War Rationing.
“Iranians angered by the sudden imposition of gasoline rationing have clashed with police and set fuel stations ablaze.
Fire department spokesman Behrouz Tashakor said 12 fuel stations were set on fire in the capital, Tehran.”
Iran has only one refinery and has to import about 40% of the gasoline the country consumes. They export a lot of oil that more than makes up for it and there’s plenty left over to promote global terrorism. The stated purpose of the gas rationing is “aimed at reducing fuel imports and government subsidies” and conserving their reserves, and the program limits motorists to 26.4 gallons of gasoline per month, at only 42 cents US per gallon because of the government subsidy of it.
Let’s take a long look at this. The people are so upset with this that they’re rioting and looting and burning gas stations in spite of their extremely repressive government. This tells us that regardless of the Iranian leadership claims to the contrary, the people are NOT supporters of their government. In fact, they’re so violently against it that it only takes something like gas rationing to set them off. There are battles raging against the pro-government Basiji militia over this.
Now the rationing. When an oil-rich country like Iran institutes gas rationing even though it can easily afford to literally give the gas away free, and uses the excuse that they want to save money and conserve the in-ground oil reserves, something smells like fish. The only reason they would have for the rationing is if they expect their imported sources to be cut off. The Iranians are preparing for imminent war and want that gas for their military machines.
More and more Republicans here at home are abandoning Iraq. At the same time, the Bush Gang has been increasing the volume about Irans involvement in terrorism. Is it so hard to see where all this is going, and soon?
Since Bush has pre-opted the position of “Decider”, I’ll grab the position of “Predictor”. Rastaman the Predictor says: We will occupy our permanent bases in Iraq for years to come. Our military ground forces will be divided up, some sent home for a rest, some stationed at the bases to protect them, after we pull out of Baghdad and other cities and let the sects go at each other. Our Naval Air Force will be both pounding Irans strategic targets as well as patrolling the Iran-Iraq border and keeping down the flow of inbound fighters. The anti-government forces in Iran, which are formidable, will seize this opportunity to attack from within.
Iran and Syria will throw everything they have at Israel and Israel will retaliate. If they use nukes, I think we can depend on the Pakis to retaliate against the Israelis in kind. I’m not sure. The crystal ball grows hazy on this. The haze is reddish, like a fog.
I’m telling you. Stock up that pantry. Rastaman the Predictor has spoken.
BTW, Right Truth has just put up a long post on this same subject, that’s worth checking out.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
What’s your redneck advice for yankee politicians?…
Rex at the Deer Camp Blog brought this image and article, “How to lose your inner Redneck” from Politico.com to my attention. I couldn’t pass it up, since I’m a member of the Hillbilly White Trash Blogroll , Lemuel Calhoun…
June 27th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
You may be right. Doesn’t sound very inviting for our future. I’m not sure how long our troops will stay once Bush and company are out of office.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Magnificent text, man. You are even better Ann Coulter! Rastaman the Prophet deserves have his own article page on Human Events magazine.
Well, I’m just trembling, waiting for the next chapters… I need consult my Oracle. And my cards. Or maybe dices.
BTW, it’s better thrown some rocks. Yep, after the Nuclear World War IV, the next war will be make only on the rocks…
June 28th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Thanks, Ernesto. And I’m proud to say I don’t have a face like a horse, as Coulter does, either. It really does make me wonder about her parentage…
June 28th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Makes no sense to me I’m afraid. Rationing implies they expect a scarcity and as you say there is no scarcity of the raw material in the ground in anything like the near future. So they could be stockpiling in expectation of future strikes against production facilities but that would only make sense if they had some large strike-proof storage facilities which in turn implies a considerable investment and technical competence.
I suggest plain incompetence. Read a few months back that their production capacity is falling by up to 10% pa because of lack of investment in ageing plant and unlike in many countries, Saudi or Indonesia for example, they don’t have the major expertise and capital of the big US oil companies to draw on.
Worrying about Pakistan, they do have a significant nuclear capacity, but would they feel safe about expending against Israel when India is around?
June 28th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Xog, I think you missed this line in my post: “they expect their imported sources to be cut off.”
They’ve been importing at least 40% of the gasoline they were using. Right? Well, what would happen if either they warred with Israel or we attacked them? Do you think their port facilities would be left intact?
The only reason they haven’t been attacked yet is because they export oil from those ports, but once a war gets going, no one is going to send tanker ships there to load up, and no one is going to send tanker ships there to offload gasoline.
Therefor… ration gasoline now and start stockpiling what the people are no longer using, in preparation for war.
It’s true that their crude oil production is falling due to neglect and incompetence and it’s possible that the rationing is to slow the money leakage. The timing is suspect, however. Iran is openly seeking the Return of the Mahdi by fomenting total Middle East war and as soon as possible. Therefor, why spend money on maintaining the oil-producing equipment when it won’t be needed much longer?
June 28th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
I think and HOPE you are right. I want these people to do this themselves as much as they can - there is plenty of anti government sentiment running through that country via oppressed trades unions and groups who suffer, hence all the BS anti western propaganda eminating from the top. Not sure it will go as far as nukes tho. Id like to cross post this if you dont mind.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Everything on this blog can be cross-posted.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
The shiite is about to hit the fan in the middle east, and our cretin politicians and navel gazers are playing musical chairs.
1) The week before the G8 opened in Germany, Moscow released the long-withheld nuclear fuel for Iran’s atomic reactor in Bushehr. It was delivered 24 hours before Israel launched its new military imaging satellite Ofeq-7, bringing forward the Iranian threat to Israel. (If Iran was truly peaceful in its nuclear plans, it could go the Thorium route)
Israel’s transport minister Shaul Mofaz traveled to Washington during the first week of June at the head of a large military delegation. Iran is certain that Mofaz, a former defense minister and chief of staff, used the strategic talks to tie the last ends of the planned US offensive.
2) A few days before the nuclear fuel left the Siberian factory, Tehran delivered the sum of $327m for a fresh delivery of Russian missiles to Syria. Iran pledged another $438m for further arms consignments
3) Putin never promised Bush that Russia would deny Iran the nuclear fuel for its Bushehr reactor in perpetuity, as some administration circles in Washington have claimed in the last two years. He did assure Washington, mainly in conversations with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that he would postpone delivery as long as he could, despite Moscow’s contractual commitments to Tehran.
4) During the first week of June,2007, two high-ranking Iranian delegations spent time in Damascus. One was composed of generals who held talks with Syrian leaders on coordinated preparations for a Middle East war in the coming months.
5) At the Iranian end, a similar high-ranking Syrian military delegation called in at Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards headquarters to tighten operational coordination between them at the command level, as well as inspecting the Iranian arsenal. The Syrian general staff will draw up a list of items it is short of for a possible military confrontation with Israel this summer. The $438m, mentioned above is to cover this list.
6) Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s three days of talks in Damascus at the end of May further consolidated the strategic partnership between the two governments under the mutual defence pact they signed a year ago.
7) Iranian leaders foresee the next UN Security Council in New York at the end of June or early July ending with an American announcement that the sanctions against Tehran are inadequate because Russia and China have toned them down. Therefore, the military option is the only one left on the table. They are preparing.
9) On June 14/15, Hamas completed the take-over of Abbas/Fatah forces, real estate, intel, etc in Gazoo, with the intention of converting Gazoo into an Islamist enclave. A proxy warrior for Iran Syrian and Hizballah officers have set up a command center in the Gaza Strip.
10) Recently confirmation was given, of a heavy Iranian Revolutionary Guards incursion into southern Iraq
11) On 23rd June, an official Hamas VIP convoy headed by Hamas’ interior minister Siad Sayam – who is believed to have masterminded the Hamas coup in Gaza - was allowed to drive out of Gaza with 15 senior Hamas commanders who led the military action against Fatah last week. Their cars bore official Palestinian government plates. Egyptian security units escorted the convoy from Rafah to Cairo international airport, where the Hamas delegation boarded a plane for Damascus.
12) Egyptian intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman then held a long telephone conversation with Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who later made a speech declaring “resistance” (codeword for terror) was the only way forward for the Palestinian people.
13) This sudden Egyptian decision to lift the anti-Hamas blockade of Gaza, a day after condemning Hamas Gaza takeover as an illegal coup is pivotal. By helping the Hamas minister in charge of defence take off for military consultations with Syrian leaders, the Mubarak government was informing Israel that it would line up with Hamas against any Israeli military action ordered by Barak against the Islamist rulers of Gaza.
14) Egyptian intel was fully informed of Gazoo smuggling tunnels, but failed both to close them, or inform Israeli intel.
15) Strange moves have been made by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has its headquarters in Cairo.
16) A further US carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group is heading towards the Persian Gulf
17) The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region.
18) The “Big E” leads a strike group consisting of the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke DDG 51, USS Stout DDG 55, Forrest Sherman DDG 98 and USS James E. Williams DDG 95, as well as the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg CG 64, the SS Philadelphia SSN 690 nuclear submarine and the USNS Supply T-AOE 6>
19) On its decks are the Carrier Air Wing CVW 1, whose pilots fought combat missions in the Gulf and Arabian Sea during 2006. The Air Wing is made up of F/Q-18 Super Hornet strike craft, the Sidewinders Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-86, the 251st Marine Fighter Attack Squadron MFA, and the Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ 137.
20) The 32nd Sea Control Squadron VS consists of S-3B Vikings. The Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAQ 3 flies E-2C Hawkeye craft. The Fleet Logistics Support Squadron VRC is based on C-2A Greyhounds.
21) In Lebanon, Syrian assassinations of anti-Damascus politicians continues, Hizbullah is fully re-armed with smuggled weapons, while UN peacekeepers stand idly by, failing to enforce UN resolutions, and the Lebanese army is failing to quell AQ inspired insurgencies in Palis refugee camps.
Many Clocks are Ticking
June 28th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Rationing.
Could be because no-one wants to forward contract for supply of Gas, to a country that may have no means of paying for it.
Note putins insistence on up-front payments for arms, although this does reflect a past history of payments that is rather poor.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Pretty hard to deliver it as well, when the port facilities are burning.
Nice, well-researched list of facts and events, Jordon. I agree and I think late summer we’ll see it start. Possibly sooner… July.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
HAHAHAHAHA!!!…
The late spam anedote on the web:
Ann Coulter was going to title her last book as “The Heavenly Whorehouse” (but resolved to change for “Muslim Men Has Little Dicks”.
Just a joke, but it could be true.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Ann coulter is gorgeous! Hmm! Im a bit of a fan boy im afraid.
October 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am
should our three branches of goverment submit to random drug testing this is a poll I would like to see. YES or NO VOTE.
December 30th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I’m an e-Muslim, living in Iran.
See my forum about Pislam:
http://www.darthprophet.com/viewforum.php?f=29