War, Economics, and the Middle East

It concerns me watching the news from Egypt.  So many lives lost, so much suffering.  War is never a good thing.  As I watched the coverage, I remembered something a professor said once:  "All wars are over economic reasons."  As time passes, I have tried to disprove this theory.  I can't seem to do that.  Let's follow some examples, from American History.

The Revolutionary War.
We fought for our freedom, right?  Isn't that what we were told?  Yet if you dig in to the times, most of the rebels came to be because the King was trying to tax the colonies to pay for their protection.  The Stamp Act, Tea Taxes leading to the Boston Tea Party, are all examples of what they considered unfair taxes.  This led to rebellion, and the creation of our country.

The War of 1812.
This was more or less a continuation of the Revolutionary War, the British were trying to take back the wayward colonies, because of the value.

The Civil War.
Was fought for States Rights, with slavery as a major component of that battle.  The Emancipation Proclamation was an economic document.  It was intended to cause economic harm to the South.  The South needed, so they thought, slavery to run their economic system. 

World War II.
While we said we were fighting Fascist tyranny, this war was about economics as well.  Without Europe to sell our goods to, we would never get out of the Depression.  The Nazis came to power because of draconian reparations imposed after World War I.



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The same is true today in the Mid East.  It is a war over economics.  The Sheiks and Sultans, or the Islamists are in control of one of the biggest assets in the world today, oil.  They are not allowing their people to prosper, yet they are building large palaces, and other buildings.  The rebels want a cut.  This war can never end unless there is a more equitable distribution of assets.  This distribution occurs with freedom.  None of the sides, currently, seem to favor freedom.  In Egypt, Mubarak was a tyrant, free elections brought us Morsi, who seemed to be intent on turning Egypt into a religious country with him, and his friends as the major benefactors. 

So as outsiders what can we do?  We can try to contain the problem to that region.  Or we can work for a permanent solution, and that solution has nothing to do with Israel.  The main reason that the Arab states have targeted them is not religious, well maybe a small bit, but rather economic.  Israel has been an example of democratically elected leaders, that has thrived economically.  The Saudi King, the Iranian President cannot allow that to be seen in their backyard.

If we proactively make that asset worth less, then maybe cooler heads will prevail.  We can accomplish this in a couple ways.  We can find alternate sources of energy.  That means using our natural gas reserves, developing solar, wind, and nuclear options, and, of course, drilling in other areas where there is petroleum.   This might also bring down the price of energy, and be less enriching to those that are our problems anywhere in the world.  Without Petrol Dollars, Iran's nuclear program will stall.  Venezuela's hard core anti Americanism would subside. 

In our country alone, we have the resources to do this, but imagine if all countries would join, maybe peace can come to the region.  Arab countries would have to diversify, and reasonable people will find reasonable ways to live there.  Not only live, but coexist with Israel.   It's no secret as to the Egyptian / Israeli peace accord, both had diversified economies with people to some degree able to direct their own destinies.  Is that true in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan or any other oil country of the region?  Think about it!

Spend Wisely!