So much conflict in N Africa and Middle East is over oil resources, these places are sun rich - if they were given abundant solar power would it calm the constant fighting and terrorism ?
I have to admit I read the subject as, “If we hit North Africa with a huge solar weapon…”
Were they peaceful before oil was a useful commodity?
I doubt that they are short of a supply of solar power in those regions, maybe its the sun madness that makes them that way.
Money doesn’t create peace. It’s pretty much the other way around.
If you go back far enough, sure.
The Ottoman Empire wasn’t substantially more conflict ridden than any other part of the world for a good run there.
The thesis is incorrect, in any case. Oil is merely a symptom, not a cause of the conflicts. Oil exports provide significant amounts of money to several of these countries. If you want to prevent oil from creating conflicts, you need the rest of the world to get off oil.
And even then, the sudden lack of income from oil sales would create a problem when the citizenry realize there’s no money left to pay for any of the services they’ve come to expect. You’d merely be exacerbating any underlying problems.
I admit, I laughed.
War is a racket. Invade, take resource, make money.
…tsk…come on…please. Oil is a cause - no one can attribute everything to just energy or just religion/politics - or if you are inclined that way, race.
OK, example, Egypt. Used to export oil, now imports oil and gas, and also world’s biggest importer of wheat. No revenue = trouble, radicalisation, gunfire, terrorism.
Abundant solar = plenty electricity for everyone, no need to fight over it, desalinisation plants, water for crops, health, education.
Other example - Bin Laden’s words -
“for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people…etc”
You’re there because of oil.
Give everyone solar, no need for oil, take away bases, people calm down.
Of course, if everyone has enough energy, middle east is given up as a property, and the jihad still continues, my thesis will be falsified - but how else to find out ?
Also, finally, can solar be stopped anyway ?
Oh, please - the Middle East has a multi-thousand year history of conflict that predates petroleum’s value as a significant resource with global demand. No, it wouldn’t create peace.
Oil is an excuse, not a cause. Oil leads to money, which is the actual problem. People like money. People especially like making money.
What happens to Saudi Arabia if all its oil magically disappeared overnight and replaced with solar infrastructure? The sudden lack in revenue is going to create some BIG problems. And they can’t export solar power to the US or China like they can export oil.
Iraq? You think the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds are going to magically get along and sing Kumbaya if there’s solar power? Their conflicts lie deeper than oil. Control of oil is largely about making money.
Take away a major source of revenue and there’s suddenly unrest and violence. Bad economic times do that to people. For these nations, it happens to be oil.
Do you really think that with abundant solar power and without oil Iran will stop perusing a nuclear bomb?
Or that radical elements will stop believing in the destruction if Israel or the U.S.?
All of these nations will simply drop their religious and ethnic prejudices?
I suppose women will be granted basic human rights throughout the region as well?
If Solar is that magic I say we do it here first. We got plenty of our own mess to fix.
We tried bribing people so they’d like us before. Didn’t work.
ETA: But they still cashed the checks.
No, it’s oil, oil goes in cars and tanks, not money. There’s no need to fight over money because money can be printed cheaply. You just print some up and you have it. Oil has to be fought over.
Who said overnight ? Not me. A full replacement by solar providing energy and water solves a myriad of problems - obviously.
You lay a cable, it’s a lot cheaper and more reliable than a pipeline and a fleet of tankers. You can even put one from Africa to America if it’s not too boring for you.
Iraq was created by the British for their own energy reason in the first place.
“Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, denied that oil interests influenced policy in Iraq, but the archives show that the British government rushed troops to Mosul in 1918 to gain control of the northern oil fields. Britain and France clashed over Iraq’s oil during the Versailles Conference and after, but Britain eventually took the lion’s share by turning its military victories into colonial rule.”
Sectarian violence is always stirred up by oil interests anyway, so until that is removed you’re not going to know how the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis get along.
Maybe badly, maybe not. Poverty always exacerbates these things.
No, I’m afraid you enjoy cynical sneering too much here - the Kumbaya is a giveaway for macho beligerance and a distance from actually bothering about any of it.
You said it was money, not oil.
So defensive around here.
Iran has plenty of energy for now, sooner or later it will need either solar or nuclear.
Scaremongering about Iran and Israel gets you nowhere. Who said anything about religious prejudices being totally dropped ? Or women’s rights suddenly changing. Are women’s rights changing now ?
One of the things women need is energy to live with. They don’t have that in, for instance, Egypt - because they sold their oil until it started to run out.
You gave the Egyptian army billions to maintain a dictatorship but it looks like its running out of control now and isn’t going to get any better if the place just keeps getting poorer and poorer.
Because these are the things causing instability. Not Oil.
Unless you address these issues you can’t have peace.
That sounds more reasonable. Do you think it will work ? You got some nice sunshine in America.
No. As stated social issues must be addressed. Unlimited or even cheap power does nothing to address those.
You’re saying poverty isn’t a social issue ?
I suppose it would ease poverty but that is only one social issue out of many, so the answer to your question of “Will it create peace?” is “No”.
You suppose ?
Kind of just a little bit if I absolutely insist ?
You don’t think you might be missing a few things ?
Not sure what you’re driving at but poverty will not go away under your scenario. I don’t believe it will even decrease significantly, and the answer still remains - No, it will not create peace.