And that would have been classic brittish empire style.

Though as far as I know no concrete such plans existed. One should note that Poland and Roumainia blocked the way and that both these states were probably considered important assets in eastern europe.

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Had Hitler maintained peace with the Soviets for at least another two or three years, pursued resource acquisition through alliances with Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, he might have been able to reach into Iranian or Iraqi oil fields.  That could have been far less demanding on the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe than the course he chose.  Stalin would always have been waiting for the other shoe to drop and would have been arming the Soviet Union as fast as possible, so it might have made sense for the two to stand still.  Half of the force required to invade the Soviet Union would have been sufficient to pursue a Mid-East resource play and the other half would have made an invasion of Europe by the allies much more difficult.  We are probably fortunate that he wasn't more calculating and patient.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

But the US and other Western European countries did not provoke Germany into war with Soviet Union. It was planned long ago: in 1925, in "Mein Kampf", Hitler made it clear that he would invade Russia in order to conquer Lebensraum.  

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet