The Middle East, The Economy, Oil and Food

     To say that this month has been interesting would be an understatement, World wide events have been shocking, bloody and historic and it is not yet over. Egypt seems to have been the spark that has fanned the fire to a half dozen countries through out the middle east, fighting in the middle east is nothing new, The area has been fought over for as long as anyone can remember.  Current fighting seems to revolve around the removal of long standing dictators and an eye on some form of freedom.  Now I will never begrudge anyone or any group wanting to break away from a long term repressive dictatorship but there will be consequences. The question arises, who will take over, what will be different, how will my life be better or worse and will I be trading one dictator for another?  Leadership will eventually change that's a fact and more often than not the face changes but policy stays the same, there may be a change here and there for appeasement  but for the most part real change is slow to implement and in fact many people are scared of change due to the unknown. I wish them the best of luck.

     100 years ago no one would have batted an eye if the middle east decided to tear itself apart, that changed with the discovery of oil in Persia in 1908 and Saudi Arabia in 1938. Those two events would shape how the economies of the world grew and developed and it is more vital to the world economy now then ever. Like it or not, want it or not the world economy now revolves around what happens in any one country, we are in a sense interconnected like never before. Long ago when Man and Woman lived, worked and died within the range of 20 miles very little outside of that circle was a concern or even known about for that matter, global events were not an issue, that has changed for better and worse.


     The events of the middle east are on the radar of many countries due to the fact of trade  routes and yes oil. Oil is the life blood of many developed countries and without it they shut down it's just that simple. I remember and see on occasion those that protest with their signs that read "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" well whether you agree with the concept or not we are and will be for the foreseeable future an oil driven world and for those who want to do without you need to keep in mind that Oil is a part of everything we eat, wear live in and pretty much touch, you would be hard pressed to find an item that is not tied to oil either directly or indirectly. One of the largest areas we can tie oil to is our food supply, we as a whole no longer live in a farming type community, we have gone urban and dependent upon large commercial farming techniques to supply us. Long gone are the days of mule drawn plows, they have given way to half million dollar tractor systems that yes, run on fuel. That same fuel is now also used to truck and ship the food we eat on average over a thousand miles. There is no way we can go back to the old ways and sustain the population levels we have, some say we can not sustain what we have anyway but that's another article.

    In closing is is without doubt that we live in perilous and ever changing times, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Also with our constantly shrinking and inter-connected world it seems that even far distant events have an impact upon us. Now more then ever it would be very wise to take steps in order to lessen the effects of these world wide events upon yourself and your family.

Prepology    
Please feel free to re post or quote with proper attribution.

Follow Prepology on Twitter



 

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting post, shall def follow you to read more

Anonymous said...

"grab them by the balls and the hearts and minds shall follow"

sure must hurt when those whom control your fuel source the most..

right in the wallet..

Wildflower

Scott R said...

Hi D Debz, I appreciate you stopping by. We have lots to read that's for sure and we try to keep it interesting..:)

Wildflower, yeah it hurts but it's gonna hurt a lot more here soon and we have no one to blame but ourselves for it.

That's a great quote and oh so true.

Thanks for stopping by Wildflower

What if it's today? - A survivalist's blog said...

I'm wondering just how soon the media is going to announce that the middle east conflicts are all the fault of the United States. After all, these demonstrations began as a complaint about higher food prices. Higher food prices are caused in part because the US is using corn for fuel rather than food export. Just another reason for us to be hated and attacked.

Scott R said...

What if it's today,

Yes you are right and I do believe I have already seen where we have been blamed for part of it. We are in a no win situation with respect to the ME, if we do something we're hated, if we do nothing we're hated. We already give many countries aid by way of food or direct cash assistance and we are hated. As for our corn we grow it and we should be able to do with it what we wish, they have land and they have water and a ton of manpower, I say it is up to them to produce their own they just choose not to.

Appreciate you stopping by

Anonymous said...

Really interesting post, Scott. I agree that these are interesting times. Now more than ever, any change in world politics has a big impact on the US economy. But with all due respect, I think that Americans also have an inflated sense of our place in the world. For one, I don't know what you mean by the "discovery" of Saudi Arabia in 1938, considering Saudi Arabia's rich cultural history that dates back to antiquity. This history includes being the birthplace of one of the three major religions in the world. With all due respect. Just sayin' ...

Scott R said...

sweepyjean, morning.

Sweepyjean you are correct we do at times have an inflated sense of selves on the world stage at times, in many cases I would rather stay out of other countries business but we are still hated if we do and hated if we don't.

On Saudi Arabia I was referencing the large amounts of oil that were discovered there and how they have impacted and changed the world, it Brought Saudi Arabia onto the world stage economically. culturally and historically you are correct as well as religion wise it is an important place that goes far back in history. Oil though is what has made part of the country prosper and given it the opportunity to develop further.

Thanks for stopping by Sweepy, much apreciated

LinkRef

free web site traffic and promotion