Mathew Turner, Santa Fe World Review
Why does Russia seem to have Iran’s back? Why must the Russians meddle in Syria, later to back down? Its about more than geographical location or alliances. Its really about oil.
Simply put, Russia is one of the world’s largest oil producers. And being that they’re a producer, it helps them to be able to sell their oil at a higher price. How do they accomplish this? One way they cause oil prices to increase world wide is by fueling tensions in the middle east. This means “standing” behind Iran, giving the Iranians technology and other resources, and posturing around Syria.
Russia doesn’t want WWIII… but they do want to make money. They’ll “huff and puff” around the middle east as much as they can in order to drive world oil prices higher; thereby selling their crude for more money as well.