Compounded Global Issues: Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, and Climate Change
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There are three distinct, yet interrelated global issues that this paper will analyze and propose solutions for; namely, Terrorism incited by radical Islam, the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology in the Middle East, and increasing global temperatures due to greenhouse gases. The underlying commonality between each of these issues rests in their relationship with the global petro-economy, 1/5 of which is accounted for by Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq together in terms of total exported oil and oil products (CIA, 2010). These three countries are representative of and actually are the region that houses Islamic terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Mujahedin that are hostile towards the Western world. Through an unofficial system of monetary exchanges called Hawala, petro-dollars find their way into the hands of leaders of these terrorist organizations leaving no paper trail to incriminate the governments of these oil-producing nations. All this meaning that any country buying Middle Eastern oil (U.S., China, Japan, India) is actually funding the operations of the worlds most anti-West, anti-democracy terrorist organizations. The topic of nuclear technology development in this region becomes sensitive for America knowing that, although not directly, the governments and institutions of these states have ties with the terrorist organizations, and were theses states to acquire nuclear weapons or the technology to produce them, it is feared that they may fall into the hands of terror groups. It would seem then, to be an effective strategy to stop buying oil from these states in order to bankrupt terror groups, but America has only grown more dependent on Saudi oil, and China and India are following its lead. The global issue at hand, then, must be oil addiction more so than terrorism and nuclear proliferation because it funds the latter two, not to mention the effect it has on our atmosphere and global temperatures. To solve, or at least reduce to a manageable level, these issues of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and global warming, the global community must break its addiction to oil.
Of course, ways to become less dependent on oil have been discussed and are well known. Thomas Friedman shared examples throughout Hot, Flat, and Crowded of models for a more efficient energy system, examples of scientific innovations to produce energy without oil and more efficient transportation systems. The reason that none of his examples have made any kind of impact on Americas dependence on oil is because there has yet to be a market opportunity in the economy for these innovations to take root, America is just too comfortable with its cheap oil. That is the largest underlying problem; Americans think their gas is cheap. Friedman talks about “the true cost of burning coal, oil, and gas” explaining that on top of the $2.50 per gallon paid at the pump, there is also the cost of “the climate-change those fuels cause, the pollution they trigger, and the energy wars they engender” (Friedman, 2008). Even more literally, the true cost of gasoline is hidden by hundreds of billions of dollars in government tax and program subsidies that help domestic oil producers compete with foreign oil. Not to mention the billions of dollars spent allocating and maintaining military protection in oil rich regions. Its a strange psychological trick. At the pump people see $2.50 per gallon and believe that that is what gas actually costs them and can live with that, but it never registers that their state and federal taxes have already covered the other $7 per gallon. To create demand for alternative sources of energy, the American government must let its citizens feel the true cost of oil. If there is demand, there is market opportunity.
What this paper proposes