Here in India, the headline editorial in many papers and magazines is the Thomas L. Friedman piece from last week entitled, "Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave". (See the original from NY TIMES at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/opinion/22friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

)

In that piece, Friedman holds nothing back and appears to almost totally jump into the Impeach Bush-Cheney camp by the title alone. He paints George W. Bush as Addict-In-Chief when it comes to promoting America dependence on fossil fuels instead of supporting the H.R. 6049 - "The Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008", before it lapses at the end of this year:

Friedman state's clearly, "It's as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: 'C'mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe. I promise, next year, we'll all go straight. I'll even put a wind turbine on my presidential library. But for now, give me one more pop from that drill, please, baby. Just one more transfusion of that sweet offshore crude.'"

Other words which Friedman aptly puts into George W. Bush's mouth include, "Oil is poisoning our climate and our geopolitics, and here is how we're going to break our addiction: We're going to set a floor price of $4.50 a gallon for gasoline and $100 a barrel for oil. And that floor price is going to trigger massive investments in renewable energy - particularly wind, solar panels and solar thermal. And we're also going to go on a crash program to dramatically increase energy efficiency, to drive conservation to a whole new level and to build more nuclear power. And I want every Democrat and every Republican to join me in this endeavor."

In another of his personal epiphanies, Friedman makes it clear: "It is hard for me to find the words to express what a massive, fraudulent, pathetic excuse for an energy policy this is. But it gets better. The president actually had the gall to set a deadline for this drug deal."

Some Indian newspapers have also recently noted that the 6 GCC states, primarily oil exporting states and all situated in the Persian Gulf, have now soaked up 95 trillion dollars in the last few decades. Hummmmm, let us see how many houses could have been fitted with wind, solar or other alternative renewable energy sources!

At least, Dictator-for-Life Mugabe hasn't increased the price of petroleum and increase poppy field production in Afghanistan, i.e. by freeing opium warlords. (See: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/421/conundrum.shtml )