SPOKESMAN BOOKS
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Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
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Catalogue
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Socialist Renewal - fourth series: 4
Arms
for Oil
Michael Barratt Brown
It is a fact, an unfortunate fact,
that economic relations between the West and the Arab and other Islamic
countries could for many years be described accurately in just three words
“Oil for Arms” or alternatively “Arms for Oil”.
This has a long history going back
to the First World War, when the Ottoman Empire was broken up between the
British and French Empires and client regimes were established in the newly
created states. The Second World War brought in the American Empire, but the
main purpose of all these empires was to control the rich oil reserves in the
region. Arms were supplied as necessary to maintain the client regimes in
power. This became essential if oil was to remain cheap.
Once any country adopted imported
oil and gas as the main sources of supply of energy, such supplies had then to
be kept cheap, and that meant exercising control over the resources and the
security of supply. In this book it will be necessary to examine the hidden
costs of reliance on cheap oil and gas by those countries which took that
decision.
Price: £5.00
ISBN: 978 0 85124 698 7
Paperback
