For the United States, now, the danger comes from the Islamic world...
No, it comes from our dependence on Mideast oil, of which a significant part is in the hands of the most obscurantist of theocracies on the planet.
And above all, it comes from the fact that the US economy depends on a continued influx of foreign capital every single day, day in and day out. This national debt and our trade deficit is the most grave problem the US faces by far, but for now, let's party on ! Buy those SUVs and Hummers while you can, because at some point, I don't know when (or I'd be making some investment decisions right now) there will be some other currency in the world that becomes safer and more rewarding to hold than the US Dollar. If that ever happens, that is - if we allow it to happen, because we do have some control in the matter - we will be in serious shit here in the US.
Saudi Arabia minus their oil would be just another festering backwater that nobody cares about. It probably wouldn't even be a Yemen or Sudan in the scheme of things.
This isn't a "clash of civilizations", or a partisan issue (because both Republicans and Democrats have done the American public a disservice by not facing this problem), it's a matter of sound economics or not. And I am almost certain that this problem will bite us before any climate issues will (global warming, or certainly any coming ice age.) |
