THE
HUNGRY BEAR PART 3: No more Mr Nice
Guy By W Joseph Stroupe
(For Part 1, Promises
that can't be kept, click here For Part 2,
Corporate gigantism, click here)
East and
West are now irreversibly locked in a monumental
struggle for control of the globe's coveted
strategic resources - this is the revived Great
Game and its players are rapidly approaching the
moment of truth. The stakes for both sides
are
colossal and both sides fully
recognize that fact. However, neither side likes
to admit explicitly the existence of such a
struggle that will define which side achieves
global ascendancy and which side faces the
potential of an energy-based economic checkmate.
The United States prefers to strive for
advantage in the Great Game while hiding behind
the veil of the ostensibly noble policy of
spreading "freedom" and "democracy" - yet it is
active in such a policy primarily only in
countries that are either rich in strategic
resources or are strategically located as respects
the export of such resources. By military invasion
and occupation, by encirclement through
proliferation of its military bases, by the spread
of "colored" revolutions, by sponsoring oil and
gas pipelines that circumvent Russia and its
partners, and by various diplomatic drives, the
West attempts to roll back Russian control over
resources and to consolidate its own.
Russia and the East prefer to make
advances in the Great Game while simultaneously
and fervently denying any interest whatever in
locking up the bulk of the globe's strategic
resources and thereby winning the game - yet
virtually every diplomatic and economic move on
the part of Russia and the East is obviously
targeted at and designed incrementally and
insidiously to accomplish that very goal, and
rapid progress is being made toward that very end.
Are onlookers supposed to conclude that
Russia and the East are progressively and rapidly
achieving dominance over the globe's resources
purely by random chance, through no conscious
effort or clever strategy on their part? How could
that be the case, especially when the West is
actively and fervently working against Russia and
the East to try to prevent such an outcome, yet
that very outcome is nearly completed?
In
the Great Game the loser will forfeit virtually
everything of value, or will be held backward on
its heels in a position where there is no escape
from the threat of such forced forfeiture. If
Russia loses the game, then the West, sitting in
de facto control of massive reserves of oil and
gas around the globe, will be sufficiently able to
control the global price and availability of oil
to bring the price down to a point where Russia's
economy will begin to falter, or worse.
Of
course, a win by the West at this late date in the
Great Game would take much more than a Hail Mary
pass. [1] However, the West in general and the US
in particular will never willingly forfeit the
game, even though the odds are massively against
it now. The game will be played out to its finish
and the US will stop at nothing to pull out a win,
even at the last moment if possible.
By
additional military adventures and "colored"
revolutions, threatening even Russian and Chinese
territorial integrity and economic stability
themselves, the West can fully be expected to
strive to forestall its own forfeiture of the game
as it increasingly sees the clock running out on
its energy security fortunes. Considering the
current occupant of the White House, no one should
make the mistake of assuming further US military
adventures are not likely, because as the clock
runs out on the US, the likelihood of such
adventures increases radically.
Russia and
the East will thus be given no choice by the West
but to resort to the full and potent use of their
growing energy leverage. For reasons far beyond
President Vladimir Putin's control, therefore, his
promise to "play nice" with energy is entirely an
empty one.
How is Russia already bringing
its global leverage as an "energy superpower" to
bear on the global markets and on political
leaders to oblige the West to come around to its
preferred terms, and what are the implications?
Perhaps the analogy below will help explain.
Inside the two-minute warning
Folks, we're back. You're watching the
Petroleum Bowl world championship game being
played out between these two longtime rivals, East
and West, right here at the grand old stadium at
Mineral Field. This grand stadium was always the
venue of choice for these two rivals until 1991
when the East's program virtually collapsed. This
whole complex has deteriorated through disuse
since then. But the East is back now, and how, and
Mineral Field has recently been restored to a
glory greater than ever.
The West was
heavily favored coming into this game, but what a
reversal we've seen today! To recap, during the
first half the West got deep penetration into the
East's territory with runs and pass plays up the
gut and to the outside and was able to get into
the n-zone several times. But late in the second
half of the game the East has quickly capitalized
on multiple fumbles by the West in a
come-from-behind impending win like we've never
seen before.
The East is getting deep
penetration all the way down to the n-zone of the
West, but not up the gut - those end-runs and
trick passing plays to the outside have taken
their toll on the West, and they're down by a
touchdown late in the game. The West is virtually
beating itself in this pivotal game. We're inside
the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter of
the game and the East is inside the 10-yard line
with a first down, driving toward another
touchdown.
The West has burned all its
timeouts and can't stop the clock, and most of the
West's best defensive players along with both its
quarterbacks are out of the game with injuries.
The East looks unstoppable. Even if the West gets
the ball back before the clock runs out, it's very
unlikely to be able to advance the ball down the
field against the powerful, combined defense of
the East. Make no mistake about it, though, this
West team is going to fight down to the bitter end
with everything they've got. They've been in a
similar bind before and there's no "quit" in them.
The East knows they've got their hands full in the
closing minutes of this game.
And what do
you think of the late comments coming in from the
East's head coach, Putinov? That East team has
endured slam after slam about its dirty play from
the West's assistant head coach Mick Shaney, and
now the offensive coordinator Pritchard Shugar has
gotten into the act, saying the East should have
been penalized several times on its last drive to
the n-zone. But the penalties and personal fouls
racked up by this West team aren't anything to be
proud of, either. Head coach Putinov just smiled
wryly and promised that his team would "try to be
more courteous on the field", and that when it
comes right down to it winning the game cup
doesn't matter to the East.
Don't you
believe it for one minute, folks! You don't get to
this level of play and competition unless you
train harder than anyone else, strategize harder,
play harder and want victory more than you want
anything else. Head coach Putinov is just having
some fun at the expense of coaches Shaney and
Shugar. And Putinov knows full well that as the
clock runs down he's going to have to pull out the
stops and give it all he's got in the last two
minutes of the game to seal a victory. It has all
come down to what happens in the next two minutes,
folks. Stay glued to your screens because we're
not going anywhere until one of these two teams
achieves victory.
Note 1. In
American football, a Hail Mary pass is a long,
desperate forward pass of the ball when it is
clear no other play will work; it is so called
because chances of its success are low enough to
suggest the need for divine intervention.
Tomorrow, Part 4: The West's thorny
crown
W Joseph
Stroupe is
editor of Global Events Magazine online at
www.GeoStrategyMap.com. He has authored a new book
on the implications of ongoing energy
geopolitics, Russian Rubicon: Impending
Checkmate of the West.
(Copyright 2004-06
GeoStrategyMap.com and W Joseph Stroupe. All
rights reserved.)
