The Ultimate 'Blowback'

RAY KALLMAN

Ray Kallman is a retired U.S. Navy veteran who lives in Ranchos de Taos.

"Blowback" is a code word the CIA coined in 1954 which referred to the "unintended consequences" of the agencyıs covert operations abroad and the disasters they might someday bring down upon us. The American public tends to be largely unaware that the war on terror is "Blowback" from previous misguided U.S. policies in other peopleıs countries. Many aspects of what the American government had done abroad virtually invited retaliatory attacks from nations and peoples who had been victimized.

  The term "Blowback" first appeared when the U.S. overthrew democratically elected nationalist Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and replaced him with Shah Reza Pahlevi, a member of the Iranian monarchy. This was for the sake of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, (later to become BP) and was the CIAıs first "dirty tricks" campaign to destabilize a Middle Eastern government. It was code-named "Operation Ajax." The U.S. government condemned the Iranian people to 25 years of tyranny and repression, radicalized Iranian society and elicited a tidal wave of antiU.S. sentiment across the Islamic world. The CIAıs highly successful covert operations in Afghanistan produced the worst instance of "Blowback" among all of Americaıs secret wars. In the end, these were detrimental to any American foreign policy goals. They eventually led to "Blowback" in the form of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on New York and Washington. In reaction, the U.S. adopted a foreign policy of "regime change" with wars against Afghanistan and Iraq as opening salvos in the "War on Terrorism." While the U.S. was one of the most sympathized with countries after 9/11, it is now, without a doubt, the most-hated nation on the planet.

  My objective in writing this essay was to try to understand how our energy-based imperial foreign policy evolved, particularly over the last half century, and, where itıs presently headed.

 Foreign policy

  Hereıs how Americaıs present foreign policy came into existence: Secretary of State Dean Acheson, a superb corporate lawyer, launched the American global empire on Feb. 27, 1947. Also enacted at that time was the National Security Act of 1947. This major legislation created the National Security Council (NSC) with its secret, unconstitutional decrees and whose task it was to coordinate foreign policy and defense policy. The act also provided for the equally unconstitutional Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and for a secretary of defense. It merged the War and Navy Departments into a single Department of Defense and the secretary of defense also directed the Department of the Air Force. The Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA), which was established in 1949, was the predecessor of the National Security Agency (NSA) which was officially established in 1952.

  In his 1961 presidential farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower said, "A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment.

  Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction." He added, "The U.S.   had no armaments industry until W.W.II or Korea. The U.S. can no longer risk improvisation of national defense and the U.S. has been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions."   "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry was new in the American experience." Eisenhower went on to suggest that such an arrangement, which he called the "Military-Industrial Complex," could be perilous to American ideals. (He originally called it the "Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex.") As has become quite evident, his words could not have been more prophetic. Today, it is sometimes alluded to as the Military-IndustrialCongressional-Petroleum-Banking Complex.

  Aside from a brief interlude of paranoid neoconservatism, which was antithetical to the U.S. Constitution and to Americaıs political and social culture, this, together with our genetic predisposition for war, plus our awesome basic and applied scientific research and the technological revolution, has brought U.S. to where we are today.

 Grand strategy

  The first step in Americaıs recently developed Imperial Grand Strategy was to secure and maintain a firm foothold in the Middle East in order to control as much of the worldıs oil production as possible. The U.S. military, having already been transformed into a global oil-protection service, facilitated this.

  This is despite the fact that currently, nearly two-thirds of the Persian Gulf ıs oil exports go to Asia, and today Russia, formerly the U.S.S.R., is emerging as an energy superpower. Russia possesses the worldıs largest reserves of natural gas as well as being the worldıs second leading producer of petroleum, after Saudi Arabia.   The long contemplated invasions and conquests of Afghanistan and Iraq were the first steps. Iraq gave U.S.   access to the worldıs second largest oil reserves and nullified the existing lease-holdings of Germany, France, Russia and China. As of today, the U.S.   has already established 14 new military bases in Iraq in an effort to gain strategic control of Iraqıs oil. Afghanistan was the major obstacle for over a decade blocking plans for Union Oil of Californiaıs proposed oil and natural gas pipelines linking Caspian reserves to Asian markets. After Afghanistan was secured, arrangements for construction of the pipelines went forward rapidly with a final deal being signed within a year.

  The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were essentially the genesis of Americaıs latest foreign policy, however thereıs a moral crisis in U.S.   polity. These invasions were ostensibly the beginning of the present administrationıs war against terrorism. But, it appears that the war against terrorism and subsequently the administrationıs propaganda of promoting democracy in the Middle East has really been driven by oil politics rather than by national security considerations.

  Avoiding the Iraq War would have required a more honorable U.S. administration that would have convened a multilateral conference of the industrialized nations in an effort to negotiate a graduated oil-pricing option that included the dollar and the euro. Itıs readily acknowledged that the U.S.   has the capacity to be a world leader of peace, but to fulfill that noble mission it must adopt a foreign policy of tolerance, respect and fairness to other nations.

 Energy

  Energy has become "the name of the game today!" The global demand for energy is constantly rising, in large part due to rising affluence in China, India and other rapidly developing nations.

  But, energy is no longer plentiful or cheap. Petroleum is the primary energy source for the foreseeable future. It is becoming increasingly believed that the global output of petroleum will peak within the present decade and then begin an irreversible decline.   All the alternatives, i.e., solar, wind, hydro, ethanol, biodiesel, clean coal and nuclear power require substantial lead times, a "Manhattan Project" on energy notwithstanding. Hence, control, if not ownership, of usable petroleum reserves, specifically Caspian and central Asian oil and natural gas, pretty much determines which nation(s) controls the worldıs economies in the immediate future.

 Eurasia and Russia

  Some comments about Russia, but first, a few pertinent facts about Eurasia and its bearing on American foreign policy. For more than 500 years, Eurasia has been the center of world power.

  Eurasia is the globeıs largest continent.

  It includes Europe, the Middle East, Russia, China and India. Until the middle of the last century, most of it was dominated by imperial and colonial powers. The inhabitants of Eurasia dominated the worldıs other regions as individual Eurasian states successively became the worldıs premier powers.

  Seventy-five percent of the worldıs people live in Eurasia and most of the worldıs physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underground.

  Eurasia accounts for about 60 percent of the worldıs Gross National Product and three-fourths of the worldıs known energy resources. Collectively, these are far bigger than that of the Western nations in all ways, and they promise to continue to grow. Only within the past decade has a Western Hemispheric power, the United States, emerged not only as the key authority of Eurasian power relations but also as the worldıs foremost power.

  Zbigniew Brezezinski, former President Jimmy Carterıs Polish-born, hawkish national security advisor, in his book, "The Grand Chessboard" states that, "American foreign policy must remain concerned with the geopolitical dimension and must employ its influence in Eurasia in a manner that creates a stable continental equilibrium, with the United States as the political arbiter."

  However, Eurasia has several energyrich regions. Saudi Arabia possesses the worldıs largest oil reserves and Russia possesses the worldıs largest natural gas reserves. Russia is the worldıs second leading producer of petroleum today.

  At the end of the Cold War, Russia appeared to have had it. Russia was treated with disdain by American officials and written off as a "has been."

  Today, although Russia is no longer a military superpower, it is an energy superpower. This places a huge premium on Americaıs global geostrategic skill.  The ultimate Œblowbackı

  As if these developments were not grim enough for Western strategic energy security, another key development has arisen that threatens not only to further diminish the strategic energy security of the West, but that ends the Westıs global economic and geopolitical dominance, the ultimate "Blowback!"

  Oil producing countries have reduced their exposure to the dollar to the lowest level in two years and are shifting their reserves and holdings, and their oil income into euros, yen and sterling, according to new data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which is the central bank for the developed worldıs central banks. An additional key development is the proliferation of oil/gas market exchanges or Bourses, denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars.

  Iran has already switched to the euro.

  Norway has recently sold oil for euros.

  The new Shanghai Petroleum Exchange plans to settle transactions in Chinese currency, the yuan. China is presently paying Iran in euros. Russia threatens to go to euros. Their new St. Petersburg exchange will settle transactions in the ruble.   In addition to this, there is the threat to crash the U.S. dollar, which is the international World Reserve Currency!

  The effect of a sudden OPEC switch to the euro as opposed to a gradual transition would be that oil-consuming nations would have to flush dollars out of their reserve funds and replace them with euros. The dollar would crash anywhere from 20-40 percent in value and the consequences would be those one could expect from any currency collapse and massive inflation.

  The fact that the Westıs oil majors have lost control of all but 9 or 10 percent of the worldıs petroleum reserves means that state-controlled oil companies can reroute virtually any amount of product they wish from the New YorkLondon exchanges to one of the new exchanges. Consequently, the dollar will weaken as the non-dollar-denominated exchanges proliferate. And, the price in dollars for everything the U.S. imports will skyrocket. The oil/gas producers will then be able to throttle the economies of the West by controlling how much of their oil/gas they sell into the dollar-denominated pool.

 Conclusion

  Since this analysis is not based on any conspiracy theory, but on written records and on solid economic and market principles, plus, the increasingly ominous warnings of expert and informed individuals, one of the obvious answers to the dilemma of the ultimate blowback is for the U.S. to achieve independence from sources of foreign oil/gas ASAP. It canıt be too strongly said that a "man-on-the-moon," i.e., a "Manhattan Project" on energy, is urgently needed. While this doesnıt begin to address the root cause of our national dilemma, itıs nonetheless necessary.

  To address the root cause will require a grass-roots movement by Americaıs people to return our government to the Constitutional system that our Founding Fathers so brilliantly created, along with its ingenious system of checks and balances. This is notwithstanding the formidable power of the military-industrial-congressional complex and that military expenditures have risen to represent a significant portion of our economy.

  To do so will require that we retake control of Congress, reform it thoroughly and turn it into an assemblage of democratic representatives beholden only to their constituencies, substantially reduce the money flow to the Pentagon, eliminate the money flow to the CIA and the secret intelligence agencies entirely, eliminate the billions of dollars in tax breaks to the major oil companies entirely, support bills that ensure reduction in global warming pollution, and withdraw all of our military from the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. This is just for openers.

  Ray Kallman is a retired U.S. Navy veteran who lives in Ranchos de Taos.

  RAY KALLMAN

References

 Books:
  "Petrodollar Warfare" by William R. Clark
  "A Century of War" by F. William Engdahl
  "The Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson
  "Nemesis" by Chalmers Johnson
  "The Grand Chesssboard" by Zbigniew Brzezinski
  "Second Choice" by Zbigniew Brzezinski
  "Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta" by Gore Vidal
  "Crude Politics" by Paul Sperry
  "Crashmakers" by Victor Sperandeo
  "Dangerous Nation" by Robert Kagan
  "All the Shahıs Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror" by Stephen Kinzer
  "The Global Energy Race and Its Consequences (Part 1)" by Michael T. Klare
  "Two Faces of an Emerging Energo-fascism (Part 2)" by Michael T. Klare

 Internet Resources:
  Executive Intelligence Review
  Asia Times Online
  Jerusalem Post
  Spiegel Online
  DEBKAfile
  Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report
  PrudentBear.com
  GeoStrategyMap.com
  WashingtonMonthly
  W. Joseph Stroupe
  Global Events Magazine