A Dangerous Transfer of Wealth
By Douglas Farah
The Washington Post had a provocative article on the massive redistribution of oil wealth the new, record prices for oil, is causing.
The reality of shifting resources from one section of the world to another is not unusual, although this shift is the largest in history. Nor is it necessarily a bad thing for new countries to experience the bounty of controlling a vital natural resource. But what is disturbing about it is that it is mostly benefiting countries that wish to do us harm.
Our inability to wean ourselves from foreign oil has long been providing the financing for groups and countries that want to eliminate us, including terrorist organizations fed from the oil-rich nations. Former CIA director R. James Woolsey has been trying to drive that point home for years. The irony of financing our own destruction seems lost on most policy makers.
Even if one does not buy into the ecological stakes in the need to slash our oil consumption, the national security reasons should be compelling, and yet no one in this election year, Democrats or Republicans, is making that case. And the current administration certainly has not.
In short, we are delivering a $700 billion (at least, as prices are still rising) to the following nations: Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela. The implications are profound, and an orchestrated response by us is years away. My full blog is here.