Product Description
Just Business Just War is the behind-the-scenes account of the tumultuous upheavals in the oil industry between 1995-2002 as industry seeks to gain access to vital petroleum resources overseas. Since the Iran revolution in 1979, Thomas Collins had worked in the oil industry helping it expand its reach at home and abroad. Thriving in the rough and tumble of the corporate environment, Collins believed as an article of faith that the abundant production and distribution of oil in an emerging free market held the key to peace and prosperity. But the world oil markets changed after the end of the Cold War. The U.S. oil industry, once dominated by the American companies of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, struggled to re-vitalize itself in a world where 90 percent of the world’s petroleum was in the hands of a few state oil companies – more than half of whom were run by regimes hostile to the U.S. and its allies. Downsized out of his career at Mobil, Collins joined an Australian oil company seeking to ally itself with industry efforts in Washington, D.C. Collins chronicles the political efforts of the oil industry, which included future U.S. vice president Dick Cheney, to persuade U.S. lawmakers about the need for open markets in the global oil business. Everything changed after September 11, 2001 when Americans realized other forces needed to be resolved before a free market could flourish. Collins details how the oil industry in D.C. absorbed the meaning and motives of these attacks. This adversary was not part of any democratic process to fashion a peaceful future; this was an enemy pledged to destroy liberty, the foundation for global economic growth. Moreover, all would have to come to grips with the knowledge that this enemy had emerged because of free people’s demand for more -- of everything.
About the Author
R. Thomas Collins has worked in journalism and public affairs for more than 30 years, as a reporter, lobbyist and oil industry manager. Collins has been a writer and editor for hire, written several novels and currently edits the blog Quillnews.com.
