Michael T. Klare, defense correspondent at
The Nation, is professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. Among other books in his 40-year publishing career, he has written
Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. His latest effort,
The Race for What’s Left, will be published next year. He
writes:
Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy “chokepoint” could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk. With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch — the Geo-Energy Era — in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs. In 2012 and beyond, energy and conflict will be bound ever more tightly together, lending increasing importance to the key geographical flashpoints in our resource-constrained world.
Michael T. Klare
Take the Strait of Hormuz, already making headlines and shaking energy markets as 2012 begins. Connecting the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, it lacks imposing geographical features like the Rock of Gibraltar or the Golden Gate Bridge. In an energy-conscious world, however, it may possess greater strategic significance than any passageway on the planet. Every day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, tankers carrying some 17 million barrels of oil — representing 20% of the world’s daily supply — pass through this vital artery.
So last month, when a senior Iranian official threatened to block the strait in response to Washington’s tough new economic sanctions, oil prices instantly soared. While the U.S. military has vowed to keep the strait open, doubts about the safety of future oil shipments and worries about a potentially unending, nerve-jangling crisis involving Washington, Tehran, and Tel Aviv have energy experts predicting high oil prices for months to come, meaning further woes for a slowing global economy.
The Strait of Hormuz is, however, only one of several hot spots where energy, politics, and geography are likely to mix in dangerous ways in 2012 and beyond. Keep your eye as well on the East and South China Seas, the Caspian Sea basin, and an energy-rich Arctic that is losing its sea ice. In all of these places, countries are disputing control over the production and transportation of energy, and arguing about national boundaries and/or rights of passage. ...
While in Australia, President Obama also announced the establishment of a new U.S. base at Darwin on that country’s northern coast, as well as expanded military ties with Indonesia and the Philippines. In January, the president similarly placed special emphasis on projecting U.S. power in the region when he went to the Pentagon to discuss changes in the American military posture in the world.
Beijing will undoubtedly take its own set of steps, no less belligerent, to protect its growing interests in the South China Sea. Where this will lead remains, of course, unknown. After the Strait of Hormuz, however, the South China Sea may be the global energy chokepoint where small mistakes or provocations could lead to bigger confrontations in 2012 and beyond. ...
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2010:
Lately, there are days when I both amuse and worry myself in weird turns about the "housekeeping" I think I should do before I die. Like, "whose spoons are these in my dinnerware drawer" or "to whom do I return that lasagna tray" before I kick off. "What neighbor did I borrow this tool from, and does he still remember I have it?"
Alternately, I worry about the garage. That cavernous monster down below with dead relative detritus and old clothes bound for Goodwill and broken furniture for which I simply need to buy a dowel to repair.
I’ve got the will done – just need to finalize and sign it. The Advanced Care Directive is in place at the hospital, with my kids, and in the hands of my attorney. I’ve got car titles established so that there is a legitimate right of survivorship should I go more quickly than I expect.
At fifty-one, these are good tasks to finish. But what have I forgotten to do (except willfully, as in the case of the garage)? It’s a bit like watching Pitch Black in 3-D and realizing that you are the one without the light, there’s no one to advise you, and the screaming critters are just over the hill. You think there’s more light, but you can’t remember where it is. No Riddick with night vision. The damn ship has left the planet. ...
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