|
The Russian Factor. What accounts for Russian President Putin's eagerness to
cooperate with the US? In a word, oil! Russia is the world's second largest
exporter of oil, behind Saudi Arabia. There are billions of dollars at stake,
along with the fact that the US must begin to find alternatives to its
dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Rather insanely, the US Congress is still
engaged in a debate over whether to tap the estimated 16 billion barrels of
oil in Alaska. This is the equivalent of never having to buy a single barrel
from the Saudis for the next thirty years!
Another factor in the Russian rapprochement is the simple fact that the Cold
War is over. A Russia that sits on top of vast reserves of oil can become a
capitalist paradise which is, as we all know, much better than a communist
one. The majority of Russian oil is exported via terminals in the Baltic Sea
and Black Sea. Another vehicle for export is the Druzhba pipeline that moves
oil to Europe. Without going into the details, oil, its development and
export, will transform Russia in this century.
Right now, OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is very
unhappy with Russia because it threatens their dominance. Russia is not an
OPEC member and finding ways to control it has become an obsession. Unless
they can, Russia's crude oil output could significantly reduce OPEC's
targeted range of US$22 to US$28 a barrel. Oil-savvy George W. Bush and his
Vice President, Richard Cheney, know this. Oh, what a friend we have in
Russia!
The UN Factor. Let us now begin to close the circle. The United States has
signaled it wants the United Nations to take the lead role in the
reconstruction of a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Why would we allow the same UN
extend its control over Afghanistan while we step aside? It is the smart move
in the short run. We can deal with the UN later.
The United Nations has always acted against US interests and is a hotbed of
anti-US opposition. It was the UN that tied our hands when we repulsed the
Iraqis, making it impossible to depose Saddam Hussein. So, what does the Bush
administration know that the ordinary citizen does not? Are we witnessing a
series of pragmatic diplomatic concessions or are we, in fact, just going
down the same path to failure we did in the 1990s? The latter would seem
unlikely because, surely, the son has learned from the father.
Ultimately, we need to finish the job of the Persian Gulf war. We need to
invade and take over Iraq. I predict we will. What is most needed in the
region is the power of the US to write history. We need to control Iraq,
threaten the other nations of the area with retribution if they fail to
cooperate, and literally drag the whole Middle East into the 2lst century.
The real prize is Baghdad. We will be there for at least a generation.
The widespread Muslim hatred for the West will simmer for years, but oil is a
commodity we want and need. Lowering our dependence on the Middle East is
quite likely driving every decision. Another factor involves getting control
over Pakistan's nuclear weapons capability. Let the Pakistanis rant in the
street, we have to protect ourselves and our real allies in the region, India
and Israel.
The real world is about energy. It is about the empire of oil. The religious
fanaticism that would block our access to it is tangential to this reality.
We have not been dealing with nation states in the Middle East, but with
"tribes that have flags."
OPEC & UN. Recently the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
has announced its intent to "develop strategies to trim potentially huge
financial losses that are expected to follow implementation of the Kyoto
Protocol on climate change." The Greens within the United Nations developed
this treaty. It is a treaty the Bush administration and the US Senate have
unanimously declared it will never support. It is aimed at destabilizing our
economy.
Despite this, many European and other nations have signed onto the treaty
and, in doing so, are committing an environmental form of economic suicide;
the kind that could drag down the United States despite our opposition. There
is already an incipient worldwide economic recession and this is all that is
needed to bring on a global Depression. OPEC has to be "persuaded" to back
off this proposal to cut back production.
The Empire of Oil. Few Americans know or understand just how dependent we are
on the free flow of oil, the development of our own resources, and
alternatives to Middle Eastern oil. In the US, oil consumption has risen from
20 million barrels a day in 1960 to 60 million a day in 1980. It stands at 75
million barrels a day today.
"Everything is reliant on oil-from the transportation sector to the
manufacturing," says Mark Baxter, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at
the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Two-thirds of
the oil we consume goes for transportation. Virtually everything Americans
purchase is delivered by trucks. Oil represents about 14% of airline
operating costs. Oil is the fundamental component of plastic. Everything from
packaging materials to pesticides to billiard balls is made from oil.
The primary target of the environmental movement has always been oil. That is
the underlying theme of its "sustainable development" propaganda and its
effort to reduce its use by proposing higher taxes on gasoline, demands for
more efficient automobile technology, and other uses.
It is the reason the Greens (and Democrats in Congress) remain opposed to
opening up the huge oil reserves known to exist in Alaska or tapping those
known to exist off the coasts of California, Florida, and other Gulf of
Mexico states. It is the reason that CARA, a bill that would permit the
purchase of large portions of the US landmass, is under consideration in
Congress, because it would restrict any further use of the oil, coal, timber
and mineral resources these lands represent. CARA is yet another Green attack
on our economic base.
The indisputable fact remains that the internal combustion engine in every
automobile in America today is pretty much the same one Henry Ford put in the
Model A. Our use of automobiles has transformed our entire way of life,
opening up suburbs around every major city, initiating the creation of
shopping malls, and freeing everyone to move about swiftly and efficiently.
Like the veil covering the face of a Muslim woman, the intense desire of
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and dozens of other Muslim terrorist groups to rid
the Middle East and the world of American influence hides the great economic
force at work that requires this nation to suppress any interference with our
access to oil. This in no way, however, diminishes the threat of worldwide
militant Islam.
Whether Islam continues or fails is the sideshow. The real game is a
civilization that has gone to the Moon, tapped into the human genome, that
can genetically modify crops to increase the world's wheat and grains without
cutting down another tree, a world in which we will all communicate via the
Internet. It is about a world that runs on coal, natural gas, but mostly,
mostly OIL!
Alan Caruba is the author of "The Pocket Guide to
Militant Islam", for sale from the Internet site of The National Anxiety
Center, a clearinghouse for information about scare campaigns at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Copyright, Alan Caruba, 2001
Published by permission.
|
