Time to debunk mythical links between oil and politics

Over the past year, a perceived connection between the control of oil resources, economic security, and power politics seems to have come back to life from the dusty pages of books of the 1970s. Supporters of a proactive Western oil diplomacy and new strategies for control over oil are battling conspiracy theorists, who envision a world ruled by the arcane imperii of oil interests with the US government and oil multinationals working closely together. Yet both parties are wrong, their mistakes stemming from a mythical perception of oil as the ultimate goal lurking behind many major international crises. Oil matters have always been prone to mythmaking. The prominence of the energy question makes it a highly sensitive and emotionally charged issue for politicians and the media. Distorted interpretations of past events are used to justify current opinions. But oil is a highly technical and economically complex subject that is virtually impossible to discuss meaningfully without a solid technical background. The current combination of broad public interest and a lack of understanding is the single most dangerous enemy to good policy. The proper antidote to this is in-depth examination of the content and origins of the myths and of the realities of oil.