Michael Klare Blood And Oil Summary

In our society, oil is one of the core requirements. Whether it is to drive from a point A to a point B or to fly between distant countries, oil always had a fundamental impact on our civilization. Its impact is felt, on a daily basis and under many aspects. Not a day goes by without hearing about the Brent's changing undulation, on the markets in New York or London. Some have thought that the desire to gain control of Iran's oil resources was the core of the CIA's intervention in that country, in the 1950s. In recent years, it was considered, by left-wing groups, that the war in Iraq was based upon an attempt of foreign control over the Iraqi petroleum resources. Even though both events have an unquestioned place

There are many arguments for and against the United States major reliance in foreign oil. Over the years with the vast improvements and technological advances in the petroleum industry, the United States has been able to become increasingly self-sufficient, drastically decreasing its reliance on the import on foreign oil. In Michael Klare’s Book, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of Americas Growing Dependency on Imported Oils (2004) he states that,

As CorpWatch puts it: “As we hurtle into the twenty-first century, oil is still King. But it

War is always something awful that can have horrible consequences for the country where the war is and for the people that are living there. Steven Lyons has created a poster to comment on the Gulf War that was in 1990 between Iraq and Kuwait. In fact, the painter loves to work with nature, so it was important for him to create this poster, and he shared his piece of art about the war. He liked the nature of Kuwait; therefore, he wanted to stop the war. The war was called the Gulf War and there was much dissuasion why the war started. The two most real ones were “defending Kuwait’s freedom and the second one was defending oil resource” ("The Graphic Imperative."). As a result, in that time Kuwait had oil resources that were needed to be kept safe. Also, the president of Iraq wanted the oil and when he didn’t get it, he started to burn the oil. The poster was used in the demonstrations to stop the war and stop the oil burn. The full name of

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 used many of the same arguments as the British did years earlier – but both were instances of disguised imperialism by self-determination. The conflicts shown in the Middle East today still stem from control of oil, and these will likely continue as long as industrialized nations attempt to maintain control of the oil reserves in less developed areas of the

As is evident throughout US history, our dependence on foreign oil continued into the 1990s and once again it created conflict. Turmoil in the Middle East threatened the supply of oil once again.

Being at the centre of global economic activities, the U.S. has had its own fair share of oil price shocks. However, it did not just accept or try to change or distort the market forces behind oil prices. Rather, it sought to influence them by making supreme the goal of energy independence. It also intensified diplomatic efforts and negotiations to this end.

It is believed that the only reason America is at war with Iraq is to make sure that petroleum is guaranteed to be imported into the country. Most of the everyday products being used by our society are produced solely from petroleum. Our civilization typically doesn’t understand the risk that goes into keeping our nation as a whole, content. Whether it be, our military fighting, for a so-called “freedom,” or the 162,000 employed in the oil and gas industry in America, sacrifices are being made. There are many that believe, that our military is

The United States is the largest import of oil, which produces over 10 million barrels of oil each day. That a lot of oil that they are producing in my opinion. As the years have passed by we have gotten oil for our foreign country this happen in the Gulf War. We also need oil from other countries so in all reality we have to reserve all the oil that we get and make sure we keep up the rapport that we have with the other countries in order to keep the United States out of finically situations. In all we have to be safe about who we deal with and how we react, because we don’t want to cause any infractions with other people or countries and then have to pay for what we have done. “Even as Saudi Arabia diverges from U.S. foreign policy objectives

In August 1990, a great threat was before the United States as Saddam Hussein was rallying his army to storm Kuwait. The threat was a major problem since “Kuwait was a major supplier of oil.” (ushistory.org) Hussein was not only hostile towards Kuwait, but he was also threatening Saudi Arabia. (ushistory.org) Just like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia is also a major oil supplier to the United States. If Iraq took control of both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Iraq would control one fifth of the world’s oil supply. (ushistory.org) “This will not stand,” said former President George Bush, speaking on the orders of Saddam Hussein, dictator of Iraq, to send his army into Kuwait. Without the effects of operation desert shield, desert storm air, and desert storm land attacks, the Persian Gulf War would have been very different.

The most dangerous investment that the United States supports is the investment with the Middle East. The United States obtains the majority of its oil from a trade agreement between them and countries in the Middle East. The Middle East produces a quarter of world oil supplies, it holds between two-thirds and three-quarters of all known oil reserves. For that reason, the United States and the West side of the globe have continued to define the region as being vitally important. Because of the area being so important, the United States continues to send troops overseas to protect this worldwide hot-spot location. It is both unsafe and vastly expensive to continue sending dedicated citizens to defend an area of the world that wants to go to war with them. Not only is it dangerous for the people who are risking their lives, but it is also putting the United States economy in danger as well. "Maintaining the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf costs upward of $60 billion a year." (Telhami, Shibley. "The Persian Gulf: Understanding the American Oil Strategy | Brookings Institution." Brookings. Brookings, 28 July 2016. Web. 25 May 2017.) Instead of endangering the lives of our own people, the United States could be drilling oil from right below several different states within its own country. The U.S. holds more oil reserves than any other country in the world, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela. It is estimated that the United States holds 264 billion barrels of oil. That total exceeds the 256 billion barrels found in Russia, and the 212 billion barrels located in Saudi Arabia. By using their own resources, the United States could save billions of dollars per year and save the lives of many citizens who are defending foreign investments in one of the most dangerous parts of the

For decades, the United States and fellow western nations have been heavily involved with and invested in the Middle East. Geographically, the Middle East region contains a large percentage of the industrialized world’s most prized resource, oil. Throughout this time, the United States has participated in Gulf War I, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern Watch, Operation Northern Watch, and numerous other contingencies and operations. Most recently, the region fell further into turmoil with the civil unrest and uprising in Syria, the formation of ISIS, and the injection of influence from competing world superpowers. Within this latest conflict, the United States government faces significant challenges to vital national interests due to the high geopolitical stakes in the region.

What the U.S. grand strategy should strive for is to conserve primacy as the leader in a monopolar world-order. Consequently, the U.S. energy independence affords it the flexibility to not only cut ties with Middle Eastern oil supply but compete directly with it. Oil imported from Canada or extracted by fracking the Marcellus shale within the U.S. provides a more reliable and secure supply than oil from the Middle East. Oil exports from North America could reduce European reliance on Russian oil supplies. This would strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) ability to contain Russian expansionism into Eastern Europe and preserve the monopolar status quo ante; however the U.S. is exhibiting signs of losing its ability to maintain

Although completely unreported by the U.S. media and government, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is in large part an oil currency war. One of the core reasons for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves. The second coalescing factor that is driving the Iraq war is the quiet acknowledgement by respected oil geologists and possibly this administration is the impending phenomenon known as

The United States has been involved in the affairs of the Middle East for decades and they’ve had various reasons for being there, whether it was to wage war or to prevent outside influence that would undermine their own influence in the region, it always seemed to revolve around one thing: oil. As we all know, oil is a very profitable resource and it’s a huge part of many nations’ economies and because this is the case many wars are fought over this black liquid. The U.S. is no different in that they did just about anything to maintain their access to Middle East oil. As a result, United States actions in the Middle East today has been formed through the decades long desire for their oil.