Chad Threatens World Bank With Oil Cut-Off

Source: AP News via Forbes

Chad: Give us our $125 million in frozen assets or we'll shut down our pipeline. World Bank: Screw you.
The world: *collective sigh* Time for gas prices to go up again.

Chad threatened Saturday to cut off its flow of oil unless the World Bank releases $125 million frozen in a dispute over how the central African country should spend its oil revenues.

The announcement followed a late-night meeting between President Idriss Deby and his Cabinet ministers to discuss their response to a rebel attack on the capital. The rebels were repulsed but are believed to be regrouping nearby, and the threat of a violent overthrow of Deby's government has not diminished. The government presumably wants the frozen funds to finance its fight against the rebels.

Oil Minister Mahmat Hassan Nasser told the Associated Press that the World Bank in January froze an escrow account with $125 million in oil royalties in London, where the royalties are deposited on behalf of the government. Without payment, the government would have to shut down the pipeline that flows through Cameroon to an Atlantic Ocean oil terminal, he said.

"Chad has the right to do this," the oil minister told the AP. "The government has the right to act as its sees fit if obligations are not met."

I honestly wish the country of Chad and the World Bank would take their squabbling somewhere else.

It seems the new weapon of choice is oil, not nukes. Those who control the oil and its distribution have all the power. They are the major players in the world economy.

The world as a whole is now a slave to the black crude coming out of the ground.

We all get to sit on the sidelines and be innocent victims while these wealthy, greedy people play with our wallets.

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