New World Notes - The "Seven Sisters" and the Oil of the Middle East (First of 2 parts)

This week on New World Notes: radio program #273, May 28, 2013, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., host Kenneth Dowst looks at international oil politics.

The "Seven Sisters" was Big Oil. It was the cartel of huge private corporations that ended up owning almost all the oil in the Middle East. They stole and kept this treasure by hook and by crook, in violation of many laws, with help from corrupt monarchs abroad and muscle from the U.S. government, armed forces, and CIA.

We adapt to radio a new video documentary. This week, Part 1 takes us from the founding of the cartel in 1928 (by Standard Oil, Shell, and BP) to the creation of OPEC in 1960.

Of note this week: The story of how BP came to own all of the oil in Iran--and how, in 1953, Iran's parliament tried to regain control of the country's oil--and how the United States government responded by overthrowing Iran's democratic government and installing the Shah as dictator of Iran. (We then gave Iran's oil to US-based oil companies, not back to BP.)

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "aegis") of WWUH-FM, a community service of the University of Hartford.

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Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

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