sharps - I hear what you're saying - your view is trying to be just/objective; in my view it is not as simple as that. Simply by living in a progressive society with all the mod-cons, the motor cars, the indoor heating, air-conditining in summer, factories, functioning modern cities - all things which rely heavily on the stuff the ME has plenty of (not so much any more - and probably no longer required in 20 - 30 years' time) - oil. Our entire civilisation, both West and East - but first and foremost West is based on hydrocarbon=oil.
Our explorers, entrepreneurs and eventually governments got involved when oil was found all over the world - in the Middle East in greater quantities (and cheaper - cheap labour) - deals were made with tribal chieftains, kings, the shah - and EVERY existing oil company - in their former identities - were involved.
The ME problem has now become this Gordian Knot from which we are still trying to disentangle ourselves from, EXCEPT it has become a playground for our favourite game: Who is with us and Who is against us and where are the lines on that chessboard being drawn?
Is it about power per se?
Is it about the petro-dollar? U.S. debts are probably rolled over onto the rest of the world via the petrol dollar - just my take. If the US$ were no longer THE reserve currency, the U.S. Reserve Bank might have to face their financial shortcomings all by themselves, within the blessed U.S.A. - and of course, we are all involved in that charade, which is dead-serious and dead-earnest, because our economies are so interdependent.
Of course, to make it simple and to justify waste and expenditure on war there is a story being spun that it is about Islam and us. It may well be that, because Islam has found a fighting force within itself (ISIS) which poses a very real threat - so it is about them and us from a world-view, or religious point of view, but in the background is this nasty question: why were/are we there in the first place?
Taurisk
