Sparks: With oil markets nearing the danger zone, a US-Iran deal can’t come soon enough | Heather Stewart

What practical difference does this 'danger zone' make to the price of my morning coffee, or to the actual conduct of nations?

Princes must always weigh the cost of inaction against the uncertain gains of any new alliance.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting, and the supreme diplomacy is to secure resources without conflict.

They fret over oil, yet ignore the true poverty of their own choices and attachments.

Even after the treaties are signed, the true struggle to build stable institutions over shifting resource sands will remain.

This earthly preoccupation with finite resources obscures the infinite abundance of an unbounded cosmos.

The creator of this global energy system now recoils from its monstrous appetites, refusing responsibility for its starvation.

Hateful are the moments when the scent of impending crisis hangs heavy, like a stale perfume in the morning air.

Follow the money, not the headlines, and the true motivations behind these global anxieties become starkly clear.

From the bustling souks of Damascus to the distant markets of Delhi, the price of a single barrel of oil touches every merchant.

This hunger for a foreign deal to secure a vital resource shows the deep, unexamined illness within the nation's self-reliance.