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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1986)
Friday, February 14, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 7 Myriad of challenges in Middle East Panel speaker stresses U.S. oil dependence Dr. Odeh Aburdene, a specialist on Arab economic relations. By JEANNE ISENBERG Staff Writer Even if world oil prices continue to drop, the United States has no choice but to increase its depen dence on the Middle East, a special ist on Arab economic relations said Thursday at the Student Conference on National Affairs. Dr. Odeh Aburdene said, “World wide energy reserves have not in creased, but on the contrary, have decreased.” He said, “The only region that continues to add reserves, the only region that continues to export oil and yet maintain and increase its re serves is the Gulf region. And here We’re talkig about Saudi Arabia, Ku wait, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. “So over the next five years, if the rice of oil drops to about $10 per arrel, many marginal oil producers will be out of business, and the world will have to depend on Middle East oil.” Aburdene, who is senior vice pres ident and manager of the New York branch of Arab Bank Ltd., said when people speak of the Middle East they think of only one commod ity — oil. He said that is all the Gulf region has except for sand, since it doesn’t have a skilled labor force or any other economic resource. With out the oil, he said, it would be the poorest region of the world. But underneath all that sand, Aburdene said, is over 60 percent of the world’s oil reserves, and that is what makes the Middle East so im portant. Between the oil reserves of the United States, Canada and western Europe, for example, exist about 59 billion barrels of oil — but just one oil well alone in Saudi Arabia may have more than 63 billion barrels, he said. “In this country, I’m told,” Abur dene said, “if present consumption continues to grow at the same rate it’s been growing in the last five or six years, the United States will be out of oil in nine years.” Prices of oil are dropping right now, he said, because many oil-pro ducing countries are suffering from financial difficulties. The countries are thus producing more oil and try ing to compete with each other through selling the oil at discounts. In 1972, the Gulf region countries were highly undeveloped and uns tructured, Aburdene said, and over 90 percent of the funds acquired from oil revenues were spent to bring those countries from the 17th century into the 20th century. But the outlook for economic pro gress in the region in the next four or five years is gloomy, he said. “If the oil prices do continue to drop,” Aburdene said, “the whole region will experience unemploy ment. And the region will experi ence political instability because in the past 10 years these governments have been able to spend a great deal of money and have thus pacified the local populations. “And despite the fact that oil reve nues were being accumulated by oil- producing nations, these nations spent the bulk of the revenues on imported goods and services from the West.” The Middle East depends on western nations for its imports be cause it is not a diversified area, Aburdene said. To industrialize or to become an agricultural power or move into areas other than oil for revenues, he said, a country needs to have man power, skilled laborers and numer ous resources. Most of the Middle Eastern countries do not have any of those, he said. Countries can import technology, but not factories, plants and enough skilled technicians, he said, so they have no choice but to remain oil-pro ducers unless they combine reve nues to industrialize somewhere. And if the Middle East does expe rience bad times, he said, so will the United States. For the last 10 years, the United States has been exporting over $15 billion per year to the Mid dle East. If that slows down, fewer exports will mean fewer jobs in the United States, he said. “It has been estimated that for ev ery $1- billion worth of exports, 40,000 jobs are created,” Aburdene said. “ The Middle East has been cre ating jobs for the U.S.A. Close to half a million jobs were created from it.” So the relationship the United States has enjoyed with the Middle East has been a profitable and attrac tive one, Aburdene said. While many companies and banks from the states are pulling out of the Middle East because of its slow economy, he said, that is a short-sighted policy. “Whether we like Arabs or not,” Aburdene said, “we"have a problem in that the energy crisis has not been resolved. “It’s only a matter of time before we become more dependent on the Gulf, and unless we take the proper measures, unless we prepare our selves to take advantage of future opportunities, we will find that the Japanese, and the French, and the Germans and the Italians will take our market share. “And when the oil prices do go up again, those companies and banks who pulled out will pay the penalty. And they will find it very difficult to come back.” Panel explores fundamentalist Islamic revival in Mideast By MONA L. PALMER Staff Writer The United States should regard the Middle East’s return to the fun damentals of Islam with sympathy and understanding, realizing the differences between the two cul tures, a University of Texas profes sor said Thursday at the Student Conference on National Affairs. Dr. John Williams was joined by Dr. Elizabeth Fernea, also a UT pro fessor, and Dr. Andrew Hess from the Fletcher School of Law and Di plomacy at Tufts University for a panel discussion of modernization and Islamic revival in the Middle East. Williams, concentrating on the cultural and religious aspects of the Middle East, said the Judeo-Chris- tian tradition is unfair to Muslims because Islamic tradition is a part of the Western religions and one reli gion could not have developed with out the others. But the Muslims believe the Ju- deo-Christians have strayed and are returning to fundamentalist Islam in reaction to their wrong turn, Wil liams said. The Middle East is returning to fundamentalist Islam to regain con trol of their society which has been exploited by European nations, he said. “The drowsy giant is waking up — the train is on the tracks,” Williams said. But the United States continues to throw itself on the tracks by creating difficult situations, he said. “These are not our enemies and they would like to be our friends.” he said. When three centuries worth of technology are applied in one in stant the effect is devastating, he said, because the people don’t start off at stage one and evolve, they start with advanced machinery. Hess also said rapid moderniza tion has hurt the old cities and small merchants in the Middle East. Planning a modern city by an old one destroys an old city, he said. The new cities have rectangular street patterns, wide boulevards and great apartment houses that don’t coin cide with the old city patterns. And the little, narrow family-run shops are almost out of business, Hess said. In Saudia Arabia a large Safeway stands next to the old loca tion of small merchant shops. Fernea asked students in her classes at UT and at the University of Beruit for their opinions about the other country. The Beruit students thought of Dallas, materialism, no religion, no family life, child abuse, elderly abuse and cowboys. Her UT students thought of fa natics, terrorism, violence, camels, secularism and oil. $5.00 OFF WITH THIS COUPON (on $10 or more purchase) at FASHION CUEAAFRS 315 B Dominik CoUege Station, TX 77840 Coupon must come in with the clothing On Dry Cleaning Only ' Coupon valid through 3/20/86 -E-A-C- BREAK ^"You and 3 friends-^ Just $68.75 for the whole week!* Private condominium. Sleeps 4. Kitchen. Satellite TV. Stereo. Pools. Spas. Reserve your place on the beach today. 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