The Arab Winter: Oil, Wealth, and Declining Science
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There is no Arab Spring, not now and not for decades, and really for centuries.
There is a major crisis in the Arab human development and there is no simple remedy in the near future.
This is the case in spite of the tremendous wealth of the region.
The lecture will explain why oil reserves in the Arabian/Persian Gulf are exceptionally huge and the largest on earth: about 60% of world’s proven recoverable oil reserves exist in the Gulf region. The “exploration story” in the Middle East, however, is not yet complete; there is more oil to be discovered (especially in Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia).
I stress the fact that only seven countries worldwide (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Russia) contain about 80 percent of the world’s proven recoverable oil reserves. Five of these are in the Gulf region and share Islamic cultures.
Finally, during the past few decades science and technology in the Arab region is declining and all indications suggest that this unfortunate situation will continue in the foreseeable future. This is true in spite of the wealth and resources of the region. In this lecture, I will also briefly discuss why this is the case and why it appears that there is a need to restructure the Arab mind.