Oil prices are soaring and in Australia, as around the world, the impact has been huge on many levels - not the least the cost of living.
Wind back to pre the invasion of Iraq by the Coalition of the Willing - principally the US, the UK and Australia. Rupert Murdoch, friend and supporter of Bush, Blair and Howard was reported in The Guardian [on 17 February, 2003] thus:
"Most revealing of all was Murdoch's reference to the rationale for going to war, blatantly using the o-word. Politicians in the United States and Britain have strenuously denied the significance of oil, but Murdoch wasn't so reticent. He believes that deposing the Iraqi leader would lead to cheaper oil. "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy...would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country."
He went even further down this road in an interview the week before with America's Fortune magazine by forecasting a postwar economic boom. "Once it [Iraq] is behind us, the whole world will benefit from cheaper oil which will be a bigger stimulus than anything else."
So much for John Howard's good friend and his influence on geo-political affairs. Talk about getting it radically wrong?
Footnote: Today's barrel of oil price hit a high of over US$75. And see the immediately preceding post on the cost of the Iraq war.
Wind back to pre the invasion of Iraq by the Coalition of the Willing - principally the US, the UK and Australia. Rupert Murdoch, friend and supporter of Bush, Blair and Howard was reported in The Guardian [on 17 February, 2003] thus:
"Most revealing of all was Murdoch's reference to the rationale for going to war, blatantly using the o-word. Politicians in the United States and Britain have strenuously denied the significance of oil, but Murdoch wasn't so reticent. He believes that deposing the Iraqi leader would lead to cheaper oil. "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy...would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country."
He went even further down this road in an interview the week before with America's Fortune magazine by forecasting a postwar economic boom. "Once it [Iraq] is behind us, the whole world will benefit from cheaper oil which will be a bigger stimulus than anything else."
So much for John Howard's good friend and his influence on geo-political affairs. Talk about getting it radically wrong?
Footnote: Today's barrel of oil price hit a high of over US$75. And see the immediately preceding post on the cost of the Iraq war.
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