In the 1960’s, the USA faced similar challenges with oil as the world does today. Prices and demand were continually rising, forcing the USA to import oil from countries like Venezuela and the Persian Gulf states. President Eisenhower was cognizant of the geopolitical problems of importing oil in the cold war era and thus moved to place tariffs on foreign oil imports in the hope of moving toward North American produced oil.
In response, Venezuela and several Gulf states met in Baghdad and created an oil cartel to regulate higher prices on the world market. Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were the forefathers of the cartel and from 1960-1975 OPEC expanded to include Qatar, Libya, UAE, Algeria and Nigeria. Today these countries now control 2/3 of the world’s oil reserves and 1/3 of world production.

Out of the 12 current members of OPEC, 10 of the countries either do not recognize Israel’s right to exist or have no official ties with the state. As such, their agenda to stabilize the price of oil has at times been secondary to their greater aspiration to destabilize Israel and its allies. The famous example was the 1973 oil embargo in response to the Yom Kippur War. Even though Israel was the victim of a surprise attack from Egypt and Syria, OPEC used the opportunity to launch an all out oil embargo on the US and many countries of Western Europe leading to a 4 fold spike in oil.

In modern times, with oil rich countries in the driving seat, we have seen an unprecedented alliance between the US and Saudi Arabia. This has seen some of the most sophisticated military arms shipped to the Saudi Kingdom in an effort to support the oil trading relationship. The U.S and other Western countries have been willing to turn a blind eye to horrendous human rights abuses and support of many terror factions in the middle east to support the habit for foreign oil.

In late 2009, the UK famously formed an oil driven alliance of its own. The Scottish government released Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber from prison. Al Megrahi was sentenced to 270 counts of murder for bombing Pan Am Flight 103. The British government claimed that he was released on compassionate grounds since he was terminally ill with prostrate cancer. The day after his release Libya signed a deal with oil giant British Petroleum (BP) worth upwards of 800 billion dollars. The British government later admitted that the release was part of a prisoner swap for oil agreement.

OPEC along with the other 54 Arab and Muslim majority countries also forms a formidable bloc in the UN. Their customers in Africa, Asia and Europe are also only too willing to go along with their agenda which is often anti-American and in particular anti-Israel. Perhaps more than any other factor, the power of oil has seen the UN become the forum of despots rather than a force for genuine good. Whilst Darfur burns, Zimbabwe and the like fall into the clutches of oppression, the UN obsesses with Israel.

The oil politics of today has steadily grown since the 1960’s. The only light at the end of the oil tunnel lies with a commitment to pursuing alternative forms of energy, drastically reducing oil dependency, marking a new era of energy sustainability.