by Michael T. Klare
Nineteen years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall effectively eliminated the
Soviet Union as the world's other superpower. Yes, the USSR as a political
entity stumbled on for another two years, but it was clearly an
ex-superpower from the moment it lost control over its satellites in Eastern
Europe.
Less than a month ago, the United States similarly lost its claim to
superpower status when a barrel of crude oil roared past US$110 on the
international market, gasoline prices crossed the $3.50 threshold at
American pumps, and diesel fuel topped $4. As was true of the USSR following
the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the US will no doubt continue to stumble
on like the superpower it once was; but as the nation's economy continues to
be eviscerated to pay for its daily oil fix, it, too, will be seen by
increasing numbers of savvy observers as an ex-superpower-in-the-making.
That the fall of the Berlin Wall spelled the erasure of the Soviet Union's
superpower status was obvious to international observers at the time. After
all, the USSR visibly ceased to exercise dominion over an empire (and an
associated military-industrial complex) encompassing nearly half of Europe
and much of Central Asia. The relationship between rising oil prices and the
obliteration of America's superpower status is, however, hardly as
self-evident. So let's consider the connection.
Dry hole superpower
The fact is, America's wealth and power has long rested on the abundance of
cheap petroleum. The United States was, for a long time, the world's leading
producer of oil, supplying its own needs while generating a healthy surplus
for export.
Oil was the basis for the rise of the first giant multinational corporations
in the US, notably John D Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company (now
reconstituted as Exxon Mobil, the world's wealthiest publicly traded
corporation). Abundant, exceedingly affordable petroleum was also
responsible for the emergence of the American automotive and trucking
industries, the flourishing of the domestic airline industry, the
development of the petrochemical and plastics industries, the
suburbanization of America, and the mechanization of its agriculture.
Without cheap and abundant oil, the United States would never have
experienced the historic economic expansion of the post-World War II era. . . .
According to the latest data from the US Department of Energy, the United
States is importing 12-14 million barrels of oil per day. At a current price
of about $115 per barrel, that's $1.5 billion per day, or $548 billion per
year. . . .
Russia exports a substantial portion of its oil and gas to neighboring
countries, making it the only Great Power not dependent on other states for
its energy needs. . . .
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Michael Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at
Hampshire College and author of the just-released
Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy
(Metropolitan Books). A documentary film based on his previous book, Blood
and Oil, is available from the Media Education Foundation and can be
ordered at bloodandoilmovie.com.
[The Department of Defense's planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008
are larger than all other nations' military budgets combined. The
supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
not part of the official defence budget, is itself larger than the combined
military budgets of Russia and China. Defence-related spending for fiscal
2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. . . .
Our short tenure as the world's lone superpower has come to an end. As
Harvard economics professor Benjamin Friedman has written: "Again and again
it has always been the world's leading lending country that has been the
premier country in terms of political influence, diplomatic influence and
cultural influence. It's no accident that we took over the role from the
British at the same time that we took over the job of being the world's
leading lending country. Today we are no longer the world's leading lending
country. In fact we are now the world's biggest debtor country, and we are
continuing to wield influence on the basis of military prowess alone".
Some of the damage can never be rectified. There are, however, some steps
that the US urgently needs to take. These include reversing Bush's 2001 and
2003 tax cuts for the wealthy, beginning to liquidate our global empire of
over 800 military bases, cutting from the defence budget all projects that
bear no relationship to national security and ceasing to use the defence
budget as a Keynesian jobs programme.
If we do these things we have a chance of squeaking by. If we don't, we face
probable national insolvency and a long depression.--Chalmers Johnson, "Why the US has really
gone broke," Le Monde diplomatique, February 2008]
David Leigh and David Pallister, "The
New Scramble For Africa," Guardian, June 1, 2005
Michael T. Klare, "Is Energo-fascism
in Your Future?," TomDispatch.com, January 16, 2007
John Gray, "Control Oil and Water, Control the
World," Observer, March 30, 2008
[In one respect, it is hardly surprising. Iraq, Afghanistan and the rise of
China. The credit crunch. The $124 a barrel oil price. The unbelievable
unfairness of Bush's tax cuts. The racism and violence that still pockmark
American life. Yet the pessimism is overdone. The more I visit the US the
more I think the pundits predicting the US's imminent economic and political
decline hugely overstate their case. Rather, the next 50 years will be as
dominated by the US as the last 50. The US will widen its technological and
scientific dominance, sustain its military hegemony, launch a period of
reindustrialisation and continue to define modernity both in culture and
industry.--Will Hutton, "Forget the
naysayers - America remains an inspiration to us all," Observer, May
11, 2008]
