AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY, a new world disorder
is emerging in which battles over resources are playing an
increasingly prominent role. The importance of oil to this
picture is underscored by the unilateral and militaristic
foreign policy of the world’s largest power in its attempt
to secure access to this critical resource. In this global
context, oil-rich communities of the South are being drawn
into struggles to defend their sovereignty, cultural integrity,
human rights and threatened ecosystems.
Crude Interventions examines the military and economic
policies of the Bush administration in oil-rich regions of
the world. More precisely, it examines the socio-economic
and human rights consequences of these policies, as well as
those of recent US administrations and multinational energy
companies, for the peoples of oil producing nations in the
global South. With only four percent of the world’s
population, the United States consumes 25 per cent of global
energy production. This thirst for energy has played a significant
role in determining US foreign policy in recent decades. The
desire to secure access to reliable supplies of oil has played
an even more prominent role in determining the foreign policy
of the government of George W. Bush than previous administrations.
By focusing on the US role in Iraq, Central
Asia, West Africa, Colombia and Venezuela, Crude Interventions
makes evident the connections between energy interests, the
war on terror, globalization, human rights abuses and other
social injustices endured by those peoples of the South cursed
with an abundance of the world’s most sought after resource.
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