Power should flow from a barrel of oil
By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
British Member of Parliament George Galloway speaking on an Arabic satellite channel recently blamed Arabs for failing to solve "this Palestine problem".
With 300 million Arabs and "oil at $136 per barrel" they could do so in six days, he said. Six days may be a slight exaggeration but Galloway isn't known for his use of great British understatement. He's a black-and-white kind of guy and on this subject his basic premise seems to me to be spot on. Some Arab countries are floating on a sea of oil, a resource as precious as gold nowadays, but they shy away from using their not unsubstantial clout within the international arena. Why?
Oil shouldn't be used as a weapon, say their leaders. That's true but why shouldn't it be a bargaining chip with which to advance Arab causes, as Galloway seems to suggest? Is there a higher moral imperative that rules this out? Leaders of Western nations would like their Arab counterparts to believe so.
So if nuclear energy is something that nations have to earn by proving they are responsible and non-aggressive, by the same token countries seeking to buy hydrocarbons should be similarly judged by producing nations.
Western consumer countries also warn Arab producers that cutting supplies would tick off their customers to the extent they would pursue other sources of energy and new technologies as they did following OPEC's 1973 oil embargo. This is a crock because oil importing nations are already scrambling to find alterative fuels but no matter how many windmills they erect or electric cars fall of production lines, there is no substitute for oil in the foreseeable future.
What would happen if Arab oil producers together with their Muslim allies were to give Israel and its US backer a deadline to make visible progress in the Palestine-Israel peace process or else the tap is turned off? Naturally, this would provoke an angry response and thrust world markets into turmoil. The price of oil would hit unprecedented heights, while currencies would plunge.
The oil-thirsty superpower and its sycophantic European satellites might even make military threats but, provided the entire Arab world supported by other major suppliers such as Indonesia and Venezuela stuck together, there would be little they could do.
Strategy
Unfortunately, this strategy would require unity, which is far from being this region's strongpoint. Disunity is keeping this part of the world punching way below its weight on the global stage and it's being perpetuated by Washington, which never tires of warning about a supposed Iran threat or a contrived Sunni-Shiite divide.
Indeed, during his recent visit to Britain, the US President George W. Bush again played up the Iran threat even suggesting that "the dialogue has shifted dramatically from 'solve the Palestinian state and you've solved the problems in the Middle East' to, now, 'solve the Iranian issue and you solve the problems in the Middle East'."
Never mind that Tehran isn't being aggressive towards its Arab neighbours and there is no proof that it is currently seeking nuclear weapons, as long as it is being touted as the main threat to regional security, the real threat that emanates from Israel is kept on the backburner, while the White House can argue it needs permanent bases in Iraq.
What the Middle East does not need is a nuclear arms race, says Bush. "It does not need the instability that comes from an innate fear that the West is not strong enough or willing enough to take on the problem".
But who appointed the West (read the US) to take on the problem even if one exists? Isn't it time that Arabs took responsibility for their own neck of the woods instead of allowing foreign armies free rein to ride roughshod over their lands and peoples?
As Galloway reminds us 300 million Arabs is not an inconsequential number. To put it in context it is slightly less than the population of the US (303 million) and four times that of the UK (70 million).
It's tragic, therefore, that they have such little say not only in world affairs but also their own. They should have a huge voice but as long as there is no Arab Ummah and no common purpose their voices are contradictory. They drown each other and eventually end up as background noise.
With prices at the pump in the US hovering around $4 a gallon and parts of Europe paralysed by protesting truck drivers and fishermen, Bush pressured Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase production "on the theory that if you harm your consumers with high prices they will find other ways to power their economies".
If only there was someone with the courage to respond thus to the President: "If you continue harming our people with your wars and your slavish pro-Israel policy, you might have to do just that".
Oil is a diminishing resource. Arabs have it. If they're ever going to flaunt it, it's now or never.
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Interesting possibility but not quite probable, what do you guys say?
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He who controls the oil, controls the universe!
He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing!
and all this talk of "if they all stop selling oil to the west, the west will seek other forms of energy" is rubbish. It would take decades to set up and utilise wind, Solar and Hydro power, so effectivly, these countries economies would collapse.
For example...Britains ecomy collapses, in steps Saudi who say , we will bail you out, but in return we want full control of yer country, Shraia law, Islam as the main religion etc....What could yer do, nothing. Thats how dependant we are on Oil.
*JUST MY OPINION*
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that perhaps its better for them NOT to resolve the problem..
just as the USA uses Bin Laden to turn public focus away from internal problems , many of the Arab nations use the palestinian / israeli issue to focus their people's attention on an issue, which they cannot be blamed for..
this is gonna like a pendulum that wont stop...
~~~winner never quits~~~
Of course all governments are hypocrits. Never claimed they weren't.
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Hmmm....well Gypsy...depends on how hypocrisy is defined in International politics. If it is inconsistent behavior then I would say every human being/govt. is guilty of that.
Just because they look upto US protection against groups from their own region, can we say that they dont have a right to question an actual/perceived injustice being meted out to Palestine? (or to anyone for that matter?)
If only those who are not guilty of anything can throw stones, then I guess there shouldnt be any stone-throwing in the whole world, no? (Which, IMHO, wont be a bad thing either :-p)
Somebody told me, "You are what you eat".Now I know why I'm nuts!!
then who do you think will take the profit?
ROBIN!!!bring coconut oil to the BATCAVE!!!http://www.qatarliving.com/user/spanky1423
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I understand what you meant Winn. Of course the Arab states want the US on their side incase someone decides to invade, that's why they will never directly help Palestine, and why they lend the US billions every year so that they can continue the Iraq war. However, since this is the case they should be honest about it and stop all this anti-Western, anti-Israel stuff, because it's just hypocritical.
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Well its a win win situation for both Arab leaders and "the Big Dog" right now. To resolve the core issue sacrifices are needed for which these leaders are not ready.
One who hasn't taken risks hasn't lived
Gypsy: When I said coup/ takeover I was not saying that the US would take over. What I meant is tehy look up to the support of US incase something goes wrong within their country either due to insurgence or external forces.
Abu: I agree with you on people being harmed. But isn't it more the responsibility of the govt of the particular nation (in this case,US)to protect their people than some one who would impose such a sanction.
Any ways its a very hypothetical situation since the scenario of an Arab Unity and the chances of imposing such a sanction are too improbable!
Somebody told me, "You are what you eat".Now I know why I'm nuts!!
That "Big Dog" has been unable to even gain a slight foothold here, I think there are other reasons beyond fear of America that keeps the Arabs from uniting. I think they probably have more to gain by keeping instability in the region.
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LOL...Brit! Exactly the point! "Big Dog" ia laways looming at the horizon!!
There is always a chance for a coup/takeover in what you call the Middle East, that quite a lot of Princes/Rulers depend on the mercy of the Big Dog to hang on to power.
Like I said before its about mutual trust or lack of it rather.
Somebody told me, "You are what you eat".Now I know why I'm nuts!!
Its not as simple as that..
Most of the leaders have to tread a careful line with the West in order to keep themselves in power.
Also, its quite feasible, that if these upstarts start using their oil power, they might find a "big dog" coming over to help them "democratise"
Abu: How does it become swinging below the belt? To quote the same article...
"if nuclear energy is something that nations have to earn by proving they are responsible and non-aggressive, by the same token countries seeking to buy hydrocarbons should be similarly judged by producing nations. "
Gypsy: yeah I dont see this happening in the near future( and THAT would be an understatement):-)
As to why they dont...any body's guess! I would say simply coz they dont trust each other ( the old 'tribe' psychology??). Dont see any other reason.
Somebody told me, "You are what you eat".Now I know why I'm nuts!!
I think the answer to "why don't they?" lies in the article itself. The leaders of Arab world are so engulfed in themselves, that they really don't care for Palestinian issue because deep down inside they know that if they threaten with oil embargo they would have to suffer which they really don't want. So we will have to wait for some “Courageous " Leader
One who hasn't taken risk hasn't lives
I think 6 days is an overstatment but I agree. If the Arab nations unified the Palestine/Israel crisis would be over pretty quickly. So the question remains, Why don't they?
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