{"id":42270,"date":"2018-01-29T02:17:28","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T10:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=42270"},"modified":"2018-01-29T02:17:28","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T10:17:28","slug":"blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nDonald Trump tweeted something true recently. Responding to the protests in Iran, the US president\u00a0stated that<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThe people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered.\u201d Trump\u2019s point is correct: what vice-president Mike Pence called Iran\u2019s \u201cunelected dictators\u201d really have been stealing the oil that belongs to the people and spending the money for their own purposes, including (as Trump\u00a0also said<\/a>) \u201cto fund terrorism abroad\u201d.<\/p>\n

Though right about Iran, Trump\u2019s tweets have been too selective. In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, an ally of America\u2019s, the elite spends public money gained from selling off the country\u2019s oil. There, as in Iran and elsewhere, the people\u2019s wealth is being \u201cstolen and squandered\u201d by the few who enrich themselves on its profits.<\/p>\n

This is the biggest story that almost no one is reporting. In dozens of countries around the world, authoritarian regimes and armed groups are selling off the oil that belongs to the people, and using the money to fund repression, corruption, conflict and terrorism.<\/p>\n

Oil is the world\u2019s largest traded commodity by far, so the amounts going to these autocrats and militias are gigantic: hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Many of the crises in the headlines over the past few years \u2013 coming from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Russia and more \u2013 have been powered by money from selling oil stolen from citizens.<\/p>\n

Oil belongs to the people<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The odd thing about this story is that nearly everyone agrees that a country\u2019s oil belongs ultimately to its citizens. In America, this is a bipartisan idea, declared by both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. And it is easy to find leaders of many other countries saying, \u201cthe oil belongs to the people\u201d \u2013 the leaders of Britain, Australia,\u00a0Mexico<\/a>,\u00a0Ghana<\/a>, and even\u00a0Iran<\/a>, for example, have declared just this. The principle is also enshrined in dozens of national laws and constitutions. And 98% of the people in the world live in a country that has signed one of the main human rights treaties,\u00a0which<\/a>\u00a0say<\/a>\u00a0that all peoples have the right to control their country\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n

If the oil belongs to the people, then no one should be able to sell it off without their possible consent. But that\u2019s just what the world\u2019s autocrats and armed groups are doing. When I investigated this issue for my book\u00a0Blood Oil<\/a>\u00a0I found that oil sold off beyond any possible consent of the people accounts for more than 50% of the world\u2019s trade. Over half of the oil in global trade is literally stolen goods.<\/p>\n

This oil is being stolen not only from headline countries, but also from places like Equatorial Guinea where the president has allegedly had his political opponents\u00a0tortured<\/a>\u00a0in one of the world\u2019s worst prisons, and Angola where the elite\u00a0live in luxury<\/a>\u00a0while the country\u2019s children die from poverty at one of the highest rates in the world.
\n

\"\"

Luanda, Angola. Who owns the oil? Not the people who live in the foreground. Fabian Plock \/ shutterstock<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Leftover laws<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The source of the problem is an archaic law left over from the days of the Atlantic slave trade. This is the law, versions of which exist in every country, that makes it legal to buy the natural resources of other countries\u00a0from whoever there can control them by force<\/a>. So, to take one example, when Saddam Hussein\u2019s junta took over Iraq in a coup years ago, America\u2019s law made it legal to buy Iraq\u2019s oil from them. And then in 2014 when Islamic State (IS) took over some of those same wells, all countries\u2019 laws made it legal to buy oil from IS (that\u2019s why\u00a0sanctions<\/a>\u00a0had to be imposed: to block legal purchases from IS).<\/p>\n

This law is so ancient we take it for granted. But it makes no common sense. If an armed gang takes over a gas station, after all, no one thinks it should be legal for us to buy the gas from the gang. But our laws do put us into legal business with whichever foreigners can control oil by force. Over recent years the average American family has sent\u00a0up to US$250<\/a>annually to foreign authoritarians and armed groups, just by filling up their cars.<\/p>\n

The obvious solution would be to make it illegal to buy oil from anyone who is not at least minimally accountable to the citizens of their country.<\/p>\n

That might sound difficult. But in fact the movement has already started. A senator in Brazil has just\u00a0introduced legislation<\/a>\u00a0which would make it illegal to import oil from authoritarian or failed states \u2013 and would prevent its national oil company from\u00a0signing any new contracts<\/a>\u00a0with autocratic regimes.<\/p>\n

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world. It\u2019s a lot poorer than Western countries, and in the midst of a financial crisis and corruption scandal much worse than anything in the UK. If Brazil can discuss a ban on stolen oil, why can\u2019t Europe? Why can\u2019t Britain? Why can\u2019t the US?<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Leif Wenar is Chair of Philosophy & Law at King’s College London<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump tweeted something true recently. Responding to the protests in Iran, the US president\u00a0stated that\u00a0\u201cThe people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered.\u201d Trump\u2019s point is correct: what vice-president Mike Pence called Iran\u2019s \u201cunelected dictators\u201d really have been stealing the oil that belongs to the […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":42271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8186],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-42270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-politics","tag-politics-4"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBlood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Donald Trump tweeted something true recently. Responding to the protests in Iran, the US president\u00a0stated that\u00a0\u201cThe people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered.\u201d Trump\u2019s point is correct: what vice-president Mike Pence called Iran\u2019s \u201cunelected dictators\u201d really have been stealing the oil that belongs to the […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-29T10:17:28+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/oilrig.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"433\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-29T10:17:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":892,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/oilrig.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business and Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/oilrig.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-29T10:17:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/oilrig.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/oilrig.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":433},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"Donald Trump tweeted something true recently. Responding to the protests in Iran, the US president\u00a0stated that\u00a0\u201cThe people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered.\u201d Trump\u2019s point is correct: what vice-president Mike Pence called Iran\u2019s \u201cunelected dictators\u201d really have been stealing the oil that belongs to the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-01-29T10:17:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":433,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/oilrig.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen","datePublished":"2018-01-29T10:17:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/"},"wordCount":892,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/oilrig.jpg","keywords":["politics"],"articleSection":["Business and Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/","name":"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/oilrig.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-29T10:17:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/oilrig.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/oilrig.jpg","width":680,"height":433},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blood-oil-half-oil-traded-across-world-stolen\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42270"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}