Re: the end to oil wars

[a.sommer@mail.utexas.edu]

You are absolutley right.  It is clear that industrialized nations' dependency 
on oil hinders them in many ways.  Primarily, it affects their ability to make 
just foreign policy decisions.  Too many times has it been oil that is the 
determining factor of US foreign policy in the Middle East.  What would our 
world look like today if we didn't base monumental decisions regarding 
conflict in this region on the energy variable?  How many third-world nations 
would be able to feed their populations if given technologies for self-
sustaining energies like solar and wind power?  

The oil industry is entirely built on a preponderance of power that forbids 
smaller and less industrialized nations from gaining any clout in the global 
market. It is no wonder that time after time nations in the middle east have 
turned to nationalism and defensive policy measures in the face of such an 
imbalanced and hegemonic system.  

If we are truly concerned with "free" and democratic markets, we should invest 
in research of energy technologies that do not condemn the weak and strengthen 
the powerful.  We should invest in energy development that gives everyone an 
equal opportunity to build an industrialized and environmentally conscious 
energy system.

It is clear that this cannot happen within the next 30 years; but we need to 
begin SERIOUS research and investment in this sector to prepare for the 
future.  It is true that there is a great divide between the amount of 
resources devoted to hydrocarbons versus that devoted to sustainable energy 
development.  Even the leading figures in this effort are far behind where we 
should be right now.  The question remains:  how do we provide incentive for 
financial investment in and serious research and widespread development of 
these technologies?  This will not happen as long as the leaders of the oil 
market continue to make decisions in a myopic and overly self-interested 
fashion.