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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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To: SARMAN who wrote (231456)5/16/2007 12:50:39 PM
From: carranza2  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
I don't worry too much about the Israelis.

The Mussolini syndrome is well proven by the Israelis ability to make mincemeat out of all of their Arab enemies essentially at will.

I think the author's point is that the region doesn't really matter because the oil weapon will never be used again. Given the fact that the Israelis can take care of themselves against incompetent Arabs, why should we get too excited? Why pay so much attention to the region?

Let the Arabs fester in their sinkhole of stupidity and fundamentalism. They will always sell us their oil because they have to.

The author of that insightful article put the point very well:

The middle east was once the world's most advanced region, but these days its biggest industries are extravagant consumption and the venting of resentment. According to the UN's 2004 Arab human development report, the region boasts the second lowest adult literacy rate in the world (after sub-Saharan Africa) at just 63 per cent. Its dependence on oil means that manufactured goods account for just 17 per cent of exports, compared to a global average of 78 per cent. Moreover, despite its oil wealth, the entire middle east generated under 4 per cent of global GDP in 2006—less than Germany.

Unless compelled by immediate danger, we should therefore focus on the old and new lands of creation in Europe and America, in India and east Asia—places where hard-working populations are looking ahead instead of dreaming of the past.
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