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Originally Posted by brewcrewmaroon
Here's an article about the guy that I got the book handed down from. He seems to have taken this oil issue to heart. I would say that if oil is the issue, and the Middle East has it and we need it, there will never be a resolution to the West/Islamic clash.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4646/index.htm |
Peak oil is an interesting and alarming idea--it's an extreme prediction, but if true, terrorism will be the least of our problems as much of our civilization would fail without petroleum or petroleum-based products. Again, a worst-case prediction, but it is a wake-up call that we better get the timing of the transation away from fossil fuels just right, or there will be chaos.
Also, if true, the Middle East won't matter to the west in 75-100 years. However, the implication for the next 50 years is that there will be a scarcity of resources that will not make cooperation with our economic rivals very easy. Conflict with ascendant powers such as China is beginning to happen now--witness China's attempts to secure oil resources to fuel it's economic development and the outcry caused by CNOOC's bid for UNOCAL last year.
I tend to think that the next large war, if it were to happen, would be over competition for natural resources and not ideology. In fact, I have heard some analysts say that the next war in the middle east would not be over religion or oil, but a tip in the balance regarding rights over scarce water supplies.