Sorry but I don't 'do' left wing conspiracy theories. UK 'deals' with Libya are to be deplored but they came after Gaddafi had the **** scared out of him. To my way of thinking to oust Hussien and stop Gaddafi with only one short war was time and money well spent. Yes innocent Iraqis died but Saddam was killing 10s of 1000s of his own people anyway. Unfortunately in real life you often only get to pick between two bad choices.
Saddam in power until his death and replacement with one of his psycho sons would have been better or worse for Iraqis?
So Chimbu, Do you think high oil prices are good or bad for Washington policy makers.
High oil prices are very bad.
Is strife in the ME to be avoided or encouraged?
Neither.
Ponder the results of every UN negotiated peace deal. All they did was ensure another war at a later date. Wars that go to their natural conclusion seem to resolve things in a more permanent fashion.
Germany, Italy and Japan were utterly vanquished and subsequently became our friends and trading partners. The ideologies that spawned Nazism, Fascism and Militarism were so utterly discredited in 1945 that, aside from isolated terrorist attacks from disaffected Nazis that went on into 1947, NO ONE in those countries would even admit
to themselves that they had supported them in 1939 - and the VAST majority of Germans, Italians and EVERY Japanese most certainly DID support those ideologies in the 30s.
There is every indication that Iraq may go the same way left to their own devices. A bit different to the situation that existed post Gulf War 1.
Vietnam was the same - the US and its allies were convincingly beaten and everyone moved on to eventually become, if not friends, at least trading partners.
Had Israel, alone or with help, been allowed to 'finish' things during Yom Kippur or the 6 Day War and utterly discredit the ideologies that attacked them would the ME be a better place today for the average Arab?
I think it would be.
Whatever regimes are running Egypt, Libya etc in a few months will need to export oil...so hopefully this oil spike will be short lived. Even 3-6 months of very high oil prices will drive the west back into stagflation and recession.
But make no mistake - a UN brokered group hug will resolve nothing in the ME. It hasn't in the last 65 years and it won't in the next 65. The ONLY thing that will halt Islamofascism is to utterly discredit it in the eyes of EVERY Muslim.
Either lots of people die in a short time frame or a long one, but either way a lot of people will die.
I don't find anything about the above the least bit attractive but history shows it is the way of things.