When looking at the map of the middle east, it really brings some things to light. For example, most of the terrain that is rich with oil is flat and near bodies of water. This is most likely because the Oil is easier to drill when it is near sea level, because it is easier to drill out of the ground. Also, most of the large oil producing areas have very low populations, which could be because of the fact that oil drilling is a large deal. It probably is not very pleasing to live next to a large oil plantation, due to the toxins and other health risks. 

Lastly, this population also increases the GPD, because there aren't that many people per capita and most of the people involved with oil are wealthy because it really is "Black Gold".

Little Country, Big Country (countries)

When I first looked at the two maps, I tried looking really hard for a reason why there would be any conflict. Then I realized, a noticeable portion of the major oil-producing is produced in Kuwait. To the north east of Kuwait is the large country of Iran, to the south of Kuwait is the equally larger country of Saudi Arabia, and to the north west of Kuwait is the somewhat large Iraq. Being such a small country that produces a major amount of the oil that lies between three behemoths can start human conflicts like a forest fire. I don't have any other choice but to think that the miniature country of Kuwait has some thing that Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabi either don't have, need, or want (or an existing alliance). Other than those reasons, I don't see why one or all three of the countries can't just invade Kuwait, using their over-powering armies, and recieve the profit that Kuwait is gaining from their oil producion.

Comparison of two different Maps

In looking at both the map provided in the textbook, and the map that was put on the blog. The first difference that caught my eye was that the map in the textbook was all one color, as opposed to the map from the blog, which was different colors depending on the terrain. You can easily distinguish the desert from rural areas from the map on the blog. In addition, Egypt is two different sizes, in the textbook Egypt is miniscule and the Nile overpowers the country. This could indicate how plain and simple Egypt is, because the only significance is the river. However, if on the map provided from the blog, I noticed that Egypt is not all desert in fact the map indicates that small portion of Egypt is desert. Another difference between the two maps, which is a more obvious difference, the map from the blog stops at Afghanistan, where as the textbook map continues until The People's Republic of China. Lastly the blog map is more proportionate, and the textbook map is distorted. 

Black Gold: Oil

Many people in the blog has previously talked about oil in relation to the elevation of the land and such related topics, but i want to go in another direction; I want to talk about the post world war 2 history in the Middle East, and how that relates to our current oil struggles.  George Kennan, of the U.S. State Department Policy Planning in 1948 said, "We should recognize that our influence in the Far Eastern area in the coming period is going to be primarily military and economic. We should make a careful study to see what parts of the Pacific and Far Eastern world are absolutely vital to our security, and we should concentrate our policy on seeing to it that those areas remain in hands which we can control or rely on."  The Cold War happened next, providing the US with perfect opprotunities to do what they needed to in order to gain oil concessions, under the cover of protecting the US and other countries from Communism's stranglehold.  In Afghanistan, as documented in Charlie Wilson's War, we sent arms and money to those people who we know fight against (Osama Bin Laden), to help them gain independence from Soviet Russia.  When the US first invaded Iraq in the Gulf War, we were there arguably to protect our oil share in Kuwait.  Iraq was even accused of dumping oil into the Persian Gulf to keep our troops at bay.  We won the Gulf War, removing an Iraqi presence in Kuwait, and later went on to remove Saddam Hussein as ruler of Iraq.  All of this was done to protect our oil in the Middle East.

The world's oil is under the hand of public companies and state-owned organizations.  The public companies are known as supermajors, or the six largest non state-owned energy companies.  They own roughly 5% of the oil reserves and made approximately 45.6 billion dollars worth of profit last year. Not coincidentally, these companies are all either primarily US or English owned.  As for the state-owned companies, the three biggest ones, Saudi Aramco, National Iranian Oil Company, and Qatar Petroleum all trace their routes to US and British companies.  While it is interesting how oil, elevation, and population are all connected, I find it more interesting that the world's largest oil producers all are connected to the US and Britain, two of the greatest allies 

Oil-Mania

A wise man once said that possession is 2/5 of the law. As we can see the Middle East clearly possesses so much oil that it has put itself in a good spot to play a game called monopoly. The oil companies in the Middle East is able to make deals with all of the governments because they have the power and the control of the chip that everyone wants to get their hands on. If you ask me now that they have the oil, we should get our hands on all of the water we can so that when they need that then they will come to us. No, but for real, it is crucial that we can possess oil because the Middle-Eastern oil monopolizers will just drive the price up to show quarterly growth, especially as the supplies run thin.

An Oil Rush?

I think that it is very interesting to note that the book and a lot of people said that it wasn't necessarily a good thing for there to not be a huge population around the oil because of course that means that only a few people get all of the money, had there been a lot of people around the oil areas in the different valleys that it appears in, then  I think that almost a Gold Rush would have happened because a lot of people would all be digging around different spots, looking for the prized oil.  There would certainly be repercussions from this causing the price to shoot up as more people have less oil each, and then down as they tried to outbid each other.  There would also be problems over who owns what oil, the quality of land because of all of the collecting, as well as some oil probably being wasted (and being used up) as someone finds it unexpectedly and it spouts u  p on them unexpectedly.  One good thing that would have happened though was that it might have boosted the economy a little in the area, as all of the people need food, shelter, and supplies. 

 (Yes I finally caught up! (and sorry for not writing a lot on the map, being probably the last one to write on this didn't leave me a lot of options))

MENA Oil vs. Topography

Looking at the map of the MENA region that Mama Pugs linked us to, the green regions are clearly near the major waterways because not that surprisingly, water tends to congregate in relatively low places.  These places have been inhabited by humans for tens of thousands of years, and it is there in Sumeria that the first sophisticated human cultures are said to have sprung up.  The areas are rich in culture and history, and still densely populated.  Most of the major oil-producing regions are in these fertile valleys and coastal areas, and as I see it, that is for two reasons:

One, oil is a liquid.  That being true, it will try to flow to the lowest possible place.  Seeing as the Earth's mantle is pretty impassable, those low spots are determined by where the mantle is or isn't.  As anyone who has studied plate tectonics knows, mountains are made when the mantle forces pieces of the crust to collide, and they both turn up.  Thus, the mantle is higher than average.  As a matter of fact, the same thing could be said of almost anywhere there is land sticking out of the water on Earth.  Thus, oil tends to flow and collect wherever the measured elevation is low.  So low altitude means more oil, as is reinforced by the maps.

Two, (which is a bit more of a stretch), the oil has been discovered in lowlands and in the Persian Gulf.  Perhaps that might be because it's a lot easier to drill for oil in water-churned sediment than mountains?  Nobody wants to drill through an extra 3000 feet of rock, so of course no oil has been discovered under the mountainous regions.  It would be expensive to find, gather, and transport.  Instead, companies have stuck with just finding oil in more cost-effective places, in order to make more profit.

Foreign Approval

After reading the section on "The Question of Palestine" in our book, I was convinced that the United States granted itself the authority without the right. To quote the book: "After World War II, the Zionists turned for support to the United States, and in March 1948, the Truman administration approved the concept of an independent Jewish state..." The question of Palestine was answered by the United States, yet how can we decide the borders, let alone the existence of a nation. To me, this is an example of the United States flaunting its love for democracy and peace in a land where democracy is unheard of, and peace is limited. On page 835, we can see that perhaps the state of Israel is not as concrete and defined as president Truman would have liked it to be. 

Land should have been distributed to the Jews. An independent nation was called for, especially after a horrific event such as the holocaust. Uniting the Jewish population under one state sounded/s like an idea worth fighting for, and the fight prevailed, or did it? Israel is now marked by the feuding war taking place with its neighbors. Was what Truman did the right thing to do? The idea was backed by logical thinking, but strategically, the thought process of the location was controversial. This is evident when looking at the present day.

Borders laid out in the Middle East are something not to be reconfigured. The United States did such, and now the state of Israel and its Arab neighbors are fighting over the answer given.

Oil in the Middle East

As many people before me have observed the major oil-producing areas do seem to be in the lowly elevated parts of the Middle East, and most of them are near water. If this is the case though, why is there an area that crosses the Iraq border with Armenia, which on the topographical map appears to be relatively highly elevated, however is apparently one of the major oil-producing areas on the map in our book? It's also obvious on the oil map that many of the oil producing areas cross from one country into another, which is an obvious source of conflict in the Middle-East since everyone wants it for themselves.

The Middle East's Economy: Oil

Since I am one of the last to post on this topic I decided to choose a semi-extraneous country: Oman. Before reading this textbook I had never even heard of Oman so I thought it would be interesting to research. First off, I notice it's location is favorable because it is on the ocean which makes it easier to trade. Also the trip to India, Pakistan, and Iran is not far by boat which is a definite plus. One thing that I notice right off the bat is that it is noticeably smaller compared to it's neighbor Qatar. This could factor into it's local political power and respect. Now to analyze some statistics. Like I thought Oman has always thrived because of it's location and it's easiness with trade. Another thing I learned was that it has always had strong ties to England. It's climate is dry and humid and it's countryside contains desert. Oman has a small population with a little more than 3 million, however it's population growth rate is around 3%. Another thing I learned was that Oman gained it's independence in 1650 from Portugal which is a lot earlier than the majority of the African colonies. To explain it's economy CIA-The World Factbook explains, "Oman is a middle-income economy that is heavily dependent on dwindling oil resources, but sustained high oil prices in recent years have helped build Oman's budget and trade surpluses and foreign reserves. As a result of its dwindling oil resources, Oman is actively pursuing a development plan that focuses on diversification, industrialization, and privatization, with the objective of reducing the oil sector's contribution to GDP to 9% by 2020." To conclude, it looks to me that the country of Oman fits the mold of the majority of Middle Eastern countries: it's economy thrives off of oil.

Areas of Corruption

Building on to what Justin and Kyle said, I believe that the low populations in these oil-rich regions creates a huge gap between the rich and poor. Kyle mentioned that the heads of oil companies are in a state of huge monopoly because of this great location. I agree with this, but from a different perspective the monopoly from the oil industry seems to also give the oil company owners much power over the rest of the population.  Justin brought up the idea of having a denser population in these regions to solve the problem.  This is an interesting thought, however, I was thinking that having more regulations over the oil industries would promote a more fair market.  Consequently, this would give more rights and higher to the workers, lessening the gap between the rich and poor.  Often times, these huge industries use their money to have much more influence over the law. Regulating these companies would rid corruption, allowing the poorer, vast majority of the population to have an increased standard of living.

Reliance On Oil

If you take a look at the map in the textbook, it's really easy to tell where the powerful and rich places for oil are. As Sean pointed out, they tend to be near the water.  The thing that I got from this map and seeing it displayed the way, was that it reminded me how much the Middle East has control over the oil part of our economy. It's really true that our nation is way to dependent on foreign oil, and so as a result, places with all the oil, like the Middle East, are able to control this part of our economy by providing us with oil. I think that this information, and especially this map, point out how important location is for resources, and how it's extremely different all around the world. As a result, it requires nations from all over the place to rely on natural resources that the Middle East can provide for a ton of people.

Borders

The map of major oil-producing areas easily tells us why some families are hording wealth while the vast majority have nothing. I would like to take a moment to look at the borders of the different countries. From the topographic map, it is clear that most of these borders were not drawn based on land marks, but based on roughly drawn lines most likely written in around the Middle Easts' independence. It is also pertinent to notice that these rough borders fall near or on top of oil rich areas. This must have some significance because conflict could easily erupt around who has jurisdiction over what section of the oil preserves. No one wants to share their chance at the "good life."

Taking Advantage

As mentioned many times before, most of the oil in the Middle East is near bodies of water and rural areas. Many have explained the cause of this being that oil is in low elevations (meaning near water levels and flat areas) due to gravity (as Kevin mentioned). Yet many seem to forget that these are not just happenings that everybody ignores, rather they are things that people use toward their advantage.

Each of these facts brings its own benefit to the “owners” of the oil. Being in flat lands is a great advantage because it allows for the oil to be extracted and transported with greater ease. Since it is in rural areas it also allows for easier transportation and it is simply easier to maintain oil reservoirs in these unpopulated areas. Yet what really helps these people be successful in their production of oil is the water. Through these bodies of water the oil capable be transported to all parts of the world. Being so close to the water is a big benefit. These geographical happenings are very interesting, but what is more interesting to me is how easy and fast the people were able to use them to their advantage.

I found it very interesting that areas with these benefits had a lot more conflicts than areas without these benefits. We could assume that oil is a magnet for conflict. Probably due to the fact that is an natural resource in high demand and many people want the areas with so many profits.

Oil in the Middle East

When we think of oil, we not only think of what it powers, but more important, where it comes from. The middle east has a vast variety of economy and wealth, but the wealth they have comes from the oil business. While the map in the textbook is political and the one online is geographical, they both display the same countries. Most of the major oil-producing areas are on the water, with the exception of Iraq. Location on the water has always been a prime situation since early colonies, for there is a higher source of trade. The oil-producing companies in the middle east have formed relationships with the United States and countries all around the world based on their possession of this crucial resource. As sean noted, it easier to drill oil on low land areas. But their success is due to the accesability of trading with foreign areas. Also, Tim has mentioned that the middle east has nothing without oil. That's true, the middle east is defined by their access to oil and has almost no wealth without it. Countries must work to maintain a relationship with them in order to ensure a steady source of oil. 

Oil

These days oil is a very important resource. It is very valuable since we are running out of it and therefore whoever has it are powerful. Looking at the map of the Middle East, I have noticed that almost all of the countries with the most oil are near bodies of water. I think that a large part of the reason that these places are so oil rich is that they are so low. Since they are next to water, they are most likely near sea level. Since most oil is drilled from the ground, I believe that it makes drilling easier the lower you are because you can reach lower areas in the earth. Also, the lower that the land is, the more moist the ground is and therefore the more liquids will be in the ground including oil. This is why there isn't as much oil in the mountain ranges.

Drama-rama in the Middle East

Humans like to fight- often with each other. This statement may be vastly over-generalizing things, but looking at the past few thousand years or so of recorded history, it is hard to disagree. Oil, one of the most valuable natural resources since the invention of the automobile, is a large source of strife- especially in the Middle East. Because the distribution of oil in the Middle East is so uneven, the wealth is therefore also distributed unevenly. What compounds the uneven distribution of wealth even further is the fact that very few people own the companies that own the wealth. What you get is a high concentration of money in one place, and no more money left elsewhere.

Part of the reason that oil is so unevenly distributed is gravity; Yes, I said "gravity". Gravity is the force exerted by masses that pulls other masses towards the object's center of mass (in case you didn't know. Teehee.) You might notice that the largest areas of oil reserves lie in valleys, nestled on many sides by large mountain ranges. Oil, being a liquid, seeks the lowest elevation possible, and will therefore flow into the ground at the base of valleys. Water (also a liquid) also seeks the lowest elevations possible, and this means that oil and water will often be found near each other (because they have both sought the areas of lowest elevation). Notice that the more mountainous countries in the Middle East such as Afghanistan have very little amounts of oil.

Everything goes back to physics. Yay physics.
Yes, you can blame the world's conflicts on physics.

Thriving off oil

Both over the years and hearing stories about the "middle east" I have felt as though the middle east thrives off oil.  However when I was reading through the text book it was made very apparent to me that oil was the only thing that the middle east had.  If oil weren't as popular as it is today, the middle east, dubai and Iran would have virtually no money.  These countries are living off of something that is diminishing more and more every day which sets them up to completely run out fairly soon.  This is interesting to me because present day there is so much talk about these middle eastern countries, and the power that they hold because of how much land they have that is filled with oil.  The middle east participates the most out of any region of the world in the selling of oil, and its inevitable that they will run out pretty much wiping these countries off the list of "world powers".  There seems to be a trend when comparing the two maps.  Oil is located on planes that are very close to sea level.  Why is this the case? now that is a very tough question to answer and there would have to be some map of the geography of the middle east about 100,000 years ago to truly understand why this trend is present.  

One inconsistency that I noticed was how they called Iran one of the most important countries with oil even though when looking at the map which clearly shows where there are large oil fields, it seems as though oil is pretty scarce.  Im not to sure if this is just the book contradicting itself which happens fairly often, or it could just be talking more about the size and how much political pull Iran has, as opposed to how much oil it contains.

Reasons for Successful Oil Production

The map in the textbook highlighted the small regions in the Middle East that were the highest in oil producing. By looking at the topographical map, one can see that all of these areas are flat, and either next to a large body of water or river. I can think of a few reasons for this pattern. Oil is the biggest source of money and wealth in the area. This results in it being in great demand. If an area of land is rich in oil, then that land becomes in high demand. If everyone were to gravitate towards the oil, then there will no longer be any oil left, or it will cause chaos and slow the production. Perhaps, the reason that those areas are so successful in their production, is because they are protected by water. The water provides a secluded area to produce oil.

This can go hand in hand with what the book said about the population of areas with high oil production, the population of these areas is usually low. Because these areas are mostly flat terrain, the primary economy of the areas is probably agriculture. This would make the areas more rural and not as populated. Oil reserves are easier to maintain in a rural and lowly populated environment, rather than cities and towns. This is why small, lower populated areas produce more oil.

Oil and Geography

First of all, to clear up confusion regarding the topographical map linked to the blog, green does not indicate that a land is more fertile at all; it simply means that it's at a lower altitude than the brown areas. Also, Dana was correct in saying that oil doesn't have to do with fertility of soil (I think, but I'm not sure, that it comes from remains of plants and animals from millions of years ago - the soil simply had to sustain life a long time ago).

One interesting thing that I found in the maps was that there is a large amount of oil sitting under the Persian Gulf. Who "owns" this oil? Have any attempts to extract it been made yet? Are there any conflicts regarding it? Who discovered its existence in the first place?

Another interesting thing I noticed on the map is the large oil reserve in northern Iraq. This oil reserve, though, happens to be smack in the middle of the Kurdish part of Iraq. It would be interesting to find out more about the exploitation of that oil, and if the Kurdish inhabitants of the region benefited at all from its discovery.

Finally, one last point regarding the oil fields in the Middle East was that I noticed that all the countries that were for the pan-Islamic union in the textbook (Syria, Yemen, Egypt, etc.) don't have any oil at all. I wonder if their motives for such a union could have been driven by desires for something other than Islamic unity? In contrast, none of the oil-gifted countries wanted a union, not even amongst themselves. All they formed was OPEC, an economic treaty. This, then, clearly shows that the oil countries, at least, are motivated more by money than by religion.