Blood and Oil The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum

by Klare, Michael T.

• ISBN13: 9780805073133
• ISBN10: 0805073132
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-10
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books

Summary

Since the tragic events of September 11 and the commencement of the "war on terror," the relationship between U.S. policy in the Middle East and the oceans of crude oil that lie beneath the region's oil has come under close scrutiny. In Blood and Oil, international security expert Michael T. Klare traces oil's impact on foreign affairs from World War II to the present, arguing that America's oil-influenced military actions will only increase in the coming years. By 2020, the United States will need to import twice as much fuel per year as it did in 1990, and since most of this oil will come from chronically unstable, strongly anti-American regions-the Gulf, the Caspian Sea, and Africa-recurrent involvement in violent conflict is sure to follow.

Author Biography

Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Program Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
The Dependency Dilemma: Imported Oil and National Security	p. 1
Lethal Embrace: The American Alliance with Saudi Arabia	p. 26
Choosing Dependency: The Energy Strategy of the Bush Administration	p. 56
Trapped in the Gulf: The Irresistible Lure of Bountiful Petroleum	p. 74
No Safe Havens: Oil and Conflict Beyond the Persian Gulf	p. 113
Geopolitics Reborn: The U.S.-Russian-Chinese Struggle in the Persian Gulf and Caspian Basin	p. 146
Escaping the Dilemma: A Strategy for Energy Autonomy and Integrity	p. 180
Afterword: The Permanent Energy Crisis	p. 203
Notes	p. 213
Acknowledgments	p. 261
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

From Blood and Oil:o In 1998, for the first time, more than half of the United States' oil supply came from foreign sources. Imports of foreign petroleum are projected to rise to 60% in 2010, 65% in 2020, and 70% by 2030.o America's oil fields are experiencing irreversible decline. Even if reserves in Alaska's wildlife refuge are extracted, they will reduce U.S. imports of foreign oil by only about 2% per year for the next two decades-an almost negligible change. o To pay for all of this imported oil, American businesses and consumers will have to cough up an estimated $3.5 trillion between 2000 and 2025- if oil remains within a moderate price range.o Even more importantly, since most of the world's remaining oil resources are located in deeply unstable regions-over 65% in the Persian Gulf alone-military involvement to ensure access is inevitable.

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Excerpted from Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency by Michael T. Klare
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