Originally Posted by
M.A.D.
US, Israel and Quatar want to get rid of syria because of oil and nat gas. Israel and the US has been trying to cripple the economy of iran for a long time but denying them access to the oil markets. There is a pipeline that runs from syria, iraq, iran, pakistan then finally to china. Also, Iran is one of the most powerful in the region and no single arab state can take on them without suffering significant losses. US, israel and quatar just want to monopolize the region to themselves, that is all.
Russia and china can't allow these states to fall. Syria may not be that important to them by itself since it is still to far from their borders, however syria being associated with shiite iran just makes it complicated because should syria fall, iran is sure to be next.
With respect to SEA, china just wants to control the west philippine/south china sea. I highly doubt there is any oil under those waters, its probably a ruse by the US to stir things up and destablize the whole region. There was a report from MVP that was leaked by Trillanes that alleges that there actually is no huge energy reserves under that area(this was related to trillanes being a back door negotiator for the territory row with china).
I don't know what china gains by invading the philippines, although they have been extracting our mineral resources illegally with the collusion of corrupt officials, I don't see the need for china to launch a full-scale invasion into the philippines. Our corrupt culture is more than enough to convince them that they really don't have much to worry about in terms of out ability to strike at them defensively and incur significant damage.
OT:
Concrete blocks by China seen in Panatag Shoal off Zambales–Gazmin | Inquirer Global Nation
Do you really want a Chinese military bases just 200 kilometers from our coast and within our territorial waters? China is claiming the whole South China Sea to the detriment of everyone that lives along it. Malampaya oil field, located off the coast of Palawan along the disputed Spratly's, provides 15% of our oil consumption. We might as well cede it to the Chinese.