Blood Oil

Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules That Run the World

By: Leif Wenar

Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell

Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Natural resources empower the world's most coercive men. Autocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend oil money on weapons and repression. ISIS and Congo's militias spend resource money on atrocities and ammunition. For decades resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West - and the ultimate source of their resource money is us, paying at the gas station and the mall.

In this sweeping new book, one of today's leading political philosophers, Leif Wenar, goes behind the headlines in search of the hidden global rule that thwarts democracy and development - and that puts shoppers into business with some of today's most dangerous men. Listeners discover a rule that once licensed the slave trade and apartheid and genocide, a rule whose abolition has marked some of humanity's greatest triumphs - yet a rule that still enflames tyranny and war and terrorism through today's multitrillion-dollar resource trade. Blood Oil shows how the West can now lead a peaceful revolution by ending its dependence on authoritarian oil and by getting shoppers out of business with the men of blood. The book describes practical strategies for upgrading world trade: for choosing new rules that will make us more secure at home, more trusted abroad, and better able to solve pressing global problems like climate change. This book shows citizens, consumers, and leaders how we can act together today to create a more united human future.

©2016 Oxford University Press (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Caveat: Human beings -- Totally untrustworthy

This book is a thorough primer on world affairs. It clarified a lot of things for me with brilliant examples and tidbits, particularly about our relationship with the Saudi Kingdom and other such states.

However, in my jaded view, conflict and war is part of our DNA like water and salt. We humans will never change and will always find something to quarrel about. The book demonstrates this human pitfall in its discussions regarding alternative solutions. ...
Better technology and upheaval because of new technology is most often the driver of social progress and setbacks. For example the abolition of slavery and the American Civil War was an industrial vs agrarian conflict. (And it can be argued that the freeing of the slaves was Lincoln's version of Truman dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) In the case that the author cited, the abolition of the slave trade by England, it is noted that the TRADE of slaves was abolished but NOT SLAVERY itself. For tactical reasons, the abolitionist in England believed that slavery itself would wither away on its own, which was true enough. Industrialization and the replacement of brute manpower with machine power, however, was the ultimate driver (i.e., better profits).
Likewise, alternative fuels or even lifestyles might ultimately cure our dependency on oil; provided, the powers that be allows us to go forward with these alternative lifestyles. Yes, allow --the forces of commercialism and the constant brainwashing are difficult to overcome even by the fiercest of romantics. ...
Enters shale oil --and its taxing horrors on the eco-systems of the states involved, Pennsylvania, upstate New York and other bucolic scenes throughout the United States and Canada and the Americas-- to carry the day until science, our hero, sneaks one in and breaks the spell. ...

Thought Provoking

I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in global justice. I think I'll be buying it for some people...

HEAVY but practcal! How western nations are cursed

when buying stolen resources from authoritarian rulers; how & why we must stop. A must Read!

Excellent

This is a great philosophical exploration of one of the greatest problems of our time, resource exploitation.

Thought-provoking, but should include endnotes

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the book, but I truly believe it should have included endnotes. Books like these, where many sources are used, loose something without this additional information. I realize it can slow the speed of the reader, but I think they should just say "endnote 1", "endnote 2", etc., and then include a pdf with the endnotes.

Any additional comments?

3.5 stars. This is a difficult book to review or sum up. It looks at the various research-rich countries in the world where the resource wealth has abetted sub-par, violent, and/or non-existent government. It is part history, part economics lesson, part psychology, part political science primer, and part philosophy. On the pro side, the author's view is clearly rooted in an ethical hope for and vision of the world; sometimes it seems a bit Pollyanna-ish, but the sentiment is welcome where many find only cynicism. The author is sympathetic to the plight of those who are resource cursed (the term of art used to describe the majority of resource-rich countries for whom the bounty ended up being a bane), and lays all the necessary groundwork to explain how resource-rich countries can end up with impoverished people and illiberal policies. The author also discusses the oil trade at length (with additional attention given to other extractive resources, from metals to gems), which can be eye-opening to those who never really think about the intricacies of this economy. The author also provides an impressive (if somewhat fulsome) account of political power, laying groundwork for the reader to understand how the relationship between leaders and the populace have morphed over time, the pitfalls in these relationships, and what aspects allowed for governments structured on leaders serving the people rather than people serving the leaders. This all leads up to some grand policy suggestions (on par with the kind of broad policies necessary to oppose the international slave trade). These suggestions, though daunting and unlikely to come about soon, are not entirely unworkable. They are creative and interesting. Even if the reader thinks they have a long shot at being enacted in the near future, the still offer much to ponder and many tools that could be deployed against unjust states who live off of their resources at the expense of their people.

The book also has some shortcomings. The tone sometimes feels a bit too philosophical and it occasionally plays a little loosely with facts. (Glaringly, in the introduction, the author states that the Great Wall of China and an oil platform off of Norway can be seen from the moon -- but this is just plain wrong. The Great Wall can only occasionally be seen from low earth orbit, and certainly not from the moon. Whether inadvertent or not, errors like these, which should be easily caught with the most rudimentary fact checking, makes one wonder what else might be exaggerated, obscured, or just plain false.) That said, the book is sufficiently end-noted to allow a reader to check sources. The extensive space used discussing political history and economics might turn off a reader who expected a more concise book focused on oil alone (and modern oil at that). In the end, these aspects of the book did not diminish the scope and ethical heart of the whole. I felt it was worth my time and enlightening in a number of ways.

Not what I was expecting.

I thought this book would be a history of foreign oil, it's not. It's instead a moral call to stop buying all natural resources from countries the author feels are unfair to their citizens. The book was thought provoking but I wouldn't have purchased it if I knew what it was really about.

I could only take 2 hrs of the dead horse beatings

Would you try another book from Leif Wenar and/or Kevin Stillwell?

Kevin Stillwell narrated the book just fine. I preferred him at 1.25x but that is pretty normal for me. The text Kevin had to read, though, seemed only fit for someone intent on punishing themselves, like a form of flagellation to atone for the sin of being a consumer.

What was most disappointing about Leif Wenar’s story?

It started out well, with some very vivid description of supply chains, but the author's constant need to repeat the same concept over and over with slightly different vivid comparisons drove me nuts. You drive on oil (asphalt), your glasses are oil, condoms are oil... Yes, yes, I get it. Point made. Please move on.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I'm sure the author has a point somewhere near the end of this book, telling me what I can do to play my part in stopping the wars and deprivations that occur in nations that fall victim to the resource curse. Maybe I'll find the book in the library so I can flip to the last page and find out what it was.

I tried...

I really tried.
Twice, in fact.
I thought it was me - I was too distracted, too busy. But I tried again, a year later and no, its not me.

I've listened to the intro and two chapters (it's felt like hours!) in and all I've got is: oil in everywhere, in everything and "we'll talk about this (and this, and this) in chapter..."

I just don't have the patience to wait until it starts. When will it really start? Well, I'll never know because I just don't have the time to hear wait. (I like the narrator though - 👌!)

Eye opening concepts

This collection of ideas and historical evidence will change how you see world events from now on. What political parties don't want us to know.

Informative, repetitive

The book had the longest intro ever. Once through the 4 hours of introduction, the book moved along repeating itself regularly and quickly lost my intetest. I powered through anyway, fast forwarding to the best of my ability when recovering the same topic. Again and again.