Are they really oil wars?

The view that recent US military adventures in the Middle East and the broader Central Asia are driven by energy considerations is further reinforced by the dubious theory of Peak Oil, which maintains that, having peaked, world oil resources are now dwindling and that, therefore, war power and military strength are key to access or control of the shrinking energy resources.

Not only is Peak Oil theory unscientific, unrealistic, and perhaps even fraudulent; war and military force are no longer the necessary or appropriate means to gain access to sources of energy – resorting to military measures can, indeed, lead to costly, not cheap, oil. In fact, despite the lucrative spoils of war resulting from high oil prices and profits, Big Oil prefers peace and stability, not war and geopolitical turbulence, in global energy markets.

Behind the drive to war and military adventures in the Middle East lie powerful special interests (vested in war, militarism, and geopolitical concerns of Israel) that use oil as an issue of “national interest” – as a facade or pretext – in order to justify military adventures to derive high dividends, both economic and geopolitical, from war.

Asia Times