Foreign Policies(state level) is by default, inherently a dynamic "mind game"/that state of mind of ex-colonialists and/or superpowers, propaganda machines at the sub- level to conquer for the ultimate win of its' ideology and/or self-preservation of empire values and even virtues through free markets... 

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/18/content_7999101.htm

... including securing what's left of the easy/cheap oil. In short, the re-creation of the entire world in its' image from a moral high plain. Essentially, what's being used are virtues of democracy and/or freedom. Not withstanding the act of eliminating poverty. All for attaining what's necessary for its' growth whether it be for free markets or its' more rudimentary form 
capitalism and even its' procreation.

The problem is its' only a matter of time when such an act becomes an act of futility void of a tangible solution. That WAR of ideas... ie. Israel/Palestine. Growth stops and/or reverses into
the much needed destruction... "creative destruction."

Watch out Africa! You're NEXT on the list!!

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7594

"There are the US Navy troops who march through the lobby every morning and board a bus outside to build a radar station (as everyone knows). In the breakfast room, two women and
a man stare silently at their laptops; they're members of a World Bank delegation in São Tomé to meet with government ministers. Then there are the men in faded T-shirts who people say are CIA agents, although that isn't necessarily true. Rumors are commonplace."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,548272,00.html
 

Soverigns are fighting to secure the last vestiges of  'free oil.'

Free Oil (TM) is a reference to cheap and easy accessible extraction of oil.