Wars for oil

I am a pacifist. I deplore war and murder of innocents wherever it occurs. While the situation in both Gaza and the Ukraine is utterly heartbreaking sometimes I feel the need to dig a little deeper than the horrific images and consider the undercurrents that lie beneath both these conflicts.  

Oil reserves in Gaza

“Talaat, founder and director of MENAFem Movement for Economic, Development, and Ecological Justice, which approaches the climate crisis in the Middle East-North Africa region through a feminist lens. “This genocide is about oil.”

Both off the coast and beneath the occupied lands of Palestine, over 3 billion barrels of oil are estimated to exist, according to a 2019 U.N. report. These numbers don’t even include the gas potential in Palestine. The Levant Basin, which sits in the Mediterranean, is estimated to have some 1.7 billion barrels of oil while over 1.5 billion barrels are estimated to lie beneath the occupied West Bank area… 

Though the U.S. is reportedly pushing Israel to allow Palestinians to profit and build an independent energy system from offshore gas post-war, under Israeli occupation, Palestinians cannot drill for oil and gas. Many communities are not allowed to build out solar energy, either. Israel, on the other hand, hasn’t wasted time in claiming these dirty resources for itself. On October 29, its government approved 12 licenses for six companies to look for more gas fields offshore.”
https://atmos.earth/this-genocide-is-about-oil/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhen%20it%20comes%20to%20fossil,deeper%20here%2C%E2%80%9D%20Wakim%20said.

The war in Gaza is also linked to the colonialization of Palestine which, in turn, is further linked to oil.

“When it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the history is a long and complicated one mired in blood and dispossession. 

“The struggle is a very deep struggle that goes back to the colonial times,” said Jamal Wakim, a professor of history and international relations at Lebanese University.  

In 1882, Zionists built their first settlement in Palestine. This small group of Jewish people left Eastern Europe to build homes in what they declared their Holy Land. In 1882, the Jewish population in Palestine was 24,000. By 1914, it had expanded to 85,000. Early on, tensions rose between the two inhabitants of the land—one group Indigenous and the other settlers, both seeking community and safety.

The division and disagreement over the land only heightened after 1917 when Great Britain conquered Palestine and issued the Balfour Declaration, where the government boasted its support for a Jewish state in Palestine. The Holocaust and the genocide of some 6 million Jewish people further encouraged survivors to migrate to Palestine. Mass displacement of Palestinians quickly ensued in 1948—what Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic.

As all this persecution, forced migration, and war were taking place, world powers were also in search of a crucial commodity: oil. In 1908, imperial forces discovered oil in Iran. In 1927 came the discovery in Iraq. At the time, these oil reserves sat largely within British territories, but by the 1920s, the U.S. entered the Middle East oil scene. By the 1970s, a third of U.S. oil consumption came from the region. The fossil fuel industry’s roots run deep in the Middle East. “ (also from the article cited above)

The war in the Ukraine is also linked to oil.

“Ukraine has a century-long history of oil and gas production and possesses substantial conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon reserves, estimated at 9 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (Btoe). Natural gas reserves are estimated at 5.4 trillion cubic metres (tcm), with proven reserves of 1.1 tcm of natural gas, more than 400 million tonnes (Mt) of gas condensate and 850 Mt of oil reserves.” https://www.iea.org/reports/ukraine-energy-profile/energy-security

Knowing these facts it’s easy to see that Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine has to be linked to a desire to control the oil and gas reserves of the area. Following on this line of thinking it doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to see the tacit support of Israel from the US, British and Australian governments is driven by the desire to protect access to the oil and gas in the region. The same could be said for the military support these nations are providing for the Ukraine.

At odds with all of this is the fact that we must globally move away from fossil fuels. As long as we keep burning fossil fuels, we keep pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This leads to a carbon dioxide blanketing the Earth and trapping in warm air. This results in climate change and the devastating droughts, fires, floods and storms we are seeing at present.   

IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT

The global desire to combat climate change lessens the desire to burn fossil fuels.
Moving out of an oil economy means no more wars for oil.
The shadow puppet masters, the oil oligarchs lose power.
The move away from fossil fuels destablizes existing power structures.
The power, oil, military might nexus collapses.

There is a popular idea that if you can dream of something you can often work out ways to bring that dream into reality. Imagine if collectively we began to let ourselves dream of a world where positive change is possible and where people can co-operate and work together to create a better future for us all. It starts in individual hearts and minds but the change of consciousness can become global. 

Imagine what could happen if poets, artists and writers threw off the pervasive defeatist attitudes that keep so many oppressed at present and used their words, art and music to create visions of a better world.

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