If you want to see the true face of American foreign policy, look no further than Dick Cheney. Cheney is seen as a villain not because his views were exceptional but because he did not adequately disguise them for the American public. Michael Klare has written a long but helpful article that claims that the four keys to Cheney’s foreign policy were:

1. Promote domestic oil and gas production at any cost to reduce America’s dependence on unfriendly foreign suppliers, thereby increasing Washington’s freedom of action.

2. Keep control over the oil flow from the Persian Gulf (even if the U.S. gets an ever-diminishing share of its own oil supplies from the region) in order to retain an “economic stranglehold” over other major oil importers.

3. Dominate the sea lanes of Asia, so as to control the flow of oil and other raw materials to America’s potential economic rivals, China and Japan.

4. Promote energy “diversification” in Europe, especially through increased reliance on oil and natural gas supplies from the former Soviet republics of the Caspian Sea basin, in order to reduce Europe’s heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas, along with the political influence this brings Moscow.

It does not take a political scientist to recognize this is also the policy of Obama, and every other major player in both major political parties. Cheney’s “crime” was not that his policies were so different. His crime was in to refusing to wear the official mask. Robbery, lies and murder go hand in hand with any empire and our empire is no different. Cheney is hated not because his policies were so strong on the robbery and murder part, but because he was so weak on the lying part. He committed the unforgivable sin of showing the citizens of the American Empire our true face.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175560/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_the_cheney_effect_%28in_the_obama_administration%29_

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July 9, 2012

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