I responding to you saying:
>If you're going to claim that we're very desperate for such things we would of course have to act as a country of desperation and secure aluminum, oil, and critical minerals perhaps at all costs. I wonder what that would look like? If we don't take desperate measures, maybe we aren't desperate yea?
Which I presume is an allusion to war ("secure... at all costs"). The implication being that since there's no war, then the phrase "desperate for oil" simply cannot apply. I only realized you were using that extreme interpretation when you... you know... alluded to war(!) At which time I pointed it out.
But go ahead Eric, carry on with your desperate[0] flailing.
[0] So there's no confusion, the intended meaning here is this one (from your source):
ˈde-sp(ə-)rət: "involving or employing extreme measures in an attempt to escape defeat or frustration"