The Resource Situation Part 1

Russia stopped gas flow to Ukraine due to gas prices among other factors. Venezuela has announced the opening of their oil reserves to Western companies, a change from almost radical nationalization. Oil companies have started withholding their supply at a greater extent to raise prices. Also, electric cars seem to be on the brink with Toyota announcing its model and Chevy developing the Volt. What does this all mean?

In his book, Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria discusses the current rise of developing countries, such as China and India, and its effects. The surge in demand for resources reveals itself most noticeably. The quest for oil for instance leads nations outside of their borders and sometimes into undesirable deals with unreliable countries, such as the aforementioned Russia and Venezuela.

A country with control of valuable resources obtains a considerable amount of power, especially in a time such as this. Take Russia. A country with the most natural resources in the world, they supply one fifth of Europe's oil and all the oil imported to smaller European states. This allows Vladimir Putin and his underboss, Dmitry Medvedev, to act almost as a mafia with this power. When Georgia or Ukraine starts to piss them off, they just bash a few heads in and show them who's boss.

The United Nations and the European Union withheld punishment from Russia after the Georgian Conflict and now the Ukrainian dispute respectively. Though I don't see why or how either could enforce anything on anyone, let alone Russia. Both were held back mostly from the dependency on oil.

The easiest solution to taking the power back from these resource-holding nations is to limit the demand for those resources. Easier said than done, I know. Think about it though. Russia's economy and standing would be diminished by simply creating and utilizing new ways to use less gasoline. No fighting, no sanctions, just a bit of innovation and legislation.

I will be writing a continuation of this argument in the upcoming days, but I will leave you with a scary situation. Most oil suppliers do not have democratic governments or have a fond relationship with most of the West. An alliance and united front to cease trading would pose a horrendous situation world-wide.

It's Not About the Land (anymore)

Does the Gaza Strip, West Bank, or Kashmir hold enough value, whether it be financial or religious, to cause the endless fighting and uproars? The debate over the land may and probably did instigate the negativity between the two pairs of combatants, but they are at a point where the land isn’t even the central issue.

Instead of spewing off stats that could support my claim and subsequently push you to skip the section entirely, I will go another route. Sibling confrontations are like Dick Vitale*. Everyone hates them, but no one can get rid of them. These rivalries can start in a multitude of ways. Seeing your brother or sister get something you want is one of them. That new bike or even the remote control begins the yelling for mom or the punches. That first time you may have actually wanted the item, but after several instances you just don’t want your sibling controlling what you can’t. In this instance the land is the remote control and the siblings are of course the countries.

Israel and Palestine annually battle for the “I Hate You More Award”. Another skirmish between the two should be as much as a surprise as a modern horror movie being cliché and hilariously bad. Yes, Israel is just retaliating to attacks and Palestine has been constrained wrongfully for so long. I understand that part and have heard it more times than Dick Vitale’s “OH BABY”. However, I don’t see those as the real driving forces. Maybe these nations use those issues to back their constant struggles, but actually just want to fight due to pure hatred. Of course it sounds horrific and cynical, but it would not be the first time this has happened.

A ceasefire would be like forbidding two arch rivals from not messing with each other while sitting next to each other at a seminar (America’s presence in the Middle East). Yes it would be all nice and cute, but right when the speaker steps away from the podium, those two will duke it out once again.

Russia’s halting of gasoline through Ukrainian pipelines also compares to the aforementioned conflicts. Russia is just demonstrating their hostility towards their neighbor non-violently. Reuters proposed some purposes for the stoppage, but it really boiled down to flaunting their power to both Ukraine and Europe, who relies heavily on Russia’s oil (insert Green Revolution argument here). Ukraine’s leaders desire a NATO membership and Russia does not want to see this happen so they acted in a way that they deemed fit. At least this does not seem familiar right?

*Side note: Dick Vitale is calling an NBA game tonight for ESPN. The main reason I took to the NBA over NCAA basketball was the absence of this man. Now thanks to this event, I will have to skip tonight’s game and question my allegiance to the sport.