That was a report from a journalist, not an "opinion piece." Falling back on "everyone hates the yanks" is just tired and lazy. There is a big issue here, and it's that people like you and me (and it wouldn't matter even if it wasn't people like you and me....) are being slaughtered, driven from their homes and families, losing everything they have and spending their lives in fear and terror. Your bloody oil prices and inflation hardly count for anything in that scheme of things. To say the least, the piece I read about US self-interest trumping everything else made me want to throw up.