Mark P. Mills wrote a report for the Manhattan Institute on electric vehicles (EVs) entitled, “Electric Vehicles for Everyone? The Impossible Dream.” The report reminded NRO’s Andrew Stuttaford of “the Mills bomb” and he explained why in his article:
“The Mills bomb” (was?) the popular name for the pineapple-style British hand grenade that debuted during World War I. Mills believes the war against (the combustion-engine-) cars is about more than the climate, noting that "car culture is viewed in many environmental circles as inherently toxic and unnatural." In his view, "It would be reasonable to reach a conclusion that, put simply, 'they’re coming for your cars.’”
Hence: a hand grenade in the form of an EV!
I am less enthused by autos than Mark, Andrew and my entire generation; however, I know the facts shaping the planet’s vehicular future. As one learns from Mark and Andrew, unfortunately, one-third of the electric vehicles sold globally in 2022 were hybrids that use combustion engines that policymakers are eager to ban. The EV revolution is not going to happen anytime soon. Several CEOs of car manufacturing companies describe EVs as a “technology chosen by politicians, not by industry.” That means enforcing a transformation on a global scale would take more than a handful of hand grenades from the policymakers.
If President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented an EV to all his hosts in the three Gulf countries last week, is he pushing technology to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), or is he emblematically communicating a political message?
Yes, politicians want to move on to more environment-friendly technologies, regardless of what markets signal consumers want and what manufacturers can produce. Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil producer in the world, the UAE seventh and Qatar 14th. Türkiye is not that lucky when it comes to oil production; although its new discoveries are promising a brighter future, it is still making its investment in non-fossil fuel-based energy fields, like nuclear and solar energy. Trying to enthuse the leaders of those major oil producers in EV technology, I guess Erdoğan is simply implementing his strategically autonomous action plan in the international arena.
In short, when you give an EV to your oil-producing host, you mean something else. (See my take on Raymond Carver’s short story “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” here.)
Erdoğan has done it in the recent Vilnius NATO Summit: he rekindled Türkiye’s EU membership request and has gone one step further beyond that. Utilizing the willies, people have about the Russian assault on Ukraine, Erdoğan voiced his vision of “consolidating the Türkiye axis,” that is, creating a peace, stability and welfare belt around the country. This allows us to move one step further from independence and sovereignty; we begin talking about strategic autonomy.
When he began his four-country Gulf Tour (the Turkish Republic on Cyprus island is not exactly in the Arabian Gulf, but close enough!), Erdoğan said:
“The ongoing crises in the Muslim world call for close consultations and cooperation with the Gulf. We continue our efforts in line with our goal to establish a belt of peace, stability and prosperity around Türkiye. We have recently made significant progress in our relations with the Gulf countries, with which we have deep-rooted historical and brotherly ties.”
Erdoğan emphasized that his primary agenda would be the joint investment and trade activities with these countries, but to create “a belt of peace, stability and prosperity” takes more than joint investment and trade activities; Türkiye and the leaders of the Muslim Arab World in the Gulf region need to exercise their “strategical autonomy” in the international arena.
The offer of joint investment in EV technology to major oil producers of the world, for instance, is just an example to force them (allow me for one cliché here) to think outside of the box. Unless there are armed forces for some brutal neighbor of yours in all your territory, you are independent. Unless you recognize the authority of the British Crown in your constitution, you are sovereign! But in the tangled web of alliances, leagues, treaties and commonwealths of our times, we have to step back a little and ask whether our nation behaves really autonomously. Can we, as a nation, challenge ourselves, rediscover confidence in ourselves and act accordingly? Then (here comes yet another cliché) the sky’s the limit!
What Erdoğan’s EVs represented to the leaders of oil-producing countries goes beyond bilateral trade and represents strategical thinking in a broad range of areas, including mutual investments, defense cooperation, national security and solidarity in the face of regional and global problems. Young leaders of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar should ask themselves why the United States occupies almost half of brotherly Syria. Why does a man who betrayed his leader and country and whose residence and citizenship are in the U.S. occupy half of Libya and usurp its national resources? Why do the mullahs of Iran create their Shia Crescent from Yemen to Lebanon? Why do at least 10 kids die of measles every week in Sudan amid conflict between the country’s two warring factions supported by the young UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who were once the best of friends until only a year ago?
So, an EV sometimes is a call “to diversify further your economic, security and partnership ties on the regional and international relations,” as Erdoğan says. You need to outgrow the schemes and plans developed for you in Washington, D.C. and London, and create autonomous game plans for your people.
An electric car is more than a car, sometimes.
