7/30/08 New “Cold War” in the Caribbean — U.S. is losing

By Peter Forman
Published: July 30, 2008
New York—A new Cold War is brewing in the Caribbean — and the U.S. is losing.

 

In a recent news analysis, MoveBeyondOil.org coined a new term for the countries that coordinate their energy prices, plans, relationships, and methods of distribution for political, military, or economic advantage: an Axis of Energy.

 

This Axis of Energy tilts heavily away from U.S. interests.  And now, according to Time Magazine, it is leading to a new Cold War in the Caribbean.

 

As the price of oil has increased and while the U.S. has been distracted elsewhere in the world, some recent Axis of Energy movements:

 

1) Chavez has expanded his regional energy cooperative, "PetroCaribe", to include most Caribbean and Central American countries, against U.S. wishes.  PetroCaribe, at Venezuela's expense, in exchange for closer political ties provides oil at 60% discounts — which critics call Petro-bribery.  Guatemala and Costa Rica, traditional U.S. allies, recently joined, and other U.S.-friendly countries that have resisted joining, such as Barbados, are under intense domestic pressure to give in for access to cheap oil.
(Members now include Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Suriname, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent, and Grenadines.  Haiti is prohibited from joining because it has a U.S.-installed government.)

 

2) Russia and Venezuela have pledged to form a strategic energy and military alliance which permits Russian oil exploration in Venezuela and an incremental $2 billion of Russian military purchases by Venezuela.  Venezuela's Chavez invoked Fidel Castro in praising Russia for its "common sense" in coordinating strategically this way with his country.

 

3) Iran, in addition to expanding its ties with Venezuela, is cozying up to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

 

4) Russia is, once again, threatening a military presence in Cuba.  Fidel Castro has hinted that rumors of a future Cuban base for Russian nuclear bombers may be true. 

 

Meanwhile, in Europe and Asia the Axis continues its expansion:
- Russia continues its push to nationalize oil assets as it forces BP (formerly British Petroleum) out of a 50/50 joint venture.
-  China, in an attempt to extend its control over South China Sea oil, is pressuring Exxon and Vietnam to abandon projects offshore of Vietnam.
- Belarus signed an energy and military cooperation agreement with Venezuela.  Belarus is the last dictatorship of the former Soviet Union and both are vitriolic anti-U.S. regimes.

 

As covered in the July 21, 2008 news analysis, the U.S. should be focused not on an Axis of Evil, but on an Axis of Energy.

 

And the only way to break this massive reorientation of global interests is for the West to move beyond oil.

 

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