Paul Josephson
The decision of the Trump administration to attack Venezuela, capture its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, and spirit them out of the country for prosecution, killing at least 100 people in the process, is all about oil. The US president has openly stated that his goal was to place Venezuela’s oil under US control, apparently so that US-based oil companies will re-enter the country, rebuild infrastructure at the cost of tens of billions of dollars, and start pumping oil. A messy, if familiar, mix of factors continues to drive global affairs. Oil and the battle for its control are fundamental features of world politics. For decades, European leaders operated under a faulty strategic assumption that fossil fuel supplies – especially Russian gas and oil – were stable, cheap, and politically manageable. That logic collapsed the moment Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The European capitals should have known better. Fossil fuels have been the objects of war and the lubricant of aggressive foreign policies since the turn of the 20th century.
With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, European powers and the US established oil fiefdoms in the Middle East and in South America. Oil was crucial to industry at home. British conquest and control in the Middle East and on the high seas was directly connected to oil. Algerian natural gas was essential to French strategies of colonialism. Oil triggered development of Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt during the First World War. US foreign policy has long been dedicated to keeping oil from the Middle East flowing into tankers bound for the US and Europe – at a cost of trillions of dollars. And oil and gas have financed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – just as natural and mineral resources have supported Russian empire building since the 18th century.
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