If you’ve ever wondered why all the angry political rhetoric about high gasoline prices has so little effect when you’re paying around $4 a gallon, give a read to Steve Coll’s incredibly well-researched book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. At numerous points in the 685-page exposé of the largest U.S. energy company, Coll makes clear how ExxonMobil puts its interests behind no others, including those of the American public.

“I’m not a U.S. company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.,” former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond says.

The US and its allies have been attacking one evil empire after another for decades, including the evil empire of Mohammed Mosaddegh, the scary Red Menace in Iran, in 1953. We have nothing to show for any of them. Why do US, European and Israeli leaders think this time things will be different?