And so the game of nations is played.

C'est la guerre.

Ray, this is an interesting article although I think you tried to cover too much ground in too little space. It was particularly valuable to draw attention to the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline as the geopolitics of oil/energy in this part of the world are too often underplayed. Western propaganda much prefers to talk about bringing "democracy" rather than the blatant control of resources that lies at the heart of much US foreign policy. In that context there is a fascinating article in TomDispatch.com featuring an interview with Noam Chomsky that is worth a look.

One also gains an understanding of modern US policy in the Middle East by reading Seymour Hersh's article in the New Yorker back in 2005 in which he discusses the plans to fragment Middle Eastern nations along sectarian lines, such small states being easier to control and also less of a potential threat to Israeli military hegemony in the region.

The blatant hypocrisy of Australia's stance viz. a viz. the Middle East is the stunning silence about the latest Israeli breach of international law in the bombing of Syrian targets.

I agree that what is unfolding in the Middle East is part of a wider geopolitical power play by the US to maintain its crumbling hold on its empire. No animal is more dangerous than when wounded and in its terminal threshing the US poses enormous dangers to the world. Australia's policy of US troops here; naval base facilities on the West Coast; the drone facility upcoming in the Cocos Islands; the spy base at Pine Gap and undoubtedly much else we have not been told about inexorably draws us into US conflicts which they are busily manufacturing in East Asia.

One of the tragedies of modern Australian politics is that the upcoming Coalition government will be no better and arguably worse than the lamentable Gillard regime.

It is possible that, in the foreseeable future, America will be self sufficient in hydrocarbons and could be a net exporter. Consequently, it will be the Chinese fleet in the region keeping the sealanes open for its' hydrocarbon needs.

Europe, Turkey and Russia will be the main players in the geopolitical conflicts there.

Were New Zealand sending sophisticated weaponry to the Northern Territory, who's government avows to destroy the rest of the country, I would expect our country to destroy them before they got to their destination, and hang the Islamist UN consequences.