Re: this is about oil. It's always about oil

Why does "oil" so easily satisfy the question "what is X war REALLY about?"

The gulf war clearly was about control of oil, but the Yugoslav and Afghan
interventions are not. Prospective pipelines are like newagers' ley lines,
you can run them any which way and find some great significance to attach
to them.

More likely, what unites the coalition backing the United States in
Afghanistan, is simply the possibility of opening long distance trade
routes. The barriers in that part of the world, what with central asia
stranded by the soviet collapse, the Afghan wars, the isolation of Iran and
Iraq, are fetters to capital accumulation in general, not just for oil and
the commodities that oil money could be spent on.

John Hollister
bb05246@binghamton.edu