China’s quest for oil and gas resources will be one of biggest potential sources of friction in the world.
Russia is basically an oil and gas business with a country attached to it. Their gas resources give them enormous influence over western Europe and Germany in particular.
Yeah, so let’s put a oil guy in charge of foreign policy. Brilliant. No possible conflicts of interest there.
Anyone who has accomplished anything in the real world will likely present potential conflicts of interest when that person takes a high government position. Heck, Trump himself has interests in numerous countries around the world.
Unless we find someone who has never done anything meaningful in the real world, such as a dilettante law school instructor like Obama, then there will likely be some sort of potential conflict.
My concern with Tillerson is that one of the biggest tasks I would like to see the incoming Secretary of State accomplish is cleaning out the State Department and changing the culture, an enormously difficult task and I wonder whether an outsider can do that.
We could always avoid conflicts o interest by putting a pure politician in charge of foreign policy. Like John Kerry.
On the other hand, if access to energy (e.g., oil & gas) is what's driving international relations these days, it might be a good idea to have somebody who knows something about oil & gas in charge.
Again, why is it people who have interest (because they actually own things and work for a living) can’t serve the people but crooked career politicians can? Of course every politician becomes corrupted if all you have is a plethora of people in it for themselves and not people making a sacrifice.