Industry Odisha Bureau, May 20: Akin to the mesmerizing ‘mantra’ -“Money money money sweeter than honey” that rules the roost in this materialistic world, it all seems that the current geopolitical order is hellbent on the numero uno cut-throat competition-cum-rat race for taking the world in one’s stride with a malicious intent by dint of conquering and controlling alone the ‘Oil Empire’ at the cost of emptying oil from other’s lamp.
A precious write-up published in the digital platform “All Things Honey & More” delineates: “Money is often seen as a panacea, and being rich is often assumed to be equal to happiness and content. In today’s world, money is so dear that one conceives of it as being sweeter than honey.”
Hence, the famous quote: “Nothing but money is sweeter than honey” reflects the innate human craving for wealth and material abundance, particularly in today’s modern era of industrialisation and power struggle.
If we now delve into the modern geopolitics craving for control over energy resources, especially the fossil fuel commonly known as ‘Oil’, it all appears crystal clear in the sensible heads and hearts of the intelligentsia.
Analysts view that the magic of this ‘Oil’ is not confined to being a mere fuel, but it possesses the power of necromancy to “overpower economies, militaries, industries, shipping, aviation, let alone global trade networks.”
The ongoing tug of war between US-Israel and Iran is a glaring instance and the startling revelations are hereunder:
1) Large oil reserves in a country obviously become “eye sores and epicentres of geopolitical competition and foreign interventions, since scores of global conflicts, particularly in the Middle East, have a direct or indirect link to energy security and control of the supply routes. It is quite evident at present in the strategic chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb, and also Suez Canal, deemed to be globally most important because any sort of disruptions caused there could severely impact the oil price globally.”
2) “Nations dictating oil-exports terms have the ability to call the shots in terms of global diplomacy and economic stability.”
3) “Global superpowers compete not only for oil reserves, but also for influence over transport corridors and energy alliances.”
4) “Energy crises often trigger inflation, recession fears, supply-chain disruptions, and political instability worldwide.”
5) Paradoxically, we the rational beings on this mundane world are immensely dependent on “a finite geological resource called fossil fuel which is an outcome of the remains of age-old organisms like plants, algae, and microorganisms that were buried under sediment and transformed over millions of years by heat, pressure, and chemical processes.”
On the contrary, the ‘Global Harmony Principles’ are based on ‘Mutual Respect’, ‘Justice’, ‘Sustainable Development’, ‘Conflict Resolution’, ‘Human Rights’, ‘Disarmament’, ‘Global Education’, ‘Global Health Initiatives’, last but not the least ‘Environmental Sustainability’.
The truth prevails that the fossil fuel (Oil) that has been the bone of contention or apple of discord, is never infinite. It is also finite like our life span. Thus, the million dollar question to be introspected: When shall we wake up to the cosmic clarion call of “live and let others live”?
