Re: the political economy of oil; minor historical footnote

[dmschanoes <dmschanoes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

But they, the US govt., didn't, use force that is, did they?  As a matter of
fact the oil majors experienced a miraculous recovery in their rate of
return on investment after OPEC 1, and when the Saudi royal family "decided"
to arrange for a compensated "nationalization" of Aramco, sort of like
privatization in reverse-- absorbing the infrastructure and its costs while
the oil majors skimmed the cream through marketing, downstream, contracting,
consulting, and the benefits of price increases to their upstream
operations-- did you hear one word of protest?  Were there any threats then?
Any saber rattling?

Hell no.

It is best to look at this report in context, the context of overall US
belligerence-- during the Yom Kippur war, the Israel Army was cut off in the
Sinai and threatened with real obliteration.  The US, with Schlesinger as
Sec. of Def., began a massive logistical and combat air support program,
letting it be known to the USSR and Egypt that the US would not allow the
destruction of the Israeli Army (think it was the 8th) and would undertake
direct combat missions if necessary.

We know what happened next.



dms