A new battle is breaking out in the Middle East as 2014 draws to a close. Thankfully, no blood will be spilled in its name, and no widows and orphans will be left in its wake. It won’t involve lost territory or stranded refugees. And it won’t be fought over religion or ideology.
More than a conventional war, though, it represents a fundamental struggle for the future of the Middle East, and for its place in the world.
I’m referring to the tussle over oil, the resource that provides the region with its strategic underpinning. There might be more than oil in geopolitical considerations of this troubled region — but there is nothing more important than oil.
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