NotPetroleum Blog

When thinking of ways to help kick our petroleum addiction, it’s hard not to be thinking of the Middle East and their grip on the World’s energy supply.  Sheiks pump oil, we pay for it,  sheiks get rich and powerful.  Some sheiks use the funds to bolster Taliban-ese societies that oppress their people and help spew anti-American rhetoric throughout the world.  Some of our dollars make it back to terrorists that kill our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Some of our gas dollars probably funded the flight training and logistics terrorists used to kill thousands of civilians at the WTC in 2001.

While reducing our dependence on foreign oil is by far the most effective method of diffusing this vicious cycle, I can’t help but ponder how the current wave of democratization of the Middle East will affect this?  Thomas Friedman posted a very informative opinion article on the NY Times Wednesday that describes a wave of change happening throughout the Middle East.  If anyone has their pulse on the Middle East, it is Friedman.  From his firsthand knowledge of the political environment (through living and reporting there  for years as a journalist and correspondent)  and through his Pulitzer Prize winning book on Middle East politics and social environment, From Beirut to Jerusalem,  Friedman is most qualified to report on this topic.

Unlike the elections of the 80s and 90s in the Middle East where most autocratic leaders that allowed elections always received 99% or more of the vote, covering elections today has more uncertainty and is a more interesting story.  A story that keeps voters up at night awaiting election results.  In the case where there is concern of fraud, it is no longer the status quo.  Today, you will find voters protesting the injustice in the streets using technology such as Twitter, IM, Facebook and other social media tools to organize.

There is a wave of change moving through the Middle East fueled by the taste of Democracy and the enablement of technology that gives people the social media tools to organize like no other time in history.