A question, noomie - what do you think are the "unintended consequences" referred to in the article title? It seems to me that all of the consequences are, if not intended, at least generally predictable. "Unintended consequences" may not be the natural subject of the article, "economic motivations for military intervention" may have been more appropriate.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller