Is the next war only about oil?

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sadegh
by sadegh
14-Apr-2008
 

Joe Lauria's article in The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com) is trenchant yet simple; what can I say other than it pinpoints the real motivations driving Bush-Cheney et al to push for their next imperial disaster. Here are some excerpts:

"World civilization is based on oil. The world is running out of oil. The oil companies and governments are not telling the truth about how close we are to the end. Dick Cheney knew about peak oil back in 1999 when he spoke to the London Petroleum Institute as Halliburton CEO. He predicted it would come in 2010. After that it's just a matter of years before it runs out. Whoever controls the remaining oil determines who lives and who dies.

Sixty percent of this oil is under a triangular area of the Middle East the size of Kansas. In that speech Cheney said: "The Middle East with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies."

"It's been known for at least thirty years that America needs alternative energy sources. But instead of an alternative energy plan we got the invasion of Iraq by oilmen wedded to a dying business, willing to kill hundreds of thousands to cling to the last drop. The US is never leaving the region or withdrawing from Iraq. McCain is right about staying, but 100 years is too long. The oil won't last that long.

Iran is next. Lieberman set up Petraeus to testify last week that Iranian-backed groups are murdering hundreds of American servicemen in Iraq. On Friday Gates called Iran's influence in Iraq "malign" and Bush said if Iran keeps meddling in Iraq "then we'll deal with them." They are building their case for war with resolutions in the Senate and at the UN. It's only western Iran, from the Iraq border to 150 miles inside the country that the U.S. will have to occupy. That's where Iran's oil is. But the U.S. will have a nasty battle on their hands in Iran even if they restore a Shah-like puppet in Tehran 30 years after the revolution. The Saudis would not mind seeing the Iranian regime go. But the Saudis may also be on the list. The US may have to destabilize and control Saudi Arabia some day too. The Wall Street Journal a few years ago revealed that in the 1970s under Nixon, Kissinger had plans drawn up for the US invasion and occupation of the Saudi oil fields. Those plans can be dusted off.

The American oil wars are being launched out of weakness, not strength. The American economy is teetering and without control of the remaining oil it will collapse. There will be massive chaos in any case, when only enough oil remains for the American elite and whomever they choose to share it with.

That will leave an oil-starved China and India, both with nuclear weapons, with no alternative but to bow to America or go to war.

It's not about greed any more. It's about survival. Because the leadership of this country was initially too greedy to switch from oil to solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable alternatives, it may now be too late. Had the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into the invasion and occupation of Iraq been put into alternative energy the world might have had a fighting chance. Now that is far from certain.

What is certain is that these wars are not about democracy. They are not about WMD. The coming one will not even be about Iran's nuclear weapons project. It's about the oil, stupid."



//www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-lauria/the-coming-war-with-iran_b_96428.html
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Mehdi

It's about control

by Mehdi on

Controlling anything that has a limited supply, is controlling the world. It doesn't make much difference what exactly is the item.


sadegh

Good point. And in addition

by sadegh on

Good point. And in addition to that arable land, soil etc..., and afterwards oxygen in all probability!  It's a crazy situation. I think the author gets the important point across that soon it's going to be a matter of survival rather than just plain colonialism. Who controls the oil, gas and water reserves will literally decide who lives and who dies. For the moment however I think that oil is absolutely essential as far as the western world and developing economies such as China and India are concerned, because without it their present rapid rates of economic growth will be irreparably stunted. This is why Cheney et al deem it necessary to grab as much as possible and as quickly as they can while still in office.


n.zanincanadai

Actually, you may want to

by n.zanincanadai on

Actually, you may want to put water on top of your list too. Water is being quietly privatized in many nations without most of us knowing. And contracts are being drawn up over import and export of water. Some countries have a lot. Others are stuck in the middle. The next world war will be over water.

Oil is an old thing. We are living through the world war over oil. How many nations are in Afghanistan securing the building of the pipelines??? How many are in Iraq? How many nations have a hand in Venezuela? How many are getting ready to use Canada's unexploited areas? We are already in this mess. The next one is over water.