Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Michael Klare, mklare@hampshire.edu
Klare is author of the forthcoming book "The Race for What’s Left" and just wrote the piece "Danger Waters: The Three Top Hot Spots of Potential Conflict in the Geo-Energy Era," which states: "Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy ‘chokepoint’ could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk. With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch — the Geo-Energy Era — in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs. In 2012 and beyond, energy and conflict will be bound ever more tightly together, lending increasing importance to the key geographical flashpoints in our resource-constrained world.
"Take the Strait of Hormuz, already making headlines and shaking energy markets as 2012 begins. Connecting the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, it lacks imposing geographical features like the Rock of Gibraltar or the Golden Gate Bridge. In an energy-conscious world, however, it may possess greater strategic significance than any passageway on the planet. Every day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, tankers carrying some 17 million barrels of oil — representing 20 percent of the world’s daily supply — pass through this vital artery.
"So last month, when a senior Iranian official threatened to block the strait in response to Washington’s tough new economic sanctions, oil prices instantly soared. While the U.S. military has vowed to keep the strait open, doubts about the safety of future oil shipments and worries about a potentially unending, nerve-jangling crisis involving Washington, Tehran, and Tel Aviv have energy experts predicting high oil prices for months to come, meaning further woes for a slowing global economy.
"The Strait of Hormuz is, however, only one of several hot spots where energy, politics, and geography are likely to mix in dangerous ways in 2012 and beyond. Keep your eye as well on the East and South China Seas, the Caspian Sea basin, and an energy-rich Arctic that is losing its sea ice. In all of these places, countries are disputing control over the production and transportation of energy, and arguing about national boundaries and/or rights of passage."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175487/m
Klare is professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. His past books include "Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet" and "Resource Wars."
From: the Institute for Public Accuracy
Book: The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources by Michael T. Klare
Description
From Michael Klare, the renowned expert on natural resource issues, an invaluable account of a new and dangerous global competition
The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion—a crisis that goes beyond "peak oil" to encompass shortages of coal and natural gas, copper and cobalt, water and arable land. With all of the Earth’s habitable areas already in use, the desperate hunt for supplies has now reached the final frontiers. The Race for What’s Left takes us from the Arctic to war zones to deep ocean floors, from a Russian submarine planting the country’s flag under the North Pole to the large-scale buying up of African farmland by Saudi Arabia and other nations.
As Michael T. Klare explains, this frenzy of extreme exploration and acquisition carries grave consequences. With resource extraction growing more complex, the environmental risks are becoming increasingly severe: the Deepwater Horizon disaster is only a preview of the dangers to come. At the same time, the intense search for dwindling supplies is igniting new border disputes, raising the likelihood of military confrontation. The only way out, Klare argues, will be to alter our consumption patterns altogether—a crucial task that will be the greatest challenge of the coming century.