The Battleground
By Joel Hilliker and Robert Morley
March 2006
How the competition over resources will play out among the world’s great
powers
Where do oil and natural gas come from? Look at a world map in terms of have
and have-not nations—those with surpluses versus those with scarcity.
A simple reality quickly leaps out. The entities with the greatest advantage
are Russia and a collection of Middle Eastern nations. The entities with
the greatest need are the United States, the European Union, and Asia,
especially China. Latin America and Africa present themselves as two regions
possessing ample resources—much of which remain untapped—but little muscle.
These facts are worth contemplating. They strongly suggest the manner in
which geopolitical events will play out—and how cutthroat they will get—in the
time just ahead.
Largely because of its oil, the Middle East has become the pivot point of
world events. The flood of cash it provides empowers the spread of Islam and
funds the scourge of terrorism—two realities, undeniably linked, destined to
force greater powers to deal with them decisively. Russia is on the road to a
different destination.
The main battle over resources is primed to occur among three giants: the
U.S., the EU and China. However, as the _article on page 9_
(http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=2019) of this current publication shows,
the U.S. won’t stay in the fight much longer. Already we see the EU and China
undermining the U.S.—even positioning themselves to be able to choke off
supplies when the opportunity is right—and working to redirect those commodities
to fuel their own needs. The ensuing battle to be fought between these two—
Europe and China—is visible today in its early stages.
As nice as it may be today to possess assets that the world’s great powers
crave, in the ruthless era of resource war into which we are now entering, it
will prove to be a fatal disadvantage. Holding valuables without having the
brawn to protect them only invites stronger powers to conquer, pillage and
occupy. Even judging by how these regions are being treated today, it is evident
that this is the dreadful future awaiting Latin America and Africa.
Following is a closer examination of the trajectory of today’s trends, with
a focus on projecting where they are heading.
Land of Opportunity
Rich in resources, Latin America is a sumptuous smorgasbord for
resource-hungry outsiders. Oil from Venezuela; silver from Mexico and Peru; tin from
Bolivia; iron ore from Brazil; and on and on—Latin America can provide raw
materials in abundance.
Germany, since the closing days of its defeat in the Second World War, has
viewed Latin America as a land of opportunity. The strongest tie between
these two entities lies in religion: Though Roman Catholicism is headquartered in
Rome and remains the predominant faith of Europe, over half of the world’s
Roman Catholics live in Latin America. This friendship served Germany well
even during World War ii, when Argentina sheltered Nazi officers and
provided safe haven for Nazi ships and submarines. At war’s end, many Nazis found
safety in South America. By the late 1940s, German influence in Latin America
was unmistakable, with its military camped out in Argentina, its industrial
strength flourishing in Brazil, and Nazi leaders enjoying respected status
within Chile, Venezuela, Paraguay and Ecuador.
Since then, German businesses, with Vatican support, have opened the door
for Europe to penetrate key industrial, agricultural and corporate industries
in Latin America. German corporate giants such as Krupp, Siemens, Bayer,
Volkswagen, I.G. Farben and Deutsche Bank have become household names throughout
the region. Slowly, stealthily, skillfully, German corporatists have secured
the supplies of resources needed to stoke the engines of a truly world-class
European superpower.
But while the foundation for this relationship was carefully laid over a
period of decades, its structure has been built with much greater urgency in the
15 years since Germany’s reunification. This German penetration of Latin
America has been operating under an EU cloak. Between 1990 and 2004, EU trade
with Latin America more than doubled, vaulting the EU into position as the
leading foreign investor in the region.
Latin America’s growing friendship with the EU has, over time, undercut its
historically robust trade relationships with the United States. Of late,
with anti-Americanism quickly spreading among their peoples, Latin American
nations have grown even more receptive to other foreign trade proposals.
Surely, Europe must have felt for some time that it had Latin America all
but sewn up for itself. But something very interesting has happened: Recently,
and quite suddenly, a new entity has been aggressively moving in on this
emerging opportunity: China.
Enter the Competitor
China’s newfound role as the world’s factory of manufacturing has created a
rapacious craving for raw resources: A mere decade ago, China was a net
exporter of oil; but it has since become the world’s second-largest oil importer
(behind the U.S.)—accounting for fully 40 percent of global growth in oil
demand over the four years between 2001 and 2004 and with its demand expected
to double again over the next 8 to 10 years. The world’s most populous country
has made similar leaps in its need for other resources: For example, where
it used to be a major coal exporter, it now consumes almost everything it
produces, amounting to 30 percent of global coal production.
The far-sighted Chinese haven’t taken up such habits heedlessly; they are
keenly aware of the need to secure reliable sources of supply and ensure
regular delivery of those supplies. The volatile nature of Middle Eastern oil has
stirred China to invest aggressively in alternative sources. One of those is
the Caribbean and Latin America.
It began seemingly out of the blue in 1999, with the procurement by a
Chinese front company of control over the entry and exit points of the Panama
Canal, when America gifted ownership of its sovereign territory of the Canal
Zone to Panama. That marked the beginning of a swift and effective campaign by
China to effectively storm the whole of Latin America.
Over the last two years alone, China has negotiated major trade deals and
energy-related investment deals with oil producers Venezuela, Ecuador,
Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, and even Mexico. In January, Bolivian President
Evo Morales invited China to help develop his country’s vast natural gas
reserves. Though Venezuela is currently the U.S.’s fourth-largest supplier of
crude oil, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez granted Chinese firms the right to
operate 15 mature oil fields in Venezuela. China is also looking at building
a pipeline from Venezuela through Colombia to a Pacific port.
In return for resource access in many of these nations, China is developing
the infrastructure necessary to transport the resources home. It is building
and improving roads and railways and upgrading port facilities in Brazil;
in Venezuela and Argentina, it is investing billions in railways and
telecommunications, among other things. Most significantly, it is working overtime
locking down deals on military technology and equipment with various countries
in this region. Why? The president of the Washington-based Asia-America
Initiative, Al Santoli, explains, “China’s growing military ties in Latin
America have a direct link to their international quest for energy and other vital
natural resources … as well as their efforts to reinforce the growing reach
of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez to create a counterweight to U.S. influence in
the region” (Washington Times, Nov. 20, 2005; emphasis ours throughout).
During 2004, Chinese military officials made at least 20 visits to Latin
America, and nine Latin American defense ministers visited Beijing. U.S. Gen.
Bantz Craddock says Beijing’s most recent military strategy outline “departs
from the past and promotes a power-projection military, capable of securing
strategic shipping lanes and protecting its growing economic interests abroad”
(ibid.).
What must Europe think of all this? You can be certain it won’t stand aside
and allow its decades-long efforts to be undone.
Indications are that, in fact, China’s moves are provoking Europe to
intensify its work in Latin America. In the end, it could even prove to be one
catalyst among many driving European nations to unify—and then to lash out as a
single, powerful entity.
Watch this region! At present, it is perhaps the most vivid example of the
escalating competition among the U.S., the EU and China—with the U.S. being
pushed aside and the other two powers lumbering toward inevitable
head-to-head confrontation.
An Alternative Source
Africa is another continent that has moved to center stage as the resource
struggle intensifies. Glutted with relatively untapped mineral and energy
resources, it has become a focus of resource exploitation by the U.S., Europe
and China despite the inherent difficulties of operating within a continent
plagued by instability.
Africa holds an estimated 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves. It
produces over 60 metal and mineral products and is a major producer of a number
of the world’s most precious metals, including gold, diamonds, uranium,
manganese, chromium, nickel, bauxite, cobalt and platinum group metals. But the
most vital of Africa’s strategic resources, which is being discovered in
increasing abundance, is crude oil.
The Corporate Council on Africa reports that Africa contains over 90
billion barrels of proven oil reserves, representing 9.1 percent of the world’s
total reserves. A 2002 Cambridge Energy Research Associates study revealed that
West Africa’s growth potential in terms of oil production is greater than
that of Russia, the Caspian or South America. In total, sub-Saharan Africa
is expected to boost oil production from 3.8 million barrels per day in 2003
to 6.8 million by 2008.
With Iraq languishing in crisis, Iran a heartbeat away from becoming a
nuclear power and militant Islam continuing to rise, it is not hard to see the
attraction in African resources, despite the continuing tribal conflicts that
plague that continent.
China Sees an Opening
Largely due to its historic colonial relationships with Africa, Europe has
been a major influence on the continent. Besides Britain, Germany, France,
Italy, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands all had colonies
within the continent in the past. However, as more and more colonies gained their
independence, corruption, civil war and instability seeped across the
African landscape, making many Western companies hesitant to invest there.
Following the decolonization of Africa, European influence on the continent, though
it did not disappear, measurably shrank.
China is only too happy to take full advantage of this situation,
demonstrating few of Europe’s qualms about African insecurity. In recent years, the
Chinese government—more than any other power—has been building economic and
political influence in economically poor but resource-rich African nations.
A January 24 article in the Providence Journal described the situation well:
“When it comes to China’s extraordinary grab for the natural wealth of
Africa, the Chinese keep their eyes on the prize. No hand is too bloody to
shake. No genocidal lunatic too awful for an embrace. And nobody will be turned
down in ordering, with special credit facilities, weapons for oppressing
civilian populations.
“China is securing the wealth of Africa for itself from Sudan to Zimbabwe,
with tentacles reaching into South Africa. A plethora of heads of failed
states could not be happier.
“Never has one country set out to secure the treasure and allegiance of a
whole continent the way China is now doing in Africa. You would have to look
back to the British takeover of the Indian subcontinent for such blatant
commercial imperialism.”
Though mineral exploitation is a priority for Beijing (it has been mopping
up copper from Zambia, coal and gold from South Africa, platinum from
Zimbabwe, manganese from Gabon, and so on), the most geopolitically significant
of China’s moves is its exploitation of African oil and natural gas. About 28
percent of China’s oil imports currently come from Africa, and China’s
three biggest energy firms are engaged in exploration deals with 17 African
states. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing spent a week in January visiting
Senegal, Cape Verde, Liberia, Mali and Nigeria promoting energy deals. On
January 9, the Chinese state-owned oil company cnooc (one of the big three)
announced a $2.3 billion deal for Nigeria’s Akpo oil and gas field.
China has deeply infiltrated Sudan. In 1997, the U.S. government barred
Sudanese oil investment by U.S. companies because the Sudanese government
sponsored terrorism and committed human rights violations. In 2004, China squashed
U.S. efforts to levy sanctions on Sudan by threatening to use its veto
within the UN Security Council, protecting its oil investment despite the
genocide taking place in that region. Beijing has invested $14 billion in Sudanese
oil through its largest energy firm, the China National Petroleum Corp.,
alone; a full 5 percent of its oil imports come from Sudan. China’s staunch
support for the regime in Sudan has gone as far as supplying arms to the
government the U.S. labels as genocidal!
But it is little wonder that China supports Sudan: Sudan ships over half
its oil to China—and as new fields come on line, the amount is expected to
jump dramatically.
In Zimbabwe, China, in its thirst for resources and power, is actively
supporting the dictatorial rule of President Robert Mugabe despite his government
’s rampant corruption and abuse of power. In Zimbabwe’s blatantly
fraudulent parliamentary elections last year, China boosted the ruling party in a
variety of ways: In one instance, a Chinese company “provided a radio-jamming
device for a military base outside the capital, preventing independent stations
from balancing state-controlled media during the election campaign”
(Christian Science Monitor, March 30, 2005). And, despite the West’s arms embargo on
Zimbabwe, China is supplying Zimbabwe’s army with fighter jets and other
armaments.
Again, there is no guessing why: In return, China has gained access to
Zimbabwe’s platinum, gold and other precious resources. The two nations are
cooperating in mining and mineral processing, transport and communications.
China apparently operates free of the ethical limitations that lock U.S.
businesses out of such opportunities. For instance, when Ethiopia went to war
with Eritrea in the late 1990s, the U.S. greatly reduced its presence in
that country—and China moved in. Now “Chinese companies have become a dominant
force, building highways and bridges, power stations, mobile-phone networks,
schools and pharmaceutical plants. More recently, they have begun exploring
for oil and building at least one Ethiopian military installation” (Wall
Street Journal, March 29, 2005).
These activities are only a small sampling of a continent swarming with
Chinese activity. They do illustrate, however, the ethical boundaries Beijing is
willing to cross to oppose the U.S., to bring African resources to China,
and to establish itself as a bona fide superpower.
It is true that America currently has a foothold in parts of Africa, but it
won’t be a player forever. China’s efforts to thwart the U.S. are showing
success and, as our _article on page 9_
(http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=2019) explains, a confluence of factors will ensure the
Chinese will not have to compete with America for much longer.
But that doesn’t mean China will be the only show in town. Just as China’s
inroads in Latin America appear to be provoking Europe to intensify its
efforts in the region, so it is in Africa.
Europe Goes on the Offensive
An awakening Europe is on the hunt for the same bounty of resources that
China is laying claim to. As reticent as Europe has been to invest in unstable
Africa, the thirst for resources is starting to override the fear.
In an October 2005 news release, the European Commission outlined its “
Strategy of the EU for Africa.” According to the Panafrican News Agency, the
strategy defines a framework for “a strategic partnership for security and
development between the European Union and Africa in the next decade” (Oct. 14,
2005). The “strategy” implies that the EU is willing to spend the money and
build the infrastructure needed to gain access to Africa’s resources.
Of course, terrorism, rife within many failed African states, jeopardizes
the flow of oil and other raw materials to Europe. Thus, EU politicians intend
to foster robust European security involvement in Africa. They have already
undertaken a wave of military missions in Africa in recent months, including
one in Sudan’s war-torn but oil-rich Darfur region and another in
mineral-laden Congo.
How much were China’s African incursions a factor in rousing Europe to
begin establishing a military footprint on that continent? At this point, only
the individuals making the decisions behind closed doors in European capitals
know. But in view of the crucial nature of the resources at stake, and how
swiftly and aggressively China is pushing, the fact that troops are beginning
to be deployed is not a trivial development.
Jockeying for Military Control
China definitely sees signs of the coming struggle and intends to come out
on top.
Jan. 18, 2005, the Washington Times reported that U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld had received an internal report, prepared by defense
contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, titled “Energy Futures in Asia,” which concludes
that China fears the U.S. is too easily able to disrupt energy supplies in case
of a conflict. The report claims China is concerned that the Strait of
Malacca, through which 80 percent of China’s oil currently passes, is “
controlled by the U.S. Navy.”
But the report also outlines the giant steps China is making to limit and
reduce its exposure to oil and ocean trade disruptions by foreign powers.
China has adopted a “string of pearls” strategy for greater influence and power
projection overseas to control the flow of trade—one that involves shoring up
military forces, building strategic relationships, developing diplomatic
ties and setting up bases along sea lanes from the “Middle East to the South
China Sea in ways that suggest defensive and offensive positioning to protect
China’s energy interests” (ibid.).
China also claims the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which for 50
years have been hotly contested. Why? Half the world’s merchant traffic by
tonnage passes close to the Spratlys, two thirds of it crude oil. Whoever
controls sea passage through the South China Sea has power over some of the
largest and fastest-growing economies in the world. China is not about to give
up control of this region.
Evidently, Beijing is pulling out all stops in its efforts to lock down its
supply routes for oil, particularly along the volatile path from the Middle
East. No doubt it is not just the U.S. that is taking note. Europe, too, is
watching closely—and diligently moving itself to secure its own supplies.
Some analysts view Europe today as a spent force, its plans for unification
and superpower status as absurd. In point of fact, its leaders have already
done much to create the infrastructure of an empire. The bulk of the work
Continental heads have undertaken to this end has been through the expansion of
the European Union. One by one, Europe is drawing key localities into its
sphere of influence.
First came the Balkans—the strategic crossroads of Europe. One of the
paramount goals of the German-Vatican destabilization of the Balkan region was the
dismantling of Russian influence and herding of the embattled peninsula into
the waiting arms of the EU. This strategy was designed to give the Union
control over the land, air, river and pipeline routes for the movement of goods,
services and oil, and to open up warm-water access to the Mediterranean via
the Adriatic. The plan succeeded: The EU now has huge influence in Tirana, a
deep-water port on the coast of Albania in the warm Adriatic Sea.
In 2004, the gateway island of Malta, one of the most militarily strategic
islands in the Mediterranean because of its geographic position (directly in
the middle of the Mediterranean ocean trade routes), became a member of the
EU.
More recently, the island of Cyprus was incorporated into the EU fold. In
the very least, this island supplies the EU with a base of operations close
to the Middle East and the Suez Canal, through which much of Middle Eastern
oil flows. However, the implications of EU-Cyprus partnership go far beyond
that. Cyprus has been used as a staging ground for military campaigns in the
Middle East dating at least as far back as the Crusades. Through the
centuries, many empires, including the Roman, British and Ottoman, have controlled
it. It is no coincidence that the EU, so dependent on imported oil, is
expanding ever closer to the Middle East, the repository of the world’s greatest
supply of oil.
Europe is aware of its vulnerabilities and moving strongly to seal them off.
The intensification of the competitive atmosphere for those commodities most
sought after by the globe’s brawniest nations is making abundantly clear the
critical, life-and-death need for the Continent to vigorously rise up as a
singular political, economic and military force. That is exactly what the most
forward-thinking, ambitious leaders in Europe are planning and pushing for,
and fully intend to carry out.
Military Conquests
All the events you have read about in the preceding pages of this magazine—
America’s besiegement at the hands of hostile enemies; its unsustainable
economy taking a fall; its resource suppliers being snatched up by other rising
empires; Iran using its oil leverage to strengthen its power regionally and
push its agenda globally; growing giants in Europe and Asia bunkering down
economically and militarily in competition over resources—these are
dramatic, even in their early stages as we see today, and are destined to become more
so.
But all of these developments are pointing toward an even more dramatic event
— the appearance of a fearsome European superpower, led by Germany.
This European kingdom’s soft invasion, visible today, of Latin America and
Africa will do much to enrich this entity and facilitate its path to power.
Latin America’s the European Roman Catholic heritage that hails back to the
region’s Spanish colonial roots is far stronger than the recent economic
inroads made by China within this region. It is religion that will bind this
great imperial power, the soon-to-be-resurrected “Holy” Roman Empire, to its
ancient colonies in Latin America.
History suggests that the great trading association envisaged by leaders in
Europe and Latin America, cementing the EU and the South American trade
bloc Mercosur into one giant market of 680 million people, will soon become
reality. This entity will overwhelm China’s efforts to sew up trade in this
region. And it will richly supply Europe the raw materials it needs to stoke the
engines of empire.
Expect Africa, too, to fall sway to this emerging titan of trade.As Britain
and America fade out of Africa and into the sunset of superpowers past,
Europe positions itself to march in. Germany in particular will corporately “
reinvade” its old African colonial possessions, pillaging resources to feed
the furnaces and drive the machinery that will turn out tools of war for a
remilitarizing imperialist power.
At what precise point in this process European leaders will consider
themselves sufficiently equipped to undertake the next phase in their plan, we
cannot be sure. But when that time arrives, it will come in shockingly explosive
fashion.
Iran will manage to cement alliances in the short term—including a likely
takeover of neighboring Iraq. We are likely to see a continuation of the
Islamic Republic gaining control of the region and the lion’s share of Middle
Eastern oil, bloating its bank accounts and enabling it to push its violent
program ever more assertively. Its final arrogant move may well involve a cutting
off of oil supplies to the Continent—which Europe will use to justify
suddenly unleashing the full force of its military might
Middle East resources will be Europe’s for the taking. Clearly, no single
military campaign would do more to guarantee the security of the oil needed
to fuel the expansion of this geopolitical colossus.
Europe after conquering and securing the resources of Iran will then turn
its attention other nations —specifically the United States and Britain, in
addition to the Jewish state located within its newly acquired Middle Eastern
territory—and to swiftly demolish them! It will strip these subjugated nations
of their wealth..
This truly will be the most fearsome and ruthless empire ever seen. The
stronger it becomes, the more power and influence it will wield over its colonies
and protectorates in the Middle East, Africa, South and Central America,
and yes, North America. Its economic tentacles will trail into all parts of
the Earth. It will glut itself on luxury as it leeches wealth from whole
foreign populations. The economic and trade dominance it enjoys, and resultant
mammoth prosperity, will provide the fuel needed to feed the fires of its
tyranny.
The Merchants
What sort of superpower is it that intoxicates all nations with its power?
How shrewd, how insidious an empire would seduce and entrap into sin-soaked
affairs the kings of the Earth? And how sumptuous, how opulent, how
unsurpassably wealthy must this kingdom be, to be so intimate with the merchants of the
Earth, enriching them with such overflowing luxury?
In this age of globalization, we have seen the emergence of these “merchants.
” These are not the local town, city, province or nationally confined
businessmen. These are true “merchants of the earth”—globalist corporate moguls
who operate huge commercial conglomerates and who view the whole Earth as
their marketplace. Driven by greed, employing every conceivable stunt to avoid
taxation as they erect their corporate empires, these businessmen seek personal
gain above all else, even at the expense of peoples and governments.
Consider what kind of perverse minds would relish profiting from the
appalling destruction to come! Unbelievable as that may sound, such is the state of
the black human heart when pushed to its limit. These despicable activities,
on a smaller scale, are documented to have routinely taken place in the midst
of the Holocaust and genocide of World War ii.
This one below is the publication's relation of events to Biblical Prophecy
but I left it in because I think it so aptly describes what is happening in
the World today)
quote
(This mighty kingdom of the north will become infamous for its voracious
appetite for resources, including “merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious
stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet,
and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels
of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon and
odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and
wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and
souls of men” (verses 12-13).)
unquote
Yes—this empire will operate a slave market of unprecedented proportions.
According to Bible prophecy, the world will face the atrocity of forced slave
labor on a massive scale once again—as humanity endures another world war!
In those dark times, this empire will reign supreme and all nations will bow
before it! But some of those nations will also be plotting a revolution.
China, having been locked out of Latin America, locked out of Africa, locked
out of the Middle East, forced to watch as the indomitable European king
swallows continents, will have searched elsewhere for the resources it needs to
keep growing. Look again at the world map: There, to its north, lie the
limitless Russian plains, dense with oil and natural gas—bristling with nuclear
power. With one nation’s unmatched resources combined with the other’s
unmatched manpower, this pair will form the core of a superpower—to be joined by
Japan, India, South Korea, North Korea, and other Asian nations seeking
protection in numbers—that is singularly intent on waging war with the European
power.
Resource war is upon us.
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