Oil and Global Rivalry
NOVANEWS
When we talk about today’s geopolitical hotspots, we need to talk about petroleum.
By John Foster
At the UN General Assembly in 2018, Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl broke an unwritten taboo by talking about oil and war. “The recent wars imposed on the Middle East were…fought in the name of oil. Now Syria is a victim of the instability created by all these wars.” For decades, petroleum issues (related to both oil and natural gas) have remained a largely ignored aspect of disputes. In fact, global rivalry over petroleum goes back to the beginning of Middle Eastern exploration.
Petroleum is the lifeblood of modern economies, the most important commodity in world trade, and a source of enormous wealth. Since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. of September 11, 2001...