During the summer of 2018, President Donald Trump predicted the future. During the G7 in Quebec in June and the NATO summit in Brussels in July, Trump warned world leaders their green energy policies and reliance on Russian oil and gas were weakening their economies while strengthening Russia’s — undermining NATO’s purpose.
The President said America would not come to the rescue.
Energy was at the very heart of his words then, and his administration’s actions now. It was at the heart of his ousting of a brutal dictator from Venezuela, home to the world’s largest crude oil reserves. Energy was at the heart of his decision to remove the U.S. from the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Energy is at the heart of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the United States and Iran.
Energy runs the world, and Trump wants to run the world’s energy.
For decades, Iran sold oil on the black market, providing hostile nations like China and North Korea with discounted vital fuel. By land, Iran, via its massive, uncontrolled borders, allowed rogue operators to get their hands on oil and petrodollars: Houthis rebels, terrorists in Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, and Turkey. These actions have enriched Iran and destabilized the world by financing terrorism and unrest.
By forcing Iran to sell its oil on the legitimate global market, the MOU accomplishes economic and national security objectives. First, adding global supply will bring prices down. From a national security perspective, the U.S. can monitor sales, thus monitor economies and activities.
For example, our naval blockade and control of the Straits of Hormuz provided the information that China had cut oil imports by over four million barrels per day.
Since China cannot be trusted to provide accurate information, this number would not have been known otherwise. Any additional knowledge on China’s energy economy benefits our national security readiness.
Because of President Trump’s ouster of Nicolas Maduro and the American companies now operating in the region, Venezuela oil production is increasing around 5% per month. Those companies benefit, U.S. refineries benefit, and because of their participation in the global oil market, oil is not going to Cuba or China via ghost tankers. Those petrodollars, now under the purview of the U.S. Treasury, return legitimately to the government and people of Venezuela — not drug cartels, not Tren de Aragua gangsters, not Haitian warlords.
Control the oil, control the world. The past criticisms of the U.S. as global peacekeepers is based on ex post facto illegitimacy: bad guys have oil, sell it and make money, acquire arms and weapons, and then America comes to the rescue.
No one wants a return of American military foreign intervention where our servicemembers are fighting bad actors fueled by illicit oil revenue. America will not act as “world police” if the bad guys do not get rich and powerful on the front end.
Which takes us back to the summer of 2018. Many world leaders found it easier to laugh at President Trump’s comments about failed green energy projects. After all, he was just a reality show TV star and casino builder who barely won an election, while they were seasoned statesmen who had already outlasted Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian billionaire Prime Minister who tried and failed at populism over three terms.
As the foreign elites rolled their eyes, Russia got richer and more powerful, before invading Ukraine during the weakness of the Biden administration. Right on queue, those same European leaders begged the U.S. to come to the rescue.
Meanwhile, energy poverty moved their individual economies into stagnation. Germany suffered several quarters of outright economic contraction and is now relieved to only be in a recession. The United Kingdom has the highest electricity prices in the developed world. France pays the equivalent of $8.55 a gallon for gas.
All of this was foreseen. All was preventable through a serious energy policy that strengthens us and our allies and prevents our adversaries from becoming powerful and dangerous. American energy dominance sets the agenda for prosperity at home, with no more Maduros and Ayatollahs selling oil in secret to those who seek our destruction. No more Hamas having the funds to orchestrate the October 7th attacks. No more Putins invading Ukraine.
Let those who cry “no blood for oil” rest well knowing control of the oil sets the stage for lasting global peace powered by American energy dominance.
***
Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. He also runs a sheep and cattle farm in rural Virginia. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF
.png)
.png)
