The Cause of War

Socialists have always been aware that many of the ideas of Marx and Engels eventually become the general accepted view. The Materialist Conception of History is one such contribution by Marx. Although the contention that war has always been fundamentally economic can be justified from every historical epoch, it would be going too far to say that this has always been obvious. But beneath the superficial appearance, all wars are to-day carried on in the interests of commerce.

This article from the New York Times confirms this attitude.

Rare minerals. Food and water. Arable soil. Air-cleansing forests. In the intellectual heart of the American military and policy-making world, these are emerging not just as environmental issues, but as areas of conflict in the 21st century.

Now a new field of systematic study is opening within research centers, the Pentagon and intelligence institutions. It assumes that the 21st century will be shaped not just by competitive economic growth, but also by potentially disruptive scarcities — depletion of minerals; desertification of land; pollution or overuse of water; weather changes that kill fish and farms. National security experts have begun to label such factors threats to “natural security” and to study them, often alongside environmental or advocacy groups. A basic question frames their thinking: What are the new relationships among resources, diplomacy, crisis and conflict?

Afghanistan has been seen for decades as a potential route for pipelines carrying Central Asian gas — but only if there is peace. And underground lie huge deposits of riches like lithium, which is crucial to batteries for electronic devices. China in particular has a large interest in those.

As rising nations industrialize, they compete for resources, or use resource exports as bargaining chips in disputes. “The Chinese look at the most important thing to keep that growth going, and it is natural resources,” said Vice Adm. Doug Crowder, a former commander of Navy forces in the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean.