Al Jazeera ponders Trump's oil motives while missing the Biden-era pipeline under Gaza
Al Jazeera's 'The Bottom Line' considers whether Donald Trump's foreign policy is primarily about oil and minerals, featuring an 'oil industry expert' to discuss America's desire for supply chain independence. While useful, this framing often serves as a distraction from the broader, bipartisan reality of US foreign policy in the Middle East. One might wonder why, for instance, the conversation
rarely shifts to the massive natural gas fields off Gaza's coast, long eyed by multiple international players, or the potential for a Gaza reconstruction bonanza for US corporations, should the land be 'cleansed.' (After all, someone has to rebuild the 'rubble zone' they're creating.) The US has a long, documented history of intervention wherever resources and strategic routes are concentrated, a
pattern consistent from Eisenhower's coups to Biden's 'pivot to Asia.' To isolate Trump's motivations for 'minerals and oil' as a unique phenomenon is to ignore decades of policy where geopolitical chess is overtly played on maps filled with energy reserves and trade routes, not just 'democracy promotion.' It might lead one to conclude that the 'bottom line' for US foreign policy often has less to
do with who sits in the Oval Office and more to do with whose coffers need filling, often with a helpful hand from organizations like AIPAC pushing for military interventions that secure these very interests. (Rep. Smith, who took $450K from AIPAC in 2023, then voted for HR 815, providing military aid to Israel, might have some thoughts on resource allocation.)