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http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,9294,2-10-1462_2046668,00.html
New York - US dependence on oil imports has weakened the nation's foreign policy influence, while the sway of crude producers such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela has grown, a Council on Foreign Relations report said on Monday.
Former US secretary of defence James Schlesinger, the co-chairperson of the group writing the report, said the oil dependence of China and India should be a concern, noting Beijing has already negotiated with rogue and "near-rogue" states like Iran and Sudan to secure future oil resources.
It also puts the United States in competition with China and India for oil imports, said the report titled: National security consequences of US oil dependency.
"At best these trends will challenge US foreign policy; at worst, they will seriously strain relations between the United States and these countries," the 26-member group wrote in the report.
Schlesinger, who served as the first US secretary of energy in the 1970s, said a spike in the price of oil of more than 40% during the past two years had also further undercut Washington's power.
"What it has done is weaken our foreign policy influence and that of course is a national security problem," Schlesinger told a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential New York-based foreign policy think tank.
"Importing countries have much less leverage."
The report said imported oil currently meets 60% of US demand, which - with 4.6% of the global population - accounts for 25% of the world's oil consumption.
"The central task for the next two decades must be to manage the consequences of dependence on oil, not to pretend the United States can eliminate it," the report said, adding that energy issues must be integrated with - but not be central to - US foreign policy.
The report found the oil wealth of exporters such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela had allowed these countries to pursue and adopt policies that oppose US interests and values and that oil dependence was also causing political realignments that constrain the US ability to form partnerships.
"For example, China is aligning its relationships in the Middle East and Africa because of its desire to secure oil supplies," the report said.
"France and Germany, and with them much of the European Union, are more reluctant to confront difficult issues with Russia and Iran because of their dependence on imported oil and gas as well as the desire to pursue business opportunities in those countries."
Among the recommendations in the report are that the US increase efficiency of oil and gas use, switch to alternative products, encourage oil supply from outside the Mideast Gulf, make oil and gas infrastructure more efficient and secure and increase investment in new energy technologies.
"These problems rooted in the dependence on oil are neither new nor unique to the United States," the report said. "But these (other) countries do not share the foreign policy responsibilities of the United States."
New York - US dependence on oil imports has weakened the nation's foreign policy influence, while the sway of crude producers such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela has grown, a Council on Foreign Relations report said on Monday.
Former US secretary of defence James Schlesinger, the co-chairperson of the group writing the report, said the oil dependence of China and India should be a concern, noting Beijing has already negotiated with rogue and "near-rogue" states like Iran and Sudan to secure future oil resources.
It also puts the United States in competition with China and India for oil imports, said the report titled: National security consequences of US oil dependency.
"At best these trends will challenge US foreign policy; at worst, they will seriously strain relations between the United States and these countries," the 26-member group wrote in the report.
Schlesinger, who served as the first US secretary of energy in the 1970s, said a spike in the price of oil of more than 40% during the past two years had also further undercut Washington's power.
"What it has done is weaken our foreign policy influence and that of course is a national security problem," Schlesinger told a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential New York-based foreign policy think tank.
"Importing countries have much less leverage."
The report said imported oil currently meets 60% of US demand, which - with 4.6% of the global population - accounts for 25% of the world's oil consumption.
"The central task for the next two decades must be to manage the consequences of dependence on oil, not to pretend the United States can eliminate it," the report said, adding that energy issues must be integrated with - but not be central to - US foreign policy.
The report found the oil wealth of exporters such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela had allowed these countries to pursue and adopt policies that oppose US interests and values and that oil dependence was also causing political realignments that constrain the US ability to form partnerships.
"For example, China is aligning its relationships in the Middle East and Africa because of its desire to secure oil supplies," the report said.
"France and Germany, and with them much of the European Union, are more reluctant to confront difficult issues with Russia and Iran because of their dependence on imported oil and gas as well as the desire to pursue business opportunities in those countries."
Among the recommendations in the report are that the US increase efficiency of oil and gas use, switch to alternative products, encourage oil supply from outside the Mideast Gulf, make oil and gas infrastructure more efficient and secure and increase investment in new energy technologies.
"These problems rooted in the dependence on oil are neither new nor unique to the United States," the report said. "But these (other) countries do not share the foreign policy responsibilities of the United States."
What responsibilities?