Oil Regime: A Desperate US

US policy is not about guaranteeing the world access to required oil but rather about controlling the world’s oil supply and manipulating the price, writes Art Perlo

The US response to the Mideast crisis is not about protecting the world’s oil supply. It is to tighten control of the world’s oil supply, to protect profits for the US oil monopolies, and to further control by US global financial, military, and other corporations. This comes at the expense of the world’s working people, including those of the United States; it also comes at the expense of humanity’s future.

On September 14, drone and missile strikes knocked out major oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. The Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility.

President Donald Trump, however, immediately blamed Iran, and got US intelligence and some European allies to go along. Most of the mainstream media have uncritically repeated those claims, rarely pointing to the US record of selecting and even manufacturing evidence to fit desired policy goals.

Healthy skepticism is called for. We should ask, what are the interests of the US military, the administration, the foreign policy establishment, and the corporations they represent?

The easy answer is OIL! That is the answer to almost every question in Mid-East policy. But that answer begs for more probing.

The September 14 attack knocked out production of 5.7 million barrels per day—about 5 per cent of the total world supply. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted in response that this was an “unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply”. He is implying that the global oil supply is so critical that anyone or any country that reduces the global oil supply is an international outlaw and deserves punishment.