When a butterfly flaps its wings... There can be no doubt at this point that the U.S. is pursuing its national interests with its ongoing involvement in Iraq, and part of the question for those in the higher echelons of the government becomes how to make this pursuit seem legitimate on the home front. And, as has been done since time immemorial, a big part of that legitimacy comes from invoking the threat of the enemy, which, in its current guise, has come to be known as “the war on terror.” The corollary lesson that history teaches us is that the creation of that legitimacy is inevitably one side of a double standard (the side that the public comes to identify with); the other side usually involves the more insidious pursuit of the “national interest.”
These days, it comes as no surprise to most that the current “national interest” of the U.S. involvement in Iraq lies in tightening its grip on the Middle Eastern arena in order to secure access to what are in fact some of the largest remaining reserves of oil left on the planet. If there were no oil there, the U.S. would likely pay as much attention to the region as it currently does to the Congo (1). The fact is, the world’s superpower has started to jones for the stuff, and the net effect of America trying to satisfy its addiction could very well be devastating for the rest of the world, not to mention its own citizens.
A recent case in point is Katrina. Because the refineries that convert oil to gas are stretched to capacity (the U.S. has not built any new refineries since 1976) (2), any temporary halt in production is bound to ripple, perhaps even tear through, the economy. The result? Gas prices shoot through the roof, and as always, it is the consumer who is left to foot the bill. The delicacy of this situation brings to mind the infamous butterfly in chaos theory, who by fluttering its wings of the coast of Africa causes the formation of a hurricane halfway across the world in the Caribbean.
The point is that with U.S. oil refinery production stretched tight, with demand for black gold at an all time high, that Americans, who consume ¼ of the world’s oil, are not likely to make significant changes in their lives that would reduce oil consumption and dependence. As a result, we are headed for an impasse, and recent events, such as the ones mentioned here, are only symptoms of a larger impending problem. America’s pursuits in Iraq and the Middle East may avert that impasse for several decades, but those pursuits will not ultimately solve, nor do they even address, the more fundamental issue that is at stake here, which can be keenly summarized in what David Korten has coined the “cowboys in a spaceship” mentality (3).
Countering current trends by taking up such issues as sustainability, increasing the efficacy of the “local”, creating and nurturing alternatives to corporate-based media, exposing the myths of neoliberalism for what they are, reducing the power of corporations to pursue their interests scot-free by increasingly placing their power beyond the borders on any one nation-state, for example-these are the challenges that lay before us. If the myth of limitless growth, consumption, and the pursuit of profit continues unabated, the entire system will collapse in on itself, and as history has shown, it will be those who have benefited the least from “progress” that will suffer the most; indeed, the reality is that those who benefit the least are suffering the most, despite claims to the contrary by those who herald the glory of free markets and that “rising tide that will lift all boats”. Maybe this popular euphemism for globalization should be changed to something like, “The rising tide that will lift all boats, (whispered) that is, if you are privileged enough to afford one…"
These days, it comes as no surprise to most that the current “national interest” of the U.S. involvement in Iraq lies in tightening its grip on the Middle Eastern arena in order to secure access to what are in fact some of the largest remaining reserves of oil left on the planet. If there were no oil there, the U.S. would likely pay as much attention to the region as it currently does to the Congo (1). The fact is, the world’s superpower has started to jones for the stuff, and the net effect of America trying to satisfy its addiction could very well be devastating for the rest of the world, not to mention its own citizens.
A recent case in point is Katrina. Because the refineries that convert oil to gas are stretched to capacity (the U.S. has not built any new refineries since 1976) (2), any temporary halt in production is bound to ripple, perhaps even tear through, the economy. The result? Gas prices shoot through the roof, and as always, it is the consumer who is left to foot the bill. The delicacy of this situation brings to mind the infamous butterfly in chaos theory, who by fluttering its wings of the coast of Africa causes the formation of a hurricane halfway across the world in the Caribbean.
The point is that with U.S. oil refinery production stretched tight, with demand for black gold at an all time high, that Americans, who consume ¼ of the world’s oil, are not likely to make significant changes in their lives that would reduce oil consumption and dependence. As a result, we are headed for an impasse, and recent events, such as the ones mentioned here, are only symptoms of a larger impending problem. America’s pursuits in Iraq and the Middle East may avert that impasse for several decades, but those pursuits will not ultimately solve, nor do they even address, the more fundamental issue that is at stake here, which can be keenly summarized in what David Korten has coined the “cowboys in a spaceship” mentality (3).
Countering current trends by taking up such issues as sustainability, increasing the efficacy of the “local”, creating and nurturing alternatives to corporate-based media, exposing the myths of neoliberalism for what they are, reducing the power of corporations to pursue their interests scot-free by increasingly placing their power beyond the borders on any one nation-state, for example-these are the challenges that lay before us. If the myth of limitless growth, consumption, and the pursuit of profit continues unabated, the entire system will collapse in on itself, and as history has shown, it will be those who have benefited the least from “progress” that will suffer the most; indeed, the reality is that those who benefit the least are suffering the most, despite claims to the contrary by those who herald the glory of free markets and that “rising tide that will lift all boats”. Maybe this popular euphemism for globalization should be changed to something like, “The rising tide that will lift all boats, (whispered) that is, if you are privileged enough to afford one…"
~ Suvian Quilmann
(1) see Noam Chomsky, Distorted Morality (DVD)
(2) see The New Yorker, September 26, 2005, “The Financial Page”, p.74
(3) see David Korten’s When Corporations Rule the World.