Loaded for Bear: Religious extremism and oil — the toxic mix roiling world markets

Take religious extremism and mix it with the global economy’s dangerous dependence on oil. Now stir it all up over the flames of Earthly Hell and voilà — you have the toxic stew of madness and mayhem that is currently roiling global markets.

The conflict that has been unleashed in the Middle East by the US and Israeli attacks on Iran is rooted in the fertile soil of religious extremism – a factor that few if any market commentators have dwelled on.

And for believers, the combined result heralds Armageddon, a concept that fund managers can’t plug into their spreadsheets and graphics.

I previously made the case in a column that US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House – with the enthusiastic support of white Christian nationalists whose stated goal is the elimination of America’s secular state – should place religious extremism firmly on their radars as a major geopolitical and investment risk.

Subsequent events have borne out my prophecy.

And America’s “Religious Right” is just one wave in this swelling tsunami of religious extremism that is sweeping the world.

Militant Islamists are committing atrocities from Mozambique to Nigeria and beyond, Hindu nationalism is on the march in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands accused of war crimes in Gaza.

A wider Middle Eastern war

We now have the US and Israeli attacks on Iran threatening to explode into a wider Middle Eastern war – a conflict rooted in the enmity of extremists from the three Abrahamic faiths.

The main motto of Iran’s repressive Shia theocracy has long been “Death to America”, which is hardly conducive to diplomacy and compromise. It signals a fight to the death.

Indeed, extremists on all sides effectively see this as a “Forever War” because it is literally a struggle for souls and eternity. And only one faith can be left standing, its believers on the path to heaven with unbelievers destined for the flames of hell.

Iran’s Shias await the return of the 12th Imam while evangelical Christians – who comprise a key plank in Trump’s political base – await the return of Jesus.

Indeed, millions of US evangelicals view the current events in the Middle East as unfolding biblical prophecy. There is now a torrent of YouTube videos on the Internet by US pastors explaining Iran’s – or Persia’s – role in the prophecies foretold in the Bible.

This is not some fringe movement. Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth is a true believer with links to an extremist Christian movement that holds that women should not be allowed to vote.

According to Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) – a watchdog founded by a former US military officer – American battle commanders have been telling their troops that the war with Iran is part of “God’s divine plan”. It said last week that it had received more than 200 complaints from US soldiers about such rhetoric from their commanding officers.

Trump ‘anointed by Jesus’

“President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark His (Jesus’) return to Earth,” was a quote attributed to one US commander.

The three Abrahamic faiths all emerged in the Middle East, and this is the stage where many believe the grand finales will take place before the curtain falls.

I do not mean to cast aspersions on all religion. Much good work has been inspired by people of faith across the board. But extremist and intolerant versions, often blended with nationalism, are a clear and present danger.

And oil, which has been both a curse and a blessing to the global economy and civilisation as we know it, has been thrown into this combustible mix.

Even as our planet burns because of climate change linked to its use and that of other fossil fuels, the unfolding conflict underscores the global economy’s continued and dangerous dependence on oil – found in abundance in a region poised, in the eyes of believers, to be on the precipice of ushering in the End Times.

Elevated oil prices and the inflation they stoke are currently a major threat to the global economy – and only an “unbeliever” in cold, hard facts would not see the role that religious extremism has played on this front. DM