That said, there are many odious regimes in the world and we do not go to war with all of them.
I feel like so much of the debate misses this forest for the trees. Sure, X regime is awful. How does valued ally Saudi compare? It's at best an often-decisive factor in whether to be nice to someone or not.
Edit: Another good one:
There is a frequent mistake, often from folks who deal in economics, to assume that countries will give up on wars when the economics turn bad.
Even if you only care about economics, continuing the war just has to be personally cheaper for an official than ending the war. And then there's tons of coercion, ego and ideology in the mix as well, and sometimes raw irrationality.
Early on in this, there were oil traders talking about how nothing will even disrupt oil because it's too important. That's replacing history with a fanfic you wrote, basically. Same vibe as the 90's when the world decided free markets always become a democracy.
I mean, there's more options than just tree or grid, and if it's not strictly a tree the fastest route for A to B could be a small road again. And of course trees have their own issues, like what happens if you need to get from one leaf to another that's nearby, but only as the crow flies.
That example about having to move aside for a car going through a narrow European street was something I've actually experienced. Maybe it's just my Canadian brain but it felt unsafe.