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.