Neo-Colonialism and Oil: A Perfect Mix

The red banners and make-shift protest signs of “NO BLOOD FOR OIL” and “STOP FOREGIN OIL” are desperate reflections of an outraged and underrepresented public. Young and old stand side by side venting their disbelief over a war, which in their mind, was manifested by oil interests. Critics of these fringe groups call upon tempered logic and naïve political discourse. These self-righteous pundits tout their hand fed talking points and read from corporate teleprompters, conveying a message of jingoistic patriotism and troop support. Liars and sycophantic slurs are mouthed from both sides and no one seems to peer into the legal and contractual shadows, which are beginning to eclipse the rich oil reserves of Iraq.

According, to the Independent of London, “Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200bn (£116bn) of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year. A report produced by American and British pressure groups warns Iraq will be caught in an "old colonial trap" if it allows foreign companies to take a share of its vast energy reserves. The report is certain to reawaken fears that the real purpose of the 2003 war on Iraq was to ensure its oil came under Western control.” As Mr. Marley once quipped, “No chains around my feet but I’m not free.”

Neo-colonialism (the control of nations through indirect means, in the post-modern world these are liberal economic means, which through the advent of globalization, international corporations, free markets, free enterprise, and multinational corporations will move into an underdeveloped region and liquidate the resources of that region. Whether those resources are in the form of water, oil, fishing, labor or the occasional mineral mine) has its history in Marxism. Marx, I know we are not allowed to bring up his name in polite conversation, revealed that capital and more importantly capitalism will lead to large corporations which will feed on other nations trying to enter a free market; and in doing so the countries, in question, will be abused. This abuse will be in the Wal-Mart model of economic drought. The Wal-Mart model is very simple. Set up shop in a region. Create a monopoly. Pull all resources out, in the form of profits and capital, back to the home office. The region, which supports the corporate citizen, loses wealth; remember that cash stops circulating in that region and is funneled back to headquarters. This business model is reinvented throughout the country.

In the case of Iraq, this model will pull profits and needed funds back to BP and US oil companies. It is beyond naive and bordering on sadistic to think that Shell and BP will be ‘pumping’ cash back into a war torn country. Would you? Basic capitalist/free market polices forbid these types of high-risk low reward ventures. Consequently, oil reserves must be kept in the hands of Iraqis. It is their country; they have the mineral and territorial rights (anyone remember Westphalia?) to these enormous holdings.

Assistance from oil companies will be needed but a Saudi solution to the problem will only cause more strife and indignation. The Saudi solution is also quite simple. British Petroleum (BP) runs the majority of oil refineries and pumping technologies in Saudi Arabia. In turn, the British government receives vast quantities of free and below market pricesof oil. The British government, does not pass these savings on to the British populace, instead the price is re-inflated and sold at market value. This is a lucrative deal for the British government and BP, however the Saudi population is without the knowledge and where-with-all to use their own resources (not to mention the ignorant British puplic). Moreover, the festering corruption of the Royal Saudi family is as much to blame as the glazed eyes of oil and political leaders in Britain. The fact still remains that this model is a detriment to the public at large. Oil companies can not be allowed to monopolize in any way the resources of Iraq. If democracy, is truly the goal of this beleaguered administration, then Iraqi based oil companies must be in charge of ALL natural resources. In other words, the US and UK oil companies can help but not take from this situation. If not, then this will be a recipe for continuous conflict. And I am not cynical enough to think that the military industrial complex bolstered by the oil and gas companies of the US are frothing at the mouth over this impending doom. Or should I be?