Oil And The Persian Gulf (Analysis And Commentary)

Oil Rulers Toy With Armageddon -- Hossein Askari, Asia Times

The Persian Gulf has every ingredient imaginable for stoking conflicts, revolutions and wars for all eternity. Just recall the long, though still highly partial, list of conflicts that are the region's inheritance (see Conflict without end, Asia Times Online, October 19, 2012). And don't forget that hardly any of these conflicts are ever reconciled, with the result that about eight out of 10 conflicts are resurrected.

Why is the Persian Gulf so cursed? Although it is the birthplace of Islam, a religion that preaches peace, justice and the unity of humankind, the Persian Gulf has sectarian, tribal and ethnic divides and conflicts that appear timeless and likely to linger until the end of time.

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My Comment: This is the 24th and concluding article in a special series on oil and the Persian Gulf from the Asia Times. The other 23 articles are the following ....

Part 1: Riddle of the sands
Part 2: The sweet and sour of oil
Part 3: The driver of oil prices
Part 4: OPEC in the driving seat
Part 5: The OPEC bogeyman
Part 6: OPEC and the sanctions highway
Part 7: Oil-price shocks lie in wait
Part 8: Whose oil is it anyway?
Part 9: The dark side of oil
Part 10: Institutions matter
Part 11: Oil-rich rulers blind to the future
Part 12: 'Arab Spring' without a bloom
Part 13: Reform - or be kicked out
Part 14: Oil's toxic partner: Guns
Part 15: Islamic tools to the rescue
Part 16: Policy package for turnaround
Part 17: The old colonialism
Part 18: The new colonialism
Part 19: No clash of civilizations
Part 20: Tyrants atop a sea of oil
Part 21: A nuclear Persian Gulf
Part 22: Conflict without end
Part 23: Toward an oil-less world