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The Resource War. By: Andrew Pokemire. Energy: What is it?.
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The Resource War By: Andrew Pokemire
Energy: What is it? Energy is what keeps the world going. It lets you drive your car or turn on your TV. It lets you wake up in the morning and take a hot shower, it cooks your food and warms your bones on a cold day. Energy is all around us and it is essential for our people. It is the very essence of life itself, your body produces it and so does the world, without it the world wouldn’t go round. In these modern times, though, we are running out. Gas which use to be 5 cents a gallon when my parents were growing up is now more than $6 in some places. When we lack what we need, what we want, like children with a toy we try and take it from someone else and as a result we have resource wars.
Wars in Time Since the beginning man and beast alike fought amongst themselves for precious resources, although then it was for your tribe or your family and it was simply food or water. As time progressed humans became more efficient in fighting each other for resources. We found better ways to kill each other so that it would be us that had the more fertile soil or the better hunting ground. These nations grew and grew, and as time passed they developed ways to use different resources and new wars broke out. We fight not for our fellow man but for the resource which will advance his progress.
New Resources, New wars Oil. Fresh water. Food. So many resources we take for granted were gained through war or are currently being fought over in places around the world. In WWII the Germans had more than one objective, they also wanted resources such as oil and precious metals. In the Cold War we went to the Middle East with the Soviet Union for its vast amount of oil. In the Sudan and many places in Africa the people fight for the precious few sources of food and water that they have. In any war, either for religion or supremacy, resources have always been looming in the shadows as a reason for that war.
Kuwait In 1990 Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait for oil. Within days Kuwait’s military was defeated and it was taken for Iraq by force. Thousands of nationals and non-nationals fled the country after Iraq’s invasion. The world immediately frowned upon this act of aggression and the U.S. declared that if they didn’t pull out by 1991 there would be war. Iraq refused and the gulf war began. In 2002 Saddam apologized before he was killed in 2003.
Afghanistan We along with others invaded in 2001. The U.S. involvement was in part due to 9/11 and we intended to fight terrorism. In 2002 it was confirmed that we pushed them out but we remained in. In 2011 we killed Osama bin Laden but continued our involvement even though that was supposedly the only goal we had in 2001. Our continued involvement is due in part to trying to help rebuild the nation after we fought within it but, multinational corporations have had a part in U.S. politics and have also played a part in taking resources from the area under government and private military protection making huge profits off of the still struggling nation. Simply a sucker from a baby.
The World’s Police The U.S. has been called the world police many times as a joke or insult from other nations but, they aren’t necessarily wrong. We continue to get involved with the other nations and countries that overall have nothing to do with us. We, despite our current economic status, continue to try advancing the economy of other nations. Why? You may ask but, it’s really a very simple answer. Resources. Our continued involvement that some would protest has had much to do with gaining more resources, more imports, more everything. We see ourselves as the world’s leader at the moment, but recent results show that in many areas we don’t even stay in the top ten (economy, GDP, best country, etc.). There still is one area that we are number one in, military. Our military is one of the best in the world if not the best and we use them to “aid” other nations while at the same time we take resources we need.
Bully? The U.S. is a wonderful place to live. We have all different types of food, nice cars, fresh water, we can shower every day, and (except in some cases) we all live very satisfying lives. But how did we obtain all this good fortune? Some nations call us a bully, although I disagree, they are in their own right able to say this about the U.S. We gained all of these pleasures through war, and enterprise. In some cases we were the aggressors because we needed the resources and when a country doesn’t want to give us what we want, we usually in a sense bully our way into getting it. A good example dates back to when we were first starting off as a nation. Stats show that we had plenty of land and resources for the amount of people then, maybe not today, but we still were the aggressors in taking things from Mexico, Natives, and other nations such as France and Spain that had claims in America.
Not Alone The U.S. is not alone in their aggression when it comes to getting something it wants or needs. In the world we call home everyone fights over resources. In Africa they constantly have civil wars in areas such as the Sudan and Somalia for resources essential for survival. In Asia it’s the same thing, maybe not full on wars we would think about but internal wars amongst the people that doesn’t make the news. A man kills his neighbor because his land produces better crops and he takes it for himself. These countries already have enough problems so many things like this will go unnoticed. In the middle East it’s the same thing, people fighting amongst themselves for the precious little oil or food they have.
Africa For years its been the same thing. The people of Africa constantly at war because they don’t have what they need so they will blame the government or blame their neighboring country. Civil war is no stranger to the land of Africa, as it is one of the most common forms of war that they have. The people will blame their government and try to overthrow it blaming it for all their problems. In some cases this may be necessary and the U.S. has even got itself involved a few times, but other times it is fear that drives these people to blame a government that has no control or is trying without success. It is the Fear of starvation that will make the strongest man crumble.
Somali Soldiers and Aussie Soldiers Capturing Somali Pirates
Asia Although it’s not at a level like Africa or the Middle East, the war for resources is continuing to loom over Asia. Especially with Asia having the most people in the world on that continent, areas such as Russia and China are making preparations and asserting their power throughout Asia for resources. China has constantly been on the up rise and more than half the world owing them money and the U.S. being one of the biggest ones. They have made constant militaristic advancements such as their navy and their claims to the South China Sea. North Korea is also a nation making a name for itself and threatening Japan with a war they want for resources. What does the future hold in store for Asia? Will resource wars dawn on them as a major outbreak and lead into the next world war or will nothing change and we find a new way to provide the world with needed resources.
Middle East The Middle East has been at war with each other and the rest of the world ever since the cold war. The U.S. and its allies are present their today and fighting terrorism brought on by countries in disarray. They kill each other on a daily basis and die from hunger or thirst as well. We try to help but at the moment little of what we do has had an impact. Constantly governments are overthrown that the U.S. put in place in areas like Libya and Egypt. We are receiving much of our oil from the middle east (primarily Saudi Arabia) and many other countries are aware of this and want to get in on the “action” as well. These wars are fought for control and with that control will come the much desired resources like oil. America will continue to jump in to look like the good guys when, even though we are in a sense, we do this in order to have footholds around the world where we can say “you owe me,” to each of these nations until they turn their back on us and we fight them as well. Under every precious stone is a snake waiting to strike.
The Future Nobody knows if we will find a new innovative energy source, but we are trying. Currently the plans of many are to reduce consumption or improve certain methods but with the ever growing population they find themselves fighting an uphill battle. Many of the people in the world are unaware to the actual problem we face and don’t know what to do. Environmentalist consistently work to find the next best thing or to find a way to make the human race live on top just a little longer. When we run out what will happen? This is a question that lingers on the mind of many who are trying to prevent it. They don’t say if they say when because they know it will happen unless they can find an alternate source. So until then wars will be fought, people will starve, and people will die and the world will smile as it digs its own grave.
Possibility The biggest question on everybody’s mind is, “Will it end?” In truth nobody knows. Will we ever stop fighting or will we always have these bloody wars until there’s no one left to fight and even then will we just fight amongst ourselves. Or will we find the future? Will we find the next best resource to use? Will we move on to a future where hunger can be solved and these wars are brought to an end? There are two door ways we can take as humanity, the final question that remains is which door will we take?
People Should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people. You have a voice and you can make a change. Don’t create more conflict but speak out for your fellow man. Thank You.
