Comments on: Is the Middle East becoming a has-been?

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sat, 04 May 2013 20:33:50 +0000

Ran into a guy who was ex Air Force, and a contract maintainer for the Saudi Air Force. He and his wife could stand it, and the really good money, for about two years.
He would second the above remarks.
You may recall that the Saudi pilot who killed two Iraqi fighters in the Gulf War was a Bedouin, not one of the princely class. Or, probably you don’t recall it, but it was noted as an example of the sclerotic nature of Saudi society. Even with all the advantages, a “sand monkey” was the hottest pilot.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 04 May 2013 12:36:53 +0000

When was the last time that something didn't cause a "paroxysm of rage in the Arab Middle East".

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Sat, 04 May 2013 01:54:52 +0000

I also agree with Neo. The European hatred of the Jews is very deep and has nothing to do with rationality. They will accept Jewish oil and gas but still harbor a resentment that goes way back. There is a very good reason most Jews in Europe have left. If the stayed, they would have perished. Ironically, the Arabs, who also descend from Abraham, may find a way to get along with their fellow Semites. A peacefull, prosperous Middle East could become the most profitable tourist trap on Earth!

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Fri, 03 May 2013 22:31:52 +0000

“I think Europe’s hatred of Israel has been multiply-determined and has much deeper and wider roots than that.” neo-neocon

As much as I admire Hanson, I concur with neo.

Europe will welcome Israel’s energy supplies while simultaneously maintaining its condemnation of Israel’s ‘apartheid’ regime. Besides the factors previously mentioned, there is Europe’s ideological tenet…transnationalism.

The European intelligentsia, its political and bureaucratic elite have long accepted the premise that war is caused by nationalism. The horrors of WWI and II led to the rise of transnationalism and its subsequent offspring, the UN, the EU, the World Court, etc.

The foremost proponents in the West of nationalism are the US and Israel. Add transnationalism to antisemitism and you have the ideological tenets that will not allow Europe to sincerely “pledge a newfound friendship with the once unpopular but now resource-rich Israel.”

By: rickl

rickl — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:25:58 +0000

Let ’em eat sand and drink oil.

Paradoxically, it is access to Western money, technology, and education that makes Arab Muslims dangerous to the West. Take all that away, and they will be a primitive, impoverished backwater which will pose no threat to us whatsoever.

By: holmes

holmes — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:12:27 +0000

This was a great analogy, by the way!

By: Sam L.

Sam L. — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:00:46 +0000

“If so, let’s hope the unforeseen consequences of that change do not include a paroxysm of rage in the Arab Middle East and Iran that ignites a new wave of terrorism at the prospect of being passed over in terms of influence and power. ”

That’s a FORESEEN consequence.

By: waltj

waltj — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:45:49 +0000

The only “oil state” in the Middle East that has even remotely prepared for the day the wells run dry is the UAE, especially Dubai. Dubai has tried to convert itself, with some success, into a desert Singapore, with a free port, large financial sector, with unrestricted capital flows, and a predictable, honest legal system. Although Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammad is a decent, forward-looking man, he has a major problem to contend with: most of Dubai’s productive workers are not Emiratis, or even Arabs. European, Korean, and North American expats dominate hi-tech and professional jobs, Filipinos run the white-collar service sector (I’ve never had a hotel desk clerk in Dubai who wasn’t from the Philippines), and Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, and various Africans do the manual labor. That’s not a formula for sustained success.

@J.J.: Agree with your friend on the Saudis. I had a bunch of Saudi lieutenants in my infantry officer class at Ft. Benning back in the ’70s, and they were the laziest, most worthless pieces of sh** that I’d ever seen. Nothing in the intervening 30+ years has changed my mind.

By: J.J. formerly Jimmy J.

J.J. formerly Jimmy J. — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:39:57 +0000

From 1971 to 1979 the U.S. airlines were mired in a period of no growth. Many pilots were furloughed. Some of them took contract jobs flying for Saudi Airlines. One was a friend of mine. After three years living and working in Saudi Arabia, he had nothing good to say about the Saudis. His opinion was that when the oil ran out they would just get back on their camels and ride into the desert. Even then they had no Plan B. AS Churchill said way back in 1899, “The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.”

Considering that oil money is what primarily fuels Islamic terrorism, the quicker they become a footnote in the history of oil production, the better.

Since Europe is held an energy hostage by the Arabs and Russia, I believe they will welcome Israel as a new supplier. It may be a bitter pill to swallow for some, but the avaiability of reasonably priced, secure supplies will make the medicine go down much easier.

By: George Pal

George Pal — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:03:43 +0000

How in the name of all that’s obvious can Hanson envision the EU making nice with Israel? There’s more than oil in the Mid East in play; there’s the Mid East in the EU that’s the problem. The growing influence of the OIC in the UN, the growing muslim population, and the burgeoning extraterritorial enclaves — No Go (for infidels) zones – will extort from the EU and its components at least a continued, and likely even more strident, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic outlook — and threat. Jews and ‘islamophobes’ are whistling past the graveyard if they believe the end of oil will be the beginning of respite.