10/06/10 Baltimore, Maryland – We begin the day haunted by two images. The first is a chart of crude oil going back about six weeks.
The second is a picture of refined crude going up in flames today.
That is a convoy of NATO tankers bound for Afghanistan. Or should we say “was.” For the seventh time in a week, gunmen in Pakistan have ambushed and/or torched NATO convoys.
It’s happening far from any major Middle East oil fields. But this sort of thing makes oil traders twitchy anyway.
The attacks are a vivid reminder of an old military saw: “Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.” That is, what’s really important in war is to keep the troops supplied with ammo, food and fuel.
Especially fuel.
“Soldier for soldier,” says Byron King, editor of Outstanding Investments, “the modern US Army uses about 10 times as much fuel as did Gen. Patton’s troops in World War II. And Patton’s army used about 10 times as much fuel per capita as did the American Expeditionary Force in France under Gen. Pershing in World War I.
“Today, there’s no escaping the dictates of fuel logistics, and certainly not when the campaign is in distant Afghanistan.
“Thus, when I heard that the Pakistanis had closed the Khyber Pass to truck traffic – including the critical fuel trucks – my first instinct was that America’s opponents (and NATO’s, as well) have found a key center of gravity.
“Cut the fuel and American/NATO operations within Afghanistan will decline proportionately.”
No doubt… 75% of NATO’s supplies come through just two slender routes stretching up from Karachi, Pakistan.
“The initial event that sparked closing Khyber Pass,” Byron goes on to explain, “was a US helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers.
“One way or another, the severed fuel lines are the kernel of strategic disaster for the US/NATO in Afghanistan. This is the kind of issue that makes US diplomats go into private meetings with senior host nation officials and discuss ‘very severe consequences’ if things don’t change in a hurry.”
“Now that the Pakistanis have closed the pass and allowed fuel trucks go up in flames – live and in color, on TVs across the world – they’ve made their point. They’re smart enough not to rub it in. I anticipate that the Pakistanis will soon reopen the Khyber Pass.
“It’s worrisome, but not out of control. Still, it doesn’t give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.”
Addison Wigging
for The Daily Reckoning
Addison Wiggin
Addison Wiggin is the executive publisher of Agora Financial, LLC, a fiercely independent economic forecasting and financial research firm. He’s the creator and editorial director of Agora Financial’s daily 5 Min. Forecast and editorial director of The Daily Reckoning. Wiggin is the founder of Agora Entertainment, executive producer and co-writer of I.O.U.S.A., which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the 2009 Critics Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature, and was also shortlisted for a 2009 Academy Award. He is the author of the companion book of the film I.O.U.S.A.and his second edition of The Demise of the Dollar… and Why it’s Even Better for Your Investments was just fully revised and updated. Wiggin is a three-time New York Times best-selling author whose work has been recognized by The New York Times Magazine, The Economist, Worth, The New York Times, The Washington Post as well as major network news programs. He also co-authored international bestsellers Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt with Bill Bonner.
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The arrogant military geniuses are about to recieve their come-uppance. If the war escalates into Pakistan, we are in for a rough ride.
It’s not ‘if’, it’s only a matter of ‘when’. Pakistan (the sole Islamic nuclear power) needs to be taken out if the New World Order wants to establish global governance.
Islam has two variants;1 Arab and 2 Hindu.The Arab variant is New, Hindu is Old.This whole region of AfPak is the land of Old Hindu Islam to which we need to return back, if we have to combat successfully the scourge of global terrorism born of Arab Islam.AfPak is the birthplace-cradle-of ancient Hindu Islam which is not Koranic but Vedic, not Arabic but Sanskrit.Medieval Arab/Muslim Imperialism replaced it and the whole region became Muslim.This process started from Iran which became 100% Islamised.But Hindu India survived the onslaught.
AfPak region should be brought under the banner of Hindu Islam if we have to deal with this problem.Hindu Islam is the KEY to defeat terrorism.Hindu Islam is the Real Islam.It is democratic, non-violent, non-Jihadi, non-supremacist and most of all, not anti-West at all.It co-exists with perfect harmony and peace with the West and its values.There is no clash between Western Civilization and this ancient stream of Hindu Islam of non-Arab Asia ie, non-Arab Islam of non-Arab Asia, which is the most authentic Islam.
Arab Islam is for the Arab, by the Arab, of the Arab.Its frame or canvas is only Arabia, beyond it, it is sheer Imperialism.
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