Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Pentagon Prepares For Century of Climate Emergencies and Oil Wars

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Pentagon Prepares For Century of Climate Emergencies and Oil Wars

Click here to access article by Nafeez Ahmed from Uncommon Thought Journal.

After examining some Pentagon documents regarding their focus on fossil fuels and some regard for climate destabilization, he concludes that it is the former concern which informs their policies.

But the geopolitical context of the US Army’s new energy strategy highlights the chronic short-sightedness of US military planners. The Army’s sustainability strategy is ultimately about maintaining US military dominance despite resource scarcity, while safeguarding the wider fossil fuel system – not changing it.

The unswerving commitment to protecting business-as-usual, the fatalistic capitulation to a future of expanding oil dependence, and the blinkered belief that global economic health is tied to endless resource exploitation, all show that US policymakers still have their heads in the sand.

If Pentagon officials really want to defend US national security, they must wake up to the fact that the global system itself must undergo a fundamental transformation, in which economic stability is no longer dependent on the unlimited consumption of fossil fuels.

However, he leaves one with the implication that US military planners are rather stupid ("shortsighted") by forgetting his earlier insight:

The US Army’s understanding of “resilience” – the capacity to anticipate, prepare for, withstand and adapt to “natural or man-made disruptions” and to “recover rapidly” from them – is based on the unquestionable assumption that US-dominated global capitalism must be protected.

I think this is because Ahmed doesn't understand class rule (or he regards such ideas as dangerous), specifically that a capitalist class rules all institutions of society. The Army like all institutions serves this ruling class. The control of energy to fuel their engines of profit--corporations--must be secured for not only profits, but also for the power which secures their rule over US society and much of the world. Much like addicts, the capitalist ruling class don't care much about the future--not because they are "shortsighted"--it is because they derive so much immediate satisfaction from their short-term "highs" of profit and power.