Episode Details

Charlotte Dennett, author of Follow the Pipelines, explains “Why Ukraine Could Be the Mother of All Energy Wars.”

Unsophisticated people think wars are about good guys vs. bad guys. Slightly savvier folks think wars are primarily driven by ideological and religious disputes. Charlotte Dennett begs to differ. She says that if you scratch beneath the surface of a modern war, you’re likely to discover that it’s really mostly about gas and oil. Indeed, all of the recent Middle East wars, as well as the current Ukraine wars, are about oil and gas in general, and pipeline politics in particular.

Charlotte Dennett’s father, Daniel Dennett, America’s leading Middle Eastern master spy, was pushing a pipeline project that would have benefitted the US relative to other players when he was killed in a mysterious plane crash in 1947. Charlotte’s quest to solve the mystery of her father’s death led her to discover the often-hidden key role that competition for hydrocarbons plays in modern geopolitics and warfare.

Charlotte Dennett is the author of Follow the Pipelines: Uncovering the Mystery of a Lost Spy and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil.