[mos6507]

How about instead of reducing Iran to a sheet of glass, how about not having done this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

Seems like half the middle east is still holding a grudge over the crusades. GET ON WITH IT people!

[Homesteader]

Seems like half the middle east is still holding a grudge over the crusades. GET ON WITH IT people!

Maybe then folks should get over what happened in the early 1940s in Germany and get on with it. Heck that is a whole 10 years older than 1953. That must make it like around 1066 or something.

[Pretorian]

You not seriously suggesing that a Jew will compare a Goish cadaver with a Jewish one?

[rangerone314]

How about instead of reducing Iran to a sheet of glass, how about not having done this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

Seems like half the middle east is still holding a grudge over the crusades. GET ON WITH IT people!

The US launched the Crusades? That's news to me.

There are still Americans who won't buy Japanese cars because of WWII, and still people with numbers tatooed on their arms.

Expect to find Iranians who remember 1953 and our role in it OR people who study history more avidly than people who can't find Iraq or Iran on a map of the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/

After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map, a study released Tuesday showed

[ki11ercane]

Iran needed to be reduced to glass 40 years ago. Now, it's too late.

40 years ago? 1970?

How about instead of reducing Iran to a sheet of glass, how about not having done this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

The 1953 Iranian coup d’état (termed the 28 Mordad coup d'état in Iran), was the overthrow of the democratically-elected Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh by the Central Intelligence Agency;[1][2][3] it was the CIA's first covert operation against a foreign government.[4] The coup has been called "a critical event in post-war world history", and is thought to have influenced "all of subsequent Iranian history."[5] The coup was originally considered in America to be a triumph of Cold War covert action, but given its blowback, it is considered now generally to have left "a haunting and terrible legacy," both in Iran and worldwide.[6] In 2000, the U.S. Secretary of State called the coup a "setback for democratic government" in Iran, saying "It is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs."[7] In 2009, President Barack Obama publicaly admitted US involvement in the coup; the first time a sitting US president had done so.

That wasn't to imply they "had to be." Too late to fix the "Iran problem" now. It's become anti-climatic. Iran is never going to be invaded, ever. Israel is not going to do it. The West isn't going to do it. Iran is not going to stop making nukes no matter what they need them for. And good on them for doing it if the purpose of self defense is their ultimate goal. An armed society is a polite one. If you check your history books, no nuclear power has ever been directly invaded by another. Iran has gotten fed up with the rhetoric. What did the West think Iran was going to do after a 1/2 a century of sabre rattling? Take it up the keester? Sounds like "Liberal thinking" to me. Americans wouldn't stand this kind of behavior against them for a second. What makes the rest of the world any different?

They can make their own gasoline, pump their own oil, and eventually when pushed enough, will tell the rest of the world to ***k off when it comes to producing all the things they need to be an independent nation.

Everytime I see a new "Iran is on the verge of being invaded" thread, I laugh. All those news headlines are good for are my energy portfolio.

[rangerone314]

Iran is probably more democratic than North Korea, yet I don't see a movement to turn North Korea into a sheet of glass.

[Mesuge]

rangerone314> eak, eak, alert, conspiracy theories again. It never happened and if true, it doesn't matter, 'cause the U.S. are not evil doers.. and iranian leaders eat israeli children (as seen regularly on TV) anyway

Back on topic, so what is the aggregate of gasoline removed under sanctions in Iran on year-year basis etc.?

[shortonsense]

so it begins?

People have been itching for the US to tackle Iran since the late 70's. Do you know how many times, and how many people, have pretended that any PARTICULAR event is somehow the start of something new? So someone isn't going to sell Iran some gasoline? Good for them. And probably as irrelevant as anything else in the geopolitical relationship.

[gollum]

How about instead of reducing Iran to a sheet of glass, how about not having done this: link

Seems like half the middle east is still holding a grudge over the crusades. GET ON WITH IT people!

Mos, I watched a show about the crusades...In the show a middle eastern guy was reciting a poem about them.....to get to the point to them it's not a grudge, to them it's like it was just a generation ago. That is why I believe it best we stay out of that part of the world.

[Revi]

I have a theory that the US and Israel actually are allies of Iran. Whose nuke did Israel bomb? Iraq, Iran's enemy at the time. Who did we take out? You guessed it- Iraq. We also made it safe for Shia in Afghanistan, another rival.

We may have back channel deals being made with Iran while publicly professing to hate them.

Persia is a very old empire, and they have been at this for a long time.

[mos6507]

Maybe then folks should get over what happened in the early 1940s in Germany and get on with it.

I don't see Israel threatening to wipe Germany off the map over the holocaust.

[mos6507]

There are still Americans who won't buy Japanese cars because of WWII, and still people with numbers tatooed on their arms.

And so naturally, we should cheerlead Iran getting nukes and starting WWIII due to a 60 year old grudge with the US.

[mos6507]

Iran is probably more democratic than North Korea, yet I don't see a movement to turn North Korea into a sheet of glass.

Where is this movement to turn Iran into a sheet of glass?

[gollum]

There are still Americans who won't buy Japanese cars because of WWII, and still people with numbers tatooed on their arms.

And so naturally, we should cheerlead Iran getting nukes and starting WWIII due to a 60 year old grudge with the US.

I think in that light, it's understandable why Iran would want them.

[rangerone314]

Maybe then folks should get over what happened in the early 1940s in Germany and get on with it.

I don't see Israel threatening to wipe Germany off the map over the holocaust.

Probably because Germany pays them tribute.

[Concerned]

Maybe then folks should get over what happened in the early 1940s in Germany and get on with it.

I don't see Israel threatening to wipe Germany off the map over the holocaust.

You do actually see Israel wiping out homes of Palestinenians and ethnically cleansing Jerusalem.

Israel also has nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to NPT.

Please note there is a difference between Israel the state and Israel the people. There are many Israeli citizens against the occupation of Palestine and cleansing of Jerusalem which unfortunately will be Israel's opprobrium.

Google JATO or jews against the occupation, there are many other groups internal in Israel that are fighting for their brothers. Their human brothers that have no desire to wipe anyone off of any map.

[vampyregirl]

Virent Energy Systems and Royal Dutch Shell announced today the sucessful start of production at the first demonstration plant converting plant sugars into gasoline and gasoline blending components rather than ethanol.
The demonstration plant has the capacity to produce 38k litres per year, which will be used for engine and fleet testing.
This new biofeul has a higher energy content than ethanol, gets better fuel economy and can be blended in high concentration with gasoline for use in traditional gasoline engines. This eliminates the need for specialized infrastructure, engine conversions, and blending equipment necessary for using gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol.
Virents BioForming technology uses catalysts to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules. http://www.virent.com for more info.
The plant is currently using beat sugars.
Virent counts Honda among its top investors and Shell as a strategic partner. Lee Edwards, CEO of Virents says Virents industry leading collaboration with Shell is focused on providing material solutions to global challenges in energy security, sustainability and job creations.

[kublikhan]

Royal Dutch Shell has begun preparatory drilling for an offshore oil well in the Arctic, the oil company announced Sunday, the first step in a long-controversial project. U.S. authorities granted Shell permission to begin work on the well in the Chukchi Sea, about 90 miles off the Alaskan North Slope, in late August.

"Today marks the culmination of Shell's six-year effort to explore for potentially significant oil and gas reserves, which are believed to lie under Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf," company spokesman Curtis Smith said in a writen statement. "In the days to come, drilling will continue in the Chukchi Sea, and we will prepare for drilling to commence in the Beaufort Sea."

The shrinking of the region's sea ice -- which hit record lows this year -- has created new opportunities for energy exploration in the region. But environmental groups argue that Shell has failed to show it can handle a spill in the inhospitable region, roughly 700 miles north of Anchorage.

Shell starts preparatory drilling for offshore oil well off Alaska

[Plantagenet]

The title of this topic is misleading, as there has already been a lot of Arctic drilling by Russia in the Barents Sea, by Denmark off Greenland, by Norway off Svalbard, and by Canada. There have also previously been offshore wells north of Alaska done by the USA.

However, the news that Shell is now close to spudding in off Alaska is interesting. I saw the two Shell drill ships down in Dutch Harbor during August, together with a small fleet of tugs, fuel barges and other support craft that was heading up to the Chukchi with the drill ships. September is a ridiculously late time to start, but the drilling was held up by the EPA. On the positive side for Shell, this is the all-time record low for sea ice, so they may able to work for a month or so before the weather shuts them down.

[Graeme]

Ice prompts Shell to halt oil drilling in waters off Alaska

A day after it began, the first oil drilling off in the Arctic waters off Alaska was halted today because of an approaching mass of ice, Royal Dutch Shell tells the Associated Press.

The drilling -- a narrow 1,400-foot-deep "pilot hole" to check for natural gas or obstructions -- began Sunday before dawn in the Chukchi Sea, about 70 miles northwest of the Alaskan shore. Work will resume once the ice, measuring about 30 miles by 12 miles, passes the Noble Discoverer drilling ship, a spokesman said, describing the halt as a precaution.

Opponents question how any spill, let alone something the magnitude of the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, would be contained or cleaned up in the harsh polar environment. Shell said it was testing "the first-ever Arctic containment system" over the weekend.

The Anchorage Daily News has details and background about the exploratory drilling, which the Obama administration approved last month, with conditions. Unless the Interior Department grants an 18-day extension to complete the well, which will not reach oil reserves, Shell must stop drilling by Sept. 24. Warmer temperatures, the result of climate change, have caused record ice melt and open waters.

usatoday