Re: SC51

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7038

Oil, Israel, and America: The Root Cause of the Crisis

by Scott Ritter

..............But the key factor in the calculus of what serves as the root cause of conflict between Iran and the United States is energy, namely Iran's status as one of the world's leading producers of oil and natural gas. The United States has, for some time now, placed a high emphasis on Middle Eastern and Central Asian oil and gas when it comes to determining future economic development trends. In a fossil-fuel driven global economy, energy resources have become one of the major factors in determining which nation or group of nations will be able to dominate not only economically, but also militarily and politically.

In the "Power Equation" that gets factored into national security decision making here in the United States, fossil fuels play a dominant role. America's interest in dominating the Middle Eastern region is driven almost exclusively by the energy resources of that region. Iran's situation is further exacerbated by the reality that Iranian oil and gas represent a critical part of the future economic growth of the world's two largest expanding economies, namely China and India. By leveraging its control over Iranian energy production, as well as the other major centers of fossil fuel production in the Middle east and Central Asia, the United States is positioning itself to be able to control the pace of economic expansion in China and India, a capability deemed vital when it comes to the national security posture of the United States in relation to these two nations and the rest of the world.

In short, there are many factors involved in what one might term the "root cause" of Iranian-US animosity. But the reality is all of the points of friction between Iran and the US could be readily resolved with viable diplomacy save two: Israel's current level of unflinching hostility towards Iran, and America's addiction to global energy resources. These two factors guarantee that there will be tension between Iran and the United States for some time to come, and place blame for the continuation of tension firmly on the side of the United States.