This Blog is intended for use by students in the Islamic Middle East course at Northfield Mount Hermon School and guest students and teachers from other participating schools.
The New York Times’ Andrew Martin wrote recently on the impact of rising prices and global food shortages on the Middle East.
Andrew Martin, “Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water,” New York Times, July 21, 2008
More on water shortages in the Middle East
Story from the BBC
More on problems with water resources in the Middle East: “Water Wars in the Middle East”
Story from the BBC
Israel is in its fourth year of drought. The Sea of Galilee, which provides 30% of Israel’s water, is dangerously low. The pioneering Zionist ideal - ”to make the desert bloom” - today consumes 60% of Israel’s water annually, yet contributes less than 2% of Israel’s GDP.
See: “Don’t Make the Desert Bloom,” The Economist, June [...]
Michael L. Ross, Associate Professor of Political Science at UCLA, notes the following correlation between oil and human conflict:
“The world is far more peaceful than it was 15 years ago. There were 17 major civil wars - with ‘major’ meaning the kind that kill more than a thousand people a year - going on at [...]
The World Bank predicts that water supplies in the Middle East will be cut in half by 2050. It has often been said that water is already the tacit motive behind many of the region’s conflicts.
Story from the BBC
More on water in the Middle East
Oil prices are at a new all time high. High prices may be here to stay, say economists, unless the world goes through a protracted recession.
Go to story from BBC
Fuel costs, driven by the boom in oil prices, have risen in some parts of the Middle East by over 70% almost overnight, causing sharp jumps in prices where local currencies are pegged to the weakening dollar. Middle class families are among those feeling the pinch. Inflation in Saudi Arabia - running at zero percent [...]
In support of our school’s participation in “Focus the Nation,” here is a list of resources to accompany our discussion in class of the politics of Middle Eastern oil.
1. Victor Davis Hanson, “Blood and Oil,” The Salt Lake (City) Tribune, Nov. 29, 2006
2. Michael Klare, “Mapping the Oil Motive, Tompaine.com, March 18, 2005
3. Jane Bryant [...]
BBC Middle East