Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!ucbvax!mcgeer From: mcgeer@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Rick McGeer) Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Middle East, Oil and the costs of Militarism Message-ID: <10822@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: Sun, 27-Oct-85 20:07:23 EST Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10822 Posted: Sun Oct 27 20:07:23 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 08:28:10 EST References: <460@mhuxm.UUCP> <740@whuxl.UUCP> Reply-To: mcgeer@ucbvax.UUCP (Rick McGeer) Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 39 Xref: linus net.politics:11058 net.religion.jewish:2181 (1) Israel is worth defending because it is the only Western nation in the Mideast, and (with the possible exception of Egypt) is the only nation in the area which professes the ideals of individual liberty and human dignity that we hold dear, not because of some spurious link to mideast oil. (2) Israel is further worth defending because it is the homeland of the most-persecuted people in history. (3) The United States is relatively independent of mideast oil: less than 5% of our supply comes from the middle east. (4) Europe, however, is highly dependent on middle eastern oil: almost all of Europe's supply comes from the middle east. This makes Europe extremely dependent on middle eastern oil, and hence defense of mideast oil is simply an extension of our 40-year commitment to European defense. It may be the case that the oil companies would suffer from a mideast oil cutoff: not that I noticed the seven sisters suffering in either 1973 or 1979. However, Europe would suffer far more, and would be extremely vulnerable to either Soviet or Arab pressure. I would bet that the US government is far more concerned with European security than Exxon's profits. (5) The only feasible alternatives to oil are natural gas, coal, and atomic energy. Of the three, coal is very dirty and natural gas suffers from transportation difficulties. Fission energy is here right now, is competitive with oil in price/kw-hr, and is very clean...but is politically incorrect, for some reason I've never been able to fathom. If Europe had plentiful fission energy right now (or if we did) we could use gasified coal to power our automobiles and be independent of the Arabs. Undoubtedly we could then defend Israel with more vigour than we do now, and as well redeploy or withdraw some of our overseas forces. Perhaps some of the groups that are opposed to our current buildup should redirect their energies to ending political restrictions on the development of fission power. (6) Our current strategic buildup is unrelated to events in the middle east: it is a response to the Soviet acquistion of a first-strike capability. Rick.