Is Syria about gassing civilians, or about the Islamic gas pipeline to deliver oil and gas to energy-starved Europe?

Abraham H. Miller shows how

Assad, in a stroke of the pen, foiled Turkey’s economic dreams and potentially brought Iranian oil and gas into the European market by an estimated increase of thirty percent. From a policy perspective, Bashar Assad upset American policy to both isolate Iran and to create a NATO ally, Turkey, as the major crossroads for oil and gas pipelines feeding Europe.

Nothing of strategic interest takes place in the Middle East without a concern for energy.

What is happening in Syria may have nothing to do with poison gas, overlooked in other conflicts, but a lot to do with where “pipelinestan” ends up before feeding Europe.

Why? Because

The first thing that is vital to understanding the Middle East under Obama is that Obama has bet on Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan as our man in the region. The second thing to note is that Turkey is Russian Gazprom’s second biggest customer, right after the European Union.

Bashar Assad figured that two new pipelines, one carrying oil and the other carrying gas, running to Syria from Iraq and Iran would promote the only economic course open to Syria. Assad needs to defeat the militias at any cost, and China, Iran, and Russia need for him to achieve that.

Human life, regrettably, is not important. Pipelines are. If you do not believe that, look at the history of British imperialism or at the Iranian coup that pushed the British and French out of the oil business and brought American oil interests to power with the shah.

So, is the administration’s outrage about gassing civilians, or is it more concerned with where the Islamic gas pipeline is going to go to deliver oil and gas to energy-starved Europe? I am betting on the pipeline.