The rich oil companies (Moslem and socialist countries, actually) are buying off or funding kooks to protest oil drilling to keep down the competition. Also finding ways to support politicians.
My preoccupation with the area has nothing to do with oil. It has a lot to do with letting other people make mistakes for me to learn from:
Well, well. I was going to post a link to a news article about "no-go" zones in England, how some areas are closed to Christians. The article is no longer available. My, my. Such tolerant people.
How about this one:
http://www.strategyunit.net/2006/11/751-no-go-zones-in-france-the-gap-societies/Politicians who encourage this sort of situation receive funding, directly or indirectly, from Moslem countries, who get their money from the oil companies they own. These politicians also get support from people educated in universities receiving funding from Moslem interests, another indirect support for stupid politics.
Preventing us from developing our own oil keeps /global/ prices high, and weakens "The Great Satan". Increasing misery in some area increases religious recruitment, and Moslems are dumb enough to think they have an inherently superior religion to shove down people's throats.
Moslems are not the only ones to want the US weakened. Anyone over 50 should remember what the hippies were chanting at the demonstrations in the 60's, "Down the System", "Revolution not Evolution", "Smash the Status Quo", etc. Those hippies were the offspring of the upper class and the upper middle class, no one else had the funds to ship the kids off somewhere out of town so they can make a mess elsewhere, and those children are now old enough to hold positions of power in the US government. Bill and Hillary Clinton being glaring examples of the breed.