The U.S. is Not Going to Disengage from the Mideast

December 16th, 2008 by zen

Alternate energy sources are a long term – a very long term – solution. In terms of technological application with immediate policy effect, it is the equivalent of Edward Teller’s vision of SDI in 1987. By all means, invest in alternative energy but even throwing $ 100 billion at the problem in fiscal year 2009 is not going to disconnect the United States, much less the West, from oil in 2010 or even 2020. Any reduction in our own oil consumption by the use of alternate energy sources in coming decades will more than be made up by rising Asian demand and the Gulf will increase, rather than decrease, in importance as a geopolitical “choke point”.

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Posted in foreign policy, geopolitics, glittering eye, globalization, intellectuals, iran, iraq, islamic world, islamist, national security, non-state actors, Outside the beltway, schuler, state failure, state terrorism, strategy, terrorism | 5 comments

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  1. Lexington Green:

    December 16th, 2008 at 4:37 am

    "The answer for the irritant is not amputation."
    .
    It reminds of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s comment "what we need is not acrobatics, but architecture".  Thus one deep-voiced Eastern European foreign policy advisor criticized a more famous and flamboyant one.

  2. zen:

    December 16th, 2008 at 5:07 am

    Gracias Lex !

  3. vanderleun:

    December 16th, 2008 at 6:37 am

    I concur. There is simply no substitute for American hegemony and American security of the sea lanes. One might wish there was, but it simply isn’t the case.  Finel exhibits the chief characteristics of those with only an impressive C.V. — intellectual insanity based on wishing. It is as if he started a college bullsession in 1968 and it never stopped. Never left the room either.

  4. Dave Schuler:

    December 16th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Thanks, Mark.  What a great precis!
    .
    Feel free to join in over at OTB, folks.

  5. Pulling Out: Debating Middle East Disengagement (Neg. Rebuttal):

    December 22nd, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    […] disengagement from the Middle East will result in a reduction of the threat from terrorism. As my good friend Mark Safranski put it, that’s not merely counter-intuitive, it’s lacking in real world evidence. […]