I've been thinking about what Saudi Arabia, as a nation, hopes to pin its hopes upon as oil and gas reserves within that nation slowly become depleted. It's a really slow process, but talk about "addicted to oil". If the Saudis aren't addicted, who is? 100 years ago Arabia was black tents and scimitars. Today the disparity between rich and poor is intense and that friction is mixed into a brew of insufficient educational opportunities and a strictly religious Wahabbism mandated by the state.What will they do when the oil runs out?
What will we do?
I've started reading in an effort to learn more. What do you think? Have you heard any of this spoken about? Much has been reported about China and India and their place in the world economy, but they have natural resources (although they are churning through them pretty damn fast). Will Saudi Arabia in 2100 have replaced its petroleum industry with photovoltaic manufacturing and set up huge solar energy farms in the Empty Quarter, becoming the battery of the Middle East? Will it begin accepting nuclear waste and injecting it into underground cavities recently evacuated of oil and gas (out of sight, out of mind)?
- CIA factbook - Saudi Arabia
- Saudi physical geography imagery... did you know there was so much green? I didn't.
- US State Department profile of Saudi Arabia
- Winning the Oil Endgame by RMI
- Saudi export terror story
- Story 2 from the liberals
- Story 3 from the Guardian (lib)
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