Middle East

 

Critical Thinking Essay Question # 2 (Due date for essay July 4; due date for responses July 6 before midnight)   In addition to writing your own essay, you need to comment on at least two other students' essays. I am hoping that this way we will generate an intelligent discussion by which you will have an opportunity to share your concerns and views with your fellow students. Please post your essay before the assigned deadline. After posting your own essay you have a couple of days to respond to other students' postings. In addition to your textbook you need to utilize at least two other outside sources to conduct the necessary research for this assignment. Make sure to cite your sources at the bottom of your essay.

Your Critical Thinking Essay (CTE) should be analytical and relevant to the topic, a minimum of 500 words (15 points for your essays, and 10 points for your comments on at least two other essays by your fellow students.) Your comments on other essays should be substantial in content and around 100 words long. (See your syllabus for more detail.) Any sign of plagiarism will result in zero grades.

Note: in addition to your textbook you need to utilize at least two outside sources as well. You are not allowed to use the Wikipedia as your main two sources. At the bottom of your essay cite at least two outside sources that you have used to complete your assignment. Give the author (s)' names, publication date, name of article, and the source where you found the article (i.e. printed books, journals or Internet web site) respectively. Follow the APA writing style for your essay and references.  Read Your Syllabus for further instructions.

Select one of the following questions and after conducting necessary research answer to the best of your acquired knowledge. Before writing your essay, please read the assigned readings from your textbooks, and do some preliminary research utilizing relevant outside sources (i.e. books, articles, Internet sites.)

Question 1. Water scarcity is considered one of the biggest problems of the Middle East. Elaborate on the importance of this problem and its connections with current regional conflicts. What is the role of water on Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Give specific examples.

Assigned Documentaries:

Jordan Valley Blues: Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley are among the most oppressed and thirsty communities living in the West Bank - despite the abundance of fresh water resources. Illegal Israeli colonizers are dominating the landscape and its inhabitants with large agricultural settlements, which export 99% of the dates, grapes, bananas and flowers they produce to Europe. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoUNS7pnhEY)

Question 2. Is oil blessing or curse for the Middle East? Considering the facts such as two thirds of world's known oil reserves being in the region and the enormous dependence of the industrialized world on fossil fuels how do you perceive the future of oil and the Middle East? Will we be witnessing even more oil-related conflicts in the region? Assigned Documentaries: The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror: After assessing today’s dwindling oil reserves and skyrocketing use of oil for fuels, plastics and chemicals, documentary The Oil Factor questions the motives for the U.S. wars in the Middle-East and Central Asia where 3/4 of the world’s oil and natural gas is located. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGakDrosLuA) 1953 CIA/MI6 Coup in Iran: http://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/5/how_to_overthrow_a_government_pt  

Question 3. Is Syria a real threat to the American interests in the Middle East? Why? Why Not? Elaborate on your answer and give specific examples.  Assigned Readings and Documentaries:  Syria Profile: A chronology of key events (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703995  Damascus, Syria: Islamic Empire History (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49fcdJ3EfZ4) Syria: Inside The Secret Revolution (http://www.documentarywire.com/syria-inside-the-secret-revolution)  Syria Undercover (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/syria-undercover/)

Further Recommended Documentaries Professor Ervand Abrahamian on oil politics and US/British interventions in Iran:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzrVezhXvBg

US-Syria Relations: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/289963-1 A conversation about U.S.-Syrian relations: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/2030 Ms. Shaaban, the chief spokesperson of the Syrian Government, discusses U.S.-Syria relations: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/USSyria

Blue Gold: World Water Wars: Military control of water emerges and a new geo-political map and power structure forms, setting the stage for world water wars.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1a3tjqQiBI

A World Without Water: For much of the world, atlases no longer tell the truth. Today, dozens of the planet’s greatest rivers run dry long before they reach the sea. They include the Nile in Egypt; the Yellow River in China; the Indus in Pakistan; the Rio Grande and Colorado in the US; the ancient Oxus that once poured into the Aral Sea in Central Asia; the Murray in Australia and the Jordan in the Middle East, which is emptied before it can even reach the country that bears its name.

How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? While much of the projected growth in human population is likely to come from the developing world, it is the lifestyle enjoyed by many in the West that has the most impact on the planet. Some experts claim that in the UK consumers use as much as two and a half times their fair share of Earth’s resources. (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/how-many-people-can-live-on-planet-earth/) How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East: Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University explains the thesis of his latest book, Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East.http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/3/19/part_2_rashid_khalidi_details_how_the_us_has_undermined_peace_in_the_middle_east The Secret of the Seven Sisters: History of oil cartels and the Middle East geopolitics:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSX6DMnFBDI