ITS 12:15PM FEB 23,2011 AND OIL IS $99.49 A BARREL.UP $3.00 FROM THE OPEN.
Oil Prices Skyrocket After Williams’ Latest Revelations
Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com February 23, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFqEICw8jU0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-kmI1hzbI0&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2zhJh2s3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4DrVAHVNXA&feature=player_embedded
On the day after pastor Lindsey Williams went on the Alex Jones Show and talked about the globalist plan to destroy the dollar and jack up oil prices through the stratosphere in an effort to wreck the economy, the price of oil went up to just short of $100 per barrel. Sources inside the oil industry told Williams the price will ultimately reach between $150 and $200 per barrel. Williams also told Alex Jones the oil producers Saudi Arabia and Iran will be targeted.Analaysts are predicting that the situation unfolding in Libya may spread to Saudi Arabia and other oil producers in the region and this will result in radical price fluctuations as sharp as those in the 1970s when an OPEC embargo produced serious gasoline shortages in the United States.In Europe, benchmark crude for April delivery went up 74 cents at $96.16 a barrel, the highest since October 2008. The contract skyrocketed to $5.71, or 6.4 percent, and settled at $95.42 on Tuesday.Reports indicate Gaddafi’s security forces may sabotage the country’s oil industry. Among other things, Gaddafi has ordered security services to start sabotaging oil facilities. They will start by blowing up several oil pipelines, cutting off flow to Mediterranean ports. The sabotage, according to the insider, is meant to serve as a message to Libya’s rebellious tribes: It’s either me or chaos, writes Ismail Zitouny for Reuters.
Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa. It is the world’s 15th-largest crude exporter at 1.2 million barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Administration.Earlier in the week the Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF suspended operations in Libya. Other oil companies – including Italy’s Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, U.K.-based BP and Germany’s Wintershall – have started transporting employees out of the country.The corporate media is getting Americans accustomed to the prospect of gas at $5 or more a gallon. If this thing escalates and there’s a good chance that there’d be a shift in supplies, $5 gas isn’t out of the question, Darin Newsom, senior analyst at energy tracker DTN, told USA Today.Every 10-cent increase in gas prices translates to an additional $14 billion per year out of consumers’ pockets, Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak, wrote in a research note in January. Americans spend $1 billion per day on gas, according to the Washsington Post.The massive U.S. deficit and national debt have worked to undermine the dollar and threaten its status as the world’s reserve currency. A weaker dollar also drives up the price of oil.Oil is traded in dollars and a weak dollar means foreign investors can buy more oil, which in turn drives up the price.
Israeli fire targets militants after mortar attack
FEB 23,11 11AM
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli tank fire wounded two Palestinian militants and two civilians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, medical officials and a militant group said.The Israeli military said its troops shot at a group of militants after an explosive device exploded near an Israeli patrol along the frontier and mortar bombs were fired at the soldiers and into Israel.The Islamic Jihad militant group said two of its members were wounded by tank shells after firing a projectile. Medical officials in the Gaza Strip said two civilians also were hurt.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Writing by Jeffrey Heller)
Europe longs to back Mideast change, fears chaos
By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press - FEB 23,11
BERLIN – Revolutions hurtling through the Middle East have inspired millions of Europeans, who recall the awe they felt when communist regimes crumbled across the former Soviet bloc. But along with excitement come questions, fears and doubts — as the flames of revolt shoot up on the continent's very doorstep.Europe has long seen itself as a champion of democracy, and its ideals are being tested by the real life consequences of democratic change sweeping a region that supplies a great part its immigrant population, one that has become increasingly restive in recent years.Many fear a flood of refugees hitting European shores, a concern made urgent by the crush of thousands of Tunisians who turned up in Italy after the North African country overthrew its autocrat, and signs that Libya — long a gateway of illegal emigration to Europe — is on the verge of implosion.Questions are also emerging about whether the spirit of revolt might also take root among Europe-based Arabs, who often accuse their host countries of racism and blame the colonial past for many of their woes.
All of these problems that led to revolutions in the Arab world are also daily life in France and are more and more unbearable, Yacine Djaziri, whose Bondy Blog chronicles life in immigrant-heavy Paris suburbs that exploded in riots in 2005, wrote recently.How do we fix it? Do we need to set ourselves on fire? Be resigned? Get angry? Revolt? Balanced with fears are calls for hope and solidarity: some European officials on Monday proposed a Marshall Plan for the Middle East, drawing an explicit parallel to the continent's U.S.-funded reconstruction after World War II that testifies to the magnitude of the drama unfolding across the Mediterranean.
But Europeans ask: who's going to pay when they're engulfed in a debt crisis that threatens to darken the future of an entire generation? Germany pumps enough money into foreign countries already, said Marcel Mueller, 27, who works in the service industry.Germans can well imagine the burden they might shoulder to help fund a Marshall Plan for the Arab world: 20 years after reunification, they are still charged an extra solidarity tax to subsidize reconstruction in the former communist east — estimated at some euro1.3 billion ($1.78 billion).European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt estimated Tuesday that to support a transition to democracy in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the region it would need to lend euro6 billion ($8.2 billion) over the next three years.Images of boatloads of migrants, mostly from Tunisia, washing up on the tiny Sicilian fishing village of Lampedusa struck many as a harbinger of mass-scale flight to the European Union. The explosion of revolt in Libya — this time countered by a bloody crackdown — has compounded fears of a migration crisis.It's a problem that worries us all, because the situation spurred many to arrive, said Alberto Brizzi, a waiter at a Rome trattoria. The people take off thinking that they'll find something better than in their country. But that's not so.As Tunisians flooded Lampedusa earlier this month, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigrant Northern League, stoked fears that terrorists and al-Qaida supporters could have mingled among what he described as a biblical exodus of migrants.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has urged leaders to recognize the unique opportunity right now to promote democracy, human rights and civil liberties in our neighborhood.But Europe has been struggling for years with its most high-profile project to foster partnership with a neighboring Muslim nation: EU membership negotiations with Turkey, widely viewed as a model of how Islam and democracy can flourish together, have all but fallen apart — largely due to hostility from Germany and France.The promise of EU membership was a key factor in Turkey implementing the democratic, judicial and economic reforms that have transformed the nation into an emerging power. Now, with Europe an increasingly distant dream, it has been forging closer ties with Iran, Russia, and others often at odds with the West.A recent survey by Germany's ARD public broadcaster showed 43 percent of those polled said they are worried about the upheaval in the Middle East, compared with 41 percent who said they feel optimistic, according to the survey of 1,000 Germans. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 to 3.1 percentage points.The top fear was instability and chaos, with 47 percent listing it a concern, followed by 25 percent who worried about a stream of migrants hitting Europe's shores, and 21 percent who fear Islamists will take over power.Last week the European Union promised euro258 million ($347 million) in aid to Tunisia from now until 2013. In Brussels Monday, EU foreign ministers pledged support to the peoples of the south Mediterranean and their legitimate hopes and aspirations for democratic change, social justice and economic development.The call for an ambitious reconstruction program, however, comes at a time when EU countries are already smarting from having to bail out both Greece and Ireland from the verge of bankruptcy. Protracted wrangling over those rescues shows how difficult it will be to achieve any meaningful plan for the Middle East. Experts say Europe is viewing democratic change in the Middle East much more cautiously than the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, naming the threat of Islamic fundamentalism as the continent's major concern.New leaders could take power whose policies would not be favorable to the goals of EU and NATO,said Tomas Karasek, an analyst with the Association for International Affairs in Prague.This is a major threat.Other Europeans say the world must embrace a historic opportunity in the Middle East — regardless of the risks.We should make it clear that we are on the same side as the democracy movement, Danish lawmaker Naser Khader said.We should not let ourselves be threatened by reports of refugee flows. It is in our interest that North Africa, that the Arab world becomes democratic.Associated Press Writers Raf Casert in Brussels, Valentina Chiarini, Alba Tobella, and Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Angela Doland in Paris and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.
US tries to reassure Gulf allies shaken by revolts
by Mathieu Rabechault - FEB 23,11
ABU DHABI (AFP) – Washington's highest-ranking military officer and its top Middle East diplomat are touring the Gulf this week to reassure allies in oil-rich nations, as bloody uprisings rock the region.Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week as part of a tour that was scheduled well before the uprisings.Members of is entourage said he may also stop in Bahrain -- home of the US Fifth Fleet -- which has been gripped by a popular revolt challenging the rule of the Sunni dynasty in power for over 200 years.The top US diplomat for the Middle East Jeffrey Feltman has also embarked on a tour of oil-rich Arab Gulf states Tuesday and is expected to visit Bahrain as well.The State Department said Feltman would also visit Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the UEA to press for political and economic reform, saying there was a critical need to address such calls for change.
Mullen has said his trip aimed to reassure, discuss and understand what's going on and has called for a peaceful resolution to confrontations between opposition groups and governments in the Arab world.This a time of enormous change that needs to be resolved peacefully without violence and leaders have to step forward in that regard, he said.Mullen praised the decision of Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman Ben Hamad Al-Khalifa to hold talks with demonstrators saying it had relieved a number of leaders (he spoke to during his tour) in terms of easing tensions.US President Barack Obama's chief military adviser has also met with counterparts in the region to convey support from Washington, which also has military bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.Seven people have been killed in Bahrain since the revolt was unleashed on February 14 in the small Sunni-ruled kingdom with a Shiite majority.
The unrest has bolstered fears that Iran's Shiite regime will take advantage of the crisis.But Mullen has said he did not see Tehran's hand behind Manama's protests.
Iran, I still believe, is a country that continues to foment instability in the region, take advantage of every opportunity... (but) from my perspective that has not been the principal focus of what happened in Egypt or what happened in Bahrain or any of these other countries,he said.About 4,200 US troops are stationed in Bahrain to protect the Gulf's maritime oil routes supplying US operations in Afghanistan.Manama and Washington are bound by a 1991 defense pact which stipulates bilateral consultations in cases of security threats against Bahrain, Middle East expert Kenneth Katzman said in a Congress report.What could be at stake here is an ability to have forces in the Gulf to reassure our allies... that they will be protected from Iran, David Aaron, a senior fellow at the RAND Corporation think-tank, told AFP.Saudi Arabia, irritated by outside interference from Washington during the revolt against Egyptian Hosni Mubarak, remains at the heart of US strategy in the region.From the outbreak of unrest, Riyadh has offered unwavering support to Bahrain, fearing protests could destabilise its oil-rich eastern provinces and agitate the Shiite communities living there, a potential boon for Iran. Bahrain is a proxy battleground in the broader geopolitical struggle between Saudi Arabia, the United States and Iran, says the US firm Stratfor, which specializes in intelligence.
PM urges Arab reform not repression
– Wed Feb 23, 3:25 am ET
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – David Cameron has said that reform -- not repression holds the key to stability in the Arab world, as protests across the region overshadowed his trade visit to Kuwait.A day after he became the first foreign leader to visit Cairo since the February 11 fall of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, Cameron said on Tuesday that the Arab uprisings gave the region a precious moment of opportunity for reform.For decades, some have argued that stability required highly controlling regimes, and that reform and openness would put that stability at risk, the prime minister said in a speech to Kuwait's parliament.But this was a false choice, he argued. As recent events have confirmed, denying people their basic rights does not preserve stability, rather the reverse.Cameron said the most resilient societies possessed key democratic building blocks such as government accountability, freedom to communicate and freedom to learn and work.In short, reform -- not repression -- is the only way to maintain stability, he said.Cameron was accompanied by 36 business leaders on his visit to the Gulf for what had long been planned as a trade trip. A stop in Cairo was added at the last minute following the fall of Mubarak.
The premier agreed with Kuwait on Tuesday to double two-way trade and investment, which currently stands at $3.2 billion, by 2015.But the inclusion of defence firms Thales, BAE Systems and QinetiQ in his delegation prompted critics at home to question if Britain should be trying to sell arms in a region where governments were cracking down on protests.The defence industry is crucially important to Britain but many people will be surprised that the prime minister in this week of all weeks may be considering bolstering arms sales to the Middle East, Kevan Jones, defence spokesman for the opposition Labour party, told The Guardian newspaper.Denis MacShane, a former Labour Foreign Office minister, told the paper: It shows insensitivity and crassness of a high order for the prime minister to take arms salesmen with him on his Middle East trip.But Cameron rejected the criticism, noting that his visit to Kuwait was timed to coincide with events marking the 20th anniversary of the Gulf War, sparked by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's invasion of the country.I seem to remember we spent a lot of effort and indeed life in defending and helping to defend Kuwait, Cameron told reporters travelling with him.So the idea that Britain should not have defence relationships with some of these countries, I don't understand. It is quite right that we do, the premier insisted.In Cairo, Cameron met Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's de facto leader, just 10 days after Mubarak stood down in the face of an unprecedented popular uprising.
Cameron, in front of Kuwait's national assembly, also renewed his condemnation of the appalling crackdown on anti-regime protesters by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's security forces.Violence is not the answer to people's legitimate aspirations. Using force cannot resolve grievances, only multiply them, he said.The British premier said reform could also play its part in countering Islamist extremism, saying people often turned to violence when they were denied a voice or employment. The protests since January which have overthrow the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia were not driven by ideology but by an expression of aspiration from a new generation hungry for political and economic freedoms.Cameron stressed that reform was a key part of the antidote of the extremism that threatens the security of us all.
Iran ships pass via Suez, Israel says provocation
By Yusri Mohamed – Tue Feb 22, 3:42 pm ET
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Two Iranian naval ships passed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean on Tuesday heading for Syria, a source at the canal authority said, a move that Israel condemned as a provocation.Iran appears to be testing the state of affairs in the Middle East after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. A longstanding peace treaty with Egypt is crucial to Israel's regional security.Washington said it was monitoring the ships' movement.The ships entered the canal at 5.45 a.m. (10:45 p.m. EST on Monday) on Tuesday and passed into the Mediterranean at 3.30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. EST), the Suez Canal Authority source told Reuters.Their return is expected to be on March 3, the source said.The Suez Canal cuts through Egypt and allows shipping to pass from the Middle East to Europe and vice versa without going around the southern tip of Africa.The canal's northern mouth, Port Said, is around 100 km (60 miles) from Israel, but the ships' route would take them into the Mediterranean along Gaza and the Israeli coast. The vessels, the first Iranian navy ships to enter the canal since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, are a frigate and a supply ship.
Israel is anxious about political upheaval in Egypt and other Arab states aligned with its ally the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously said he would take a grave view of the passage of Iranian naval ships.Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israel's Channel 2 television on Tuesday: It's an Iranian provocation. When you look at the Middle East, wherever the Iranians weigh in, the situation is not good.He added: It certainly does not bode well, but these two ships are not an immediate threat against us.Israeli media have quoted unnamed navy officials as saying the Iranian vessels would be tracked, but not confronted.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said: We the United States have for a long time supported freedom of navigation, so the decision to allow them to transit the Canal is a decision between Iran and Egypt.Obviously we have concerns about Iran's behavior in the region, we'll be watching carefully,he said.
GLOBAL ARROGANCE
Iran's deputy commander of the army, Abdolrahim Mousavi, was quoted by the official Irna news agency on Tuesday as saying that Israel was astonished by the presence of Iranian naval vessels in the canal.Using a term by which Iran refers to the United States, he added: "The global arrogance must know that the Islamic Republic of Iran's army is fully prepared to defend its goals.The world should know that the presence of Iranian warships in the Suez Canal has taken place ... through the deep guidance of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and our young and brave personnel's self-confidence.A recently completed Israeli war game, the first since Mubarak quit Egypt's presidency, concluded it would boost military preparations but try to avoid confrontation unless it sees a greater threat from Iran.Separately, Israel announced on Tuesday that its Arrow II missile shield had aced its latest live trial, shooting down a target missile off a U.S. military base on the California coast.Israeli defense official Arieh Herzog said the test marked Arrow's upgrade to contend with new and additional threats in the Middle East.Arrow can intercept all of the weapons arrayed against it in the region, including those that are liable to come from Iran,Herzog told reporters.Egypt's ruling military council, facing its first diplomatic headache since taking power on February 11, approved the Iranian vessels' passage through the canal, a vital global trading route and major source of revenue for the Egyptian authorities.
The decision was difficult for Egypt's interim government. Cairo is an ally of the United States while its relations with Iran have been strained for more than three decades.Analysts say Iran sees itself benefiting from the upheaval across the Middle East. Dislodgement and weakening of leaders sympathetic to the United States are likely to embolden Tehran, and lessen the chances of it making concessions on its nuclear program. Iran denies it intends to build atomic weapons.(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Zahra Hosseinian in Tehran and Dina Zayed in Cairo; Writing by Edmund Blair, Maria Golovnina and Sarah Mikhail; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
PM Fayyad proposes unity government with Hamas
– Tue Feb 22, 12:00 pm ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad has proposed forming a unity government with Hamas, under which the Islamist group would have responsibility for security in Gaza.Speaking to Palestinian journalists late on Monday, Fayyad said the security concept applied by Hamas in Gaza, where the group has sought to enforce a ceasefire with Israel, could provide common ground.The security concept practised by Hamas in the Gaza Strip should be brought under an official framework because it is not different from what is practised by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Fayyad said.After a national unity government is formed, it can take on the task of supervising a security agreement based on the institutions in place in the West Bank and Gaza.The compatibility between the policy adopted by the Palestinian leadership and that applied by Hamas on the ground in Gaza... opens the way for a national unity government to immediately manage affairs of state, he added.Fayyad's proposal, which comes as he seeks to form a new government, would not vastly change the situation on the ground in Gaza or the West Bank. But it could pave the way for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.Longtime bitter rivals, the tensions between the two groups boiled over in 2007, a year after Hamas won legislative elections. Bloody clashes between the two saw Hamas oust Fatah from the Gaza Strip and take control.
The West Bank, which is under the control of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, has been effectively cut off from the Gaza Strip ever since.Repeated attempts at reconciliation between the groups have led nowhere, and the collapse of the Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak, which played a key role in reconciliation efforts, has created new uncertainty.The issue of control of the security forces has been a key stumbling block in each round of reconciliation talks, with both sides refusing to cede authority over their security apparatus.Hamas responded to the latest calls for unity with suspicion.These declarations lack seriousness and credibility, they make no sense in light of the continued arrests and torture (of Hamas members) in Fatah prisons in the West Bank, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Monday.The only real way towards reconciliation is to stop the arrests, free the detainees and allow the movement's charities to start helping the Palestinian people again, he told AFP.Hamas and Fatah have carried out periodic arrests of each other's members, often holding detainees without charge or trial and routinely trading allegations of prisoner abuse.The formation of a national unity government can only be achieved in the context of an all-encompassing national solution and not a partial one, Abu Zuhri said, referring to calls for the establishment of a coalition which would rule until parliamentary elections can be held at some point before September.
Israel conflict not linked to Arab turmoil: FM
– Tue Feb 22, 10:04 am ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, said Tuesday there was no linkage between turmoil in the Arab world and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the EU pressed for quick progress on peace talks to ensure stability.The Israel-Palestinian conflict is not the main issue, not the main problem, Lieberman said after talks in Brussels on EU-Israeli ties.The main reason for instability is poverty, misery, inefficient government, he said at a press conference briefly interrupted by a protestor shouting Free Palestine! Israel is a criminal state.I don't see linkage between Israel-Palestine and unrest in Egypt, Bahrain or Egypt and Libya, Lieberman added.Hungary's Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, however, said the situation across the Middle East called for quick progress in Israeli-Palestinian talks.The dramatic changes, the regional instability which result from them ... make progress on the peace process more imperative and more urgent than ever before.The time is pressing, he added.In Brussels for a 10th round of talks on the EU-Israel Association agreement, which covers trade and cooperation in a wide range of fields, Lieberman nevertheless said it was very important to see progress in the peace process.Urging the EU to help bring the Palestinian side to the negotiating table, Lieberman said It's crucial to keep the political process alive and expressed hopes that new governments in the region would respect all the agreements signed in the past.
I don't see any peace process without direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, he added.We're ready for direct talks any place at any time.With the EU currently Israel's leading commercial partner, both sides pledged to move forward in the 11-year partnership that involves trade, agriculture, R&D and police and judicial cooperation.It's a solid and vibrant partnership,said Martonyi.
Egypt delays stock market's reopening By Tarek El-tablawy, Ap Business Writer – Tue Feb 22, 9:08 am ET
CAIRO – Egypt's stock exchange postponed its already long-delayed reopening until next week and markets in the Gulf Arab region posted their third consecutive day of declines as unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the region battered already fragile investor confidence in the Mideast.Standard & Poor's, meanwhile, became the second credit agency in as many days to cut Libya's ratings, citing the kind of violence that has been unseen in Moammar Gadhafi's nearly 42-year leadership of that OPEC member state.The Egyptian Exchange's decision to postpone its relaunch would mean that the market will have been closed for a month, assuming it restarts on Feb. 27. The exchange, in an e-mailed statement, said the decision followed consultations with the Egyptian Financial Services Supervisory Authority and brokerage houses. It did not specify a date for the relaunch.The decision appeared to reflect that continued anxiety in Egypt about the country's economic woes following 18 days of protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak were being compounded by broader unrest in the region.Unrest also has hit Yemen and Bahrain, putting the demonstrations on the other side of a causeway from Saudi Arabia.The Dubai Financial Market's main index closed down 2.44 percent, to 1,479 points, while Saudi Arabia's TASI index rebounded from losses of over 1 percent earlier in the day. But the TASI still closed down 0.35percent, or 6,277 points.
You've got a political risk that is being leveled on local and regional equity markets. It's increasing day by day as we see more violence, particularly in Libya, said Haissam Arabi, chief executive of Gulfmena Alternative Investments, a fund management firm in Dubai.This is a situation where sentiment takes precedence over science and fundamentals, Arabi said.In Dubai, Emaar Properties, the developer behind Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, closed down 2 percent, hitting 2.92 Emirati dirhams. Courier Aramex, meanwhile, saw its shares slide 7.36 percent to 1.51 dirhams.Abu Dhabi's benchmark index closed down 1.57 percent, to 2,579 points, with the construction and real estate sectors recording the biggest declines.
Qatar's exchange was off 3.57 percent, bringing its year-to-date losses to more than 5.3 percent. The country, which is poised for a construction boom as it prepares to host the World Cup in 2022 and has some of the world's biggest natural gas reserves, has been one of the few in the region able to post staggering GDP growth figures, even during the global financial meltdown.While Arabi said the region's markets are driven largely by retail investors, big institutional buyers overseas are also spooked by the continuing unrest.Foreign investors feel as though they really can't tell the difference between countries in the Middle East and North Africa, he said. The level of awareness, especially when it comes to politics, is really only what people see on CNN.As long as the unrest keeps up, Arabi believes there could be further pressure to sell off stocks in the region.The declines built on losses that have accrued since Sunday and come as ratings agencies take an increasingly critical look at the financial fundamentals of many of the countries in the region.A day after Fitch cut Libya's ratings, S&P followed suit. The agency cut Libya's long-term sovereign credit rating to BBB+ from A-, placed all of its Libya ratings on credit watch negative and warned that additional cuts could be in the offing.S&P said the cuts reflect our reappraisal of political risks in Libya, and that it expects the violence to continue.In our view, the longer the unrest continues, the higher the risk of political instability spreading across the country, S&P said.So far, credit agencies have cut ratings for several Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, citing the ongoing unrest and its potential impact on the countries' respective economies.AP Business Writers Adam Schreck in Dubai and Pan Pylas in London contributed.
Saudi says can cover crude shortfalls
– Tue Feb 22, 8:34 am ET
CAIRO – Saudi Arabia's oil minister says the oil powerhouse has ample spare capacity to offset any supply disruptions.
Tuesday's comments by Ali Naimi came as Libya unrest sent oil markets surging for a second day.The official Saudi Press Agency quoted Naimi as saying that Saudi's production capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day can help compensate for any shortage in international supplies. Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, currently produces around 8 million barrels per day.The U.S. benchmark crude futures contract surged over $7 per barrel to almost $94 on electronic trade in the New York Mercantile Exchange while the London-based Brent benchmark was above $106 per barrel.
EU urges Israel to resume talks with Palestinians
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press – Tue Feb 22, 7:15 am ET
BRUSSELS – The EU told Israel on Tuesday that growing instability in the Middle East makes it imperative to resume the stalled peace process with the Palestinians.
Israel agreed that direct peace talks should resume, but said the pro-democracy unrest in Arab nations such as Libya, Egypt and Tunisia is unrelated to the Israel-Palestinian situation.Hungary's Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, whose country currently chairs the EU, said: These are core issues. They are the heart of the matter. We all have to understand that time is pressing. He said, The dramatic changes and regional instability which results from them, make the progress on the peace process more imperative and more urgent than ever before.Martonyi was speaking at a press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is holding talks with the European Union as part of a decade-old association agreement.
Lieberman said it is important to resume direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. But he said poverty and misery are the main reasons for the unrest in Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and that there is no link between that turmoil and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.Palestinians insist they will not resume talks with Israel until it halts settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital.The Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed just weeks after they restarted in September because Israel ended a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction.As Lieberman entered the press room in Brussels on Tuesday, an unidentified protester stood in front of him and said he wanted to perform a citizens arrest, shouting that Lieberman should stand trial for war crimes. The demonstrator was quickly ushered out of the press room by security personnel.Relations between the EU and Israel have been uneasy since Israel's war in Gaza in early 2009, when the bloc froze a proposed upgrade of its relations with Israel.The 27-nation EU has repeatedly condemned as illegal the building of Israeli settlements in occupied territory, especially in the eastern parts of Jerusalem.Last week, all four EU members of the U.N. Security Council — France, Britain, Portugal and Germany — backed a Palestinian resolution denouncing the settlements as illegal. Washington vetoed the measure.The EU also has demanded that Israel go beyond its recent easing of its Gaza blockade and guarantee the unconditional opening of the border into the territory, which is run by Hamas, the militant Palestinian group.
