Re: [A-List] Re: David Harvey: It is about oil

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Charles Jannuzi wrote:
> Everytime there is a huge change in the price of oil,
> the world goes wild and the results are quite often
> violent. This time around Iraq got invaded, but look
> at the turmoil in Venezuela and Nigeria and Indonesia
> as well. In the early 90s when oil was cheap,Iraq
> invaded Kuwait and the US invaded Iraq. 

You are looking at oil as a commodity. You have to go beyond this and 
look at its use-value. Without access to oil, capitalist economies as 
they are presently constituted cannot function, nor can modern 
militaries. Jet planes need fossil fuels, not solar power. The 
imperialist bourgeoisie often goes to war to control oil, especially 
since WWI. The state of Israel was created in order to look after 
Anglo-American oil interests. The Shah was put in power for many of the 
same reasons, as was Saddem Hussein ironically. None of the powerful men 
making such decisions made them on the basis of the price of oil. That 
is mainly a concern for speculators like Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy in 
"Changing Places", not architects of geopolitical hegemony.

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