> (No matter how despicable a dictator Saddam was, if the
> primary export of his country had been carrots, we would have left him
> alone.)
Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Vietnam, Somalia, these are all
countries with no oil exports and still the US decided to intervene.
I think oil gets demonised to the point where people stop thinking
rationally. Oil doesn't create corruption for example. Norway or
Denmark (both oil exporters) are about as corrupt as Finland or Japan,
and Nigeria isn't any more corrupt than say the Democratic Republic of
Congo, for example.
In fact, I can think of ways in which "fair trade", or development
aid, can be worse than helping poor countries by purchasing their oil.
At least, for oil the dependency that is created is mutual, though
even there (see the sanctions on Iraq in the 90's), in truth, the oil
exporter is actually the one that's in the weak position, but for
"fair trade" or development aid, because it is based on charity, the
dependency is entirely one sided with the recipient made reliant on
the whims of the giver.
I don't think a substantial reduction in oil use would help the Mid
East or do much about terrorism. Far from it, it might turn countries
like Saudi Arabia or Iran into Somalia/Afghanistation.
In so far as there is a connection between oil and terrorism/war in
the Mid East, I think it is in the widespread perception that the US
acts for lower motives. But, Iran or Saudi Arabia aren't stupid,
they'll reckognise, when oil reduction policies are intended to hurt
them, and I am sure they'd get angry all right, if there was some real
bite to it. These are countries that import 50% of their grain and
export little else beside petroleum products. If the sanctions on Iraq
supposedly killed half a million children, think of what a complete
boycott of Mid East oil might do (tens of millions of dead children?).
There's all this talk about the oil money just going towards palaces
and weapons. Plenty of African leaders with no oil have managed to
divert a fair proportion of their budget in that way, inlcuding in one
fashion or another, the development aid part of their budget.
In the Mid East, in fact, I think the majority of oil money trickles
down to good causes these days, such as infrastructure or education.
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