Searching for energy supplies and allies against Iran

[almaty 19]

WASHINGTON - Searching for energy supplies and allies against Iran, the Bush administration is reaching out to leaders who rule countries that are rich in oil and gas but accused of authoritarian rule and human rights violations.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea are all getting special attention. The effort sometimes seems at odds with President Bush's stated second-term goal of spreading democracy.

"If those countries were not oil producers, we would probably not be meeting with their leaders," said Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst with the Brookings Institution. "There is some tension with Bush's democracy-promotion agenda. They are pulling in different directions."

Bush meets Friday at the White House with the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev. Vice President ####### Cheney next week visits the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan and its leader President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Human rights groups have criticized both leaders. But the two former Soviet republics are allies in the war on terrorism and both have significant energy reserves.

Administration officials defend the meetings and similar ones, noting that Bush and other officials make a point of raising human rights and other social policy concerns, as Bush did when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited last week.

In addition to promoting democracy, Bush talks about curing America's "addiction to oil," a phrase he repeated as he announced steps this week to help ease gasoline prices that have soared over $3 a gallon in some places. Some 60 percent of oil used by the U.S. comes from overseas.

The search goes on for stable supplies of oil from areas other than the volatile Persian Gulf — a search joined by energy-thirsty China and India.

But much of the world's remaining accessible oil is controlled by governments not particularly friendly to U.S. interests. Nigeria and Venezuela have become unstable suppliers. The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin has take steps to reassert state influence over Russia's strategically important oil sector.

Oil politics can make for some unusual diplomacy.

"I can tell you that nothing has really taken me aback as secretary of state than the way that the politics of energy is — I will use the word `warping' — diplomacy around the world," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month.

Rice herself drew some fire for welcoming Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema to the State Department as "a good friend."

He seized power in a 1979 coup and his government has been regularly accused by the State Department of human rights violations, including torture and deaths of prisoners. But the country is also rich in oil and gas.

"The photograph of you and Mr. Obiang will be used by critics of the United States to argue that we are not serious about human rights and democratic reforms in a country with substantial oil wealth," Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., wrote Rice in a letter his office released on Thursday.

Bush is also looking for help in confronting Iran's nuclear ambitions. He raised the issue during Hu's visit but failed to win a commitment from the Chinese leader. Beijing does not want to entertain sanctions against one of its major oil suppliers.

Azerbaijan shares a border with Iran, and Bush hoped to enlist the mostly Muslim nation's help in leaning on Iran to end its uranium enrichment program. But Aliev told a foreign-policy forum here on Wednesday that "Azerbaijan will not be engaged in any kind of potential operation against Iran." Human rights groups have accused Azerbaijan of restricting political and human rights.

Given Bush's emphasis on democracy, he should use Friday's visit "to discuss Azerbaijan's democracy deficit," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, an independent organization that promotes democracy worldwide.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli defended the warm reception given Aliev, saying human rights is certainly an important issue between the two countries — but so are energy security, stability in the region and the fight against terrorism.

"And we pursue all of these in parallel while at the same time sticking to our principles and not sacrificing expediency for principle," Ereli said.

A White House statement said Bush would raise energy diversification, the war on terrorism and democracy promotion at Friday's meeting.

Iraq war critics have long challenged the administration's courting of Saudi Arabia and other undemocratic but oil-rich Gulf states. And Democrats are raising anew Bush's and Cheney's ties to the oil industry.

Bush's early career was in the Texas oilfields. In his 2000 campaign, he pledged to use that experience to jawbone oil producing nations to help keep down prices. Cheney once headed oil services giant Halliburton.

"People look at two oil men in the White House, and gasoline prices through the roof, and they likely assume that the president and the vice president are on the side of oil companies, not on the side of ordinary people," said Democratic pollster and strategist Mark Mellman.

Politics aside, big oil-consuming nations like the United States and China "are looking out at the world and seeing a stagnant supply and a very unstable supply," said Tom Collina, director of 20/20 Vision, an advocacy group that favors sharp reductions in U.S. energy consumption.

"It's going to be a security problem for the foreseeable future," Collina said.

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

sounds good to me. i'm not mowing my 4 acre yard with a push mower....

[almaty 19]

i agree..human rights are meaningless if i cannot fill up my hummer

[peejay 327]

Oil addicts (like drug addicts) do anything to get their daily fix.

May 1st...a day without illegal aliens.

May 2nd...a day without petroleum products.

Which one would cause the most pain and disruption to our lives in America?

I'll give you 3 guesses and the first 2 don't count!

You can't blame Bush on this one. Americans love their huge gas guzzling cars and built sprawling suburban cities that limit practical mass tranportation. We have met the enemy...and the enemy is us!

[Nessa 23]

addiction to oil? jeesh

[iceyspots 0]

Sad that it has to come down to this

[Jasman0717 9]

My Hemi is bankrupting me

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I am going to boycott all manmade tools and objects on May 1. The way I see it, it's when man invented tools that the descent into eventual oil-addiction began.

[almaty 19]

I am going to boycott all manmade tools and objects on May 1. The way I see it, it's when man invented tools that the descent into eventual oil-addiction began.

what about your computer and your endless supply of porn?

[peejay 327]

addiction to oil? jeesh

Farfetched? I have personally witnessed it several times in my life. Look at the debacle of the evacuation of Houston for Hurricane Rita. No gas to be had and stalled cars everywhere. I didn't evacuate and there was no gasoline to be bought anywhere in town for days. Lots of temper tantrums waiting for their next fix at the pumps.

I also lived through the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the gas shortages after the Iranian revolution of 1979.

You haven't really been pissed off until you wait in a line for a couple of hours only to have the station run out of gas just before your turn to gas up. Then you can drive around town with your almost empty tank looking for another station to get in line at. How about waiting in line and only being allowed 8 to 10 gallons? That's the way it was in 1973.

Does $3 gas piss you off? How about no gas?

Of course America jumps into bed with oil rich thugs and dictators. We wouldn't have it any other way.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Oil addicts (like drug addicts) do anything to get their daily fix.

You can't blame Bush on this one. Americans love their huge gas guzzling cars and built sprawling suburban cities that limit practical mass tranportation. We have met the enemy...and the enemy is us!

True in that people really ought to start to re-think their priorities. Yet an administration that has done little to nothing thus far to put the country on a path to seriously pursue the development of viable renewable energy sources and absolutely diddly squat in terms of pushing the US car industry to meaningfully increase fuel efficiency in their fleets is not helping that re-thinking process. Top that off with those huge tax breaks that small businesses can get for gas guzzling SUV's and the tiny incentives to purchase hybrids that are available to you and I and it will be ever harder to sit there and say that Bush has no part in this issue. He does. And his oil buddies in Texas and Saudi Arabia are getting filthy rich while we are wondering what the ** happened. You think that's a coincidence? Might want to think again.

[peejay 327]

Oil addicts (like drug addicts) do anything to get their daily fix.

You can't blame Bush on this one. Americans love their huge gas guzzling cars and built sprawling suburban cities that limit practical mass tranportation. We have met the enemy...and the enemy is us!

True in that people really ought to start to re-think their priorities. Yet an administration that has done little to nothing thus far to put the country on a path to seriously pursue the development of viable renewable energy sources and absolutely diddly squat in terms of pushing the US car industry to meaningfully increase fuel efficiency in their fleets is not helping that re-thinking process. Top that off with those huge tax breaks that small businesses can get for gas guzzling SUV's and the tiny incentives to purchase hybrids that are available to you and I and it will be ever harder to sit there and say that Bush has no part in this issue. He does. And his oil buddies in Texas and Saudi Arabia are getting filthy rich while we are wondering what the ** happened. You think that's a coincidence? Might want to think again.

I saw on CNN today that G.W.B. is asking Congress to give him the power to raise the mileage standards for new cars sold in the USA. The story didn't give details.

Since the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo we have had many Presidents of both parties and no coherent energy policy. Georgie isn't forcing your average soccer mom, NASCAR dad, or yuppie to buy their gas guzzling dream machine or their suburban paradise home 50 miles from where they work. They buy what they want.

When the price of fuel gets too painful the market place will mold buying habits of consumers at the car dealerships and shape our cities. Of course government policy and legislation can have some effect. Not that I'm a diehard fan of Georgie W., but the American public and past politicians have been in denial for over 30 years. This problem is nothing new and predates the Bush era.

The old saying goes...if you do what you always did you will get what you always got. Just look at the latest proposals for illegal alien amnesty. A new crop of politicians intent on repeating the same stupid mistakes. And a new crop of Americans that buy into it.

Those that don't learn from history are destined to repeat it.

And anyone that is stupid enough to believe the USA can drill itself out of foreign energy dependence is delusional. It didn't happen in the 1970's and drilling the ANWR now won't be a solution either. Neither is this silliness of raiding the national oil reserve in non-emergency situations.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And anyone that is stupid enough to believe the USA can drill itself out of foreign energy dependence is delusional. It didn't happen in the 1970's and drilling the ANWR now won't be a solution either.

But it was and is Bush that would have us believe that there's a huge benefit in doing so. Calls for higher mileage standards were not to be heard from this White House until recently when gas reached the $3.00 mark. It's nothing but opportunistic #######. And no, the Bushies are not the only one's engaging in that. It's a much wider spread problem, unfortunately.

[Scott & Lai 12]

Since the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo we have had many Presidents of both parties and no coherent energy policy. Georgie isn't forcing your average soccer mom, NASCAR dad, or yuppie to buy their gas guzzling dream machine or their suburban paradise home 50 miles from where they work. They buy what they want.

Lai got a job where she was able to find one. We got an apartment we could afford. Unfortunately, they are 20 miles apart, and since she doesn't drive yet, and we can't afford a second vehicle right now, I have to drive her to and from work...40 miles round-trip twice a day. It isn't oil "addiction", it's a lack of practical choices.

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

although i have a pickup truck, it's not even hit 20,000 miles in the 4 years i've owned it. if it stays at $3 a gallon i'm certain american vehicle makers will take it in the shorts