NP: Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around

Kevin Drum hits the nail on the head here talking about national security and the current struggle to redefine the Dems, and I particularly like this bit:

On the left, "no blood for oil" is childishness. Economic interests are and always have been a legitimate concern of national governments, and a steady supply of oil is plainly vital to the industrialized world. If a Taliban-like regime deposed the House of Saud and took over Saudi Arabia, for example, they might decide to tighten the taps because they figure they only need half as much oil money as they currently receive — after all, most of it just went to those decadent westernized royal princes anyway. The resulting oil shock would almost certainly cause a global depression of enormous magnitude. This would be a disaster, and one that would hurt the poor far more than the rich.

I've always taken issue with the "no blood for oil" mantra, so it makes me happy to see somebody else -- particulary somebody else with a much larger audience than I do -- address it. Even if it's just one small part of a much bigger thought piece.

Drum is rapidly becoming one of my favorite bloggers, and may spur me on to finally list a bunch of blog links somewhere around here.