The Peak Of The Oil Wars - 16

Shining light on the source

I. Background

About thirteen years ago, concerning "all things oil wars", a blog post on Dredd Blog contained this observation: "we noted how strange it would be if Iraq became the number one producer of oil in the world, as expected by Lloyd's of London and others." (The Peak Of The Oil Wars - 3).

A few days ago this came out on a blog that focuses on all things oil: "Iraq Takes First Step Towards Becoming The World’s Biggest Oil Producer", and the writer of that post who is competent in that subject matter went on to clearly point out this:

"As analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order, not only could this be done with relative ease by Iraq but it could also easily be the precursor to further oil production increases to 13 million barrels per day (bpd) if handled correctly. This would make Iraq the biggest oil producer in the world."

(Oil Price, July 11, 2023, emphasis added). Thus, this Dredd Blog series has "struck oil" once again during its years-long exposé on a major cause of wars, including the Iraq war:

Long before politicians mewled helplessly about the power of “Big Oil”, carbon-based fuels were shaping our very political, legal, intellectual, and physical structures.
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For instance, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a pivotal moment in America’s strategic outlook. America, a global hegemon whose empire was weakening, seized the second largest oil deposits in the world as a way of preventing its economic and political decline.
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The last declining global hegemon, Great Britain, also engaged in a brutal and highly controversial British occupation of Iraq, in the 1920s, pressed aggressively by the well-known British conservative, Winston Churchill.

(Book Review of Carbon Democracy, emphasis added). Following the advent of the industrial revolution circa 1750 and thereafter petroleum's emergence, war fused with economy:

"Dredd Blog has pointed out that the wars which are devastating the U.S. middle class but radically increasing the wealth of MOMCOM's one-percenter elites were and are being fought for oil."

(The Peak Of The Oil Wars). That is something that has been, for some years now, on the media and government "don't mention this" list.

II. More Recently

In another post in this series we mentioned the tip of the iceberg of the ongoing Ukraine oil war phase:

"When Russia seized Crimea in March, it acquired not just the Crimean landmass but also a maritime zone more than three times its size with the rights to underwater resources potentially worth trillions of dollars.

Russia portrayed the takeover as reclamation of its rightful territory, drawing no attention to the oil and gas rush that had recently been heating up in the Black Sea. But the move also extended Russia’s maritime boundaries, quietly giving Russia dominion over vast oil and gas reserves while dealing a crippling blow to Ukraine’s hopes for energy independence.

Russia did so under an international accord that gives nations sovereignty over areas up to 230 miles from their shorelines. It had tried, unsuccessfully, to gain access to energy resources in the same territory in a pact with Ukraine less than two years earlier."

(The Peak Of The Oil Wars - 10). Now, almost ten years later, the political forces of NATO are adding countries to their membership that border Russia, and the military hardware of NATO countries are somewhat cautiously making their way into Ukrainian hands.

This is the typical threat-posturing that has been going on for over a hundred years in the slow moving suicide machinations of current civilization's oil wars.

Wars which originated on, under, or about the soil of Persia a century or so ago.

III. Closing Comments

I don't expect the oil wars to subside, except on the shallow awareness surface where like in the past century it is shaded by the common propaganda:

"THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Edward L. Bernays

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons — a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty [now 320] million — who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
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It is the purpose of this book to explain the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and to tell how it is manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. It will attempt at the same time to find the due place in the modern democratic scheme for this new propaganda and to suggest its gradually evolving code of ethics and practice."

(Propaganda, by Edward L. Bernays, emphasis added). Old Fast Eddie totally believed in propaganda, and was not all "don't ask don't tell" in the closet about it (he is, therefore, "affectionately" called The Father of Spin).

He and his intellectual descendants still have our heads spinning, but it "wouldn't do to say" that (Chomsky, Hansen PDF).

The previous post in this series is here.

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