[Kennard]

I heard one commentator today say that many intelligence experts consider this as a move to sever the West's control over the flow of oil.

We don't control it. We are held up to ransom by it. OPEC wants the West to consume oil today like Britain wanted China to consume opium in the 19th Century. It's time we controlled the "flow of oil".

[independentmind]

We may not control the physical flow of oil, but the West controls the financial mechanisms that largely determine how it is distributed throughout the world.