World War 3: A Natural Resource War

R.F. Goggin, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Politicians in America, talk a good game, of course. I mean let’s face it, if they hope to be any good at what they do, then every word out their mouths in a public setting, at least, had better be calculated carefully ahead of time for maximum political effect and the avoidance of undesirable repercussions.

Therefore, as a result of the frightful and fateful day September 11th, 2001, all of us living in the U.S. have naturally been exposed to a variety of not so straight shooting; often times, ridiculously patronizing ‘political’ talk, via our federally elected representatives.

Personally, I recall chuckling initially over how the ‘war on terror’ propaganda machine was kicked off, upon hearing George W. Bush declare that terrorists hate our freedom in the United States. My reaction was due at the time (while still an equally irrelevant misnomer to me today, should I try to imagine a human being hating the idea of freedom) to my brain, simply refusing to wrap itself around such a ridiculously shallow idea. Even the worst dictators known to man, one could reasonably imagine, have always liked the idea of their own personal liberties or self-determination.

Terrorist plotters in the Middle East, particularly, may likely not care much for Spiderman or Batman films; Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants – or Lady Gaga, etc, presumably invading their respective cultures, but the thought of our ‘freedoms’ in America has obviously little to no effect on someone residing thousands of miles away from us.

Look at it this way, how often does a U.S. terrorist strike out at communist China or North Korea, because of hatred for their social structure or lack of freedom?

Even from the moment of the collapse of the twin towers in New York City, the United States has hardly been in some war on terror in distant nations to protect the citizens of the American Homeland.

And if you care to insist it otherwise to me, then I will only suggest to you that what we have been doing militarily overseas since 9/11, is merely a prelude to our ultimate objective. This is the gist of my argument herein, and the sooner this realization is established in the minds of Americans in general, then the better off we’ll all truly be. The so-called war on terror is not a war at all; it’s more alike to the pre-emptive ramblings of fascist dictatorship.

Nowadays, when I weigh the thought of a rogue theocracy armed with nuclear weapon potential — in the form of Iran — unleashing hell on Earth, although the scenario troubles me somewhat, I nonetheless find the situation the epitome of self-motivating reasons for America to once again act militarily in order to secure the most important thing conceivable to any world superpower these days . . . .

Yes indeed, you guessed it, oil.

If the world economy were to collapse tomorrow, or a thermonuclear war were to erupt (for whatever reasons) — both of which are far more possible than something even more devastating, such as an unforeseen asteroid barreling into our planet from above, then with the advent of any such catastrophic event, the only thing which will retain its value or skyrocket in demand other than the natural resource we call gold, will be oil. Consequently, any nation possessing a military force with insufficient access to the necessary petroleum needed in the midst of some worldwide crisis or conflict, is basically destined to end up a sitting, sort of dead duck, so to speak, in the grand scheme of things.

Under such conditions, if one were to take a moment to subtract the substance known as oil, from the list of American interests abroad, they would inevitably theorize that the U.S. would not have gone into Kuwait under George H.W. Bush, for example, to protect that nation from Saddam Hussein – nor, subsequently, would have invaded Iraq via George W. Bush. One might also be quick to understand that the pretexts provided for these military operations; such as protecting human rights (freedom from tyranny), or from weapons of mass destruction, were only there to make something other than America’s willingness to protect its oil supply, appear a nobly conceived motivation for military aggression. In retrospect to such events, it would amount to a tragic absurdity to my mind for one not to consider that both the commanders and chiefs of Desert Shield and Desert Storm (along with some of their underlings) had personal financial interests in a burgeoning oil industry to exploit.

In our present time, a Chinese military general has recently expressed to a media outlet within China an outrageous notion that his country would be willing to protect Iran from American aggression, even with a third world war. How much bearing does Iran being integral to China’s oil supply, one might wonder, have to do with such a statement?

Russia — also with significant petroleum interest and ties to Iran — has only just found it necessary to dispatch naval vessels to the coast of Syria, supposedly, in reaction to the current popular uprising there, as war drums in the region steadily rumble. Prior to a recent departure for a state visit to China, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s undisputed leader, reportedly found it necessary to caution his military generals to prepare for ‘Armageddon’. One can only hope that the man was joking. Yet, if so, with American warships also currently being dispatched to the Middle East, it’s difficult for me to manage a meek smile at Putin’s thought. More significantly, it is widely believed by those in a position to know, that Russia and China have recently put aside all their diplomatic differences in order to forge a kind of unity in preparation for whatever it is that may lie ahead with respect to both Syria and Iran.

That a third world war over natural resources — the most likely culprit being oil — could very well spell the beginning of the end of the human species, doesn’t seem such a remote possibility anymore to me. But despite the thought, I can’t help but conclude that the most serious threat to the security of the people of the United States at this point in time, happens to be the very same thing that Adolph Hitler used to unify Germany during his terrible reign on this planet.

Nationalism.

Indeed, watch out for this woeful beast, because you may not recognize it immediately; it is rather akin to animal hysteria in its purest form. However, for my own part, I simply will not allow politicians in Washington D.C. to get that deeply into my head by appealing to such a base sort of human instinct, come hell, high water or what may. Sheep, free souls were not meant to be. I say this, not only because it is worthy to consider, but also due to the fact that those who seek to invoke such things upon an American, also seek their own quite separate personal ends and/or profit in doing so.

Although I love the United States of America — a country every bit as much my own as it is someone like Newt Gingrich’s, Mitt Romney’s or Barak Obama’s — I honestly must say that I take very little pride in being an American these days. And a declaration as such, hardly of course makes me unpatriotic or ungrateful to be a U.S. citizen in any way, shape or form. As far as I am concerned, I feel the opposite in effect. With American military drones – buzzing around incidentally killing civilian non-combatants of poor nations in far off places — with the Patriot Act and Department of Homeland Security curtailing the U.S. Constitution by systematically squelching the civil liberties of U.S. citizens; with mega-American and multi-national corporations employing slave labor and dictating the flow of human development on this planet, how is it not possible that one can only come to the perfectly natural conclusion that in the 21st century, America the beautiful seems to have somehow lost her way.

R.F. Goggin – is the editor of The New World Reporter, where he is a contributing author.