William Knox D’Arcy

William Knox D’Arcy was born in England on the 11th of October, 1849. He was the son of a local solicitor, studied law as a youngster, and then moved to Australia with his family. There he joined his father’s new law business and waited for opportunity to knock.

Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar was the fifth Qajar King of Iran. He inherited a bankrupt Iran that was quickly deteriorating due to his predecessor’s financial debts to Russia and Britain. He didn’t do much to reverse the situation but instead spent the remaining money on luxuries and trips to foreign lands.

The Morgan brothers, Fredrick, Thomas, and Edwin, were the sons of an Englishman whose death sentence was pardoned and was instead exiled to Australia for stealing some cloth from a tailor. Thomas and Edwin Morgan grew up to become prospectors. They were hunting for silver when Edwin veered off course and decided to swing his pick at a boulder. The boulder chipped and the insides gleamed. Edwin Morgan had discovered gold.

Excited about their find as they were, the Morgan brothers were unable to raise enough capital to fully exploit their find. They needed to raise capital and they were referred to the manager of the Queensland Bank and a solicitor, William Knox D’Arcy. Together they raised 2000 pounds and then formed a syndicate to develop the mine.

D’Arcy looking sharp

The tale of the Morgan brothers ends at this point because they decided to pull out of the venture in 1884. After the mine started up, they decided to sell their shares and made a very decent 100,000 pound profit. However, the tale of D’Arcy just begins at this point. Using all his knowledge of the law, he was able to ward off claim-jumpers who tried to move in on the mine. After substantial legal battles, he was able to establish the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co. with one million one pound shares. Shortly afterwards, the prices of the shares shot up and he became a millionaire.

Realizing that he had gained all he could in Australia, D’Arcy sold his law business and returned to England to fulfill his social ambitions. There he lived a life of luxury, living in mansions and traveling around Europe. His accomplishments were known to many members of the upper echelon of society and was soon approached by the British government to persuade him to take on another mining challenge. He was asked to find oil in Persia. Running low on cash due to his lavish lifestyle, D’Arcy accepted the challenge.

Mozaffar Al-Din Shah Qajar

Meanwhile, Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar had recently borrowed more money from the Russian Czars in order to visit France. He bought the cinematographe technology from the French and brought it back to Iran so he could show the movies to his poor servants. His rich life style, and lack of revenue was quite a burden on his bank account so he was always on the look out for a source of funding. This source of funding soon arrived at his door step in the form of an emissary sent by William D’Arcy. The Shah was offered 10,000 pounds cash for complete rights to “search for, obtain, exploit, develop, render suitable for trade, carry away and sell natural gas, petroleum, asphalt and ozokerite throughout the extent of the Persian Empire with the exception of five Northern provinces” for sixty years. Mozaffar accepted the deal.

This was the start of British Petroleum. In 1908, seven years after the D’Arcy Concession, huge oil reserves were eventually found in Iran and D’Arcy once again made an enormous fortune. This event was the big bang that set off a domino effect in modern history:

* The large source of oil fueled the British Military and helped determine the outcome of World War 1.
* Russian and Iranian diplomatic ties suffered because they wanted Oil concessions as well
* Russia and Britain invaded Iran during World War 2 to secure Oil reserves and supply routes
* Prime Minister Haj Ali Razmara was assassinated because he wanted to renew oil concessions to British Petroleum
* Prime Minister Mossadegh was made prime minister and he nationalized Irani oil reserves
* Britain and the United States successfully over threw the Mossadegh government using the CIA
* British Petroleum was once again granted access to Irani oil reserves by the replacement autocratic leader of Iran
* British Petroleum continued to operate until the Islamic Revolution in 1979 when religious hardliner, Ayatollah Khomeini, took control of the government by force and took complete control over all of BP’s assets in Iran and ejected BP from the country.
* Iran wants payments in Euro rather than dollars for their oil

The future of Iran is unknown but if we use history as a guide then it seems very likely that there will be many attempts by many groups to control the oil reserves for their own interests.

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Knox_D’Arcy
• http://www.dukeswoodoilmuseum.co.uk/british_petroleum.htm
• http://www.mountmorgan.com/dArcy.html
• http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9000243/D’Arcy,%20William%20Knox
• http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080230b.htm
• http://www.mininghall.com/minerals/people/database/details.htm?id=d_arcyw
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Iranian_Oil_Company
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzafar_al-Din_Shah_Qajar
• http://www.mountmorgan.com/morganBros.html
• http://persepolis.free.fr/iran/history/qajar.html
• http://www.parstimes.com/history/anglo_soviet_invasion.html
• http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article1263954.ece
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Razmara

My grandmother’s neighbour died yesterday when the trucks were bombed in Achrafieh.
She died of fright when the explosion rocked her home.

What a night… God what a night. The number of times I sat up to look out the window expecting to see a red glow in the sky… I didn’t get nearly enough sleep. I’ll nap later.

I briefly glimpsed at the news this morning to find out what the bombing was that kept us up all night, and found out a new block of the southern suburb had been knocked down, and that in the south the IDF had penetrated the territory, waged a full-fledge battle against HA, and taken Marun al Ras. Further than that, I don’t want to read anymore. It’s Sunday. I’d like to pretend it’s a regular one. Yeah right.

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All Kinds of Writings (Israeli Blogger)

Then the explosions. One after another. I couldn’t count as some of them fell together. But I figured it was more than 10.
A few of them were very close. One especially. Car alarms went off from that blast. And I’m eerily calm. Is it possible I’m getting used to this? Can anyone get used to this?

Nine sirens today as Hezbollah’s making sure we stay fit with going up and down the stairs.

My mom was nodding off and the siren scared her so she nearly fainted. She’s fine now.

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Beirut Beltway ( Lebanese Blogger )

More than a week after the Israeli attack began, Lebanon is being destroyed, Hizbullah remains intact. Many Lebanese businesses and factories are counting their immense losses, wondering what they did to Israel, and how destroying their plants and businesses can lead to lasting peace in the region. The Israeli Air Force has failed to stop the rocket attacks on Israeli cities, as evidenced by the attack on Haifa today. This vindicates those of us who argued that the disproportionate and blind Israeli attack can
only empower Hizbullah, and certainly not increased security for Israel.

The defenseless civilians in the south and other areas have no shelters to protect them, and no roads to use to flee the destruction. Hizbullah forgot to build shelters when it imposed its infamous “defense strategy”, and Israel couldn’t care less.

As for Bush. He has never seen a dead baby with a hole in his back.

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Israellycool ( Israeli Blogger )

I’m back, after a relaxing Sabbath break from the news. Well, as relaxing as you can expect with a war going on in the northern and southern parts of your country, some of your friends and acquaintances called away for reserve duty, and the uncertainty as to what news will greet you when you log on to the computer next.

As I am typing this, I hear the roar of airplanes flying past my house. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for my fellow Israelis who are having to grow accustomed to the sound of warning sirens, Katushas landing, and ambulances wailing.

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Lebanon Heart Blogs ( Lebanese Bloggers )

It is shame, and it gives you a snap shot of what will happen if Hezbollah wins… the end of Democracy, the end of freedom of press and the end of Lebanon. Some of you will bombard me with comments saying look at Israel it is destroying Lebanon and killing its people, and if Hezbollah loses then we will be humiliated. That might be true. But this is reality and reality sucks. Nothing is totally black or white. All is gray and dripping with blood. Both prospects of this war are a nightmare; there is no solution
that benefits us, the people of Lebanon. Everything benefits some external power. Iran or the USA. Israel or Syria. Our country is once more the battle ground for foreign powers using internal pawns. No matter who wins, Lebanon will lose!

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Israeli Bunker ( Israeli Blogger )

11AM, I just want to sleep. A siren unsurprisingly starts, you knew it would. Well maybe this time I won’t go down, come on what are the odds. Fine, even if we do get hit, that’s the only way you are getting me out of this bed.

One minute later, down in the bunker where few people came down. In the distance you hear a faint boom, you’ve heard booms in the past one or twice. Then again, boom, louder. 1,2,3, BOOM, BOOM. 1,2, Boom. (Those booms better stop getting louder, on the last two you could feel the vibration from the wall). Boom, they are getting fainter now. Final boom in the distance.

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Lebanese Political Journal ( Lebanese Blogger )

There is a massive anti-US and Israel demonstration going on in Damascus, right now.

They are waving Syrian, Palestian, and Hezbollah flags. They are holding up pictures of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Not a Lebanese flag in sight. No mention of Lebanon’s legitimate government.

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http://codedemigod.com/blog ( Lebanese )

Also today, a Syrian diplomat( Faysal Al-Meqdad, i forgot what his title was) announced that Syria is prepared to help in controlling the war in Lebanon if the US would promise that it would help in other problematic areas in the middle east, pointing to the occupied Golan Heights. Well, now it seems more clear why all of this started, doesn’t it?

[ Link ] Thank you fdemmer

More coming soon!

NPR News is presenting this special series on the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to bring context and perspective to the story, and to help listeners understand the complex situation in the Mideast, the history, and the consequences of the confrontation. To accomplish this, NPR has gone to leading historians of the region to document the deep and conflicting roots of today’s Middle East.  

Zionism emerged as the political movement to create a Jewish state. Herzl brought his followers together in the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland, in 1897, to formulate the movement’s goals and strategies. Herzl had little interest in the Arabs who lived in Palestine, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

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Spotted an oasis in the middle of a war zone this morning — a beautiful Havana cigar shop in downtown Beirut.

I’m keen to stock up — but I don’t think it’ll be opening for business any time soon.

However, if an Israeli missle lands nearby and blows the windows out it’s within easy looting distance!

and I thought my job was demanding,

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Google Blogoscoped as attempted to find out the list of censored words on Google. The writer wrote a script that fed about 27,000 to Google and returned a list that returned the infamous “According to local laws and policies some search results are not showing” sentence.

Some strange words in that list though.

“Tooth”?

“is”?

“belly”?

The list does not have the word “Freedom” in it though. Strange, because that’s one of the words that caught the attention of the US news media the most.

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In the next few days, the House of Representatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentally alter the Internet. That bill, and one that may come up for a key vote in the Senate in the next few weeks, would give the big phone and cable companies the power to pick and choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build a two-tiered system and block the on-ramps for those who can’t pay.

Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight. Please call your representative (202-224-3121) and let your voice be heard.

Thanks for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt

[ VISIT the page and find out what you can do to save the Internet ]

The Internet thanks you

Why are the protesting?

The iTunes policies are too restrictive. This protest is to spread awareness about these restrictions. Most people believe that once they buy music from iTunes they can use it in any way. They probably believe that they can move it to a non-Apple music player with out any problems but that is not the case. In order to do so you would have to either dump out all your iTunes content and buy CDs and then transfer them to your other devices or you’d have to go through alternate routes which are probably illegal.

Furthermore, Apple reserves the right to make the restrictions even tighter at any time in the future. BoingBoing.net posted an example of just that. They have also decreased the number of times a play list can be recorded from ten to seven. The songs that you download can only be played on five computers other wise the song will refuse to play at all.

Protect your rights. Consumers have the moolah. Research before you spend or you’ll end up supporting policies that may harm you in the future.

The demonstrations are being organized by the Free Software Foundation’s “Defective by Design” group.

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