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Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum (American Empire Project) Paperback – August 1, 2005
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In his pathbreaking Resource Wars, world security expert Michael Klare alerted us to the role of resources in conflicts in the post-cold-war world. Now, in Blood and Oil, he concentrates on a single precious commodity, petroleum, while issuing a warning to the United States―its most powerful, and most dependent, global consumer.
Since September 11 and the commencement of the "war on terror," the world's attention has been focused on the relationship between U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the oceans of crude oil that lie beneath the region's soil. Klare traces oil's impact on international affairs since World War II, revealing its influence on the Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Carter doctrines. He shows how America's own wells are drying up as our demand increases; by 2010 the United States will need to import 60 percent of its oil. And since most of this supply will have to come from chronically unstable, often violently anti-American zones―the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, Latin America, and Africa―our dependency is bound to lead to recurrent military involvement.
With clarity and urgency, Blood and Oil delineates the United States' predicament and cautions that it is time to change our energy policies, before we spend the next decades paying for oil with blood.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateAugust 1, 2005
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.67 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100805079386
- ISBN-13978-0805079388
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“A thoughtful and well-researched history of oil and geopolitics . . . Mr. Klare provides a service when he puts America's close ties with Saudi Arabia in a historical context.” ―The Economist
“A steady poli-sci elaboration of U.S. foreign policy of the past 60 years as viewed through the lens of oil . . . [Blood and Oil] is elaborately sourced [and] dismayingly convincing.” ―Lisa Margonelli, San Francisco Chronicle
“Michael Klare's Blood and Oil is the best book among the recent outpouring of studies on oil and world affairs. I am using it in three classes this semester. Indeed, it is a model of how to research and write contemporary history. Carefully researched, convincingly argued, and clearly written, it shows how oil's role in American society and politics influences U.S. relations with the rest of the world. Blood and Oil is essential reading for anyone concerned about the sources and dynamics of U.S. foreign policy.” ―David Painter, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
“Donald Rumsfeld famously declared that the Iraq War 'has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.' Nonsense, demonstrates Michael Klare, in Blood and Oil, a compelling new assessment of America's bet on Middle Eastern oil as the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Klare's mastery of the interplay of natural resources and conflict is unrivaled, and his new study is timely and vitally important.” ―Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University
“Blood and Oil throws into sharp relief the political and social dimensions of the most important problem of our times. Reasoned and readable, it sketches out the terrible consequences of our nation's immense and growing addiction to petroleum. This is an important book.” ―David Goodstein, author of Out of Gas
“You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist or a Michael Moore enthusiast to think that Donald Rumsfeld and his colleagues in the Bush administration are being disingenuous when they declare that the war in Iraq is not about oil . . . Klare, a professor of peace and world-security studies at Hampshire College and defense correspondent for The Nation, suggests that the United States has never resolved the inherent tension between our need for assured supplies of petroleum to keep the economy cooking and our growing reliance on overseas sources of that oil, especially from areas, like the Persian Gulf, that have a long and continuing history of instability . . . But the questions [raised in this book] transcend approval or disapproval of any one administration, and go to the core of whether any country can--purposefully and without vast disruptions--make the transition from an economy dependent on one finite resource to an economy based on renewable, nonpolluting resources . . . [Klare notes that] such a transition would be difficult in the best of times, and that these are not the best of times . . . Klare [also argues that] the Bush administration's war on terrorism, the impulse of its neoconservative supporters to spread 'democracy' to the Middle East, and our desperate need for stable supplies of oil have merged into a single strategy--one that will commit us to maintaining military forces in many parts of the world and to using those forces to protect oil fields and supply routes. 'It is getting hard,' he writes, 'to distinguish U.S. military operations designed to fight terrorism from those designed to protect energy assets' . . . We are headed into uncharted territory, led by a government that seems prepared to use force, when necessary, to preserve the current system. We face growing competition from other countries for a finite resource at a time of growing animosity toward the United States.” ―Malcolm G. Scully, The Chronicle of Higher Education
“The rapid increase in the price of gasoline is a direct result of the failure of the U.S. to develop a realistic energy policy. As Michael Klare demonstrates in this provocative new book, we will continue to pay high prices and use military force unless we reduce our dependence on oil from the Middle East. A must read for Americans concerned about national security and economic growth.” ―Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former Assistant Secretary of Defense
“Incisive and accurate . . . From our gluttonous demand for fuel to power our automobiles to the activities of Centcom in the Persian Gulf, Blood and Oil is the most comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of America's military-petroleum complex.” ―Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire
“Oil, says Michael Klare, makes us strong, but dependency makes us weak. His clear, informed, and troubling diagnosis of America's greatest addiction comes as oil's rising cost in blood and treasure requires us to understand the greater perils to come. Blood and Oil proves that oil's substitutes--and especially their efficient use--are an even greater bargain than they look. Too much time has already been wasted on denial. America's security, power, and freedom now turn on our choice.” ―Amory B. Lovins, Cofounder and CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute
“Compelling and insightful . . . U.S. dependence on oil is not something that can be dealt with 'down the road,' Klare posits. He offers thoughtful solutions that, while expensive, are essential to escape compromising the principles of American policy. This powerful book forecasts that if we do not change the paradigm, the flow of blood will continue unabated while a dwindling supply of oil will threaten powerful and weak nations alike.” ―H. C. Stackpole, Lieutenant General, USMC (ret.)
“The world's rapidly growing economy is dependent on oil, the supply is running out and the U.S. and other great powers are engaged in an escalating game of brinkmanship to secure its continued free flow. Such is the premise of Klare's powerful and brilliant new book (following Resource Wars). The U.S.--with less than 5% of the world's total population--consumes about 25% of the world's total supply of oil, he argues. With no meaningful conservation being attempted, Klare sees the nation's energy behavior dominated by four key trends: 'an increasing need for imported oil; a pronounced shift toward unstable and unfriendly suppliers in dangerous parts of the world; a greater risk of anti-American or civil violence; and increased competition for what will likely be a diminishing supply pool.' In clear, lucid prose, Klare lays out a disheartening and damning indictment of U.S. foreign policy. From the waning days of WWII, when Franklin Roosevelt gave legitimacy to the autocratic Saudi royalty, to the current conflict in Iraq, Klare painstakingly describes a nation controlled by its unquenchable thirst for oil. Rather than setting out a strategy for energy independence, he finds a roadmap for further U.S. dependence on imported oil, more exposure for the U.S. military overseas and, as a result, less safety for Americans at home and abroad. While Klare offers some positive suggestions for solving the problem, in tone and detail this work sounds a dire warning about the future of the world.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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Product details
- Publisher : Holt Paperbacks (August 1, 2005)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0805079386
- ISBN-13 : 978-0805079388
- Item Weight : 9.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.67 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,804,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #351 in Political Trades and Tariffs
- #865 in Oil & Energy Industry (Books)
- #2,731 in Globalization & Politics
- Customer Reviews:
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Klare comes to the conclusion that the current Arab conflicts are based on oil for a number of reasons, but primarily because oil is a resource that is vital to US strength, and therefore vital for the US to secure at all costs. The equation is simple: no oil, no US. Klare notes that war over oil, a scarce resource, is plausible because of other numerous wars in which scarce or highly-prized resources were desired: Angola and Sierra Leone - control of the diamond fields; the Congo - gold and copper; in Borneo and Cambodia - timber. All of these wars were over the claim of natural resources valuable to the various countries involved. So are we any different? Klare connects the obvious dots that illuminate US intervention in the middle-east (and around the world) is simply security of oil. The exportation of democracy may be a welcome byproduct or tool for securing oil, but oil is the beginning and end of many of these conflicts as Klare points out.
The next hotbed of hostility, says Klare, is the Caspian Sea basin. This area is said to have untold reserves of both oil and natural gas (see "Crude Politics" review for more details on the quest for oil in the Caspian Sea basin: [...] The problem the US will now face is three-fold, says Klare: Islamic separatists in surrounding areas (Georgia, Chechnya, etc) will provide more of the same problems faced in other Middle Eastern counties; Russia's equal interest in the rich oil supplies; and China's growing need for oil. The Islamic separatists are an obvious problem that the US will be mired in for certain. As for Russia, the US relations with Putin have been very hostile surrounding pre and post 9/11 issues, says Klare. And China is in desperate need to secure oil to its booming economy. Basically, three world powers all vying for the same oil-rich country cannot yield a peaceful result. Throw in the Islamicists, and you have a situation far worse than anything we have currently seen in previous Middle-Eastern conflicts, says Klare.
Overall, the problem of oil security is simple: the US will double or triple its oil consumption in the next 20 years. In order to satisfy this consumption, the US will need to dominate ALL of the oil-rich resources of the world. Since there are many other world powers inevitably faced with the same need for oil, military might is likely the only viable option to secure the flow of oil into US hands. As we have seen, says Klare, military dominance is already becoming exponentially expensive, dangerous, and difficult. Add the need for more oil that the world doesn't have and can't produce, add Russia requiring equal dominance, add China needing that same oil, and add Islamic separatist instability to the problem and one can quickly asses that it will be a battle that is neither cheap, easy, nor quick.
Klare does not pretend that the solution is as simple as ceasing consumption of foreign oil. Even if we tap all of our domestic and friendly oil reserves, US consumption will demand far more than these reserves could possibly provide. In order to reduce the threat of global conflict in the next 20 years, Klare suggests a major overhaul of US energy usage as the only viable option.
These solutions may be obvious, but not easy, says Klare. As Klare sees it, our only choices are more bloodshed over oil (which is certain to escalate, not plummet), or oil independence (a postpetroleum nation). The choice is obvious in my eyes. As more nations vie for oil-rich areas, and as more terrorists are formed due to civil unrest as a result of our intervention over oil, the only choice is energy independence.
This book is a must for anyone who see themselves as a thoughtful and educated person and wants to understand this mess.
The only handicap is that the last chapter, which is dedicated to make suggestions, isn’t really conclusive.
Top reviews from other countries
The problem with the book is that it presents America as the `innocent victim of circumstances'. Anyone familiar with Noam Chomsky, will take that with a pinch of salt.
One reviewer described this book as boring; in some ways it is. The first time I read this book I thought it was good. Before reading this book a second time, I read Chomsky's `How the World Works'. I found that reading Chomsky, put a completely different emphasis on the facts in this book and made the events a lot more revealing. Read Chomsky and you won't find this book boring.
Although this book is essentially about America, as we all know, America doesn't keep it's problems to itself.