Never discuss religion or politics in the tavern, but if you do, don't get fooled

I had an interesting discussion last night in the bar about the consequences of a US pullout in Iraq. A good friend, no admirer of the Bush Administration, said that it could lead to countries such as Turkey or Iran invading Iraq. My comment was so what. The great experiment in democracy building in the Middle East is a failure. The oil is the only thing left to defend.

However, not too many insurgents blow up oil wells; they prefer mosques, marketplaces, and police stations. Middle Eastern countries need to sell oil as much as we need to buy it.

From a purely self-interested point of view, the US should not worry about from whom they buy their oil. Chavez, a democratically elected leader, or the next dictator of Iraq will do just as nicely. Winning the global capital game does not depend on such niceties as whom one sleeps with. It never has. It never will. Come on all you global capital aficionados, winning the game is what is important. Isn’t it?

What never ceases to amaze me is how some people who extol the virtues of global capitalism mire themselves in petty regional politics. Saudi Arabia is the paradigm example of a repressive and reactionary regime with whom it is easy to do business. People pay lip service to its excesses, but those same people never take their blinkers off when discussing the issues.

Just say no to religiously motivated Middle Eastern conflict. After all, there is no god in the first place. Once we kill each other off, destroy the species, nobody will care because there is just us in the universe, an accident born from a sequence of random events.

Live as long and as well as you can. You will never get another chance. Let your fellow humans have the same chances as yourself to do the same.