... better try living the American way.
From the Scotsman:
PRESIDENT George Bush yesterday told leaders of the oil-rich states of the Middle East that they must face up to a future without their precious hydrocarbons.
In a stark warning, he said their supplies were running out and urged them to reform and diversify their economies. The outgoing United States president told the World Economic Forum, meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, that it was time to "prepare for the economic changes ahead".
Mr Bush's family name is inextricably linked to the oil industry, and this was his strongest statement yet on the future of global supplies.
He told the conference: "The rising price of oil has brought great wealth to some in this region, but the supply of oil is limited, and nations like mine are aggressively developing alternatives to oil. "Over time, as the world becomes less dependent on oil, nations in the Middle East will have to build more diverse and more dynamic economies."
Mr Bush also used his speech to call for more investment in people and "extending the reach of freedom", as well as urging other nations to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and to isolate Syria.
He particularly mentioned women's rights, saying they were key to building powerful economies. He cited Egypt as a model for the development of professional women, girls going to school in Afghanistan and women joining political parties in Iraq and Kuwait.
In an apparent criticism aimed at Saudi Arabia, he told the forum:
"This is a matter of morality and of basic math. No nation that cuts off half its population from opportunities will be as productive or prosperous as it could be. Women are a formidable force, as I have seen in my own family and my own administration. As the nations of the Middle East open up their laws and their societies to women, they are learning the same thing."
5 comments:
*applause*
We really need to be standing up to them more. We shouldn't be that afraid of the Saudis, without their oil, they would fall into poverty and irrelevance. Once the oil that they think God gave them is gone, or we no longer need it, they won't have much money for terrorist attacks or anything else. Their economic well being could in the long run depend on them appeasing us! That is ironic if you think about it. Also if the rest of the world truly embraced every aspect of their twisted religious ideology, it would not only hurt us, it would hurt the Saudis king's bank account as well, since the rest of the world would become so much less productive. In that respect Fundamentalist Islam is like communism, where ever it dominates, it tends to reward the least productive in society. Fortunately for the world, it is unlikely that every single country will ever go Islamic.
An excellent point, Damien.
As one IBA writer has famously said, Islam will lead us into a New Dark Age. The ideology of Islam is inherently non-inquisitive. There is almost no technological innovation in the Islamic world. The UN did a special developing nations report a few years back and found that less than 200 patents had been granted to Arab countries during the decade of the 90's. During that same time period, the relatively tiny country of South Korea had over 17,000 patents.
Pastorius,
You said,
"The UN did a special developing nations report a few years back and found that less than 200 patents had been granted to Arab countries during the decade of the 90's. During that same time period, the relatively tiny country of South Korea had over 17,000 patents."
That's amazing!
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