~ Oil, Nations & Corporations ~

Image courtesy: FIFP

Spent my Sunday evening watching the 4 part series - Secret of Seven Sisters, by Al Jazeera. The documentary showcases how the so called Seven Sisters came into existence to explore and control Black Gold across various continents under different political regimes. 

The pact by Seven Sisters which influences the foreign policies of various nations is not an eye-opener. When many of the recent wars are fought in the pretext of human rights, terrorism, WMDs, etc; but the main reason could be attributed for controlling the stake of oil reserves among - US, UK, France, Russia, China, the UN permanent members to the Security Council. 

The documentary highlights the following about the Oil Corporations:

• How the tribes in the Middle East were fooled by them for many years by paying meagre sum for oil extraction
• How Dictators, Kings, Political Leaders are influenced and used to keep their commercial interests going
• Many of the oppressing regimes have had blessing of the UNSC permanent members which favoured the Oil Corps
• French Oil Corps have a lot of stake in oil exploration in Africa
• They looted many of the African nations until each country began nationalizing their natural resources
• The money never really benefited the people of the land. Rather it helped the Oil Corps get rich & in turn compensated the Kings, Dictators, Political & Militant Leaders for their support
• The ecological habitats have been destroyed in some places by these Oil Corps
• Sanctions over Libya was removed once Gaddafi paid compensation for the Lockerbie bombing of about $2.7 billion. Seriously? Money cannot compensate the loss of people lives here. By paying money made out of oil sales, Gaddafi couldn't alter his karma. He eventually was lynched by his own people during the uprising.
• Saddam was as - friend, enemy, oppressor - over the years of his rule of Iraq by UNSC permanent members
• Even the most recent catastrophe in the Gulf-of-Mexico where BP has a lot to answer

As the now dead Libyan Minister said,"There are no friends or enemies. Everyone has their interests when it comes to dealing with Oil producing nations. It's a win-win situation for everyone".

People might be skeptical of the documentary made by Al Jazeera channel, which is based out of Qatar. I feel majority of the media is controlled these days. On the contrary the programme offers a lot of different views on how the new world order is rising up to take on the Seven Sisters in the 21st century.

India & China would be a major factor as they want to meet the growing needs  of energy for 2 billion people. Both the nations have been warming up to Iran for oil despite the US sanctions in place.

One of the reasons why I like Elon Musk's vision of alternative energy resources & expansion of human settlement beyond Earth.

H/T: Naveen, thanks for the sharing the documentary.