Klare considers the permanent deployment of the American naval force in the Gulf after the 1991 war, as an example of the political priorities of Washington, but points out that America is not just ensure its future energy resources. Hence the support that had so many European countries which could not survive more than three months without oil of the zone; even at the expense of sustaining feudal regimes that violate human rights in Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates of the Gulf. The South China Sea that apparently it contains large reserves of oil – has become the goal of a new naval arms race of half a dozen countries claiming rights over him. But the oil and gas are not the unique resources that can cause conflicts. The struggle for fresh water may become critical in the coming years in vast areas stretching from North Africa to South Asia.

There are studies showing that Europe itself, they are buying and privatizing all water resources. River basins where the situation is more serious are found in regions where the rapid growth of the population pressed existing resources and the global warming may aggravate drought conditions. As an example we have the Nile, which flows from Ethiopia to Egypt, passing through Sudan; Jordan, shared by Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian national authority; the Tigris and Euphrates which flow from Turkey through Syria to Iraq; and the Indus, whose tributaries pass through parts of India and Pakistan. With the population growth and the consequent increase in the demand for food and water, each of the littoral States will try to make maximum use of available resources, says Klare. And when the actions of one of those States causing a decrease in the supply of any of the others, the conditions will be given to a conflict for the distribution of water, adds. Mesopotamia, the land between rivers with rich land and huge development potential, suffer a decrease of the channel of the Euphrates and of the Tigris. But everyone already knows that in Turkey are being built a few formidable dams forming part of a Machiavellian plan for arrival the occasion, cut the water to one of the countries with the largest reserves of a vital oil to the US and the EU.

The water war has already begun though still only talk about hydrocarbons. As a result, the conflict moved ever closer to regions with abundant natural resources, which had been neglected during the cold war. The result, says Klare, is a new strategic geography, defined by the concentration of resources and not by political boundaries. States don’t matter so much as interests in this economic powers on the social climbing blind. Human beings reduced to mere useful resources to be exploited will suffer.