Why trouble in little Syria has a big effect on oil markets  A
picture taken on April 15, 2013 shows a Syrian man in the Al
Raqqa countryside, who until three months ago was a farmer,
works on refining crude oil brought from Deir Ezzor province
into a pit where it will be distilled as part of the refining
process to produce fuel.  Oil investors have global politics on
their minds these days. Crude prices, and prices at the gas
pump, have been rising, right along with President Barack
Obama’s threats to retaliate against Syrian President Bashar al-
Assad and Vladimir Putin’s vow to help Syria if that happens.
Then when it sounded like a military strike might be averted,
prices fell.  This is all very curious because Syria doesn’t
produce much oil. It accounts for less than a tenth percent of
the world’s total production.  So why do traders flip out when
the U.S. saber-rattles a two-bit oil producer like Syria? “I
think the markets freak out because they think the sabers are
going to be extended beyond Syria int