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Hugh Fitzgerald: Islam à voile et à vapeur

Jan 17, 2016 3:18 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

Voile

There is a French phrase — “Il marche à voile et à vapeur” — literally, “it moves by sail or by steam,” which refers, however, not to a sailboat or a steamboat or a boat that can move using either means of propulsion but, rather, in the witty French manner, to a person who is sexually a switch-hitter.

There is yet another way one might apply that phrase. Can it not be said of Islam itself that “il marche à voile et à vapeur”? The “voile” now refers not to a sailboat’s sail but, rather, to the “veil” — that is, the hijab — required of Muslim women. That hijab can stand metonymically for the practices, the ideology, the teachings and tenets of Islam. And the word “vapeur” no longer refers to the steam of a steamboat, but rather, and also metonymically, to what produces that steam, that is, such means of energy production as oil and gas. Doesn’t that describe Islam itself? It is propelled forward both by the strength and fanaticism of its ideology, and by the gigantic wealth generated from oil and gas deposits in Muslim lands. Truly, Islam marche à voile et à vapeur.

What about that vapeur, or oil wealth? It’s not what it once was. We know that the price of oil has sunk from a high of $147 a barrel in 2009 to less than $30 a barrel today. We know that the Saudis are not going to lessen their production; that the United States, thanks to shale oil, now produces 9.6 barrels, and shows no signs of lowering its production; that the Russians are producing, at 11 million barrels, more than they ever have; that no one inside or outside of OPEC can afford to cut production; and that demand for oil is slipping everywhere, but especially in China; and that as a consequence of all of this, oil economists even foresee a price as low as $20 a barrel.

What does this mean for the economies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Algeria, and the other Muslim states that are overwhelmingly dependent on oil or gas sales to keep themselves afloat? It means that they will have a lot less money with which to spread Muslim influence and power, or to otherwise make mischief. It means that the vast Saudi-financed program of building mosques all over the world, and providing subventions to pay for their upkeep, and to pay for Wahhabi-approved imams, will be cut back. It means that all the Muslim oil states will have less money to play with for the buying of influence among Western businessmen, and for bribes for diplomats and third-world heads of state, and for spending hundreds of billions for armaments. The “vapeur” aspect of Islam becomes less impressive every day.

There is still, however, the “voile” side of Islam — that is, the ideology. That has not shown any diminishment in its hold on the minds of Islam’s adherents. In fact, the fanaticism of Islam’s truest followers, those who take their faith straight up, and not on the rocks of self-interest, has been on display just these past weeks in Jakarta and Istanbul and Burkina Faso and San Bernardino. Jihad — the struggle to spread Islam until it everywhere dominates, and Muslims rule, everywhere — remains a duty for all Muslims. Not all Muslims participate in qitaal (combat) or terrorism as their instrument of Jihad. They do not need to. Merely by moving to, and having children in, the lands of the Dar al-Harb, the House of War in which infidels reside and rule, Muslims are steadily increasing their power and influence. A million here, a half-million there, have arrived this year, adding to the tens of millions of Muslims who were already in Europe. They are everywhere — in France, the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Finland. Terrorism gets the headlines, but it is the demographic conquest of much of the Dar al-Harb that is the long-term threat.

The free market in energy has broken OPEC’s power, and with it has gone much of Islam’s “vapeur.” But the free market in ideas, such as it is, has not, as yet, taken the wind out of the sails of Islam’s “voile.” At this point, one can only hope.

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Filed Under: Featured, Hugh Fitzgerald, oil and energy Tagged With: OPEC


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Comments

  1. Scott says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 3:28 pm

    Very clever and witty!….and oh so true. At least for the moment, the wind is out of Islam’s economic sails….(or is that too metonymically correct for sales)?….;-)

  2. Tom says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 3:35 pm

    Sorry, I agree with your analysis. The Muslim countries are flooding the market with oil to put American producers out of business. How am I privileged to this information you may ask? I work for the oil industry, my company went out of business, most smaller shale companies in North Dakota, Louisiana, and Texas have closed their doors. Well over 250,000++ employees are out of work.

    North Dakota went from # 5 to # 2 oil producer in three short years. OPEC is very smart about artificially keeping prices low so that more companies will fold.

    This is easy to understand: oil is selling today for about $30/bbl. It costs approx. $40/bbl to extract the oil from below. The oil companies are laying most of their workers off until the price margin improves..GET IT??

    Yesterday, a friend saw gasoline selling for $1.47 and was rejoicing. In 2-3 years, you will be moving the decimal point one space to the right!

    This is the beginning of the end unless we elect Trump.

    • medaber_emet says

      Jan 18, 2016 at 2:29 am

      there is a way to fight the fucking muzzies
      the next president should put tax on the imported oil and make the price high enough to make local production be profitable
      all the tax money should go to research of how to make america energy independent without the need for muzzies oil

      • Wakeup says

        Jan 18, 2016 at 6:42 am

        Thank God sombody who agrees with me America must be energy independent and that includes renewables and thorium see the thorium problem on youtube we also have to stop doing business with muslims and their supporters like morrissons.

      • william bonney says

        Jan 18, 2016 at 1:48 pm

        What a real smart president would have done was put billions of dollars into research for battery technology .Instead of putting trillions into the middle east that got the US nothing but dead soldiers and grieving families. All the terrorist funding countries in the middle east would be bankrupt by now — now wouldn t that be a change in the dynamics of the world . And all of the western countries would have enough of their own oil. And there would be peace in the western worlds

      • RobGA says

        Jan 18, 2016 at 3:40 pm

        I have been listening to the “make America energy independent” talk for well over 50 years now, and not much has changed. Oil is a source of big bucks, and far too many American politicians, business leaders and financial houses are willing to sell our country “down the river” for their 40 pieces of silver. Those same politicians are now conspiring in a foul mixture of ignorance and greed to acknowledge the danger which hard-line political Islam poses to the very soul of democracy and therefore take no real action to protect and defend the freedom of the American people.

        • Tom says

          Jan 18, 2016 at 4:00 pm

          I just heard a report that gasoline is selling for less than $1.00/gallon in Michigan. You need to prepare for a real economic downturn coming to a store near you very soon. If oil drops to $20.00/bbl, we will see the oil industry plummet to rock bottom and a depression like none of us has experienced in our lives.

          To put this into regression terms, $1.00 today was worth $0.16 in 1971, when gasoline was selling for $0.19/gallon. Gasoline today is almost selling for the same price today as it was in 1971, negatively adjusted for inflation.

          Better tighten your financial belt, and contact a survivalist to get some survival tips. He/she will tell you what you need to get by and survive this impending collapse.

          My opinion, as an oil field worker, is that 2016 is going to be a bad year for oil and that oil will not rise again until 2018 or later. We were told to find other employment, as we are not expected to be rehired anytime soon!!!

    • Shane says

      Jan 18, 2016 at 9:53 am

      Trump or Cruz! Overall the low oil prices are good for Americans, especially truck drivers and taxi drivers. Americans have more money available to buy things and to get out of debt and the cost of many business will decrease. Muslims will have less money to spend on their military and on promoting Islam around the world. However, as long as Western countries continue to let in hordes of Muslims, Islamic jihad will get stronger.

      • Tom says

        Jan 18, 2016 at 4:29 pm

        Shane, Wrong!!! Low oil prices are going to put a lot of oil and associated companies out of business. That leads to high unemployment that in turns generates more unemployment insurance claims and ultimately welfare roles. Where do you think that money comes from? Your tax dollars!!

        Did your taxi rate drop with the drop in gasoline prices or the cost of trucked goods decrease? No, it is not doing you one bit of good; just ruining our economy.

    • Pathfinder01000 says

      Jan 18, 2016 at 4:56 pm

      Tom–I really think that you know what you are talkin’ about!! If Trump IS elected I pray that he will turn out “real” !!

      • Tom says

        Jan 18, 2016 at 5:34 pm

        Me Too!! My gut says he is for real. I hope for our sake, I am correct.

        Tom

  3. Greyhound Fancier says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    It’s a Hobson’s choice…will we keep in thrall to Muslims who want to kill us, or at the least force us to adopt their disgusting way of life, or do we encourage energy self-sufficiency?

    My hope is that though low oil prices harm parts of the economy, survival of the USA will be better served by producing our own oil and forcing the Arabs to find others markets. Other parts of the economy are assisted by low oil prices (trucking, farming, anything that must be shipped to a market).

    • Tom says

      Jan 17, 2016 at 3:57 pm

      Your missing the point. There will be no American oil companies soon, due the Arabs/Islam flooding the market with oil. Do you understand American oil drillers are filing bankruptcies at a very high rate? Once many American oil producing companies go out of business, oil will shoot to $200+/bbl and gasoline here will sell for $10-$14/gallon.

      No self sufficiency, as there will be no production. If it costs $10.00 more than oil sells for, why would you intentionally lose money?

      Put another way: you take on a mortgage for your house for $2500.00 per month and you can only afford to pay them $1500.00 per month. How long do you think you will stay in that house?

      • William says

        Jan 17, 2016 at 4:19 pm

        If oil goes to $200+ per barrel, wouldn’t that encourage more production? Production and consumption are not static, are they?

        • Tom says

          Jan 17, 2016 at 5:51 pm

          If there are none to few drilling oil companies left, who is going to perform the drilling? It would take years to spin back up to production levels witnessed a year ago.

          This is really serious and very few comprehend the problem. Worse than gasoline prices will be jet fuel, home heating oil and over the road diesel costs.

          Oil is big business in America and this could be the leading edge of our failing economy. Don’t believe me? Google what I am saying about Arabs flooding the market with oil and get back to me!

  4. William says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 4:07 pm

    The cost to extract a barrel of oil in the middle east is about $10. It may still be profitable for them to extract and sell the oil. However, they are in serious economic trouble because the governments there spend a heck of a lot of the oil money. And as the golden goose lays less eggs, their cash flow is drastically reduced. Their balance sheets are going to be seeing a lot of red ink.

  5. Buraq says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    Now that sanctions have been lifted on the Shia clowns of Iran, the price for a barrel of oil will sink further. Some economists say $16 a barrel is feasible in a few months. Bankruptcy beckons for Islam.

    But the ideology is also bankrupt, and always has been. It only requires the harassed populations of the host countries in Europe to tumble to that fact in great enough numbers to vote in political parties that will deal with problem head on.

    I’m broadly optimistic that when Joe Bloggs and his wife and kids understand what Islam is really all about, then the long term prospects of this failed, discredited, out of date ideology will fade into history.

    • don vito says

      Jan 18, 2016 at 6:02 pm

      My take, you’re right, also the world is just one terrorist act away from higher oil prices. Something that affects supply. I don’t know what it might be, but moslems need the money! And it could be very soon!

  6. Angemon says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    But the free market in ideas, such as it is, has not, as yet, taken the wind out of the sails of Islam’s “voile.”

    There’s not much of a free market of ideas when criticizing islam makes one a pariah, if not outright landing in in legal troubles. But people are waking up.

    • pilgrim says

      Jan 17, 2016 at 5:13 pm

      Right on the mark; there’s no free market on ideas because the leaders in the West have decided to protect the dark idea called Islam. They seek a goal and they will accomplish that goal. Islam is coming into the New World Order one way or another since it cannot truly be a “world” order without 1/6th of the world’s inhabitants. Yes, a few millions are waking up to the conspiracy but, unfortunately, too many have bought the lie of their leaders that Islam is a peaceful and progressive religion that brought much advancement, high culture and intellect into the world. This is especially true among “educated” persons in Europe but also in North America; hence the success of a fool (liberal) in the USA presidential elections twice in a row and more recently in Canada.

  7. Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 5:19 pm

    So now that the price of oil has sunk from a high of $147/barrel in 2009
    to less than $30 /barrel today, the Kingdom Hall of Saudi Arabia and other
    Jehovah’s Wahhabis will have to cut back on their financial support of mosques
    and imams in the Dar al-Harb. Investigative journalists stand ready to
    root out the foreign-origin income of JW outposts such as the Islamic
    Society of Greater Oklahoma City (isgoc.com), which also runs a madrassah.
    Its imam is the Professor Harold Hill of American mosques. He came to
    town saying he had a Certificate of Apostolic Succession, but when the
    town fathers asked to see it, they were met with one change-of-subject
    after another. So here’s an easy task for an enterprising journalist:
    [1] ask how the JW subsidy has gone up and down over the years, and
    [2] ask to photograph the imam’s conservatory credentials.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO0DFttQoJc
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI
    “Trouble – right here in Oklahoma City!”

    • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

      Jan 18, 2016 at 9:58 am

      Madrasas and mosques should be made illegal in civilized countries. After all, the hate speech crime sword cuts both ways.

  8. Jay Boo says

    Jan 17, 2016 at 8:17 pm

    Without the hijab Islam loses its façade.
    The murderous thieve of Islam will not give up the façade willingly.

    In the meantime Muslims are breeding like rabbits and the world does not have enough food to feed all these first cousin marriage babies.
    There will be a time when Muslims attempt to steal and kill for our limited food or turn us into Soylent Green people burgers.

  9. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Jan 18, 2016 at 9:56 am

    Not all Muslims participate in qitaal (combat) or terrorism as their instrument of Jihad. They do not need to. Merely by moving to, and having children in, the lands of the Dar al-Harb, the House of War in which infidels reside and rule…

    And yet, non-combatant Moslems are regarded as any immigrant, a malleable person hoping to assimilate and improve his lot. True, there’s the gang rape thing and the occasional mass murder operation, but these are a tiny minority of extremist religion hijackers. Meanwhile, all emigre Moslems stand together in opposition to freedom and work tirelessly to wear it down to the point of irrelevance. For example, if one decries Moslem gang rape of blondes in Stockholm, he’s facing jail time for felony hate speech.

    And it will take only a single moderate scale WMD attack somewhere, anywhere, to send oil back over $200 a barrel. The Moslems are in the driver’s seat, and that seat is located in Western Europe and North America, with Australia hoping to keep pace in the race of national suicide.

    • don vito says

      Jan 18, 2016 at 6:07 pm

      My thought as well, one terrorist act away from a turn around in oil prices.

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