Abstract
[Excerpt] Iraq and Venezuela share an obvious trait: they are oil-rich states whose resource nationalism puts them at odds with U.S. geopolitical ambitions. For George W. Bush, Iraqi oil was framed within the “peak oil” panic and U.S. dependence on foreign supplies. For Donald Trump, meanwhile, fossil fuel dominance—control over global oil supply—has been elevated into an instrument of American power. In both cases, the strategic logic is similar: whoever controls hydrocarbons controls hegemony.