Identity

9/03/13

A big topic discussed both in class, and in Michael Klare's Blood and Oil, is the idea of identity. This can be broken down into many parts: Nationality, religion, sect, tribe, class, race, gender, sexuality, etc. All of these help influence global affairs and relations. Religion is one of the more potent motivators for wars around the world. One prime example of this is Osama Bin laden becoming infuriated with the U.S.'s presence in Saudi Arabia. Because Saudi Arabia is a holy place, and Americans are infidels, he began to despise the U.S. and its allies and has caused massive bloodshed in the 2000's. Religious intolerance has been the root of many wars both in the recent history as well as throughout history.

The bloodshed can stop if people around the world learn tolerance. Unfortunately, people around the world feel a strong need to kill people with different views instead of just tolerate, or ignore them. One of the biggest cases of tolerance comes from accepting people who are gay. This ties back to religious influences as well - Many religions don't tolerate gays. If people around the world could learn to follow their own set of rules without interfering with other people's lives (Like being gay, or not following Islam, etc.) then there would be a lot less conflicts. In the gay example, there are many people who oppose gay marriage. To me this is absurd because legalizing gay marriage would in no way force people who are against gay marriage to partake in it themselves. Te legalization would in no way affect these people who are against it, but they are still adamantly against it because they would not do it themselves.
Before there were social movements pushing for gay marriage there were movements for women's rights and black rights. Once fighting for gay rights are a thing of the past, a new rights movement will rise up to take a stand for their own rights. There is a never ending cycle between people wanting rights, and people opposing them for as long as human society has been around.

Another big factor in international relations is petroleum. The U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship specifically. The U.S has been becoming increasingly more reliant on Saudi oil. This has caused the U.S. to do whatever it can to stay friendly with Saudi Arabia. This has put the U.S. in a strange position where the government almost has no choice but to accept any offer Saudi Arabia makes in order to maintain the constant influx of Saudi oil. Without this oil, the U.S. economy could collapse which is something the government does not want to risk. In order to keep their relations strong, the U.S. must continue to adhere to most, if not all Saudi deal offers as well as provide military support in case of an attack. This is harmful towards the U.S. because they are becoming more and more dependent on this oil, and in turn, becoming easier to manipulate. There is a clear disadvantage to being dependent on another country's exports.

As Michael Klare talks about in Oil and Blood, "[The U.S.'s] biggest problem, of course, is our growing reliance on the oil kingdoms of the Persian Gulf. No matter how hard the United States tries to diversify its energy imports by turning to producers in other regions, it will still need to acquire more and more oil from the Gulf, the only region whose reserves are large enough to satisfy the rising U.S. and international demand," (20). This increasing demand for oil combined with our limited amount of oil in the U.S. is contributing greatly to the increase in foreign oil being used to supply American industry, specifically from places like Saudi Arabia and others in the Middle East. Our reliance on the Middle East for oil is a treacherous one that the government must walk very gingerly. There is constant fighting in the Middle East between countries over resources, religious differences and other reasons. Adding the U.S. into the mix can cause the area to become more volatile. This combination of an already volatile area, mixed with an increasing American presence can, and probably will cause the Middle East to erupt into an even more dangerous area than it has been in the past.

"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature." (Voltaire)