Does any one have any ideas on what will happen to the middle east when(IF) we stop needing thier oil? Will the middle east become worse than it already is? Please give me some ideas/scenarios, as i have pondering this for some time. I am open to all speculation.

It may be a dream to end the dependence on Middle East oil but I don't believe oil will become useless. It's used in many other products such as the plastic we use. If no one was buying the oil the Middle East was willing to sell, I suppose the smart countries could just use their billions of dollars in investments to invest in whatever we are using here in the West. The poor countries might become more like Afghanistan. Illegal drugs are still a big export of that country.

As far as scenarios goes, I might be able to imagine something but I don't believe that will be the result. The future I see for the Middle East involves massive battles from countries gathering to fight from all over the world with millions of people perishing and the city of Jerusalem getting transformed after all the bloodshed is over to be a peaceful city for all. Of course that may be another thread discussion unless you thought that the Middle East will still be a source of major conflict with or without oil. It would be much harder for the money to flow into the Middle East without oil.

If you want inspiration you can look at North Korea. They are not selling any oil but still maintain an army of about one million and would probably be causing more trouble if not boxed in by geography. just my opinion though


[edit on 24-3-2006 by orionthehunter]

The oil in the ME will never entirely run out ( as fields replenish with time) but there may come a time in the future ( 50 + years; AT LEAST) when alternative energy (edit for meaning) based transportation will become so cheap , not that it is'nt now, that it becomes impossible not to move away from oil.

Peak oil is mostly nonsense and if i we turn out to be wrong it's going to be another half century before we notice our error in terms of oil discovery and extraction costs.

Stellar

[edit on 25-3-2006 by StellarX]

Actually, while I too believe that oil in the ME will not run out, I do believe that there will come a time when the cost of extraction becomes unprofitable, or worse, un-economical.

What's the difference you may ask? When it becomes unprofitable, big oil will move to other areas that hold more profits. When it becomes un-economical, then maybe we'll start to see other alternatives being aggressively pushed.

[edit - removed redundant word]

[edit on 25-3-2006 by Beachcoma]

We'll chop the middle east off and pave it, turn it into a parking lot, and send it into the Pacific Ocean.