Resource wars and their geopolitical impacts

¶ … played a dominant role in other countries' local conflicts because of our interest in the petroleum resources of these countries. The U.S. has been at the center of heated internal political debates in Iran. For example, the U.S. sided with the Shah, and when the Shah was overthrown, there was a great backlash against us. In addition, the U.S. has been involved in conflicts in Mexico over oil. Currently, our country is involved in a resource war in Colombia, which is as much about oil as it is about drugs.

According to the Secretary of State for the U.S., Alexander Haig, the efforts by the Soviet Union to extend its influence in Africa were the beginning rounds of a "resource war" aimed at the United States and its industrial allies. Haig was particularly concerned about cobalt and manganese, for which the U.S. is 100% dependent on imports. Most comes from USSR and Africa..."America thus has a vital interest in the survival of South Africa as a Western ally." "It is hardly coincidental that African nations that contain the greatest reserves of strategic minerals also abound in Russian, East German and Cuban military personnel...we are in a war, whether guns are being fired or not." (Knight, Behr, 1981)

The U.S. has viewed oil, along with other national resources, as a national security for a very long time. Because the demand for natural resources is so high and the U.S. relies so much on imported oil and other resources, resource wars will undoubtedly be an important part of U.S. affairs. The U.S. has organized its foreign and military policies so much around the protection of oil and other natural resources that it often gets us involved in other countries' affairs, which turn into turbulent resource wars.

The U.S. government has been blatant about its role in resource wars. The oil embargo placed on the U.S. By OPEC in the early 1970s provoked the Americans into making it clear that they were prepared to go to war in order to secure supplies. President Carter, at that time, issued a clear warning that any attempt to gain control of the Persian Gulf would lead to war, saying that it be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States.

The conflict in Afghanistan is an excellent example of how the United States plays a dominant role in resource wars. The United States aims to dominate the resources of the Persian Gulf. Afghanistan itself is only marginally related to resource conflicts.

The U.S. Council on Economics and National Security has recently stated, "America's economic well-being and its national security are both threatened by the increasing inability of the U.S. And the West in general to guarantee access to the energy and non-fuel mineral resources upon which our industrial economy is built... We may be entering an era that some future historian will call 'the resource war'. (CENS)

This war was actually started in Saudi Arabia, through ploys by anti-government extremists like Osama bin Laden to overthrow the royal family and install a more doctrinaire Islamic regime. Due to the fact that Saudi Arabia is the world's leading oil producer, the United States would suffer if it allowed these extremists to overthrow the Saudi regime. This is why the U.S. is so involved with the war, which is obviously, for us, a resource war.

Extremists like bin Laden are a threat to U.S. interests because the U.S. currently enjoys a privileged relationship with the Saudi Arabic royal family and an excellent position in regards to Saudi oil supplies, in terms of both the access to oil and the pricing of oil.

The Saudi government provides prices on resources at a level that do not produce a heavy burden to the U.S. economy. If the U.S. allowed extremists to take over, the U.S. might be denied access to Saudi oil or push prices up, producing a negative economic situation for the U.S., and hurting our economy.

As long as The U.S. uses a great deal of oil and we want to persuade local politics in other countries to be friendly to serving our need for resources. It is crucial to the U.S. that local governments are agreeable in supplying the U.S. with a great deal of energy at low prices.

For this reason, the U.S. must play a dominant role in all local politics. Therefore, The U.S. often gets involved in resource wars where there are many pre-existing divisions, such as religious, ethnic and political problems that have nothing to do with our country. The U.S. is forced to take sides and becomes the center of conflicts, such as the Afghanistan war.

In Nations in Conflict, the authors say their most important finding is that domestic growth is a strong determinant of national expansion and that this results in competition between nations and war. (Choucri, North)