IT'S ALL ABOUT FOOD
If there is one thing that is probably the most tiresome aspect of the so called anti war ‘left’ is the constant refrain, more a high pitched whine, “It’s all about oil!” This blanket phrase, always given with a knowing worldly wise cynicism, suggestive that anyone who holds a more nuanced view is either naïve or stupid, is supposed to silence all argument.
Well, shock horror, the supply of oil is, or certainly should be a factor for any government charged with the welfare of its citizenry and those who go to demonstrations, some no doubt driving, who use their laptops and IPhone to twitter away and who take sandwiches to the demo made up of ingredients purchased from the local shop or even supermarket may be ignorant of the role that petroleum plays in all these aspects of their lives. Those who are aware are the truly cynical ones, those less aware may, I cynically suspect, be in no hurry to disabuse themselves.
Respecting Libya the more cynical route would have been to let Qaddafi run riot in Benghazi and re-establish both his hold over the country stabilising the oil market and renew the existing contracts for both oil and gas that the EU has already made with the Qaddafi clan. To do so would of course have been disgustingly immoral and truly ‘all about oil.’ There were however enough voices calling for non intervention to have given cover for this policy, but albeit slowly, and after China was compelled by their fear of alienating the Arab League into abstaining, the Western Powers moved to do the moral thing and prevent a massacre from taking place in Benghazi.
I suppose this is where the pertinent point ought to be raised, did oil form any part of this calculation? Well I doubt that it was wholly absent, however if it was not considered better to have Libya’s oil reserves in the hands of a democratic and open Libya than in the hands of a fanatical gangster family then it certainly ought to have been.
Have cynical considerations been shamefully made with respect to the supply of oil from such countries as Iran and Saudi Arabia, yes of course they have and we will live with the legacy of this trading of values for oil for a considerable time to come. Indeed some of these particular chickens are now coming home to roost. Still something is not nothing and the intervention in Libya may be a straw in the wind that the short sighted policy of cosying up to disgusting regimes such as Wahhabi Saudi Arabia may at last be coming under threat, that the Arab spring may be blowing chill winds through the foreign ministries of Europe and America. I am not naïve but choose always to travel hopefully, after all I have lived through the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the freeing of Nelson Mandela.
As to our would be radicals, stuck in traffic, listening to the radio and poo poohing that it’s all about oil, the next time they make this declaration try substituting the word food for oil and you get a better grasp of the nuances of the argument.
Well, shock horror, the supply of oil is, or certainly should be a factor for any government charged with the welfare of its citizenry and those who go to demonstrations, some no doubt driving, who use their laptops and IPhone to twitter away and who take sandwiches to the demo made up of ingredients purchased from the local shop or even supermarket may be ignorant of the role that petroleum plays in all these aspects of their lives. Those who are aware are the truly cynical ones, those less aware may, I cynically suspect, be in no hurry to disabuse themselves.
Respecting Libya the more cynical route would have been to let Qaddafi run riot in Benghazi and re-establish both his hold over the country stabilising the oil market and renew the existing contracts for both oil and gas that the EU has already made with the Qaddafi clan. To do so would of course have been disgustingly immoral and truly ‘all about oil.’ There were however enough voices calling for non intervention to have given cover for this policy, but albeit slowly, and after China was compelled by their fear of alienating the Arab League into abstaining, the Western Powers moved to do the moral thing and prevent a massacre from taking place in Benghazi.
I suppose this is where the pertinent point ought to be raised, did oil form any part of this calculation? Well I doubt that it was wholly absent, however if it was not considered better to have Libya’s oil reserves in the hands of a democratic and open Libya than in the hands of a fanatical gangster family then it certainly ought to have been.
Have cynical considerations been shamefully made with respect to the supply of oil from such countries as Iran and Saudi Arabia, yes of course they have and we will live with the legacy of this trading of values for oil for a considerable time to come. Indeed some of these particular chickens are now coming home to roost. Still something is not nothing and the intervention in Libya may be a straw in the wind that the short sighted policy of cosying up to disgusting regimes such as Wahhabi Saudi Arabia may at last be coming under threat, that the Arab spring may be blowing chill winds through the foreign ministries of Europe and America. I am not naïve but choose always to travel hopefully, after all I have lived through the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the freeing of Nelson Mandela.
As to our would be radicals, stuck in traffic, listening to the radio and poo poohing that it’s all about oil, the next time they make this declaration try substituting the word food for oil and you get a better grasp of the nuances of the argument.
