Saving the Libyan people or the Libyan oil?

Libya is an oil rich country and one of the world's top exporters of the black gold. The recent massive military intervention from the US, France and the UK in Libya is not a totally candid intervention with strictly humanitarian goals, in fact many analysts are beginning to argue whether such a global military action would have occured if the country in question were to be an oil-poor country with no resources. 

The recent events in the world have shown the impact of high oil prices on western economies, especially on industrialized countries. We have seen lately Central Bankers notably from Europe and the US struggling to find a balance between the increasing inflation due to constantly rising oil prices and the recession due to the financial crisis. Add to the fact that France and the UK depend on the Gulf countries for their oil imports and on Russia for their natural gaz. The recent uprising events in Libya have created the perfect environment for the super powers to put their foot and have a physical presence on the rich soil of Benghazi, where most of Libya's proven reserves are contained. It is also a moral response and a noble move to save civilian lives from Kaddafi's massacres.

This military move will certainly reduce the oil dependance of the industialized nations from battered oil producing countries.

While many African countires have suffered on many occasions several massacres and blood sheds, never such a military intervention has ever been observed. It would be certainly naive to deny the fact about oil and consider that the super powers are only doing this for mankind's sake! The next scenario would probably be the one like foreign military bases on the Libyan soil to "protect" the Libyan treasures as it has been the case with US military bases in Iraq for more than 20 years.   

Very sad, but true...

JAPAN: more than 10,000 people die in a strong earthquake, the world is horrified and fully mobilized.


AFRICA: more than 15,000 children die everyday from starvation, nobody cares, nobody even mentions it.

Think about it, it's very sad but true!

Alcohol in Islam

Any alcohol consumption including alcoholic drinks is formally prohibited by Islam. However any act made by the drunk during his drunkenness is valid and should not be considered as void.

Due to this general prohibition regarding the alcohol or any of its derivative, the big majority of the « Fuquha’a »  estimate that the validity of the drunk acts shall be maintained as a punishment of his behavior, hence, deciding that the acts made by the drunk during his drunkenness do not engage him, will let him using from his mistake and fault as an apology for his acts .

There is obviously a sad confusion between the law and the moral. According strictly to the legal principles, the drunk is unconscious during the period of his inebriation which shall mean logically that any act made during this drunkenness is void accordingly.

Or the drunkeness depends on the drunk himself, because any person drinking alcohol knows that any excess in alcohol will make him drunk.

Consequently, deciding to annul any act made by the drunk during his inebriation  seems sometimes complicated, because the drunkeness is in principle temporary, therefore the proof of the drunkeness will seem difficult to provide once the rate of alcohol in the person’s blood becomes within acceptable/natural limits.

The strong ties between the USA and the KSA: is it love or reason?

The strategical relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia goes back to late 1940's, just after the end of world war II, upon the discovery of the oil in the KSA. Oil which is synonymous of energy and which (according to some analysts) was the main startegic reason behind the war of the pacific from 1941 to 1945. Establishing excellent relations with the new royal regime at that time in the KSA was of prime importance for the US.

In fact these bilateral relations grew relatively fast when US companies were commissioned to discover and extract the commodity from the Saudi soil. And for decades, companies like Halliburton, Schlumberger, Aramco and others had the absolute exclusivity to discover new oil fields in the Kingdom and to extract the black gold and to ship it.

With time, those ties evolved between the two nations and became deep enough to "re-invent" the Saudi economy, in fact the Saudi currency (riyal) became strictly tied to the US dollar in a fixed exchange rate; Most of the Saudi's government oil revenues (as well as the royal family's) were being invested in the US markets, experts believe that Saudi money invested in the US represents around 7% of the US market. Until recently, the Saudi armament program was exclusively provided by US firms like: Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Mcdonall Douglas; At last but not least Saudi Arabian Airlines flies Boeing aircrafts almost exclusively.

Politically and diplomatically both States were constantly in perfect harmony and the KSA was one of the major allies of the US. The State visit of a newly elected US president to the KSA became a ritual, while Saudi citizens are usually granted multiple visas to the US for undefinite periods. (unlike all other Arab countries)

The KSA became practically operating according to the american way, as everything was built, designed, commissioned according to US standards. The list is long: the building codes in Saudi are US codes, the design and technical specifications for infrastructure projects are conducted according to the US standards, the heavy and sophisticated equipments (power production, water treatment, new technologies) are designed, built and operated according to the US industry codes.

We also note that the US Universities became the preferential destinations for Saudi students. Most of the new Saudi generation that are highly educated have graduated from US Universities, in a need to discover the technology and know-how of what is being developped in their mother land.

According to such evidences, many analysts and observers argue that the "Americanization" of the Saudi society did not happen naturally as a result of the interaction between two populations sharing the same history or culture or background! Instead, it is the fruit of a strategical pact that ensures safe and continuous flows of oil into the biggest oil consumer in the world at preferential prices (much below markets), in return the biggest oil producer of the OPEC countries enjoys an unconditional support and backup from the US policies makers.

Alcohol in Muslim law (article in French)

L’usage de l’alcool et de toute boisson alcoolique est formellement interdit  par l’islam, pourtant tout acte accompli par un ivrogne durant son ivresse est valable et ne doit pas être considéré comme nul.

En raison de cette réprobation générale visant l’alcool et tout ce qui touche à l’alcool, la grande majorité des « Fuquha’a » estiment que ce serait faire bénéficier l’ivrogne d’une certaine excuse qu’il tirerait précisément de sa propre turpitude ou faute si l’on décidait que les actes accomplis par lui durant son ivresse ne le liaient pas ; d’après eux, la validité de tels actes doit être maintenue ne serait-ce que comme punition des actes de l’ivrogne.

Il y a là évidemment une confusion fâcheuse du droit et de la morale. A s’en tenir strictement aux principes juridiques, l’ivrogne pendant tout le temps que dure son ivresse, est privé de raison ce qui devrait mener logiquement à en déduire la nullité de tout acte fait en état d’ébriété.

Or l’état d’ébriété dépend de l’ivrogne lui-même, parce que toute personne en buvant sait que l’excès dans l’alcool peut la rendre ivre.

En conséquence, vouloir annuler tout acte de l’ivre pendant son état d’ébriété parait parfois chose difficile parce l’état d’ivresse est en principe temporaire et par suite la preuve de cet état d’ivresse serait difficile à rapporter une fois l’alcool ne circule plus dans le sang de la personne.