Oil company Royal Dutch Shell says it has temporarily stopped production at its main offshore oilfield in Nigeria, following a militant attack.

The raid took place overnight on the Bonga oil platform about 120km (75 miles) off the coast of the Niger Delta, the company said. It is the first attack on the oilfield, which normally produces about 200,000 barrels a day. Attacks in the inshore Niger Delta have helped drive up the world oil prices. Nigeria’s valuable offshore oilfields had always been considered difficult for most militants to attack, the BBC’s Alex Last reports from Lagos.

In any case, it’s a breath of fresh air to read extensive quotations in Dissident Voice from socialists and even frrom leftys further to the left. MAYBE the mix of comments will draw Nader out, but for you posters who are not regular DV readers: Ralph Nader does not comment on his articles and the posts to them put up at Dissident Voice.

Friedrich Engels pointed out over a century ago that the Junker/Fabian model of “socialism” involves nationalizes infrastructures and resources (coal, oil, railroads, etc.) of central importance to the corporate economy, so that the state (as ExCom of the ruling class) can administer them in the joint interests of big business. Probably not by coincidence, those have been the very types of industries targeted by antitrust action in the U.S. (e.g., Standard Oil and AT&T).

Gabriel Kolko argued that the Progressive regulatory state was created largely under pressure from big business, and was aimed at cartelizing the economy and making stable oligopoly markets possible.

“So now you’re a dragon killer, that’s not even original. It was in a wheat field just south of Coffeyville, Kansas, it was late November, it’s a month of mist and we were caught in the open. The sun was setting behind us, there was nowhere to run, twice it came in on us and twice it missed the heart of us, and that’s when I had an epiphany. You see, they have great vision in the day and they have even better vision at night. But in the failing light they can’t focus; magic hour. Coffeyville: it’s etched in American history because the outlaw Dalton boys were killed there, ordinary townsfolk rose up and took ‘em down. So maybe you’re the Dalton boys. No, no, we’re the townsfolk.” -Reign of Fire

There is also a good article on CounterPunch on the topic of the current rise in oil prices

Parvez Ahmed

IMO the “Peak Oil” claim is dubious. There is clearly a problem with the United States consuming 30% of the world’s oil and then go and blame it on China and India. Also the problem with “environmentalism” is that it is tacitly racist. There is a tendency among “environmentalist ” to blame “overpopulation” and ignore U.S. consumption.

What is true is that much of U.S. consumption of oil is due to the overextension of U.S. Militarism. I find many of the “environmentalist” dubious when they seem to blame the poor, the brown, and the weak and ignore how spending on the military and on wars causes environmental havoc.

Again, by challenging Zionism, and you’ll be challenging the WAR machine and you not only save lives but the environment as well.

Far and away, the person we should ALL be supporting – and for whom we should all be out there working; get him on the ballots, into the debates, and then, finally, a president of, by and for the people.

Due to all in our lives that is corporatized and corrupted – this should be our primary focus.

Now. Is everyone — Naderites and non-Naderites? — cheered up?

What Nader is saying is that the CURRENT crisis in oil is the result
of speculations and gaming the system so the immediate solution should address this angel.
He is not saying there is no long range energy problem facing us and he
is not saying do not plan for solutions to it. His immediate attention
is on the current artificial crisis .

Doesn’t it bother you fellow posters, in the least, that El Politico Nader doesn’t stoop to reply to comments at Dissident Voice? That you’re just writing words on a wall?

Well, concerning long- and short-range political goals, for those of you who subscribe to Monthly Review and receive a hardcopy in the mail, there is presently a wonderful article you can read: Remembering Andre Gunder Frank While Thinking About the Future, by Immanuel Wallerstein.

Personally, I don’t understand why the current issue of MR is not available online, and needless to add, there is no public posting at their websites.

Maybe Ralpho or a spokesperson for him would like to comment?

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/helium3_000630.html

The deeper question is “Why is Ralph Nader focusing on oil speculation rather than Peak Oil?”

We are up against the wall on energy, and Nader is being massively unhelpful with his petty talk about cutting oil prices.

We need real leadership, not short-sighted demagoguery.

Now many will say but look how far we have come. Yes in some things. The way forward if it is short term thinking because it is easy will not work out well. People looking for something they have in their hands all the time. I have watched the Senate in action the last few months and sorry they are people but are looking for nothing. The way forward will not be easy and we need to stop hiding from reality and get started. Again the working together is the hard part but we don’t know if it will work unless we try. In just five years life is not going to be easy to late but still time to slow this down. For me to watch people talk about the future and say in five years or ten years and do that with the same thinking that has got us to this point is far beyond nuts. Last night on CNN the head man from Chevron was on and his bottom line was we need more supply. Sorry we need to start thinking in real terms and make hard choices. The changes are coming one way or the other so stuck on stupid or see what we have in our hands all the time and try. By 2030 the World will need 45% more energy and the moon is made of green cheese.