--- title: We Are Funding Our Enemies When We Depend on Fossil Fules description: A conservative Republican Senator and a progressive Democrat agree that a world without fossil fuels will be a safer world for America. canonical: https://time.com/6073791/fossil-fuels-funding-our-enemies/ author: Lindsey Graham article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-06-17T14:09:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-30T11:03:07.835Z article:section: Ideas og:title: A World Without Fossil Fuels Funding Our Enemies Would Be A Safer World for America og:description: A conservative Republican Senator and a progressive Democrat agree that a world without fossil fuels will be a safer world for America. og:url: https://time.com/6073791/fossil-fuels-funding-our-enemies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb4c5c6f517fa716/698a1a69b21a9c127e504e6d/iran-oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Oil Surges Higher After U.S. Escalates Tensions With Iran og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A World Without Fossil Fuels Funding Our Enemies Would Be A Safer World for America twitter:description: A conservative Republican Senator and a progressive Democrat agree that a world without fossil fuels will be a safer world for America. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb4c5c6f517fa716/698a1a69b21a9c127e504e6d/iran-oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A World Without Fossil Fuels Funding Our Enemies Would Be A Safer World for America > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Lindsey Graham](https://time.com/author/lindsey-graham/) and [Sheldon Whitehouse](https://time.com/author/sheldon-whitehouse/) Jun 17, 2021 2:09 PM UTC  Distillation towers stand at dusk at the Marathon Petroleum Corp. Los Angeles Refinery in Wilmington, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 21, 2020\. American crude surged above $13 a barrel after President Donald Trump ordered the navy to destroy any Iranian gun boats that harass American ships at sea. Distillation towers stand at dusk at the Marathon Petroleum Corp. Los Angeles Refinery in Wilmington, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 21, 2020\. American crude surged above $13 a barrel after President Donald Trump ordered the navy to destroy any Iranian gun boats that harass American ships at sea. Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Lindsey Graham](https://time.com/author/lindsey-graham/) and [Sheldon Whitehouse](https://time.com/author/sheldon-whitehouse/) Jun 17, 2021 2:09 PM UTC We are a conservative Republican and a progressive Democrat who disagree on a great many things. We write today, however, to highlight an area of strong agreement: a global transition to renewable energy would greatly assist in our nation’s fight against the world’s most corrupt and illicit regimes. If you could wave a magic wand, and transition the world away from fossil fuels, Americans would instantly be safer. Oil and gas development has often been associated with autocracy and corruption. Governments in countries such as Russia and Iran have used oil and gas to threaten neighbors and fund terrorism. Corruption, autocracy, and terrorism are a persistent threat to nations that stand on the rule of law, and America has long been the exemplar of the rule-of-law nation. A world in which oil and gas money has less power is a world that will likely have less corruption, autocracy, and terror. That world will be a safer world for America. Let’s be more specific. [Iran](https://time.com/6073445/iran-elections-khamenei/) is the most dangerous enemy we have in the Middle East. Iran is the [largest state sponsor](https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2019/) of global terrorism today, and a serial human rights abuser at home. It is the implacable enemy of our ally and friend, Israel. It is developing nuclear weapons, which would create a nightmare arms race in the already unstable Middle East. And Iran keeps itself afloat on tens of billions of dollars of export revenues from its oil and gas industry. It has vast oil and gas reserves, with one field estimated to have a trillion dollars in production capacity. Deprive Iran of that revenue, and it becomes a [less dangerous nation](https://time.com/6071615/iran-disinformation-united-states/). Without the potential for future fossil fuel revenue, Iran would have a strong incentive to engage in the world economy in ways that would force it to stand down from its worst behavior, and, hopefully, even join the community of nations. The Middle East becomes a safer place. Look at Russia. Russia is the most dangerous enemy we have in Europe, and poses a threat to our interests around the world. Russia is the primary sponsor of autocracy, corruption, and discord in Europe. Russia’s agents commit [murders in London](https://time.com/5725041/uk-russian-assassins-heidi-blake/); Russia’s army occupies Eastern Ukraine, Crimea, and parts of the Republic of Georgia. Vladimir Putin’s petro-politics leverages Russian [gas supplies](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210615-nord-stream-2-pipeline-controversial-and-unstoppable) to put constant hostile pressure on its Western neighbors. Russia was memorably described by our departed friend Senator John McCain as “a gas station run by a mafia … masquerading as a country.” Take away the gas in the gas station, and the gangsters have nothing to run their gang. Without that source of money and power, Russia’s ability to bully and corrupt its neighbors diminishes, its gangster oligarchs have less to steal, and its economy shrinks from the size of Italy’s to the size of Switzerland’s. All of Europe becomes a safer place. Look at Saudi Arabia. Nominally our strategic partner, Saudi Arabia has a history of funding madrassas that spawned and nurtured anti-Western hatred and recruited terrorist fighters. The Saudi government was responsible for the disgusting murder of [Jamal Khashoggi](https://time.com/5692863/jamal-khashoggi-murder-anniversary/), a U.S. permanent resident who was dismembered at a Saudi consulate in Turkey. His remains have still not been recovered. Only recently have Saudis [allowed women](https://time.com/5567330/saudi-arabia-women-rights-drive/) to get behind the wheel of a car in their country. Sunni extremism would dramatically diminish if its Saudi oil financing expired. Our point today is not about climate change. That has its own set of national security concerns. This is about who our friends are and who our foes are; and what the stabilizing and destabilizing forces in our world are. This is about where our foes, and the forces they employ like terror and corruption, get their resources. All too often, it’s from extractive industries like oil and gas. Some see this as a “resource curse” in which countries with wealth to extract fail to develop healthy models of governance. One need not agree on the reasons to observe the fact, and we cannot leave the damage unaddressed. The fact is simple: a world without fossil fuel resources funding foreign adversaries would be a safer world for America. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6073791/fossil-fuels-funding-our-enemies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6073791/fossil-fuels-funding-our-enemies/"},"headline":"A World Without Fossil Fuels Funding Our Enemies Would Be A Safer World for America","datePublished":"2021-06-17T14:09:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-30T11:03:07.835Z","description":"A conservative Republican Senator and a progressive Democrat agree that a world without fossil fuels will be a safer world for America.","url":"https://time.com/6073791/fossil-fuels-funding-our-enemies/","keywords":["Economy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb4c5c6f517fa716/698a1a69b21a9c127e504e6d/iran-oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lindsey Graham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lindsey-graham/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Sheldon Whitehouse","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sheldon-whitehouse/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb4c5c6f517fa716/698a1a69b21a9c127e504e6d/iran-oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oil Surges Higher After U.S. Escalates Tensions With Iran","caption":"Oil Surges Higher After U.S. Escalates Tensions With Iran","creditText":"Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/economy/","name":"Economy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6073791/fossil-fuels-funding-our-enemies/","name":"A World Without Fossil Fuels Funding Our Enemies Would Be A Safer World for America"}}]}] ```