Tucker Carlson: US-backed wars are an attack on global energy and American prosperity

The former Fox News host, whose programme Tucker Carlson Tonight was the highest-rated cable news show in the United States before its 2023 termination, outlined what he called an “iron law of economics.” He contended that the simultaneous destabilization of Russia and Iran — which together account for roughly a third of global oil production — is inflicting catastrophic, and likely intentional, damage on global prosperity.

“The first thing to know about the two wars now in progress in Ukraine and in Iran is that they’re about energy,” Carlson stated. “Iran and the countries around Iran produce about 20% of the global oil supply. Russia, meanwhile, produces about 12%... So these are the biggest energy-producing regions in the world, and the wars have gravely affected their ability to produce that energy and to ship it anywhere else.”

Central to Carlson’s argument is a thesis he described as a one-to-one correlation: energy consumption is indistinguishable from wealth. He pointed to Qatar, which he identified as the richest country per capita with an energy use of roughly 19,000 kilowatt-hours per citizen, as the polar opposite of South Sudan, “arguably the poorest country in the world”, where per capita use sits at just 51 kilowatt-hours.

“Everything that is good or considered progress in our society, all of it derives from one simple fact: We consume an awful lot of energy,” Carlson wrote. “And to the extent we consume less energy, those facts will change. In other words, we will become poorer.”

Carlson accused an undefined “American leadership class” of waging a decades-long campaign of propaganda to obscure this reality. He criticized the scolding of Western energy consumption on environmental grounds while, in his view, these same leaders pursue military policies that stifle global energy supply. “Bombing civilian population somehow does not destroy the earth, but turning on the lights or having an MRI or driving a Suburban, that destroys the earth,” he said, contrasting the logic of “the people who put solar farms in the woods”.

Turning to current foreign policy, Carlson made the specific and direct assertion that the United States is an active combatant in the war in Ukraine. “Make no mistake, the United States is at war with Russia,” he stated. He claimed that Trump-era intelligence from the CIA and other agencies is currently being utilized by the Ukrainian government to target drones and missiles. “The U.S. government, us, your tax dollars, is at war with the government of Russia, whether you’re aware of that or not, whether you wanted it or not.”

Carlson concluded that the primary effect of this conflict is not the geopolitical fracturing of the Russian state but rather the strangulation of energy markets. “The war the United States is waging against Russia at this stage, through its proxies in Western Europe and Ukraine, is a war against energy,” he said, framing the conflict as a driver of higher prices that inevitably harms American consumers and erodes national wealth.