Nigeria Has Weapons of Mass Destruction!

Iraq and Iran are sooo yesterday. The next battleground over Cheap Oil will be Nigeria. How soon is anybody’s guess.

This article by Scott Thill describes a new book — "Curse of the Black Gold: Fifty Years of Oil in the Niger Delta." The article includes a short video and an interview with one of the authors — Michael Watts.

Scott Thill describes Nigeria as: “Where all the major oil companies have done business, dirty and otherwise, for the last five decades, degrading the environment and depressing the general population along the way.”

As with so many Third World countries, oil exploration has created incredible wealth and splendor for a few, at the expense of the general population. Numerous oil spills (almost one per day) have wrecked the environment and devastated local economies.

(But rest assured now: if the oil industry is allowed to drill for oil off the coast of the United States, there’s all sorts of fancy new technology that will prevent oil spills and minimize damage to the environment. Trust us.)

The situation in Nigeria will be getting a lot worse. As the author says: “Increasing demand, ass-backward environmental policy and diminishing resources send nations and multinationals scattering for control of what's left of Earth's black gold.” And the indigenous population is getting more pissed off by the day. Insurgents have been attacking oil drilling facilities, sometimes taking employees hostage. And these attacks have been increasing.

Since 2006 the Bush Administration has been planning the United States African Command (AFRICOM). This is a Defense Department program for coordinating military operations across Africa. So far, not one African country has permitted the U.S. to use its territory for these operations. For now, the AFRICOM master plan is relegated to a base in Germany.

But as the author warns: “The United States won’t be outside Africa for long, as climate crisis and peak oil take further hold. And when it comes calling, it will most likely call on Nigeria first.”

cross-posted at Bring It On!