BLOOD OIL P

Natural resources like oil and minerals are the largest source of unaccountable power in the world. Petrocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend resource money on weapons and oppression; militants in Iraq and in the Congo spend resource money on radicalization and ammunition. Resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists present endless crises to the West-and the source of their resource power is ultimately ordinary consumers doing their everyday shopping at the gas station and the mall. <p/>In this sweeping 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. Wenar discovers 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 multi-trillion dollar resource trade. <p/><em>Blood Oil </em>shows how the West can now lead a peaceful revolution by ending its dependence on authoritarian oil and by getting consumers 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. <em>Blood Oil</em> shows citizens consumers and leaders how we can act together today to create a more united human future.<br>