Iraq, oil, and politics

I bet you're going to be hearing a lot of this in the coming days, so let me give you a heads-up now: according to the BBC, the IEA has said that Iraq is now producing more oil than before the 2003 invasion. This may be the case. But I would also draw your attention to the last line of the story: "The Paris-based IEA represents the world's largest oil consuming nations." I am not saying the results are falsified - I don't believe anyone over there would do that. They may, however, have been carefully chosen.

Heads Up: The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a directorate of the OECD. It's a Part 2 directorate like many others. Although the member nations of the IEA differ slightly from those of the OECD (http://www.iea.org/about/membercountries.asp) and although it claims to be "an autonomous agency linked with the OECD" it does not represent nations in the same way that the OECD does not represent nations. It gathers and publishes information the same way the OECD does. If the IEA has become biased... then so has the OECD. That would be pretty sad for lots of us... you worked at the OECD once upon a time and so did I... I also worked at the IEA from about 1988 through 1990 or 1991...

That's interesting - I knew they were affiliated, but I was under the impression it was a very loose affiliation - conversations I'd had with others gave me the impression they were more open to influence from member states than the OECD proper. I'm glad to hear you think that isn't the case.