The ISIS On The Cake

Part 1

Recently I read an article on the France 24 website talking about some Syrian businessman who had been sanctioned by the United States for selling oil, stolen by ISIS, to the Syrian regime.

What was being alleged seemed absurd to me. Why would the Syrian Government, under attack by ISIS, buy oil from them and thereby, fund the assault on itself?

I immediately thought of other alleged actions that made no sense. Muammar Gaddafi attacking his own cities from the air and Bashar Assad attacking neighborhoods of Baghdad with poison gas.

I thought the oil story must be disinformation.

Sure enough, I found out that, serving some interested party, no doubt, France 24 was rehashing a story that had been printed eight months ago in the Manchester Guardian, and who knows where else. The story was not current and I don't think it was ever much of a story anyway because it never really took off, to my knowledge.

I guess France 24 was just muddying the water a little and maybe trying to get some muck to stick to the Assad government, no matter how implausible the muck might be or how maladroitly it might be applied.

So what else is new in the mainstream press?

Anyway, as I was digging around on the web trying to find out about this Syrian businessman, I kept on running into articles talking about the ISIS "oil money" trail.

This is the problem with the alternative media. It is full of real journalists, actually researching and writing about real news, and it shocks one to stumble into it after a steady diet of Toronto's local newspapers, who specialize in news as cocktail party patter. Sometimes it is vaguely reminiscent of what's going on and there are some carefully pitched voices in the throng of timeservers, but generally speaking it is deeply unsatisfying.

At any rate, I was startled to learn that an awful lot of countries are buying oil from ISIS, . . . allegedly . . . and you know, that makes an awful lot of sense.

It reminds one of the failure of governments to legalize and control and tax and regulate the drug trade. There is a reason for it. They like the current arrangement because they are making a lot of money out of it. Vested interests are making sure that common sense doesn't come along to upset that applecart loaded with golden apples.

The amazing inability of anyone to put a stop to ISIS suddenly makes sense.

Why would any member nation of the European Community organize the destruction of a fuel depot selling it oil at $20 a barrel unless it absolutely had to?

Oh the humanity! Oh the irony! The West, conniving like Machiavelli for so long to get control of Middle Eastern oil resources, so that supply at a reasonable price could be assured, is now being threatened by Middle Eastern religious thugs, who sustain their own murderous assault on everything we hold dear by practically giving us what we want at rock bottom fire sale prices.

If this were a George Clooney movie script, I think George would want a rewrite. It's too nutty, too unbelievable.

But it has to be true. It's the only explanation that actually rationalizes what has been going on with ISIS.

And there is more.

a reply to: ipsedixit

As I was reading through your post I could not help of thinking of a thread entitled something along the lines of "petrol prices at the pump are getting cheaper and I want to know why".....perhaps one of the resident sleuths can find it.....

Anyhow thx for sharing and definitely food for thought

a reply to: ipsedixit

Well, I guess it's common knowledge on ATS that ISIS is indeed supported by the West, and Turkey being the main culprit that is harboring and arming ISIS..

That just makes an awful lot of sense, why they had downed the Russian jet tailing devious activities along the Turkish borders...

‘Oxygen for jihadists’: ISIS-smuggled oil flows through Turkey to intl markets – Iraqi MP

Terroist group Islamic State earns millions of dollars selling oil on the black market in Turkey, Iraqi MP and former national security adviser, Mowaffak al Rubaie told RT. He also revealed that wounded terrorists are being treated in Turkish hospitals.

“In the last eight months ISIS has managed to sell ... $800 million dollars worth of oil on the black market of Turkey. This is Iraqi oil and Syrian oil, carried by trucks from Iraq, from Syria through the borders to Turkey and sold ...[at] less than 50 percent of the international oil price,” Mowaffak al Rubaie said in an interview with RT.

“Now this either get consumed inside, the crude is refined on Turkish territory by the Turkish refineries, and sold in the Turkish market. Or it goes to Jihan and then in the pipelines from Jihan to the Mediterranean and sold to the international market.”

Awesome head line lol
I too am sus
When the Iraq army attacked isil and ran
Leaving behind weapons and ammo
Along with billions in gold at a bank

Something ain't right
It was almost as though it was handed to them
The Iraq government is now in the hands of Iran as it is Shiites dominant
Iran always wanted Iraq but Saddam was in the way
Not now
I believe isil was created by Iran and Russia
As well as China to fool the western world

Isil is all part of the plot

a reply to: piney

Well this is just getting too confusing now. According to ATS membership, the whole world supports daesh.

All I can see is a big stinking pile of bullsh#t.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

I almost feel like that is the sad truth. In a way that is, i mean as the OP lays out, daesh has oil. We will buy it for rock bottom prices from them regardless of the war. That it is just that simple.

originally posted by: ipsedixit
Part 1

Recently I read an article on the France 24 website talking about some Syrian businessman who had been sanctioned by the United States for selling oil, stolen by ISIS, to the Syrian regime.

What was being alleged seemed absurd to me. Why would the Syrian Government, under attack by ISIS, buy oil from them and thereby, fund the assault on itself?

I immediately thought of other alleged actions that made no sense. Muammar Gaddafi attacking his own cities from the air and Bashar Assad attacking neighborhoods of Baghdad with poison gas.

I thought the oil story must be disinformation.

Sure enough, I found out that, serving some interested party, no doubt, France 24 was rehashing a story that had been printed eight months ago in the Manchester Guardian, and who knows where else. The story was not current and I don't think it was ever much of a story anyway because it never really took off, to my knowledge.

I guess France 24 was just muddying the water a little and maybe trying to get some muck to stick to the Assad government, no matter how implausible the muck might be or how maladroitly it might be applied.

So what else is new in the mainstream press?

Anyway, as I was digging around on the web trying to find out about this Syrian businessman, I kept on running into articles talking about the ISIS "oil money" trail.

This is the problem with the alternative media. It is full of real journalists, actually researching and writing about real news, and it shocks one to stumble into it after a steady diet of Toronto's local newspapers, who specialize in news as cocktail party patter. Sometimes it is vaguely reminiscent of what's going on and there are some carefully pitched voices in the throng of timeservers, but generally speaking it is deeply unsatisfying.

At any rate, I was startled to learn that an awful lot of countries are buying oil from ISIS, . . . allegedly . . . and you know, that makes an awful lot of sense.

It reminds one of the failure of governments to legalize and control and tax and regulate the drug trade. There is a reason for it. They like the current arrangement because they are making a lot of money out of it. Vested interests are making sure that common sense doesn't come along to upset that applecart loaded with golden apples.

The amazing inability of anyone to put a stop to ISIS suddenly makes sense.

Why would any member nation of the European Community organize the destruction of a fuel depot selling it oil at $20 a barrel unless it absolutely had to?

Oh the humanity! Oh the irony! The West, conniving like Machiavelli for so long to get control of Middle Eastern oil resources, so that supply at a reasonable price could be assured, is now being threatened by Middle Eastern religious thugs, who sustain their own murderous assault on everything we hold dear by practically giving us what we want at rock bottom fire sale prices.

If this were a George Clooney movie script, I think George would want a rewrite. It's too nutty, too unbelievable.

But it has to be true. It's the only explanation that actually rationalizes what has been going on with ISIS.

And there is more.

The points you make are valid and as usually govt lie to their people on a vast scale. This happens in the area of your signature subject also.

All that has to be done to make the 1% pay their fair share of tax is to tax share trades 10% at least but does this ever get gurnsey when it comes to public discussion of tax?. This applies in most countries, certainly in Australia where they are going to ramp up the goods and services tax yet there is no tax on the purchase and sale of shares which only the rich buy in commercial quantities.

See how all parties agree to a controlled debate? It shows they are all on the same side of the fence and they lies to the very people that elected them. What does that make them?

a reply to: ipsedixit

Bashar Assad attacking neighborhoods of Baghdad with poison gas.

Really , link please .

France 24 is as right-wing as it gets. That's all you need to know. It's France's FOX "News".

a reply to: hutch622

The poison gas attacks and their highly disputed origin are tangential to the thread but if you want to read up on that issue, here's a start:

www.google.ca...

Part 2

I want to start this part by quoting a post of mine from another thread that suggests a way that ISIS can be seen as "the icing on the cake" in another political situation.

The post follows:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: ipsedixit
a reply to: MysterX

. . .

Looking at this situation from another point of view is very enlightening in one way. We usually see it from the American point of view or the Russian point of view or the Syrian point of view or the Israeli point of view or even that of Hezbollah, but we very seldom give the Turkish perspective the attention it deserves.

For decades now,Turkey has wanted to become a member of the European Economic Community, a dream that would, no doubt, have been cherished by Mustafa Kemal, the father of modern, secular Turkey, he who outlawed the Arab script for written material and outlawed the burqa for female concealment.

Turkey has done everything it could to win admission to the EEC. It has been a good NATO member. It is a member of numerous economic organizations with the EU.

It applied for membership in the EU in 1987!

The talks have been very prolonged and cover dozens of areas of concern as one can see from this linked wikipedia article:

en.wikipedia.org...

The Turks have been very patient and they have many supporters among European states, including the Cameron government in the UK, for accession into the Community, but . . . Angela Merkel opposes Turkey for EU membership. She wants a special non-member status for that country. Nicholas Sarkozy opposed Turkish membership. Francois Hollande supports Turkish membership but will not hasten talks concerning that.

This priceless piece of pretzel journalism from Bloomberg View gives a clear picture of the tentative nature of European views on Turkey.

www.bloombergview.com...

Turkey’s a good place to start. Unblocking its membership process would end the widespread impression that the EU discriminates against Muslims, at a time when xenophobia, anti-immigrant feelings and isolationism are rising within the mainly Christian nations of Europe. Allowing talks to continue is a very different issue from Turkey, population 73 million, actually joining the EU. That remains a distant prospect.

It sounds like a maitre d' at a fine restaurant explaining to Jack Nicholson that yes, there is a table for him and his nine iron, but it will have to be made ready, if he would just be kind enough to cool his heels for 30 years.

The Turks are beginning to get a little frosty about it.

en.wikipedia.org...

Turkey is, however, also increasingly disappointed with the widespread opposition to its accession among EU member states. In September 2012, Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan was asked by CNN if Turkey still wants to join the EU. His response: "There are 5 million Turks in Europe and 3 million Turks in Germany alone. We are a natural member of the European Union. Germany invited Turkish workers 50 years ago, however 50 years have passed and we have waited at the European Union's doorstep. No other country has experienced such a thing. We will be patient until a point. However when we cross that point, we will bring light to the situation and decide accordingly."[152] During a trip to Yalta, Erdoğan expressed his stern disappointment regarding the EU accession process: "We are still an EU negotiating candidate. At such a position, I wish EU accession. Otherwise, such a scenario would affect a large region including Ukraine and Turkey."[153]

Why are things going so slowly? Do most European politicians know, regardless of official government positions, that most Europeans are fearful of a Muslim inundation from "European" Turkey?

Recent developments have certainly shown, regardless of whether by design or chance, that Turkey and the United States, which favors Turkish accession to the EU, can give Europe a Muslim inundation of refugees, even if Turkey is not a member.

Is that what Erdogan meant when he said that Turkey would "bring light to the situation"?

The bottom line is that "Muslim inundation" is now a reality, independently of talks on European accession for Turkey.

. . .

It's very confusing and difficult for the average newspaper reader to parse this situation, but one wonders if, 30 years ago, Turkey had been admitted to the EU, whether a lot of wrinkles would have been ironed out of these relationships in a more natural way and with a better will, on both sides.

Since that was posted Erdogan has moved (surprise, surprise) to put accession to the European Community back on the front burner, with Germany at least.

This is a big issue. Webster Tarpley has been saying for some time now that Erdogan is the real "Caliph" of ISIS and that Baghdadi is just a front man, but, although Erdogan has pushed Turkey a little in the direction of a more traditional Islamic policy, I think his real game has been to start using ISIS as a lever to promote European Accession for Turkey.

He has been "bad cop" and now he his going, in his own self serving way, to be "good cop", particularly regarding refugees heading to Europe.

www.lefigaro.fr...

Translated excerpt:

Europeans Sunday gave a half hearted green light with € 3 billion in aid for Turkey, which will in turn slow down the arrival of refugees in Greece. This is a success for the combined efforts of Angela Merkel and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For others, the summit did not dispel two concerns: the extent of the concessions made in Ankara and the ambition of Berlin for the "resettlement" of more Syrians across the EU, through a new quota system.

Turkey ignored by Europeans for years, has had a "fifteen minutes of fame". "This is a historic day for our process of accession (to the EU). We will forge the destiny of the continent," has assured a smiling Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on his arrival in Brussels. His interlocutors,like François Hollande, insist on the respect of "commitments", above all, a measurable decline of illegal crossings across the Aegean Sea.

Along the same line, Merkel, at the same time, increased the pressure on her European partners.

Germany, overwhelmed with over 800,000 arrivals since the beginning of the year, wants to "replace illegal immigration with legal immigration," direct from Turkey to the EU. Scenarios cited in the German press evoke from 300,000 to 500,000 of these "resettlements" organized, to be shared in the coming years, beyond the 160,000 approved in September. None of the other leaders has supported Berlin's project, which was termed a "pure chimera" by one senior diplomat.

ISIS, the Swiss Army Knife of world politics, is being used in all sorts of creative ways.

a reply to: ipsedixit

It has been reported for quite some time now that Turkey is the front for oil in, weapons and fighters out . Having a CIA /NATO base to supply the advanced weapons to the terrorists is a logistics point . Need some ISIS terrorist ,say for a operation in Paris ? No problem ,use Air Nato ....Need to run drugs out of Afghanistan ? No Problem ,Air Nato ....Need a covert Military operation out of sight from the public ,? No problem NATO .... Turkey is the main hub for NATO operations for the ME ... The jailing of the two independent reporters in Turkey is pivotal to the secrecy of all this . France is also shutting down independent media too but I am sure they will be very selective as to which ones .They are also a NATO base as well . Not thinking of NATO for the source of logistics for these operations first is a grave mistake imo

a reply to: the2ofusr1

I think it is a mistake also to believe that Turkey is a rogue elephant in all of this. Starting with the Turkish interdiction of a Russian supply plane flying to Syria, many months ago, through their logistical efforts on behalf of ISIS, right up to the recent downing of a Russian jet inside Syrian territory, Turkey has been operating, I am convinced, with the approval of its most important NATO allies, the US and the UK.

originally posted by: ipsedixit
a reply to: the2ofusr1

I think it is a mistake also to believe that Turkey is a rogue elephant in all of this. Starting with the Turkish interdiction of a Russian supply plane flying to Syria, many months ago, through their logistical efforts on behalf of ISIS, right up to the recent downing of a Russian jet inside Syrian territory, Turkey has been operating, I am convinced, with the approval of its most important NATO allies, the US and the UK.

It's a difficult situation to understand by design. Makes it easier to cover up.

Well done on a thought provoking thread. Snf

Well constructed thread.
S&F.

Very well laid out OP. S&F

I was just thinking a couple days ago that ISIS oil is the reason the futures market for oil is so low. And all the while they spin the low price as being done to hurt Russia. No one want's 40 dollar when you can get it for 20.

a reply to: liveandlearn

I agree. Oil Futures sank to a very low ebb during the 2008 financial crash. They climbed back up but then declined precipitately again halfway through 2014.

www.nasdaq.com...



I don't think ISIS is moving tremendous amounts of oil, but I think that what they do move has a multiplying factor or rather dividing factor on oil prices generally. The mere knowledge that cheap oil is out there must be helping to drive the industry wide price for oil down.

If this is true it would add another community of interests, consumers who don't even buy from ISIS, to those already reluctant to remove ISIS from the scene.

Note: Part of the post about Turkey and the European Community was omitted because of a BB code glitch.

Here is the omitted portion, with some trenchant words from Mr. Erdogan in bold print:

The Turks are beginning to get a little frosty about it.

en.wikipedia.org...

Turkey is, however, also increasingly disappointed with the widespread opposition to its accession among EU member states. In September 2012, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan was asked by CNN if Turkey still wants to join the EU. His response: "There are 5 million Turks in Europe and 3 million Turks in Germany alone. We are a natural member of the European Union. Germany invited Turkish workers 50 years ago, however 50 years have passed and we have waited at the European Union's doorstep. No other country has experienced such a thing. We will be patient until a point. However when we cross that point, we will bring light to the situation and decide accordingly."[152] During a trip to Yalta, Erdogan expressed his stern disappointment regarding the EU accession process: "We are still an EU negotiating candidate. At such a position, I wish EU accession. Otherwise, such a scenario would affect a large region including Ukraine and Turkey."[153]

a reply to: ipsedixit

And wasn't that about the time we got involved? Usually our interference in ME causes commodities to go up. But guess when you have cheap oil coming out and everyone is buying theirs...including us I suspect...

a reply to: liveandlearn

I have to say, I don't understand what is going on with the oil industry.

On the one hand you have the producers, the oil states and the Seven Sisters or their present day equivalent. On the other hand you have the consumers, anybody from national states to corporations who buys crude oil.

One would think that disturbances, like ISIS, who disrupt supply in a number of ways, would push the price of crude up. That upward rise is seen starting in 2009, against the background of an economic crisis and slow economic growth. ISIS (including its precursors) can be seen as a tool of the producers from that standpoint, can it not?

Now, however, after going into business for itself, ISIS's presence in the market has coincided with a steep drop in the price of crude so that they might be regarded, at the present time, as a tool of the consumers.

It begs the question, "Why did ISIS start selling oil?"

Let that question sink in. It's very important.

I don't think they got the idea themselves. I think somebody proposed it to them. I think they were seen as a business opportunity by someone on the consumer side of the market, some entity with a lot of power and an interest in lower oil prices decided that ISIS had to be kept in place and used as a tool in the world economy to drive oil prices down and stimulate economic growth in a global recession/depression.