For those who think our interest in attacking Syria isn't about oil, I ask ...

[Scuba]

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]

1. Pipelines, Profits, Presence, Petroleum - no Poppies this time?

Oh maybe that was Afghanistan

[cali]

2. it's about lots of things, oil being one of them

[denverbill]

3. Because North Korea has nukes and 10,000 artillery buried in mountains in range of Seoul.

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]

4. You pose a false choice

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]

6. It would be very useful to pipe Iraqi oil via Syria to the Mediterranean

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]

9. Good assessment

There's a ton of regional factors at work here, and not much of it is about oil.

[railsback]

5. My Gawd. Seriously?

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]

7. It's all about supporting their favorite team

If their favorite player was against the war....so would they.

[KittyWampus]

8. Do you know who gets the most Middle East Oil? It doesn't sound like you know.

[Scuba]

10. Why do you think it matters? We do big oil's bidding worldwide.

[BlueCheese]

11. North Korea has a lot more deterrence than Syria.

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.