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Page added on May 2, 2013
EU Lifts Oil Embargo on Syria – Buys Directly from Al Qaeda
It was recently reported that the European Union would be lifting its oil embargo on Syria, in an effort to help fund what it calls “rebels” operating there. In the Associated Press article, “EU lifts Syria oil embargo to bolster rebels,” it states:
The European Union on Monday lifted its oil embargo on Syria to provide more economic support to the forces fighting to oust PresidentBashar Assad’s regime.
The decision will allow for crude exports from rebel-held territory, the import of oil and gas production technology, and investments in the Syrian oil industry, the EU said in a statement.
A recent TIME article titled, “Syria’s Opposition Hopes to Win the War by Selling Oil,” reports:
On paper, the E.U.’s idea seemed straightforward. Without an embargo, European companies can now legally begin importing barrels of oil directly from rebel groups, which have seized several oil fields in recent months, mostly around the eastern area of Deir Ezzor. That would provide the opposition with its first reliable source of income since the revolt erupted in Feb. 2011, and in theory hasten the downfall of Bashar Assad’s regime, by giving rebels the means to run skeletal local governments and consolidate their control. As part of the decision, the E.U. ministers also agreed to export technical equipment, insure the rebels’ shipments of oil and invest in the rebel oil businesses. Before the war, Syria earned about $3.6 billion a year exporting oil and gas to Europe, with its biggest customers in Germany and Italy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The BBC in their article, “EU eases Syria oil embargo to help opposition,” would mention which fields specifically the EU was planning on exploiting, stating:
Syria’s main oilfields are in the eastern provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hassakeh, which both border Iraq.
Still, analysts warn that the plan is deeply flawed—and in fact, that the E.U.’s decision could intensify the violence in Syria, by setting up a deadly competition for control of a resource that has languished amid two years of grinding civil war.
Complicating the issue is the fact that several of the rebel-held oil fields are believed to be under the control of Jabhat al-Nusra, which has declared its allegiance to al-Qaeda.
In the New York Times article, “Islamist Rebels Create Dilemma on Syria Policy,” not only is it admitted that, “nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of,” but it specifically mentions the oil fields the EU seeks to plunder:
Elsewhere, they [al-Nusra] have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.
Additionally:
In the oil-rich provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasaka, Nusra fighters have seized government oil fields, putting some under the control of tribal militias and running others themselves.
In Reuters’ “Rebels battle with tribesmen over oil in Syria’s east,” it is admitted that:
Islamist rebels are clashing with tribesmen in eastern Syria as struggles over the region’s oil facilities break out in the power vacuum left by civil war, activists said on Saturday.
One dispute over a stolen oil truck in the town of Masrib in the province of Deir al-Zor, which borders Iraq, set off a battle between tribesmen and fighters from the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked rebel group, which left 37 killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The fighting, which started in late March and lasted 10 days, was part of a new pattern of conflict between tribal groups and the Nusra Front, said a report from the Observatory, a British-based group which opposes Syria’s government and draws information from a network of activists in the country.
The Reuters article had forewarned:
The incentive for disputes over lucrative resources may be increased by plans by the European Union to lift an embargo on Syrian oil, which would make it easier to sell.
The EU said this week it wants to allow Syria’s opposition to sell crude in an effort to tilt the balance of power towards the rebels, who are outgunned by Assad’s fighter planes and long range missiles.
In other words, the EU’s announcement while lining the pockets of big-oil, is sowing increased chaos, violence, and death across oil-rich regions of Syria, compounding an already catastrophic humanitarian disaster of the West’s own creation. It is also clear that Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra front is the opposition the EU plans to buy the oil from, as there are no other “opposition” groups across the country to speak of according even to the New York Times, and more specifically, none besides al-Nusra holding significant ground in Syria’s oil fields.
The EU is openly preparing to do business directly with Al Qaeda, in a direct bid to bolster their control over territory they now occupy, and to overthrow the secular government of Syria in an unprecedented sectarian bloodbath. While many may claim the EU’s policy is merely yet another manifestation of the corruption and incompetence that are hallmarks of the failed supranational bloc, it was revealed as early as 2007 that the West sought to intentionally arm and fund sectarian extremists, including Al Qaeda, to overthrow the Syrian government in just such a sectarian bloodbath.
In 2007 – a full 4 years before the 2011 “Arab Spring” would begin – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article titled, “”The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” would state specifically (emphasis added):
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.
Clearly then, it is no accident that Al Qaeda has the weapons and cash to dominate the so-called “opposition,” nor a mystery as to how they’ve managed to seize much of Syria’s oil fields. It is also no accident that these very terrorists now stand to gain immensely by selling stolen oil to the European Union, in a bid to further increase their strength, capabilities, and reach, in an otherwise so-far unsuccessful bid to overthrow the Syrian government.
The EU and their US and British allies, now have yet another deep scar that will permanently disfigure their reputation, legitimacy, and international standing ad infinitum. For the people of the West, it is imperative that they identify the corporate-financier interests truly driving this conspiracy against the Syrian people and bothboycott and permanently replace these interests. If not, they will inevitably, and in many cases already are, turning their attention, exploitation, and rackets inward onto their own.
12 Comments on "EU Lifts Oil Embargo on Syria – Buys Directly from Al Qaeda"
Plantagenet on Thu, 2nd May 2013 4:46 pm
Its bad enough that the EU is buying oil from oil fields controlled al Qaida. Even worse, the Obama administration is moving towards arming the Free Syrian Army—which is also largely controlled by al Qaida.
Arthur on Thu, 2nd May 2013 7:12 pm
Al-Qaeda does not exist.
Beery on Thu, 2nd May 2013 7:28 pm
Where do these nutcases come from? Al Qaida is effectively dead. Okay, the US is funding Muslim extremists – so what’s new? We’ve been doing that since the 1980s.
Arthur on Thu, 2nd May 2013 9:43 pm
Please define Al-Qaeda. Can one be a card carrying member? Do they have an anthem? Where is the headquarters if any? Does membership come with a benefits program like airmiles? Do you have to be over 18 and be circumsized? Do you have to pass exams in order to be member? Do you have to pay taxes like you have to pay taxes to the church in Holland and elsewhere if you are a member?
Ooorrrr, is AQ an invention of western security agencies, intended to be used as an excuse and tool to invade countries at will?
What is not denied is that bin Laden was on the payroll of the CIA and headed the Mudjahedeen in an effort of getting the Soviets out of Afghanistan, mission accomplished in 1989. But after that it becomes vague. Bin Laden denied that he was behind 9/11. Why? He was not afraid of fighting another superpower so why should he be afraid of claiming responsibility for this stunt and reap the prestige. Answer: he did not do 9/11 but was blamed for it anyway by those who committed this act themselves.
Al-Qaeda is bogus.
DC on Thu, 2nd May 2013 10:48 pm
Quite right, there is no such thing as Al-Qaeda. There are no Al-Qaeda ‘affiliates’ or anything like that. Consider, ‘Al-Qaeda’ has not made one single statement to the worlds media(or any media for that matter), it has no spokesmen, no leader, no underground websites, nothing.They have claimed no responsibility for any ‘terrorist’ actions(its always the US or its satraps that make that claim). Not one of the prisoners in Gitmo, has afaik, claimed to be a member, much less anyone else the US has killed or imprisoned this last decade or more.
But, I guess Al-Q sounds better than, ‘our’ murderous Salafist mercenary proxies.
The EU is losing the credibility and moderation it once had. For the EU’s sake, I suggest they re-take control of their foreign and fiscal policy and begin ejecting US armies and banks asap. The ME is much closer to the EU and those guys have long memories for betrayal. The US safely behind its two oceans is playing the EU for suckers by getting them to go along meekly with washingtons dictates.
DC on Thu, 2nd May 2013 10:53 pm
Arthur asks:
Can one be a card carrying member?
Why yes you can!-send your application here OR a Self-addressed stamped envelope to:
https://www.cia.gov/contact-cia/index.html
Arthur on Thu, 2nd May 2013 11:31 pm
“The EU is losing the credibility and moderation it once had. For the EU’s sake, I suggest they re-take control of their foreign and fiscal policy and begin ejecting US armies and banks asap. The ME is much closer to the EU and those guys have long memories for betrayal. The US safely behind its two oceans is playing the EU for suckers by getting them to go along meekly with washingtons dictates.”
Na, be carefull with what you wish for. Western Europe never had an independent foreign policy, has de facto been occupied territority since 1945 and the US has proven twice that it is willing to take up arms against it’s own mother civilization, if necessary together with the planets largest slaughterhouse in human history, the USSR. Slowly it is now coming, the emanipation from the US, hand in hand with increasing economic weight. So far continental Europe has leaned far out of the window by refusing to join the US with it’s ill-fated Iraq-safari. Washington was seething (‘cheese eating surrender monkeys’, ‘freedom fries’), because for the first time France, Germany and Russia had began to develop a common policy. Europe should not go further than that and under no circumstance antagonize the US too much to avoid accidents. If the US will start adventures against Iran, they will have to do it alone again and they know it. I think that the US will not stand a chance to attain world domination, like I was afraid they would around 2000. It is over and all that is left for the rest of the world to do is manage the US into retirement without provocation and without alienation between Europe and North-America, as we still need Euro-America to contain a rising China or at least make sure it will remain neutral. The best way to achieve that is to slowly introduce other currencies in bilateral trade and thus force Washington to live within it’s means, like everybody else, by limiting the amount of money the FED can print, without blowing up the dollar, meaning slash it’s ‘defense’ budget and military-industrial complex. By 2025 the US will fall apart, as a consequence of it’s immigration policies, just like the USSR did in 1991 and then civilizational gravitas will move back to Eurasia again, where it was before 1945.
GregT on Thu, 2nd May 2013 11:50 pm
Bravo Guys!
BillT on Fri, 3rd May 2013 1:10 am
Interesting. The EU is pretending to have balls according to Arthur. The City of London and their Western partner, Wall Street, have taken the EU to their knees with derivatives and government debt and wars of choice.
The Us is losing power, but not fast enough to save Europe or Japan. Both are still occupied with US troops by the tens of thousands. Both still depend on imports to survive, as does the US.
As for Al-Qaeda, it is, and always has been, an arm of the C.I.A.. Whether it exists or not is not the debate. The power is in Washington DC. The Us has meddled in world affairs for 200+ years and is not going to stop as long as they have the resources to continue. It is only because the First World is now the target that the curtain is being pulled back and the manipulation is becoming visible to the public.
Keith_McClary on Fri, 3rd May 2013 5:19 am
If AQ didn’t exist, it would have to be invented.
Arthur on Fri, 3rd May 2013 9:48 am
“Interesting. The EU is pretending to have balls according to Arthur.”
No, DC wants Europe to show balls, I say, do not. I say: do not rock the boat, build pipelines to Russia, and continue renewing the energy base in high tempo, what the Germans are doing. Do not even aspire to take over the batton of European civilization from Washington, before Washington is finished all by itself.
“The City of London and their Western partner, Wall Street, have taken the EU to their knees with derivatives and government debt and wars of choice. ”
Apart from Britain, which is part of Anglosphere, not Europe, continental Europe is not knee-deep into wars of choice. The exception was Lybia, but that was Sarkozy, who was not ‘entirely French’, to put it diplomatically and very un-French sought to align France with NATO and Washington (in politics everything is ethnic). The French actions in Mali had little to do with NWO aspirations but everything with direct French economic interest. Their black-christian satrap regime could no longer garantee safe supply of uranium from northern territories, that was threatened by muslim fundamentalists, that’s why they intervened, not really a war of choice, as 80% of France’s electricity comes from nukes. And yes, there is verbal support for the Muslim Brotherhood rebels in Syria, but don’t expect French ‘boots on the ground’ there. Just like with the sanctions against Iran, the EU is acting as Washington’s servile satrap, without much inner conviction.
About the derivatives… yes they have the potential of blowing up the western financial system, but I am not so sure as you seem to be about who has who ‘by the balls’. And although I expect a possible future meltdown to again originate from Anglosphere, just like last time, for the simple reason that the US refuses to implement any real austerity measures, in the end it will not matter much which domino will fall first. So yes, western savings could be wiped out to a large extent, just like happened to Russia in 1998. So what? Savings is money you do not need (now). Life will continue like before. People will continue to go to work, possibly even get paid for it, governments will freeze evictions from homes of those that cannot pay rent/mortgage, retirement will be a joke. Yes life will be much harder, or rather shabbier, cars will be dumped as well as holidays, furniture, appliances, everybody will buy second hand. But that does not mean that societies will seize to exist, they just will be downsized, possibly even become socialist.
“The Us is losing power, but not fast enough to save Europe or Japan.”
Save? From what? When was the last time the US ‘saved’ Europe or Japan, you probably mean annexed. Admittedly America and to a lesser extent Europe had a few good decades, thanks first and foremost to fossil fuels, but those days are slowly coming to an end.
“The Us has meddled in world affairs for 200+ years”
Make that 155 years, when commodore Perry forced Japan to open up in 1858, but the US remained a backwater until 1917 and the entry in WW1, but left Versailles in disgust with the behavior of France and Britain towards Germany. But the real meddling started in 1933 with Roosevelt, when he started to build his alliance with that other progressive, Stalin, against what he called ‘authoritarian states’, like Italy and Germany, that **in reaction** had become hyper-nationalist in battling against an internal communist takeover, supported by Moscow.
But now the picture has changed. The EU has overtaken the US economically, China is rising fast and Russia has managed to stop decline and has become an energy powerhouse. And then there are two rising islamic fundamentalist empires: Shia/Teheran-Bagdad and Sunni/Istanbul-Damascus-Cairo. That’s too much for our ‘benavolent hegemonist’ to swallow and integrate into their NWO pet project.
Arthur on Sat, 4th May 2013 8:21 am
Today, the esteemed jewish/lebanese writer Eric Margolis about the ‘Al Qaeda Myth’:
http://lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis339.html
“I was in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the birth of al-Qaida and spent many hours with its founder, Sheik Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden’s mentor. **Al-Qaida was a rest house for jihadists going to fight in Afghanistan**; it never had more than a few hundred members.”
Al Qaeda does not exist (anymore). Period.