[Justa]

"The levels of suspicions that exist between them has thwarted every attempt they have ever made to achieve a common goal.

...except commerce.

[pingman]

Curious that our new friend on the block, Iraq, is not mentioned here.Considering the size of their proven reserves, you’d think they would “want in”.

[Pontiac]

...except commerce.

Their most visible effort at cooperation in commerce is OPEC. OPEC’s only success was in the about 40 years ago and that was mainly a political action and had nothing to do with commerce.

OPEC’s members are famous for cheating on their production quotas. Sure the oil producing countries are rich but when you look at the non-oil producing states they are backward poverty stricken cesspools of crime, violence and ignorance none of which are conducive to commerce.

Even the rich Arab states are hardly a hot bed of commerce. Out side of the royal families there is a tiny middle class and the rest are typically living in poverty or as they have for thousands of years as nomadic sheep herders.