In the fragments of stories about labour, environment and energy-related economies that have emerged through the fast-evolving West Asia conflict, from news of an Indian national killed off the coast of the Gulf of Oman, of Indian labourers trapped all over the region with little room for escape, and of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz which has disrupted crude oil markets and sent shock waves across the region, the “fantasy triangle” – a conceptual framework developed by American officials in recently accessed non-classified archival documents – has emerged as an ideology that underpins the current conflict.In my research on solar energy, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the role of states and international banks, which I conducted in the United States National Archives, the “fantasy triangle”, with three vertices of “economy”, “environment” and “security”, appeared frequently as a vector by which to assess situations ranging from the Cold War to the Gulf economy. It was a dream, a utopian plan for the future directed by American officials, with interchangeable imagery but sharing the same core goal of balancing these three pillars to maintain global American power and dominance. Even now, the crisis in West Asia is the crisis of capitalism and the desperate attempts to ensure the survival of the American Empire as its dreams of energy security have hit a crossroads.These printouts are part of the official artifacts in the Office of Science and Technology Files at the United States National Archives, Maryland, USA. Credit: Author.The fantasy triangle as it appeared in early presentations was entirely oriented towards West Asia. These crudely labelled diagrams were unnamed and undated and appeared to be a part of a presentation prepared for the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), likely before the Kyoto Protocol, in order to shape the path of the international climate change negotiations and carbon emission reductions. The PCAST dates back to the 1930s and 1940s, and its experts from higher education and industry advise the White House on national priorities of scientific and technological importance to sustain the growing demands of industrialisation and capitalism. During the Clinton Presidency, PCAST was charged with investigating climate change solutions.If one looks closely at the “energy policy” fantasy triangle, with its cartoonish feel and masculine ethos, the triangle shifts like a fidget spinner as it tries to keep up with new international emergencies (the “environment” in this case). “Security” and “Economic” priorities are a constant source of the stress-and-anxiety syndrome that has nurtured and shaped America’s global power. Oil is embedded within the larger American capitalist structure and continues to shape world energy markets to date.The laying out of a map of West Asia, with a zoom-in on Iran, tells us that oil continues to define our climate-changed world, despite attempts to introduce new solutions. Professor Adam Hanieh notes in his recent book, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power and the Making of the World Market, that “the ever-growing demand for energy throughput under capitalism means that so-called energy transitions are best thought of as a process of addition, not displacement or replacement”.The fidget spinner is anxiously spinning in all directions, from Venezuela to Nigeria to Greenland to Iran, in a desperate attempt to fit the traditional energy source – oil – into the geopolitics of new green-energy technologies and new frontiers. The fantasy triangle of the American Empire is spinning out of control, dragging the entire world into its fracturing dream of “energy security”.The idea of energy security in this fantasy triangle is embedded in the fabric of our infrastructural relationships and modern understandings of development. The materialisation of the fantasy triangle operates through networks of military action and financial entanglements, and it flourishes in the rubble of war and conflict. Even as the climate emergency has fallen off the fantasy triangle framework, green energy narratives have become complicated and chaotic within the larger energy security discourse. This complication lies in the embedding of traditional ideas of energy security within green capitalism.Professor of Political Science, Thea Riofrancos, writes in her book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, that “green capitalism does not mean that capitalism is becoming ecologically sustainable. Instead, green capitalism refers to the emergence of new economic sectors and supply chains labelled as “green” because of their role – proven or unproven – in addressing the climate crisis, whether by decarbonisation or adaptation.Green capitalism, likewise, refers to a worldview. Promoters of green capitalism see profit-maximising firms and business-friendly governments as the main protagonists in the drama of the energy transition – and assert that market-driven innovation can save the planet without major changes in how our economy works.”This worldview of green energy has come to define critical mineral frontiers and the development of green energy globally.As we limp towards some understanding of a just energy transition, the fantasy triangle has resulted in material consequences over the years, with millions of lives lost to endless wars and severe damage to fragile ecosystems. The only official statement coming out of New Delhi is that “dialogue and diplomacy should be pursued to de-escalate tensions and address underlying issues” with “concerns” about disruptions to the Indian economy. The Indian energy landscape has long been shaped by the geopolitics of the Cold War and continued American technological dominance thereafter.Can India really escape the fallout of this crisis of the fantasy triangle by walking on the tightrope of an unsure narrative? This rather eerie silence is deafening, especially when the fantasy triangle is starting to chip away on all sides into absolute chaos with no plan in sight. This lack of response has created a vacuum.Only time will tell us what the material outcomes of this fantasy triangle will be in the Indian subcontinent. As India embraces its own imperialist ambitions for green development and sustainability, we need to keep in mind the long capitalist history that has shaped West Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Other than embedding ourselves in this chaotically spinning fidget spinner, we need to start moving away from the energy security dreams of the old fantasy triangle and towards a new prism of deep systemic change while revitalising our old relationships based on solidarity in the region. In many cultures and religions, the triangle symbolises balance, harmony and change. How are we going to shape our fantasy triangle in the coming days?Denise Fernandes is Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Politics, Whitman College, USA.