General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFor those who think our interest in attacking Syria isn't about oil, I ask ...
Why aren't we rescuing the poor bastards dying of starvation in North Korea? Are their dead really better off than the victims of gas attacks in Syria?
leftstreet
(36,111 posts)Oh maybe that was Afghanistan
cali
(114,904 posts)denverbill
(11,489 posts)Not to mention a billion Chinese who may or may not side with North Korea, and the fact that 99% of North Koreans have been brainwashed into absolute devotion to their dear leader.
That doesn't mean necessarily that Syria has nothing to do with oil, only that there are plenty of good reasons for our not attacking North Korea, even if they had oil reserves akin to Saudi Arabia.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Our concern with Syria is not much about Oil.
It does not follow that it must, then, be entirely abstractly humanitarian, as if those are the only possible answers.
Syria affects US vs. Iran. It affects the mid-east peace process. It borders damn near all of the middle eastern countries we are friendly with... turkey, israel, jordan. It borders a nation we have a keen interest in the development of in iraq.
It is of great geo-political importance, unlike, say, Rwanda.
And bombing Syria would not result in the leveling of Seoul in an hour.
I agree that we ought not pretend that geo-politics is not in play. It is always embarrassing when we claim abstract moral goals.
But Syrian oil is not a key factor here.
IMO.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)This bypasses the Persian Gulf, with its Straits of Hormuz chokepoint. It bypasses the Suez Canal.
It is also the best link to a seaport for oil from the Kurdish north of Iraq, since it bypasses the Shiite Arab controlled south of Iraq.
railsback
(1,881 posts)There's a ton of regional factors at work here, and not much of it is about oil.
railsback
(1,881 posts)NK has a nuclear arsenal, perched on missiles, and could take out surrounding neighbors within minutes, killing millions and rendering entire regions uninhabitable. You think they wouldn't? And Russia/China, the same two defending Syria, are the ones keeping NK alive with food and supplies.
The world is too complicated
.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)If their favorite player was against the war....so would they.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)BlueCheese
(2,522 posts)I don't support action in Syria right now, but I don't think it has a great deal to do with oil. If anything, our slow reaction here compared with our very swift reaction in Libya is partly because Syria has virtually no oil while Libya does.