Middle East oil control drives virtually every US regional intervention

Evidence

In the 1990s, like today, the Middle East was perhaps the most strategically important region, chiefly because it houses the world’s largest oil reserves—oil being, of course, the lifeblood of the world economy. Virtually every US intervention in the region is related either directly or indirectly to the question of control over the flow of oil. In this context, Islamist groups and nations were cast as allies or enemies based on their degree of acquiescence to US aims. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 268

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Middle East bases persist to dominate oil reserves, not to deter the Soviet Union; US Middle East alliances have repeatedly thwarted democracy — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 297; Western scholarship constructed the East as savage to justify imperial conquest. (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Iraq and Afghanistan wars aimed at Middle East oil dominance over rivals #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 417