Oil.

Editor,

Has the NY Times learned nothing from Pakistan's duplicity?

Our supposed ally in South Asia has been playing both sides of the coin for decades. The USA keeps shoveling money into Pakistan and being double-crossed with sanctuary for Washington's enemies every day of the week. Why on Earth, then, does anyone believe that Saudi Arabia, the undisputed worldwide womb of Sunni extremism, will stop arming and supporting jihadis while it goes through the motions of fighting them?

The colonial powers divided up the Arab lands and installed cooperative autocrats to crush political opposition when oil replaced coal as the fuel for battleships. Here is a solution for the present: stop burning oil.

So much renewable energy technology exists that a visitor from outer space would ask why the devil humans are still burning oil, and of course the answer is obvious: the political power that massive amounts of money buys.

If no one needed Middle Eastern oil -- Saudi oil in particular -- that would be one major step toward deescalating violence across the the region. And while we are at it, how about shutting down the Athabasca tar sands and the rest of the oil industry's abominations.

Subtleties are piled on subtleties in the Middle East, but the pillar supporting them all is oil.

Re: "The Unlikeliest of Coalitions " (9/21/2014)