Crude Interventions - The United States, Oil and the New World (dis)order (Paperback)

This title by an independent journalist and academic shows how oil is key to regime change in Iraq, the escalation of the US military role in Colombia's conflict, and the increased US military presence in the oil rich regions of Central Asia and West Africa. Oil is also funding the Venezuelan alternative to the US-pushed 'free trade' model of globalisation. The desire to secure access to oil is one of the drivers of US foreign policy. Leech argues that the Bush administration has made it a priority to consolidate US hegemony over Middle Eastern oil while attempting to secure access to alternate sources in Central Asia, Nigeria, Colombia and Venezuela. These areas, many of which are already rife with socio-economic inequalities and human rights abuses, are likely to be the settings for the oil wars of the 21st century. The strategic use of the war on terror to protect oil interests raises important new questions about the dangers of US foreign policy. This work exposes US oil policy and its human rights implications.