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THE PLANK MAY 6, 2008

Department Of Shell Games

BY DAYO OLOPADE

Some bizarre news from the Reuters wire:

Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's
oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a
ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.The
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched
five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a
campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more
than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd)."The MEND command is
seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack
Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem," the
militant group said in an e-mailed statement.

At the time--unlike past attacks--MEND
seemed to be courting American attention: "The ripple effect of this
attack will touch your economy and people one way or the other and (we)
hope we now have your attention," the group said last month.Well,
oil is $120/barrel--looks like you've got it. The direct link to Obama,
however, seems suspect. He did attempt some high-level suasion
during January’s election crisis in Kenya, but I’m doubtful his
grueling schedule these last six weeks has left much time for Skyping
with MEND. It is notable that even the hint of the "Obama
touch" has a band of saboteurs rubbing their chins about an end to a
longstanding conflict. (It’s also a testament to the constant danger that such instability poses to the guerrillas and the people of the Delta alike.) Back
stateside, it seems the only expert Hillary Clinton could rustle up to
defend her gas-tax proposal was a registered lobbyist for Shell Oil.
Obama pounced
this weekend and called the plan “literally, a Shell game”—but could
push harder on the foreign policy implications of the flap. As a
Nigerian, the whole thing recalls my family’s conduct of something like
a five-year boycott of Shell gas stations in the 1990s. Nothing huge;
we’d just drive around until we found another station—and it was worth
the miles to make the point. Shell helped kill nine men in 1995 and today continues a 50-year tradition of pollution with abandon and corporate sponsorship of exploitation in the region.

Now that Royal Dutch/Shell is on the table, and Clinton has floated the notion of dismantling
OPEC entirely, Obama should ignore the "thrill factor" of this story
and instead use it to emphasize his (and Susan Rice's) committment to mending the
political and infrastructural ills in OPEC nations--which, as we know,
feed market instability and thus higher oil prices.

--Dayo Olopade

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8 comments

Any chance you could provide a link on that "ripple effects" quote?

- cspencef

May 6, 2008 at 12:50pm

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Nice post, Dayo. This smacks of someone piggybacking off of Obama's international celebrity status. Nigeria is one of all too many nations that are victims of the oil curse. Beware of what you ask for. Since independence, this country has been one large kleptocracy. "Mending the political and infrastructural ills" sounds good but nurturing that in Nigeria will be some task.

- liberal reformer

May 6, 2008 at 12:57pm

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Obama coddles Nigerian terrorists!

You read it here first.

Okay, bets are on: who will be the next to claim the Obama-Nigerian terrorist connection? McCain or Clinton?

I'd say McCain is better positioned, and needs to hurl the slur to keep up his rightish cred (maybe to divert attention from the didn't-vote-for-W flap). But Hill is number two with a bullet, so to speak, and craven-wise she's certainly on a roll...

- williamyard

May 6, 2008 at 12:59pm

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liberal reformer: "Political and infrastructural ills" is vague, I'll admit. But we really are talking about the basics: Nigeria reimports refined oil and processed sugar--though both commodities are overabundant in the country--because refineries built in the 1980s are in disrepair. The Nigerian Electrical Power Authority regularly cuts power, despite the abundance of fuel--leaving every family to buy a generator for itself, or burn kerosene. Two-lane byways in a city of 15 million is a recipe for injury and chaos. Politically unstable nations FIRST need efficient waterworks, electrification, city planning, road-building--all things Americans are quite good at providing. It's a formulation of the broken windows theory (and Susan Rice is a big proponent). I, too, think a light team of US diplomats and engineers, with training and a mandate, could do a lot of good, and stave off autocratic and terror-friendly behavior.

- Dayo Olopade

May 6, 2008 at 1:29pm

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williamyard, unfortunately, you're probably right.

Reuters: "Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama....  'The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem,' the militant group said in an e-mailed statement."

VRWC: " 'Obama is someone we...hold in high esteem," says militant group.  A vote for Obama is a vote for terrorists!"

- bigfish

May 6, 2008 at 2:35pm

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"As a Nigerian, the whole thing recalls my family’s conduct of something like a five-year boycott of Shell gas stations in the 1990s."

Ah. I'm too timid to inquire about an individual's name, i.e. what nationality or ethnicity I might associate it with. I play a guessing game with myself until the time I may discover the true answer. For example, Dayo, I had stopped pondering your name recently, but something nagged and wouldn't let go. So, I'm excited to learn that you are Nigerian since it's been more than a couple of decades since my last first-hand acquaintance with  Nigerians and picked up the sound and spelling of their names. Nice to be reminded and re-connect in imagination, like a piece of my former life falling into place.  

Tom Gossard

tomeg

- tomeg

May 6, 2008 at 2:40pm

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Thanks for the eloquent reply, Dayo. I am big on infrastructure, myself. Bringing more power, water and roads to the populace is not only humane but is a prerequisite for further development. Interesting thought - internationalizing the broken windows theory of George Kelling and James Q. Wilson. Nigeria is a nation of broken windows and one aches for a better life for more people in this populous nation. I recall with great sadness - 13 years ago, if memory serves - the execution of Ken Saro - Wiwa. Keep up your superb posts.

- liberal reformer

May 6, 2008 at 2:43pm

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Stop the presses, errrr, server! Looks like another violent fringe group has come out in support of Obama:Some bizarre news from the Reuters wire: Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were

- Anonymous

May 6, 2008 at 3:27pm

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