With the breakthrough in drilling technology and discovery of new oil and gas fields around the world, the era of Islamic oil may soon be coming to an end. The less the world needs Mideast oil, the more isolated and irrelevant the region will become. This is a good development because the less oil is needed, the less money the Islamic nations will get. This will mean less influence on their part over the US.
Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the trading nexus of three continents — Asia, Europe, and Africa — and the vibrant birthplace of three of the world’s great religions.
Middle Eastern influence rose again in the 19th century when the Suez Canal turned the once-dead-end eastern Mediterranean Sea into a sea highway from Europe to Asia.
With the 20th-century development of large gas and oil supplies in the Persian Gulf and North Africa, an Arab-led OPEC more or less dictated the foreign policy of thirsty oil importers like the United States and Europe. No wonder U.S. Central Command has remained America’s military-command hot spot.
Yet the Middle East is becoming irrelevant. The discovery of enormous new oil and gas reserves along with the use of new oil-recovery technology in North America and China is steadily curbing the demand for Middle Eastern oil. Soon, countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are going to have less income and geostrategic clout. In both Iran and the Gulf, domestic demand is rising, while there is neither the technical know-how nor the water to master the new art of fracking to sustain exports.
The recent Boston bombing reminded the West that nearly twelve years after 9/11, most terrorism still follows the same old, same old script, acted out by angry young men with Muslim pedigrees claiming to act on radical Islamist impulses, without much popular rebuke from the Muslim world.
The sooner the region becomes irrelevant, the better it will be for all humanity. The Islamic tentacles in the US government has its reach in both parties and all levels of government. Once their money starts to run out, their influence will diminish. Once this occurs, the US will stop giving them preferences in Immigration visas and stop sending Americans to die for Islamic interests.
An irrelevant Mideast will mean a more peaceful planet and less Americans killed.
Tags: Natural Gas, oil, Victor Davis Hanson
