Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If we were there for the oil, then we would have gotten free oil from Iraq and Kuwait.
Didn't happen.
US is not simply in the Middle East just for the Oil. That view takes too narrow of the view of how things work in the ME. The US is there to represent Big Business and get contracts related to the Oil industry which Europe has had control of since the first drop was ever found. Instead of using the Bribery system that the EU uses, the US uses the Military assistance option which as we know doesn't work too well. Have people not noticed that certain European countries are very hesitant to join in on any Military related situations and wonder why? For those of us who work in the ME, we can see and listen to the languages spoken and we can tell you these contractors are not Americans.
Oil will be useless soon, many countries are pushing towards clean energy.
Oil is short lived and will be around for a few more centuries, but it's not useless. There are numerous industries that use Oil that have nothing to do with energy. That being said Oil is slowly being replaced by synthetics for those industries, but the keyword is slowly.
What could happen is if the price of oil continues to be as low as it is for a few more years--you're going to see increased turmoil in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia runs out of cash(and they basically buy a level of stability in the kingdom through social program spending)--and Iraq and Iran face even more economic problems as well(considering their own reliance on oil as a export). Could be an even messier situation.
Eventually the shaky states that came about after the post-Ottoman/post-colonial era are going to be even more fractured and eventually things will be sorted out and you'll have new alignments and divisions in the region. What that will look like--who knows? Could be better, could be worse.
The WORLD meddles in the ME due to oil. If it weren't for that natural resource, nobody would really care. Let's not pretend that it's only the US.
Additionally, even if the world stayed out of the ME, it would still be in conflict while they struggled and fought to control the money and power that such resources deliver.
Only an extremely NAIVE person believes that only the US meddles in the ME or that they'd be peaceful if it weren't for external forces.
The WORLD meddles in the ME due to oil. If it weren't for that natural resource, nobody would really care. Let's not pretend that it's only the US.
Additionally, even if the world stayed out of the ME, it would still be in conflict while they struggled and fought to control the money and power that such resources deliver.
Only an extremely NAIVE person believes that only the US meddles in the ME or that they'd be peaceful if it weren't for external forces.
Saying that if we didn't meddle there would still be unrest and meddling from others is not a good excuse for OUR meddling.
For the longest, the idea of the US meddling in the Middle East for oil has been regarded as an anti-war conspiracy theory. This is the narrative from right side of the spectrum. But in reality, is it really a conspiracy theory? I mean many historians and political scientists have been contending that US foreign policy in the MENA is indeed driven by oil interest.
When you word it like "influenced by oil interests" then no, it's not a conspiracy theory because of course economic interests influence our actions.
As such, you're kinda doing a bait and switch here because the things people were calling conspiracy theories were different claims like we only invaded Iraq to avenge the assassination attempt on Bush sr. type crap....or that Israel was behind the whole thing. Yes, those are conspiracies.
You're going to be hard pressed to find anyone calling what you described a conspiracy theory.
P.S. There is no Gulf War is Sadam doesn't invade Kuwait in the first place.
The funny thing about Iraq is that FRENCH and other European oil companies ultimately won the majority of contracts for oil in Iraq.
"Oil" is the macro theme of involvement in the middle east. But it's not really for the united states per se, but to ensure the continued flow of the stuff as a strategic resource necessary for trade by...well... every country in the world almost.
But yeah, we need to just abandon the area to its own devices. We are damned no matter what. Either we support and prop up secular dictators who want to kill their own people... or we support democracy and the people elect Islamist nutbags that want to kill the world. Great choices, that.
Europe desperately needs oil and natural gas. It has relied on our intervention in the Middle East in order to get those resources. But now, we have found so much oil and natural gas in this country that we can not only fulfill our own needs, but those of Europe as well. So we should develop our energy resources and sell the excess to Europe. That way, Russia can't hold Europe hostage the way it has been doing for years. And if Russia wants to play around in Syria, let them. I guess they've forgotten what happened to them in Afghanistan.
The Middle East itself should be divided up by clan, ethnicity and religious group. Britain, France and Italy mixed them all together, and the result is just like what happened in the Balkans when Yugoslavia fell apart. The different groups in the ME are vying for power and influence in a "winner takes all" contest, but the sensible thing to do would simply be to redraw the map and create new national borders. That would mean Turkey accepting a new nation of Kurdistan, for example.
Or they can just continue killing each other. It's up to them. We can't control that.
We should say "Absolutely no" to immigration (including refugees) from majority Islamic nations unless they are not Muslims.
Last, we should support dictatorships (especially secular/military ones.) They are the only thing that can stabilize the region. As distasteful as it might be, we should be supporting Assad, not fighting him. We made a big mistake when we took out Saddam and enabled the destruction of Muammar Khaddaffi and the deposing of Hosni Mubarrak.
The next president should tear up Obama's agreement with Iran.
As for Israel, we should continue to support them while cutting off support for the Palestinians. Israel serves us well by testing and improving our military hardware and software.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
