War And Postwar

TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the war in Iraq and possibilities for the postwar period. A summary of his column is as follows:
The war in Iraq has been going on for three weeks now. I’m trying to imagine how historians of the future will look at such a war. In my view, such conflicts will be called the ‘oil wars’ or ‘energy wars’ and be presented as the second stage following the war in Afghanistan. Historians will look at this war in the context of the Pax Americana.
Whatever its name, I think we’re at just the beginning of the war. It will spread, gain intensity and grow following the stage in Iraq. Borders in Asia will certainly be redrawn.
The winners of this war are the US and its allies. The US will bind countries in need to itself one way or another and then withdraw. It won’t pursue expanded borders. Therefore it’s a different kind of war, except for its bases. The US will gain strong bases in every region in order to safeguard the two-thirds of world energy resources which it will win at the end of the war.
The traditional energy resources will dwindle, lose value, change and run out at the end of this century. The Pax Americana will also end because the energy resources to come will probably be irrespective of geography and will instead be produced in laboratories in developed, rich and wise countries.
Those countries which can see the 21st century clearly have their day in the sun coming. But those which cannot will turn into crowded societies, then mindless crowds and finally return to a life of tribes.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION