s Barton’s eyes skipped over the latest commodities indexes he wondered
what drove the erratic movement of oil prices. Of course it was the crisis,
the war in Afghanistan, not overlooking the effects of the ongoing Gulf
wars. That day the press reported how a self-declared whistle blowing Internet site,
WikiLeaks, had made public a huge number of secret or highly confidential
documents pirated from US military archives.
The media had spoken of WikiLeaks for some time, but Barton had paid scant
attention to the story. For almost two decades the US had pursued its wars in the
Middle East, as it purportedly fought terrorism in the name of democracy and
human rights, motivations that were confused considering the region was the
world’s biggest oil producer.
It was however necessary for the US to occupy the terrain given the relentless rise
of China, which was in the course of extending its outposts in Africa and other
strategic regions. Barton had seen first-hand that even small Caribbean islands
were not overlooked by the Chinese; they had even taken a foothold in tiny
Dominica as they cozied-up to the Chavez regime in Venezuela. It was in the
interest of the US that unfriendly regimes in the Middle East be fettered, that Iran
was ring fenced, that oil Kingdoms were shored-up and that friendly dictatorial
regimes were tolerated.
An outstanding example of the US double-talk was the rehabilitation of Libya’s
Mad Colonel and the presence of Haliburton in the country’s oil fields. Barton had
met Gaddafi’s son Saif on two occasions, a most heinous and arrogant bastard if
ever there was one, he recalled. The offspring of an oil rich dictator, educated with
the thinnest of veneers of British values, schooled and formed in the best schools
offered by Britain’s establishment, but in reality a cruel and ruthless desert
Bedouin.
Barton had no particular opinion regarding WikiLeaks, what interested him more
was the price of oil. In a dog eat dog world it seemed normal to him that the West,
led by the US, protect its interests. Britain faithfully followed Washington, playing
the role of its master’s yapping terrier. Barton’s opinions had matured over the past
two and a half years. In spite of the looming European crisis, he believed Britain’s
role lays within the EU. He had learnt that beyond the frontiers of Europe it was
every man for himself, as for the Common-wealth, it was in reality a myth that
went no further than the symbolism of a flag and a monarch.
His regular visits to France had convinced him there was no conspiracy against
the UK, though on the other side of the Channel the British press stoked
Francophobe feelings by pandering up to latent jingoistic sentiment, no doubt to
sell its newspapers to bitter retirees. His trips to India, China and South East Asia
made him realize there was a lot of piled-up anger waiting to be rained down on
Britain once the old lion’s teeth had fallen out and in his idle moments he could
even imagine Britain ruled by India.