This week I went to my first protest rally. Since climate chaos, racial injustice, and the Bush administration got me politicized, I've been calling, writing, and donating for years, speaking with friends, reducing fossil fuel use in my family and in my clients’ homes ( I'm an architect), but I’ve never gotten myself to a rally. Until Monday. The Day of Denial finally got me to my Senator’s office, where I held up a sign on the street in protest of Tillerson and Scott Pruitt, and then told my Senator’s aid that this is the most important moment in our lives, and that she has the potential to either be partisan or take a stand for us and do the globe some good.
As confirmation hearings proceed, this is a reminder of how the RExxon Tillerson nomination for Secretary of State is the linchpin in Putin’s use of Trump to further his ambitions.
Tillerson was at Exxon for 42 years when he resigned to accept Trump’s nomination. He was an executive for half of that time and was CEO from 2006 until his resignation.
Exxon was essential to modernizing Russia's oil infrastructure. Most of Russia’s oil is hard to reach and only becomes accessible with the kind of technology Exxon could provide.
Exxon has invested tens of billions in potential Russian oil reserves. The vast majority of Exxon's untapped oil assets (read future income) is in Russia. The amount dwarfs all of their other investments combined.
US sanctions against Russia have thwarted Exxon’s efforts to take advantage of that investment to extract the oil and the accompanying profits. Until the sanctions are lifted, Exxon’s investment cannot be realized.
The sanctions have also been very significant in slowing Putin’s efforts to annex territory to rebuild the Soviet Union. Crimea was only the first step. Russia’s economy, already in deep trouble, is highly dependent on fossil fuel revenue, and Putin’s imperial ambitions are tied to that revenue.
As far as the Russians are concerned, Tillerson is likely the key player. If he becomes Secretary of State, 3 guesses on whether sanctions on Russia are lifted.
If Tillerson becomes Secretary of State, vast reserves of oil come out of the ground and are burned, contributing equally heavily to Exxon’s and Putin’s bottom lines and to climate chaos, -not to mention all the other environmental destruction that comes with extracting hard-to-get oil in pristine Arctic and other locations.
If he becomes Secretary of State, buh-bye, independent Eastern bloc nations and hello, Soviet re-Union. At least, that’s the idea.
If he becomes Secretary of State, we can expect conflicts of interest and other compromising issues dwarfing the kind of allegations that helped derail Clinton’s campaign.
The Senate votes on Tillerson on Wednesday the 18th. Politicians ask us to put on the pressure to make them do things they should do, so get in touch with your senators today, make sure they know this, and ask them, “ Who will you PUTIN charge?"