America's Blind Spot—Chavez, Oil, and US Security

Immediately setting the discussion within the context of the struggles of the United States "to maintain its reigning global superpower status," the authors (a Colombian journalist and columnist and a petroleum and geopolitics consultant) argue that the US is not paying enough attention to Latin America and what they see as its crucial role in ensuring (petroleum-based) energy security. They consider the oft-hyped role of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as a particular potential threat in the region, given the ability of Venezuela to greatly increase or reduce the production of oil, but argue that recent policy attempting to isolate Chavez has largely backfired and instead recommend a policy of broad regional engagement rather than ideological confrontation narrowly focused on Chavez. Such engagement would be geared towards minimizing investment risk through a realist engagement with the region that aimed for stability over ideological confrontation (or confrontation over such domestic interests as the drug war, immigration, and neoliberal free trade), which would have the simultaneous effect, they argue, of improving the regional standing of the US and undermining the power of Chavez, both with salubrious impacts for future energy security. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael J. Economides is Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston, US. One of America's leading energy analysts, he has done technical and managerial work in over 70 countries. He is the author with Ron Oligney of The Color of Oil: The History, the Money, and the Politics of the World's Biggest Business (2000), which looks at how petroleum dictates international politics and was nominated for a Pulitzer prize.
Andres Cala is a journalist in Spain whose career spans three continents and over a dozen countries, specializing in geopolitics and energy. His work has been published by some of the world's leading publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, The Christian Science Monitor, and TIME Magazine. He is also the European correspondent of Energy Tribune.