[Cboldt]

I figure the good/evil in the world is more like 10,000 random forces that cross here and there, every day, than it is like 2 or 10 massive forces "who" actually have a shot at ruling the world.

But I love good conspitacy theories (throwing tinfoil hat to the cold night wind)

[Alberta's Child]

Nothing conspiratorial about it.

Europe has been beholden to Arab nations for their oil ever since they made their Faustian bargain in the wake of the Arab oil embargo.

And the Arab oil embargo had nothing to do with punishing the U.S. for supporting Israel, as many people still believe it was. The Arabs simply didn't want to sell oil on the world market for U.S. dollars, since they knew that the U.S. was going to inflate its currency for several years in order to pay off the enormous cost of the Vietnam War.

The U.S. and western Europe "staged" the Persian Gulf War in 1991 as the first step in a long process to eliminate Europe's reliance on Arab oil. Now what happened in 1991 that would have prompted such action on their part?