Paul Krugman, in a New York Times column Wednesday (Sept. 26) insists that, "this
is not a war on behalf of the oil companies; it's not even a war on behalf of
S.U.V.'s and McMansions." The coming oil war, says Krugman, is over a natural
resource that is more vital than any corporation's profits or anyone's luxurious
consumption. Oil, argues Krugman, is a national priority. "It's true that
oil is part of the backstory to the terrorist attack," concedes Krugman.
And oil is a "flashpoint" on the strategic field before us. But Krugman
asks us not to bicker amongst ourselves about whose oil is at stake, because everyone
needs it now. Krugman is getting ready for war, and he urges a unified war effort.
So the war is not about elite oil, says Krugman, it's about our oil. If this is
a war about my oil, however, there are a few questions I want to ask. First of
all, I want to know at what point did it become an oil war? I heard it was a war
for freedom, then a war against terrorism, and later a war for justice. Now Krugman
assures me this is a war about my oil. Second, I want to know why this war was
declared within a week of the announcement that Chevron and Texaco had been cleared
for merger by the Federal Trade Commission. "ChevronTexaco will have a combined
enterprise market value of more than $100 billion, assets of $83 billion, net
proved reserves of 11.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), daily production
of 2.7 million BOE and operations throughout the world," boasts the press
release of Sept. 7. Among the global assets counted in the ChevronTexaco merger
is a 45 percent interest in 9 billion barrels of reserves in the Tengiz oil field
of Kazakhstan, not very far from Afghanistan. ExxonMobil owns a 25 percent interest
in the Tengiz field, bringing total US shares to 70 percent of the recoverable
reserves. The Center for Public Integrity reports the area has been of longstanding
interest to Vice President Dick Cheney who once served on the Kazakhstan Oil Advisory
Board, along with executives from Chevron and Texaco. As the reflexes of US power
flex toward Central Asia during this national emergency, I want to be clear about
the interests that direct them. If this is an oil war, why don't they tell us?
Third, I want to know if the rapid transformation of this war into an oil war
is connected to the fact that Afghanistan's outlaw government has been blocking
plans for a pipeline that would move Central Asia's oil and gas to the coast of
the Arabian Sea. According to a Department of Energy report that was posted on
the web in December, 2000: "Afghanistan's significance from an energy standpoint
stems from its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and
natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea." But Afghanistan's
potential as a pipeline country lies unfulfilled. As the DOE report explains,
"Unocal had previously stressed that the Centgas pipeline project would not
proceed until an internationally recognized government was in place in Afghanistan."
"Besides the gas pipeline," says the DOE report, "Unocal also had
considered building a 1,000-mile, 1-million barrel-per-day (bbl/d) capacity oil
pipeline that would link Chardzou, Turkmenistan to Pakistan's Arabian Sea Coast
via Afghanistan. Since the Chardzou refinery is already linked to Russia's Western
Siberian oil fields, this line could provide a possible alternative export route
for regional oil production from the Caspian Sea. The $2.5-billion pipeline is
known as the Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project. For a variety of reasons, including
high political risk and security concerns, however, financing for this project
remains highly uncertain." For the moment, I have one more question to ask.
I want to know why a top American defense official meeting with NATO defense ministers
earlier this week was unable to say who has been identified as mastermind of the
World Trade Center massacre of Sept. 11. This puzzles me, because the top defense
minister in the United States has been telling me for nearly two weeks that he
knows who is behind the attack and that he has evidence in hand. This is the same
evidence, presumably, that will soon be used to justify our new war for oil. Our
President warned us that the war to come would be a different kind of war, but
I wonder. Indeed, as Paul Krugman has been helpful to warn us, this war is beginning
to look like an old-fashioned war for oil. See peace links at: http://911.gregmoses.net
greg.moses@marist.edu Philosophy Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 http://philosophy.gregmoses.net
845-575-3000 x2217