Labor Day and the Oilpiate of the Oligarchy

Yesterday began what was, for most folks in the USA, their much-anticipated 3-day weekend in honor of labor (and the chance to break from it for three consecutive days). I spent my first of these three days much as I do any other day. That is to say, one day is very much like another but for what we each do to signify it as different. So Saturday I took on three magazines: a year-old edition of Mother Jones, and sequentially the 2003 and 2004 Foreign Policy Association's Great Decisions.

Mother Jones, as one quickly surmises from the full-page ads on the lead-in pages, is pointed in a left-facing direction. Eco-this and Enviro-that. Plenty of critiquing of Mr. Bush and his crew. What I found interesting were the prognistications about which Democrat would win the nomination for president. It was quite a toss-up a year ago. Knowing what we know now, it was intriguing to see how John Kerry was portrayed. Bush, like him or not, was shown as he is today: a shoot first and answer questions later guy.

The Great Decisions of 2003 and 2004 were worth reading as they focused on specific areas of foreign policy and have tear out opinion poll sheets. The editions I had still held most of the poll sheets but a couple were missing, so undoubtedly someone cared enough about foreign policy to send in an opinion. One section from the 2003 Great Decisions covered US-Saudi Arabia relations. Having lived in Saudi Arabia for over three years, I always find such policy analysis and commentary intriguing. Other articles included the Philippines, Iraq, Europe, Latin America, and so on. One chart I found particularly significant in opening my eyes a bit wider showed the United States' top oil imports by nation. I will list them here in order of size with largest first:

1. Canada
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Mexico
4. Venezuela
5. Nigeria

There you have it. While certainly my former line of work (military training abroad) led me to find job opportunities in both Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, I was surprised to see Canada and Mexico in the top three. It's well-known that the US scratches the Saudis and the Nigerians backs with defense assistance in return for favorable oil deals. What I didn't realize was that the country that the hardcore right-winger warmongering conservatives love to put down is our number one source of non-US oil: Canada! Given this position, I'm sure that the US plays nicey-nice with our neighbor to the north as we should all know by now that while Karl Marx said religion was the opiate of the people, it is indeed oil that is the opiate of the powers that be (or at least the money that oil generates). My slick word for this shall be "oilpiate of the oligarchy".

Meahwhile, the US has occupied the country with the second largest oil reserves in the world (behind Saudi Arabia), Iraq. No degree in petrochemical engineering or English literature is needed to understand that Oil Oil Toil and Trouble is not just some Shakespearean bastardization, but is very much a reality. Throw in a good dose of Islamic radical violence, a pinch of Jewish state violence, a smattering of quasi-coalition war profiteering, and a case made on liberation as opposed to imperialism/colonization/occupation and you have the recipe for something I'd rather not have the world taste.

But here we are, eating it up like hot cakes.

Would you like oil...errr...I mean syrup...with that?