Click here for the article in AlterNet.
Published on YaleGlobal Online Magazine (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu)
Why Closure of the Strait of Hormuz Could Ignite a War and a Global Depression
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea – and the world with about one fifth of its oil supply. That supply is in danger of being disrupted. In response to harsh economic sanctions, Iran has threatened to block the strait, which could dramatically drive up oil prices and spur global recession. The United States has made it clear that protecting the strait and the oil passing through may require military force. A standoff has ensued with both countries practicing military maneuvers and making public threats. At the heart of the conflict is Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment program, which the international community regards with suspicion and which has brought sanctions against the country, inspiring Iran’s leaders to respond by threatening the flow of oil through the Hormuz. The United States is the most powerful nation monitoring the Persian Gulf and has expressed an intention to protect its interests. The only dilemma for the US, though, is whether military disaster is so much better than economic disaster. – YaleGlobal
Why Closure of the Strait of Hormuz Could Ignite a War and a Global Depression
The stand-off between the US and Iran over sanctions, nuclear weapons program and closure of the Strait of Hormuz could lead to economic or military disaster
Michael T. Klare
AlterNet, 8 February 2012
Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, a TomDispatch regular, and the author, most recently, of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet. His newest book, The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources (Metropolitan Books), will be published in March.
Source:AlterNet
Rights:Rights: Copyright 2012 Michael T. Klare.
Comments on this Article
The US tries to cut military expenses after the disastrous Middle East adventures, but as a result many emerging countries will try to fill the gap and challenge US interests which in turn could cause more expenses to the US then what they spent on military actions before.
And the US is not alone with such catch 22 situations, we can see the desperate attempts to try to balance completely opposing financial problems and solutions in Europe, obviously unsuccessfully.
And we could mention plenty of other examples from economics to politics all around the world.
Seemingly everything is falling apart and every time we try to adjust something the problems only grow bigger.
We are like the elephant in the china shop wherever we turn we brake something.
And the reason is that we still do not understand what living in a global world means.
We still do not want to accept that global means interconnected, that interconnected means interdependent, that whatever happens at one side of this multi dimensional network affects every other part of the network.
From now on we simply cannot try "local", partial or superficial adjustments, solutions, for every plan, action we have to take the whole system into consideration, and only start something when we are certain it will have positive influence over the whole network, otherwise the negative influence will come back to us as a boomerang with multiple force.
In today's short sighted and totally subjective climate it might take a while until we realize the proper method, on the other hand the deepening global crisis and the increasingly unpredictable and potentially disastrous international conflicts will push us from behind to understand where we are and how we can create balance in this integral system.
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