Re: On the oil debate was RE: Oil and Overproduction

["David Schanoes" <dmsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary MacLennan wrote

.  I still stick by my original
> analysis that this war will constitute a defeat above all for the Arab
> Right - those regimes that have collaborated with the USA most
> closely.

Without referring to OIL:

I agree with that.  Moslem countries will just explode if/when US/UK capital
commences its attacks.  How that explosion organizes itself, if it
transforms itself into a revolutionary movement is something else again.

 I posed the question of control partially because I really can't conceive
of "control" if we are talking about a "resource war," precipitated by
"scarcity," unless it is removal of the resource from the market itself and,
(this is critical) its simultaneous dedication to specific approved
entities, i.e. the US Military.   Paranthetical note: Top two consumers of
petroleum products in the good old USofA  1. US Military (US Navy) 2. Union
Pacific Railroad (railroads being where I got hooked into oil.).

How does victory in a resource war manifest itself under the conditions of
modern capitalism?  It is not like the imperial armies are going to
establish a dedicated new strategic reserve of oil in Iraq, solely for the
use of the US/UK.  Or will they?

To my anaslysis such "hoarding" without the prospect of later exchange at a
higher price is not capitalism.  All property exists to be "alienated," to
be exchanged.  Ownership of the means of production only has value if the
commodities circulate, are realized in a market.  Unless of course the
future is devolution.

For this reason, I think it is more likely that we will see the destruction
of Iraqi productive capacity, either outright, or as the result of the
attempt to suppress the Iraqi oil workers.

And here's some blood in the water for those who, like me, are always
hungry.... Do we have an example of a resource war, based on the imminent
disappearance of a resource, on the world scale, even one between competing
national capitalisms?

My view is, obviously, that since wealth for capital exists in the
extraction and realization of surplus value, resource wars don't exist.

As I reach for my helmet......

DMS


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