The demand is booming but the amount of available resources are shrinking rapidly.

Question: How is the race for resources changing the global order?

Michael Klare: That is the very important question to consider. I think that we all understand just how important resources are, especially at a time like now, when the price of oil is rising, so we are all made aware of this on a daily basis and I think we have come to appreciate the importance of having an adequate supply of resources. Two things are happening right now that makes this more significant and those two things are that the competition for resource s are intensifying. It is an intensifying, because we have this sudden emergence of powerful new economic competitors, namely China, but also India, Brazil, Mexico and other developing countries with a ravenous need for resources to supply their economic growth, now in one hand, so that is a striking new development and on the other hand we are beginning to see a - I won’t say a disappearance of vital resources, but are slackening in the ability of the earth to supply us with more, that is where there is a sharp divide emerging between this ravenous new demand coming, the ability of the planet and resource producers to supply this expanding demand. Both of these things are happening at once. We experience in that in our lives in high prices. When you have a sharp increase in demand and a narrowing in this supply, prices go up. That's one way we know that this is happening.

Recorded on: 3/14/08