The English edition of Khaleej Times, published in Dubai, today reported on yesterday's  Abu Dhabi event under the headline, "The Middle East at a Strategic Crossroad" by Syed Qamar Hasan:

"Lyndon LaRouche, candidate for US presidency said yesterday in Abu Dhabi that if the world were to continue along the path chosen by the US government and its supporters, civilisation will plunge for generations into global dark age comparable to the one that struck Europe about 750 years ago.

"La Rouche made the remark in a lecture he delivered on, 'the Middle East at a strategic crossroad' at a two-day international seminar organised by the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow Up, on 'The role of oil and gas in world politics.' He said, 'we must not pretend that danger does not exist, but, also, we must commit ourselves to the hopeful alternative that wise governments will prefer.'

"The UAE Minister for Oil and Mineral Resources, Obeid Bin Saif Al Nassiri who delivered the key note address at the conference called upon the Arab and Gulf countries to use their natural resources, oil and gas wisely to strengthen their economies and political positions in order to serve just causes of the Arab nations.

"He said the region's oil and gas reserves were the highest in the world making it an important source of energy for many decades, and at the same time the Arab-Israeli conflict has threatened the stability of oil markets.  'This has given consumer nations an excuse to invest in other regions less competitive economically and to find other alternatives,' he explained.

"He warned that consuming countries were investing heavily in carrying out scientific research programmes to find alternative sources of energy and were also imposing heavy taxations that exceed the prices of oil by several folds. He said the role of oil and gas in the present Arab-Israeli conflict, factors affecting oil prices and finding of alternative sources were all important factors that deserved serious debate. Al Nassiri blamed the slowing down of world economy and the after effects of the September 11th incident on the low oil prices. He, however, said that recent improvements supported by positive developments in the performance of the world economy has given boost to oil prices that have reached $25 per barrel.

"LaRouche, said historically the Middle East had always been the strategic crossroad of Eurasia and Africa as it was today, with or without the oil. He called the present discussions between the US and Russia to by-pass the present strategic dependency on Middle East oil, as ill-conceived plans, that could bring chaos to an already explosive world economic and financial situation."
 

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