Our craving for oil affects dealings abroad

REGARDING THE current icy relations between the United States and Russia, the Globe is quite right that it is $50 per barrel that does the talking (''Oil and Russian hubris," op ed, Feb. 27). In fact, it is the United States' craving for affordable oil resources that is talking.

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As soon as the Russian government moved to secure its oil resources for its own people, the whining about democracy in Russia jumped onto the front stage. ''Democracy" as evangelized by the US president, is a synonym for economic rule. It is a synonym for economic lobby groups to establish their exploitive grip upon foreign resources.

If Yukos were so wrongly accused of tax debts, why did not the oil giant submit itself to independent financial auditing to prove its innocence? Most likely because the fraudulent original acquisition of the oil fields now auctioned off would have come to light. Also, why did Yukos file an injunction against the auction in Texas?

The Russian government has sensed the sell-out happening with their oil resources and saw the opportunity to ensure the country's energy security for the future. Let's face it, the energy lobby in the United States lost this round in Russia.

Russia's democracy is unlike others in Europe. Vladimir Putin has done a respectable job of managing a complicated and perilous political situation in an evolving democracy fraught with oligarchs and other sinister powers. It would be better for the United States to stay out of it, and restore its own democracy from the claws of the lobby groups.

J.P. BARNARD
Waltham