So are we fighting the first of the Oil Wars?

[Bandit]

How many more are in store for us and what next The Water wars? I feel we are just at the beginning of a very turbulent time involving Oil and I suspect Water is on the Horizon. We need to develop alternatives ASAP and find a cheap way to desalinate the water or there will be a lot of death and destruction in our future..

[bryant69]

1. We're humans - probably a lot of death and destruction

either way - but I'd say this isn't the first. If nothing else the first Gulf war might get that award, and if you assume wars can be important without the United States involved, you might look at a few other incidents over the years.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Bandit]

2. Actually I was doing just what I usually condemn others for

I was referring to only America and leaving the rest of the world out. You are absolutely correct in that this is in no way the first and I am absolutely certain it will not be the last..

[Greyhound]

3. Far from the first and even further from the last. n/t

[Junkdrawer]

4. Robert Newman has WW I as the first Oil War...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7374585792978336967&q=history+of+oil&hl=en

[Subdivisions]

5. Yes, we are obviously in an "Oil War" but "first" implies there

will be others, and I don't think there will. I think this will be the only Oil War because I think it will fundamentally change life on earth. As for water, a UN research team just announced findings that conclude that 1/3 of the world's population has little to no fresh water. That figure is what they expected to find projected out to 2030 before they did the study. Instead, they found that the world had already reached those projections.

Here's a link about the report:

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/1687

Here's a take on Water Wars:

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34465

[4dsc]

6. more like resource wars

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805055762/002-3174128-8679214?v=glance&n=283155

Klare analyzes the most likely cause of war in the century just begun: demand by rapidly growing populations for scarce resources. An introductory chapter sets the scene, laying out the complexities of rapidly increasing demand as the world industrializes, the concentration of resources in unstable states and the competing claims to ownership of resources by neighboring states. Succeeding chapters look more closely at the potential for conflict over oil in the Persian Gulf and in the Caspian and South China Seas, over water in the Nile Basin and other multinational river systems and over timber, gems and minerals from Borneo to Sierra Leone. The strength of Klare's presentation is its concreteness. His analyses of likely conflicts, for example among Syria, Jordan and Israel for the limited water delivered by the Jordan River, are informed by detailed research into projected usage rates, population growth and other relevant trends. As Klare shows, the same pattern is repeated in dozens of other locations throughout the world. Finite resources, escalating demand and the location of resources in regions torn by ethnic and political unrest all combine as preconditions of war. Klare, an expert on warfare and international security (Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws, etc.), presents a persuasive case for paying serious attention to these impending hostilities and furnishes the basic information needed to understand their danger and the importance of international cooperation in staving off conflict. (May) Forecast: Klare's message is important, but it probably won't be heard by many beyond readers of the handful of major newspapers that will review it.

[ThomWV]

7. No Not The First; This One's Nearly The Last

We've been fighting oil wars for decades, either in person or by proxy. This isn't the first of them, but with any sort of intelligent effort it could be the last. It won't be of course.