by evilgenius » Wed 20 Jun 2007, 15:03:12
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And instead of investing in infrastructure, education and in their economies in general with these 'finite' revenues they are doing 'almost' everything possible to squander them with a few notable exceptions.
I wonder what would happen if they *did* invest in their infrastructure and education. The people there would burn even more of the oil themselves, and an educated population might demand a large share of the oil monies. Can't have that, I suppose.[/quote]
The most important thing they could do, the thing that would have changed everything would have been to have used their own oil to achieve an economic miracle vis a vis manufacturing. Anything in the modern world that demands mod-high energy inputs to produce could have been made in the ME more cheaply than anywhere else in the world. Of course, it is difficult to maintain a monarchy amidst a successful modern economy, too many goups are powerful enough to demand and get a share of power.
I say they could have done this. It is all over now. I think they have so over done it underground with horizontal drilling and other gross extraction techniques that the possibility for carrying it off no longer exists. With the amount of investment needed to upgrade the economy and retool the infrastructure with properly minded citizens needed now vs what level of oil is left, it is just too much to expect from a reluctant monarchy.
Possibly it could be done in Iraq because they haven't over done it so badly. Even there, however, they will need new discovery and an immediate change toward western thinking, but not to the West. They will never pull it off if they can't stay independent of the Western overseers.
When it comes down to it, the people will always shout, "Free Barabbas." They love Barabbas. He's one of them. He has the same dreams. He does what they wish they could do. That other guy is more removed, more inscrutable. He makes them think. "Crucify him."
