It is all very ironic, we invade an country to protect the West's economies, and a great many of the West's nations loudly complain, castigate us as fascists, etc., though the economic benefit to us and to them of securing oil cannot be minimized.
No, it can not be minimized but securing oil "for us" - we have to be honest here, North Americans are energy gluttons - is a longer term problem which I doubt few have really come to grips with.
Just wait until gasoline costs here what it does in Europe. Ready for 8 dollars a gallon? Higher?
In England current average prices are .85£ / litre which translates to $1.53 USD per litre * 3.785 l/g = $5.79 USD per gallon. That's today's prices, before a sudden additional crisis happens along. Its not hard to imagine UK prices spiking 20 - 30 - 50% in the event of a major, intentional, long-lasting interuption.
We've been living on borrowed time for too long. Subsidizing the good life on relatively cheap energy is a plan that works only while energy remains cheap. Security of supply is a big issue these days, just look at the Crude chart.
If the war on terror really has fronts wherever oil (nat gas, electricity, coal, etc) is produced, shipped, or distributed, we can expect attacks everywhere. |
