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Peace in the Middle East? By: Jimmy James  |
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 For Americans, peace in the Middle East is an elusive yet highly prized goal, but this hopeful thinking ignores some of the realities at play in that region of the world.
Contrary to rational thinking, because the Middle East is the oil producers of the world, peace in the region would lower the profits of countries like Saudi Arabia, who although central to Middle East conflict, really isn’t suffering from the downside of conflict, but rather they are profiting from the increased oil revenues that conflict has brought them. Peace in the Middle East for the Saudis would mean an extreme loss of profits.
Then there is the nature of the region’s political system. These dictatorial governments require war to retain authority over their people. In the absence of war, the authority of Middle Eastern Government’s over their people would start to break down, because as even President Bush has pointed out, the human heart longs for freedom. Without war, these people begin to question the authority of their Government, so as strange as it seems, war and the promise of war is one of the few things holding many of these Middle Eastern countries together.
Then we get to the war profiteers. Blackwater Worldwide went from making one hundred thousand dollars a year to making a billion dollars a year. Do you believe they are hoping for peace in the Middle East? We are spending a billion dollars a day in Iraq, where do you think that money is going? And the cost of rearming and replacing all the spent equipment hasn’t even been figured into the cost of this war yet. Do you believe that those who stand to profit from this are hoping that the Middle East can be stabilized and that peace can be achieved?
Then we come to this country. As long as we are debating war, we’re not debating the incredible manipulation of our laws that has and continues to take money out of the pockets of the poor and middle class and puts it directly into the pockets of tiny group of connected individuals. Honestly, as long as people are kept in fear, they won’t challenge corruption in Government, nor will they vote in their interest, but rather vote for chest beating, neo-nationalism victory.
War in the Middle East isn’t going anywhere; in fact it’s just getting going.
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