[lds23]

This is Part Six (the final part). Part Five, with links to previous parts, is here: The Pen and The Sword

My apologies in advance for not making it easier to link to all six parts at once.

[Dog Gone]

Fascinating. I will bookmark for the other 5 parts.

[lds23]

Apologies again for not being able to post links to all six parts before:

Part One: Time Travellers
Part Two: Middle Earth
Part Three: People pressure
Part Four: No taxation, no representation
Part Five: The Pen and The Sword
Part Six: Beyond Oil

[umgud]

Maybe not tomorrow, but probably in the next few decades, technology will find a replacement for most uses of oil. The Arab states have a bleak future. The upside is that they won't have the money to finance terror or agression.

[Fish out of Water]

index bump

[JDGreen123]

Thanks for posting this fascinating series! I am printing it and keeping it for my library. It is very insightful and revealing.

[brat]

Thankyou lds23! BUMP

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the interesting post. I have bookmarked to read the other parts. There was only one part that left me frowning.

Jeddah seems prosperous at first glance, but closer inspection reveals potholes, broken pavements and leaky drains. In summer, the lagoon bordering the central business district smells of sewage. A third of the city's 4m inhabitants rely on trucks to supply their drinking water.

The infrastructure has always been questionable in Kingdom. Many developed areas were rushed and not maintained. This part of the world is so harsh on materials that unique applications had to be developed to apply to the local conditions. Consider that ground water and soils have electrical resistivities of 35ohm/cm and you can begin to understand why the infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating. I would agree that the Emirates did benefit from the experiences in Kingdom, but I would not measure the financial health of different cities based on the unique infrastructure problems.

I have no disagreements with the Author on the other points.

[Tokhtamish]

A truly fascinating article.

Maybe the Saudi 'peace plan' isn't just a PR ploy. Maybe it is based on long term self interest, on a fundamental geopolitical vulnerability towards the more populous Muslim countries.