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We don't need to meddle in the Middle East for it to be destabilized. And I'm having trouble reconciling our need to "maximize discord" via foreign policy with our need to power our vehicles. I mean, I think you're mostly right -- I just also think there's a bizarre disconnect pretty high up in our government. Our explicit and implicit agendas in the Middle East seem to contradict each other.
Foreign policy is determined by elected officials and carried out by career diplomats and operatives. Even if there was only one of each there would still be a disconnect. Nothing bizarre about it. For any one person there can be several motivations... and we're talking about something as bit as "the West's regard for the East."