Comments on: Review of and Questions for "In the Name of Identity" by Amin Maalouf http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/02/12/review-of-and-questions-for-in-the-name-of-identity-by-amin-maalouf.html High-minded, fanatically malthusian perspectives Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:18:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Larry Dunbar http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/02/12/review-of-and-questions-for-in-the-name-of-identity-by-amin-maalouf.html/comment-page-1#comment-13596 Larry Dunbar Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/02/12/review-of-and-questions-for-in-the-name-of-identity-by-amin-maalouf.html#comment-13596 <p>So what kind of connection, no pun intended, are you trying to make between globalization and the Arab world? With Arabs sitting on the biggest sh*t house full of oil, what do they need with globalization. While it is true that the Arabs in Lebanon, and else where, do not have oil, when dealing with Arabs don't you have to look towards the Arabs with the greatest potential for power in the world? <br /> <br /> Who is going to hold the greatest amount of oil in Iraq? Will it be Arab, Persians, or someone else? This is what is up for grabs. It kind of comes down to the question: can you deal with an non-oil-producing Arabs differently than a Oil producing Arab? If you can, does that mean it will be the non-oil producing Arabs that you can bring globalization to but not necessarily the oil producing ones? <br /> <br /> When these young Arabs look towards identity, do they look towards Lebanon or Mecca, or both? If they look towards both, then they look at the greatest holders of power (energy per second) in the world. Kind of hard to see where globalization fits in.</p> So what kind of connection, no pun intended, are you trying to make between globalization and the Arab world? With Arabs sitting on the biggest sh*t house full of oil, what do they need with globalization. While it is true that the Arabs in Lebanon, and else where, do not have oil, when dealing with Arabs don't you have to look towards the Arabs with the greatest potential for power in the world?

Who is going to hold the greatest amount of oil in Iraq? Will it be Arab, Persians, or someone else? This is what is up for grabs. It kind of comes down to the question: can you deal with an non-oil-producing Arabs differently than a Oil producing Arab? If you can, does that mean it will be the non-oil producing Arabs that you can bring globalization to but not necessarily the oil producing ones?

When these young Arabs look towards identity, do they look towards Lebanon or Mecca, or both? If they look towards both, then they look at the greatest holders of power (energy per second) in the world. Kind of hard to see where globalization fits in.

]]> By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/02/12/review-of-and-questions-for-in-the-name-of-identity-by-amin-maalouf.html/comment-page-1#comment-13597 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/02/12/review-of-and-questions-for-in-the-name-of-identity-by-amin-maalouf.html#comment-13597 <p>Larry,<br /> <br /> As Max Boot has written [1]<br /> <br /> "high oil prices provide money for Saudi Arabia to subsidize hate-spewing madrasas and for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.<br /> <br /> Countries that get rich from natural resources over long periods of time are both beneficiaries of globalization (their resources are suddenly important) and dangers to globalization (because they benefit regardless of their policies, they can develop warped economies like the old USSR or the modern KSA). <br /> <br /> Oil is an IV for tyrants [2], which allows Franco-Maaloufian focus on the globalization of ideas without a correspondent globalization of economies. <br /> <br /> For their benefit, Arab states need economic globalization (and not just resource extraction) to provide long-term benefits for their citizens. For our benefit, Arab states need globalization to stop exporting terrorism, plagues, disorder, etc.<br /> <br /> [1] <a href="http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/03/26/putting_the_geostrategy_back_into_geogreen.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/03/26/putting_the_geostrategy_back_into_geogreen.html</a><br /> [2] <a href="http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/03/30/conservatives_for_the_gas_tax_goldberg_now_geo-green.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/03/30/conservatives_for_the_gas_tax_goldberg_now_geo-green.html</a></p> Larry,

As Max Boot has written [1]

“high oil prices provide money for Saudi Arabia to subsidize hate-spewing madrasas and for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Countries that get rich from natural resources over long periods of time are both beneficiaries of globalization (their resources are suddenly important) and dangers to globalization (because they benefit regardless of their policies, they can develop warped economies like the old USSR or the modern KSA).

Oil is an IV for tyrants [2], which allows Franco-Maaloufian focus on the globalization of ideas without a correspondent globalization of economies.

For their benefit, Arab states need economic globalization (and not just resource extraction) to provide long-term benefits for their citizens. For our benefit, Arab states need globalization to stop exporting terrorism, plagues, disorder, etc.

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/03/26/putting_the_geostrategy_back_into_geogreen.html
[2] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/03/30/conservatives_for_the_gas_tax_goldberg_now_geo-green.html

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