by Lloyd Bradford Syke

BP is now an inviolable sovereign state. Not even the mighty US can transgress its borders. The latter must rest on assurances the former is doing everything in its power to arrest its massive oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico, in the same way it relies heavily on the pretence of the word of states formerly occupying the status of shareholders in the axis of evil, like Iran and North Korea. But how long can a war of words suffice, while BP’s invasion continues? Surely diplomacy must yield to military action, sooner or later. Why would the US permit a stinking oil company poison its waters, in effect perpetrating a corporate 9/11, when any such attempt by a foreign political power would be met with abrupt force?

While mainstream media outlets talk up ‘heightened pressure’, BP calmly asserts its “the largest ever mobilised” hyperbole. Janet Napolitano’s all urge, while BP’s slow to purge. The warning flags have been raised, with united states of emergency. Florida & Louisiana governors, Charlie Crist & Bobby Jindal, have declared it so, the EPA is preparing for “the worst“. The worst is reproductive failure and likely death of countless birds, wholesale (and retail) destruction of oyster beds, shrimp and fish nurseries, and long-term health and economic implications for the human species. There’s even talk BP might environmentally outdo the Exxon-Valdez disaster of a couple of decades back. There’s one for Guinness! More than eleven million gallons of crude in the Mexican gulf? Now that’s what I call slick. And crude.

Economically, we’re talking bigger than Hurricane Katrina. It’s offensive and utterly unacceptable that the world’s fourth biggest company, in a category that makes the most money of any, can’t muster the resources to bring a result of its negligence to quicker resolution. It has the resources to muster practically any and every technology and almost unlimited manpower; whatever it takes. It’s a question of will and sincerity. In the first six months of last year, even amidst a global economic downturn, BP made $17 billion in clear profit. The year before, the world’s biggest companies caused $2.2 trillion worth of environmental damage. Meanwhile, BP has been instrumental in pioneering the notion of corporate social responsibility, one of the first into the fray in bolstering feelgood marketing equity by that very means.

Seems to me it’s high time we sharply curbed reliance on big oil, not only to mitigate against carbon emissions, but also to help ensure the destruction of dastardly, disingenuous corporations who choose not to honour their responsibilities and obligations. While we’re at it, let’s ensure we don’t vote in weak-willed, hypocritical government representatives, who fail to see red when companies so deep in the black commit blue murder.