UN Recognizes Palestine

There was commercial shale oil extraction in West Lothian between 1859 and the end of WW II. Anyone familiar with that part of Scotland would have recognised the old red 'bings' (spoil heaps) of which use was made in the construction of the approach roads for the Forth Road Bridge in the early 1960s.

Mr Netanyahu's latest wheeze is to withhold tax revenues from Palestine. Of course he is not doing this out of malice but because there is a debt to the company that supplies electricity. The fact that public servants, such as teachers and doctors, cannot then be paid is just unfortunate.

Greatnan I think the US love affair with the Middle East includes petrodollars as much as oil. If Saudi withdrew its money from America, the country would go belly up overnight in spite of all its financial support from China.

I think cracking is what they do to the rock after they have fracked for it.

(I'm not joking)

Mr Netanyahu has now given the go-ahead for 3,000 more settlement homes in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem. The ones in the West Bank will more or less cut off the north from the south of the territory. He is also speeding up the planning process for more. What planning process you may ask? Understandably, Mr Abbas doesn't want to restart peace and two-state negotiations until there is a stop to new settlements. Stalemate – with Israel holding all the cards (mixed games metaphor).

Fracking has the potential to create life changing gains for a lot of countries. However the potential dangers are there in black and white.

In America there are reports of damage to health and water supplies etc. It has already been attributed in this country to the earth quakes around the Blackpool/Morecombe area.

We are such a small country compared to America and other countries it will have to be proven to be a safe process to be given the green light.

It has the potential to alter the status quo re oil and the dominance of the East as the suppliers, as so many countries are viable as producers.

Maybe fracking is short for f***ing cracking...

(as usual)

Anyway, they said it could make the US independent oil-wise within 10 - 20 years.

I looked up both cracking and fracking and they are both processes used to reach oil.

It seems to be 'cracking' from oil bearing shale rock.

right down near the bottom

I know NOTHING about it though.

I thought they said "cracking" on the today programme!

Yes, sorry for the typo - they are not corrected by Spellcheck!

Do you mean 'fracking', Greatnan - the extraction of hydrocarbons from shale? There's been a big to-do about it in Lancashire where it's believed that the explosions caused a small earthquake.

Thank you Butty u poppet

We did !

I am sure many Jewish Americans feel affinity with Israel, but I don't know if black or Hispanic and other non-Jewish Americans have much interest and of course there are large numbers of Muslims who are unlikely to be supportive. I think it is not so much the number of supporters of Israel in America, as the wealth and power they have.

According to this the US doesn't get a huge percentage of oil from the middle East. (I didn't know that)

R4 !

I heard that about cracking on R$ Greatnan. I think USA does genuinely feel some kind of affinity with Israel as well though.

Wise words, Greatnan.

Most of American foreign policy is based on expediency and self interest, although they have tried to portray themselves as altruistic saviours of the world. The love affair with Middle East states is based on their need for oil, and according to a report I heard on Radio 4 this week, it could end in the next twenty years because it appears the USA could be self-sufficient in oil through such new processes as cracking. Wouldn't it be good if the USA and Britain stopped turning a blind eye to the flagrant abuses of the rights of people in countries such as Saudi Arabia. I won't hold my breath, because there will still be corrupt politicians and businessmen.

dorsetpennt I'm perfectly okay being one of those annoying people to whom your refer. In fact, I think that Gransnetters should feel free to wander "off course"...it's one reason why I enjoy this forum so much.

I always thought that a characteristic that often defined "older people" was their inability to process new information and their dogged determination to hold on to worn out views, but I could, of course, be wrong.

No! Not at all!

Sorry did I butt into a private conversation?

" It's not just older people either." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That goes without saying missis!

Actually it's the way of the world dorset. Conversations, whether on forums or face to face, ebb and flow, move forwards, backwards and sideways. That's the art of it. It's not just older people either.