69 million page views

Cataclysm awaits

Reader comment on item: The Middle East Runs out of Water

Submitted by blert (United States), May 10, 2015 at 19:58

The driving reason for Assad's water well folly was Turkish water project dams, located in the Kurdish zone of Southeast Anatolia. Left off your list: the absolute chaos of Libya is destroying the almost completed super project: the Great Man Made River. The talent has run off back to the First World. The true story of Mosul's insane dam is that it should never have been built where it was and with the materials and design it has. Western experts warned Baghdad to drain the impoundment lake ASAP lest it fail during a quake -- and take out the lower Tigris valley -- espically Baghdad. Pakistan has not built a significant water impoundment project or recycling scheme in the last forty-years.

All of Islamabad's funding has gone into atomic weaponry, making Islamabad far more insane than Tehran. Atomic weapons are a money pit for Pakistan. Only at the last minute does Islamabad realize that they CAN'T sell atomics to Saudi Arabia. It would infuriate their western neighbor. The result would be a Shia-Sunni-Sikh-Hindu sandwitch -- with the Pakistani Army totally broke. The recent Taliban helicopter shoot-down should have Islamabad (especially Punjabis) totally freaking out.

The Muslim Middle East has reached the edge of the 'Petri dish.' With astonishing consistency, no-one in a leadership position has ever proritized water supply, quality or recycling. It's actually too late for outside intervention. A brutal exodus towards wetter lands must surely ensue. Yet, the rest of the planet simply can't absorb 100,000,000 thirsty, fleeing, Muslims. ( And within that number, many an enraged Islamist. ) Based upon the human record, the single most likely outcome is a horrific, bloodly international (sectarian) war that will eclipse all that have come before.

It's already too late for diplomacy, economics, or rationality. When open conflict reaches the seas, food transfers will stop. Virtually every nation in the MENA is importing half of its calories, that includes Iran. Without oceanic trade that nation will starve. Sealing off the Strait of Hormuz is not an option.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Daniel Pipes replies:

I lacked the space to discuss Libya or Pakistan.

I don't know that it's too late to fix things if people wise up.

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (37) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. [23 words]ken volzJan 11, 2016 09:35227575
4Lake Urmia [101 words]DoraminJun 14, 2015 12:45223813
2Easy Fix. [17 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
DanJun 11, 2015 10:09223767
1Middle East Running out of Water [129 words]PrashantJun 1, 2015 17:09223616
1Islam and Water [65 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
BillMay 31, 2015 22:12223612
Updating models [43 words]David W. LincolnMay 14, 2015 19:20223356
1More Than Slightly Obnoxious Question Called For [170 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
AlexMay 13, 2015 21:20223344
Grateful Islam [64 words]PermReaderMay 13, 2015 09:32223332
they want the lot [45 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahMay 15, 2015 05:37223332
sea/land relative levels for Egypt, et al. pending reversal±? [25 words]Don BMay 12, 2015 18:29223330
Gaza engineer seeks solution to water woes [30 words]PezDispenserMay 12, 2015 13:12223328
5history repeats itself and Israel must be ready [543 words]David Meir-LeviMay 12, 2015 03:38223324
2Future water wars [65 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
SantaMonikerMay 11, 2015 07:11223311
A little misleading [84 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
TylerMay 11, 2015 05:37223309
5Cataclysm awaits [337 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
blertMay 10, 2015 19:58223298
2It's Kind of Cruel, but .. [271 words]Ron ThompsonMay 10, 2015 14:29223293
1Droughts are prophesied for the last days. [255 words]Michael SMay 11, 2015 02:51223293
2A Problem with Monotheism, or just one branch of it? [469 words]Ron ThompsonMay 16, 2015 14:40223293
The motivation behind wars [2262 words]Michael SMay 26, 2015 16:23223293
Sectarianism, God and the world's problems [1133 words]Michael SOct 2, 2015 03:43223293
2Water in the Middle East [20 words]Richard_OneMay 10, 2015 13:09223292
3It's not going to work.... [44 words]Jon, a Brit in EurolandMay 10, 2015 10:47223290
1Demographic collapse [341 words]Michael SMay 11, 2015 20:23223290
2Looming Threats due to Scarcity of Water in the Middle East [129 words]Ali H. Alyami, CDHRMay 9, 2015 22:22223273
3water [8 words]randyMay 9, 2015 15:08223266
6One More Trigger for Region-wide Violence [198 words]Jim WherryMay 9, 2015 13:19223265
1educational problem. A question of choices. [78 words]Veronica van BruggenMay 9, 2015 09:12223258
2Read the Book "Water..." by Solomon [30 words]Bob HeltmanMay 9, 2015 08:58223257
4Solution to the Middle East war [44 words]Jeanette JonasMay 9, 2015 05:34223255
5No water shortage in Israel [125 words]Steven ShermanMay 9, 2015 02:30223252
1Revelations [39 words]SunshineMay 8, 2015 23:29223249
3Apocalyptic truths revealedrmageddonou [208 words]Admiral Peter KikareasMay 8, 2015 22:57223248
2Tough love [86 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
SunshineMay 8, 2015 21:46223246
2KHAT [138 words]SunshineMay 10, 2015 01:21223246
5Water crisis:Iran [68 words]FatherJonMay 8, 2015 21:26223245
1Water as Source for Life - The Eternal Sovereign is the SOURCE for Rivers of Living Water [199 words]M. ToveyMay 11, 2015 13:27223245
5Will they die rather than make peace and learn? My bias is towards death...the clerics will have all the water they need. [19 words]Gary MullennicMay 8, 2015 21:11223244

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)