Wealth

The Greater Middle East is home to some of the wealthiest but also poorest people in the world.

Take for example the United Arab Emirates. Its GDP per capita is incredibly high, especially when compared to the poverty experienced by many other countries in the greater middle east. The IMF ranks it sixth in the world for GDP per capita (compare it to Ireland's #12th place).
I believe the main reason why it is so prosperous is because it is relatively peaceful - it even beats France in the Global Peace Index. This results in a fairly low amount of money being spent on arms that hinder the prosperity and development of the country. This is unusual for a country in the region, because generally the valuable resources such as oil or water generate tension or wars. Also, it has a coast line, so this helps it to export its massive amounts of valuable natural resources.

Dubau and Abu Dhabi, cities in the UAE are widely considered to be the richest cities in the world, having the highest average income per person. 85% the country's income is from the sale of natural resources such as petroleum, gas and oil. Dubai, however, relies on tourism and shopping instead for its income. They are able to afford some spectacular things. I found it extremely worthwhile to browse some images of the structures they have there, which can be found here.

Here are some I found to be quite notable:

Zayed National Museum





The Burj Khalifa, tallest skyscraper in the world (almost seven times as high as the spire!)





The Palm Islands




The Burj Al-Arab, world's only seven star hotel

Corruption

Corruption is very prevalent in many parts of Greater Middle East. Dictators continuously re-elect themselves, and usually prioritise their own needs over their population's well being. Democracy is absent or flawed in most of the region, as this map demonstrates; notice that primarily greater middle eastern countries dominate the darker colours of the map, especially the parts just east of North Africa.

Israel, said to be "a flawed democracy", is the most democratic country in the region, even though it is far below any Western European or North American country. The vast majority are so called hybrid regimes or authoritarian regimes, meaning that the power is shared by only a very small amount of people or a single individual.

Leaders believed that people would never revolt against the government, however the Arab Spring proved the contrary. The people wanted to elect their own governments, but had to wait for "a spark"; an opportunity to have a co-ordinated, all-out effort in which everyone protested to the best of their ability at the same time, because they knew that previously, small-scale revolts were crushed.

Their chance arrived when Mohamed Bouazizi's protested by liting himself on fire, he sparked a chain reaction of revolts all over the greater middle east. People overthrew the infamous Muammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak and many other leaders. The results of the protests are positive for the citizens of the region, but they still demand more. The Arab Spring has not ended, but will continue until demands are met and the region becomes democratic.

Online media has been very important in the protests. Unfortunately not all people have the chance to publicly voice their dissatisfaction, therefore they do so secretly. I presume the following example was originally made by an Iranian citizen (The revolution did not spread to Iran).

Some countries temporarily blocked access to the internet to stop propaganda such as the above, or to prevent attempts to rally protests and demonstrations.



http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/political-pictures-mahmoud-ahmedinejad-votes-got.jpg?w=500&h=303
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Democracy_Index_2011.png

MENA

MENA (Middle East *and* Northern Africa) means the same as the Greater Middle East. It is a region with the following countries: Afganistan Algeria Bahrain Egypt Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Pakistan Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Armenia Azerbaijan Cyprus Djibouti Malta Mauritania Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somalia Somaliland Sudan Turkey

As you may have heard, the Iranian Nuclear Crisis is currently a hot topic in the news. They feel as if their need to defend themselves is now greater than ever.

Firtsly, Iranians are feeling threatened by the Isrealians becuase all the arabs have a hatred for Israel and its government. They call Israel's government a Zionist Regime in Occupied Territories. I think it is obvious that we should assume Israel is a a member of the nuclear club even though they refuse to admit it. There is no reason for them not to be. For Iran, a natural hatred for Israel as well as the belief that they are nuclear weapons capable is their justification for "Iran's Nuclear Programme" which they claim is for power rather than weapons. They are clearly lying because that is how most other states entered the nuclear club.

Secondly, tensions between Iran and western nations (especially the US) are escalating quickly. Iran wanted to close the Strait of Hormuz, a channel of water located roughly south west of Iran in order to protest other matters. This would be extremely annoying to the rest of the world as oil prices would go up. Therefore, other countries would not allow this to happen. Both sides are provoking eachother. I think it is no wonder they want a cheap way to defend themselves with nuclear weapons with such military provocations right outside their border - I can't imagine Iran doing something like that around Europe.

I think its vital that people in western countries stay updated on the situation so that if war does occur, they know who is actually at fault instead of just believing their biased news sources.

The following video shows the US doing a routine patrol of the areas around the Strait of Hormuz.

I realize my last post wasn't much of an introduction so you should see this as a retry. I am going to be blogging on the greater middle east - hopefully I will get around to topics such as its current affairs, landscape, troubles, notable parts and events etc. I just finished designing the background. Credit goes to the following...

http://theislamicstandard.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/sisters-in-niqab-north-africa.jpg

http://whyyoumad.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/gaddafi2.jpg

http://ocw.nd.edu/arabic-and-middle-east-studies/islamic-societies-of-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-religion-history-and-culture/lectures/islamic-societies-of-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-religion-history-and-culture/Images/kaaba/image_preview

http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/files/jordanprotests_0.jpg

http://www.permaculture.org.au/images/middle_east_landscape.jpg

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02110/Mahmoud-Ahmadineja_2110971b.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrt5rPA84gR788vSEzhQET5XRmfYFRTcWn5d5brQ9dyTDFGwWcxZqjVCgwZAtm9NdeIG6nWV35os0mj_58NoENj1DzeDzH_vFukGYcqL1x6fVrlO8JrniSmNh_qcKPgMbPOfZXz8OWY4/s1600/talibanMS2010_468x653.jpg

http://openanthropology.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/gula.jpg?w=594

http://counterterrorismblog.org/Hamas%201.jpg

http://www.ultrafeel.tv/wp-content/uploads/image/architecture/dubai/burj-khalifa-dubai.JPG

http://www.jpegreducer.com/

More to come very soon

Introduction

Hello, I've decided to blog on the Geography of the Greater Middle East.
Hope you enjoy returning to my blog frequently!