The Obama administration is beginning talks about intervening into Libya. George Bush's presidency will forever be rembered for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Will the Obama administration be remembered for Libya? Does Libya provide enough for it to be considered "Obama's Libya Intervention." I think that involvement will prove to be very bad for the United States's reputation, much like what happened in Iraq. People around the globe will think that the US is intervening for the sole reason of oil, not to actually spread democracy. In fact, I wonder what the Obama adminstration will base their intervention around. It can't be "Spreading Democracy," that was W's thing. Obama, be a man and say you're intervening and going in because the United States is the largest consumer of oil and Libya's oilfields are important for our economy. You haven't taken any risks yet and your squeeky clean image is beginning to annoy me.
Very little, if any, Libyan oil ends up in the US. US imports most from Canada, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Nigeria. Europe is far more directly dependent on Libyan oil.
ReplyDeleteUS economy will be affected by higher prices - oil is a fungible commodity, so a decrease in supply anywhere will most likely push prices up. BUT even though the US economy is still highly dependent upon crude oil, it is less so than in the past due to switching more power generation to natural gas and nuclear energy, to reduction in certain kinds of manufacturing, and due to consumer preferences shifting to more fuel-efficient automobiles (and the demise of Hummer!).
Moreover, US friends & allies among the OPEC members have increased production to help offset the reduction in Libyan exports.
So higher prices due to the Libyan conflict will affect the US, but are unlikely to produce a shock worth going to war over.
Hopefully the United Nations will do something about the crimes against humanity going on today in Libya. Intervention by the United States would look horrible for the Obama administration, especially because we would be there longer than predicted and everyone would say that Libya is Obama's Iraq. It is good to hear that it will probably not effect our oil prices though, because prices have gone high enough. In Florida, gas prices hit a record high of 5.39 a gallon. Absolutely insane. We need to find more alternative energy sources that are economically plausible. The Middle East is giving the U.S. too many problems and its unfortunate that international organizations like the U.N. do not step up and do something about the situation.
ReplyDeleteHere is part of a NY Times article about the recent American policy towards the revolts:
"In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would meet with Libyan rebel leaders, which would be the highest-level contact between the Obama administration and the coalition of protesters and army and government defectors fighting Colonel Qaddafi. Washington also suspended relations with Libya’s embassy in Washington."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/world/africa/11policy.html