The story is all about Oil

Oil is at the center of geopolitical unrest in the Middle East and the world. In Iran, Iraq, Syria, even as far as Venezuela and the South China Sea, this valuable commodity was the reason behind civil wars, conflicts, political instability and military coups. During WWII, Germany lost major and decisive battles because of petroleum products shortage. Two elements contributed to Germany being defeated on the eastern front, the weather and the lack of fuel supplies for its war machine. Politics is one side of the coin; however, the economy is the other. Americans experience fuel rationing and economic hardship because of the Arab oil embryo during the 1973 war. The rise in oil prices after 1973 embryo slow down the growth of the economy in countries like Germany and Japan. The oil used as a weapon against the Soviet Union during the 1980s and start a chain of events ended in the fall of Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of the Warsaw Pact.

Countries like the U.S, Japan and China is sensitive to the fluctuations in oil prices. The U.S consumes 20% of world oil production, Japan is a pure oil importer with no domestic production, and China depends on importing oil from countries like Venezuela and try to supplement its energy needs with coal and nuclear energy. We need to keep in mind that controlling oil supplies could be translated into political influence. Claims that the U.S will shift to a net exporter of oil by 2020 means major changes on the geopolitical scene worldwide.

During 1953, American and British staged a military coup against Iran popular prime minister, Mohammed Mossadeq. They accused him of being a communist because he nationalized the oil industry in Iran after western oil corporation refused to negotiate better terms with the government. Democratically elected Mossadeq was replaced by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi which ruled Iran with the iron fist, aided by Western-trained and armed security forces called “the Savak.” Democracy and human rights are the least of the western power interest. Meanwhile, securing energy supplies is their priority. Saddam Hussein was toppled after military intervention in 2003. He crossed the red line by selling the Iraqi oil priced in Euro, not American Dollar. Was Saddam Hussein a dictatorship? Yes, he was. Nobody denies that fact. However, the U.S is famous for hanging out with bloody regimes, Augusto Pinochet is one example among many others.

No doubt, Oil is an all-time champion of political and economic turmoils around the world. News that the Syrian coastal area contained huge reserves of Oil and Gas wasn’t a surprise for experts in the regional geopolitics. South China sea contains Oil reserves estimated over 7 billion barrels and 2.66 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The background of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is all about energy supplies, Oil and Gas. The status of the American Dollar as world reserve currency depends on Oil sales in the Dollar, not any other currency. Conflicts and civil wars in Africa funded by the plunder of diamond and other natural resources. However, Oil remains on the top of the list. Nigeria political unrest and ethnic war are its natural resources especially Oil. Moreover, when it’s about the Oil supplies, it’s about securing Oil pipelines and sea passage for Oil tankers.

End

 

The story still about Oil...Oil...Oil

 

Oil is now our life blood, just like food. So what if we protect our life blood?

 

Maybe the reason oil is important is because we would not be a modern civilization without oil

 

Without diesel or gasoline or aviation fuel or natural gas we would have to farm with horses or steam or electric or humans. That mode could not produce enough crops to feed the world. We have to choose -- oil and food or no oil and starvation. Do you need time to think?

 

And we are currently in the process of moving away from oil towards renewables for power generation and electric powered vehicles.

 

IIRC Mossadeq while he might've been democratically elected (once) he was far from the generally accepted idea of a "democratic leader".

 

You know modern society is not and will never be able to power electric vehicles without power generated by fossil fuels.

Unless there is a massive, wholesale embrace of nuclear power.

 

Yeah, and I remember when Jimmy Carter had some solar panels installed on the White House. If you want to live in the stone age with AOC, be my guest. We won't be off oil and gas for hundreds of years.

 

Too many people think electricity just comes from a receptacle in their wall. Too many people believe the propaganda that oil is bad. Burning oil is clean, just like the smoke from the crematories.

 

To understand unrest in the middle east related to the US, you can go back to the Barbary Wars. Once our young nation was left to fend for itself, Barbary Pirates began attacking our shipping. We were interested in entrepreneurship and trade, they were interested in theft, slavery and ransom. They were also interested in recruiting new adherents and were very intolerant of those who didn't throw in with them. They share many traits with present day Democrats in this country. Why shouldn't they share alot in common?! Muhammad was a 7th Century rendition of Karl Marx.

Unrest in the Middle East began in the 7th Century and spread across the region, across northern Africa, and into Europe before being stopped at Tours. It will never completely disappear.

 

Excellent history lesson. Too bad we don't teach world history in school any longer.

 

It is, isn't it.

 

Yes, wouldn't it be great if history was properly taught so that certified internet scholars didn't have to rely on right wing chain emails.

 

Nonsense!

Wind power alone could provide 5 times the current GLOBAL need for electricity.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...wind-windfarm-power-exceed-electricity-demand

 

America achieves the seemingly impossible: find common ground with Marxist and Liberal political economy. Foreign policy based around resource exploitation is straight from Engels' link between imperialism and militarism. The methods to achieve that, Liberal's military industrial complex, is focused on the blurring of the private and public sectors.

The result is detrimental to the foreign population (they're often dead) and US population (they pay for the bloated military sector). However, its ignored. The media, as shown by Venezuela, are finely tuned to produce the jingoism needed for a servile electorate...

 

No, self delusion from those who want to vilify the US.

 

Yet another comparison of a tiny city state to a nation the size of a continent (United States).

Things don't work that way in real life.

 

Don't tell them.


They don't want to hear it. For the Parochial right wing, the way it used to be is inevitably the way it always must be.

Second, renewables will change the geopolitical picture and make the politics of oil far less important than it has been.

China knows that, which is why they are light years ahead of us in investment in alternatives and storage.

The country that wins the race to renwables and storage wins the future.

Right now, the US is in third place and falling behind.

And that is the official policy of the Trump Administration.

 

They damn sure did before the era of big oil..

 

Denmark is a NATION, not a "tiny city state"!

But thanks for nullifying your own position.

 

I don't doubt that keeping the oil flowing is a partial explanation for US Military existence in the Mid East but Trump has openly stated that US Troops are stationed where they are is "...for Israel".


"TRUMP: U.S. TROOPS WILL REMAIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR ISRAEL"
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Trump-US-troops-will-remain-in-the-Middle-East-for-Israel-572997

 

Really? How much of the population lives beyond the Copenhagen metropolitan area?

 

Remember that the United States was fighting Muslims in the Middle East MORE THAN 100 YEARS....BEFORE Israel was founded or the first oil well in the world was ever drilled.

 

65% according to Google!