monarchy where the Emir is the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. Qatar is a major exporter of LNG and is enormously wealthy.
Qatar is playing a double game in pretending to be a friend of the West, while it is actively promoting chaos and the destruction of the West. Qatar is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood that aims to subjugate the entire world to Islamic rule and Sharia law. The billionaire leaders of Hamas, who embezzled all their wealth from the people in Gaza, and helped plan the atrocities committed by Hamas, are living a luxury life with their families in Qatar. Hamas is a designated terrorist entity and anyone hosting and protecting their leaders is obviously not promoting peace in the world.
Qatar is fully funding the TV station known as Al-Jazeera. It has over 3,000 employees and reporters. It reports 24/7 to over 430 million viewers around the world in both Arabic and English. Al Jazeera reaches millions of people in the world who are illiterate and soak up the anti-Israel and anti-western rhetorical nature of the reporters. No other TV channel has the resources that Al Jazeera has. It has radicalized millions of its listeners to become active protestors against America and Israel. There is no doubt that Al Jazeera has promoted and spread militant Islam across the world.
Qatar has spent billions of dollars financing Departments of Middle Eastern Studies at almost all the major universities in America. Only people with a proven anti-Israel and anti-Western philosophical world outlook are hired to become professors and lecturers in these departments. The intention of Qatar is to promote an anti-Western mindset in the students who will most likely become future leaders of America. Qatar is buying properties, sports clubs, businesses and making investments that aim at gaining influence amongst the decision makers of the West. With its vast wealth, Qatar has corrupted many of the institutions that are vital to running the world. All of Qatar’s actions are intended to promote the rise of Islamic values in the West and are in direct opposition to liberal Western values.
America maintains approximately 10,000 military personnel at the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The base serves as the forward headquarters of the United States Central Command known as CENTCOM. In effect Qatar operates under American protection while at the same time it is spending billions of dollars trying to undermine America. One family that controls a country with 320,000 citizens has been able to use its money to undermine and corrupt the entire liberal West. Despite its tiny size, Qatar is a major threat to the Western world.
In the 7th century, the Prophet Mohammad entered into a 10-year ceasefire with the Quraish tribe who controlled Mecca. It was known as a hudna. Two years later. A re-armed Mohammad attacked and took control of Mecca.
The current war with Iran started in 1979 when Iran became an Islamic Republic. “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” became their official policy. The Iranian regime has squandered billions of dollars on trying to eliminate Israel. The Iranian policy is clear. First conquer the Saturday people, then subjugate the Sunday people.
Iran has used its vast wealth to export terrorism across the world. They have used proxies to bring death and destruction wherever they can. They have armed and financed proxy terrorist entities in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and have tried to incite the Palestinians to attack Israel. In the last two months, they have attacked the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. They have attacked ships using the international waterway known as the Straits of Hormuz. They and their proxies have fired thousands of missiles at civilian targets. They have killed tens of thousands of their own citizens protesting against their policies. The regime and its proxies have broken international law left, right and center. Other than America and Israel, the world simply ignores their genocidal behavior.
For decades Iran has been saying that their nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. If you believe that, then you are living in Lala land. If Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, then they do not need to enrich uranium to levels that have no peaceful purposes. Iran is without doubt a serial liar.
Ever since the end of the Second World War, the concept of “unconditional surrender” has been removed from the lexicon of international affairs. What has happened is that rules of warfare now demand proportional responses. This policy does not end wars. What it does is perpetuate endless conflicts. Professor Alan Dershowitz jokes that America is building special F35 aircrafts for Israel with 3 seats for a pilot, a navigator and a lawyer.
In the last two months, America and Israel have massively reduced the capacity of Iran and its proxy terrorist organizations to wage war. Neither Iran, nor any of its proxies have surrendered or been defeated. Their leadership has been decimated, but they have not changed their intentions. The world is now calling for a ceasefire with Iran. This is the hudna trap.
If sanctions on Iran are lifted, and the regime remains in power, then the regime will do exactly what Muhammad did. They will rearm and attack when they are ready.
The attack on America on September 11, 2001, was a pivotal moment in world affairs. The world was instantly divided into those that were horrified by what occurred, and those who celebrated the devastation. In the name of multiculturalism, diversity and equal opportunity the very people that cheered the attackers, have since been invited into the West and have become citizens. They have been financed and radicalized by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, and other oil rich Arab countries to promote chaos and to destabilize the Western world. They are using free speech and democracy to gain power and to destabilize the countries that they have immigrated to.
Militant Islam is now the greatest threat to the liberal Western way of life. Russia and China do not have tens of millions of supporters living in the West. On the other hand, there are already tens of millions of Islamists living in the west who see themselves as part of the army of Islam. They are well financed and organized and because of their numbers, they are playing a crucial role in democratic elections in the West. Aircraft carriers, nuclear powered submarines, missiles and drones cannot be used against them. In America they are totally protected by the American Constitution. There are elected members of congress who are Muslims who refuse to condemn the policy of “Death to America“. They and their followers are opposed to everything that made America into a superpower. Like the mountain pine beetle, they intend to hollow out America until it withers and dies. It is time for the West to recognize who its enemies are to stop treating them as allies.
About the writer:
Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award. In 1978 he immigrated to the USA to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel. He is married with two children and one granddaughter.
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