History Is Filled With Wars

For starters, countries have power over certain waterways which can lead to conflict and tension within countries. In Document 3, we see the act of hydropolitics as many countries fight over the drainage basins they have to share. The Middle East and North Africa regions are most prevalent in this conflict

“The Cause of War” is a book written by Australian author Geoffrey Blainey. The book is a collection of studies from wars since 1700’s and it analysis the relation of rivaling nations. The book is divided in four parts it starts discussing the weakness behind the current theories of peace, it then moves to talk the “ingredients” which are key for a nation to determine whether they will go to war or not. Third part of the group is about some misleading theories of war, and the last part just deals with the variety of war.

War-- a horrific way of justifying our actions and the innocent lives that have been lost, but on the other hand has resolved some of the greatest conflicts in history. Not every issue ever raised in this world is resolved through negotiation and discussion, rather sometimes war becomes a necessity for countries to settle disputes. War is a part of how a society strengthens itself politically, socially, and economically however, ultimately it becomes a country’s abusive use of power.

War leads to oppression and leaves negative implications on all people and societies by impacting the poor, women, children, and nations as a whole. "War is a state of violent conflict between one or more groups" (Rasenberger 3). Rasenberger defines war as a state of conflict between one group within itself or several groups in combat with each other, what is not mentioned are the after-effects of war. War itself leads to many civilian and military deaths, an estimated 1.5-3.8 million people died during the Vietnam War and an approximate 500,000 people died in the Iraq war. The biggest tragedy of War is that it always results in fatality, but another key, negative, factor to understand is that after the War many adverse implications arise. Post-war ramifications in the nation fall upon the poor, women, and children, making them weaker and less motivated leading to the downfall of a society. Regardless if a nation wins or is defeated in war they have to deal with consequences of war and find solutions to the impacted people and society. It is essential to understand that there is never a true victor in war because regardless of the outcome, fatality and a fall of morale within society on both sides are inevitable. War has often been the solution to situations that required force or violence, but in recent times this has

The two most important resources in this region are oil and water. The huge oil “deposits there and in the neighboring countries around the Persian Gulf (the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain) established these countries as some of the richest in the world” (Document F). Nevertheless, the countries who do not have as much access to oil are weak economically. Oil is the biggest export in the Middle East, and in a way, the amount of oil a country has determines how wealthy that country will be. Another component of oil is that countries and ethnic groups are disputing for the control of prices of this economic resource. It has gone to the far extent of foreign countries attempting to control the oil price and also the use of weapons for this (Document E). In addition, it is impossible for each country to have equal access to water due to the unbalanced distribution of these essential resources. As a result of this, these countries are fighting for as much control of water sources they can get. Radically, there are many countries in the Middle East that are striving to obtain as many natural resources to strengthen their economy and lifestyle, and it seems most obvious that the scarcity of these resources is a significant problem in the region

BBC Documentary. "The Other Side of Suez." Youtube. Video file, 55:59. July 22, 2012. Accessed May 19, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETOUALw2EIs.

There are moments in our history where the citizens of the world stand up and for their beliefs, their honor, and themselves. They come together to reform the existing government that is holding them back from achieving their desired lifestyle. When this occurs, most likely, war is inevitable to follow. When war comes to a country, death and destruction is destined. Leaders and rules change, but the pride of its citizens prevails and becomes

During this period, Iran's objectives were to end the war by having both sides withdraw to the common border as it had existed prior to the invasion. Baghdad wanted Teheran’s consent to the revision of a 1975 treaty that had defined their common border as the middle channel of the Shatt al Arab (which Iranians call the Arvand Rud).

The Middle East is far from monumental and homogenous. Its differences have been a source of both strength and inspiration. The most visible, most pervasive, and the least recognized aspects of

The 20th century was marked by many wars and rebellious events with the millions of human victims among solders and civilians; nevertheless, political leaders do not change their tactics. The issue of the armaments race is on the agenda in the 21st century, and there are still wars for the territory, strategic natural resources, power, leadership, and domination on the world map with a complete absence of the respect to cultural and territorial borders among neighboring countries, anarchy, and violence inside a country when people want to assert their rights or express the protest to politicians.

The scarcity, depletion and polluting of water in one of the world's driest regions, is a problem that has perplexed the nations of the Middle East for decades. The riparian states of the Jordan River Basin include Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. These states are in a constant struggle over securing water rights for their respective states. The conflict over water is also overshadowed by the Arab-Israeli issues and the subsequent territorial questions. While territory is often at the forefront of the issues, securing water has also become a contributing factor in the conflicts of the past, and will continue in the future. Choices of conflict or cooperation will have to be made, given the diminishing amounts of water available.

The most significant exchange is economy including local trade and interregional trade. As Reade (2008) suggested above that the importance of the overland trade between east and west was equal to the maritime trade via Persian Gulf, nonetheless ships had dozens of advantages over caravan. While the most widely accepted view is the seafaring trade route is more important, especially for the trade exchange between Mesopotamia and Indus via Bahrain ().

Regardless of the past, the importance of water in the Middle East as a source of conflict has been continually under-appreciated both within the region and abroad. As Boutros Boutros-Ghali warned before taking his position as Secretary General of the United Nations in 1992, "the next war in our region will be over water, not politics."2 Water has a deeply spiritual importance in the Middle East. For over 1,500 years, Islamic law has dictated punishments to those denying access to or polluting water, because it holds water as reverent and spiritually pure. The Zionist tradition holds a similar reverence for the land and its resources.3

Over the past thousand years, Oman has occupied a key strategic space in the Middle East stratum. With its vast mountain ranges, desert terrain, and steep cliffs along the coast, Oman over the years has proven to be very difficult to invade. This has allowed Oman to repel the majority of attacks from foreign militaries and maintain their sovereignty. The Southern and Eastern coastline of the country represents the key that makes Oman so important to the strength of the Middle East. Oman is a major piece to the peace in the Middle East.

• The Dry Canal-Iraq is a main internal and international transporting route. In contrast, the Grand Canal is playing an equally active role in contributing to promote the main internal transporting. In Otherwise, The Dry Channel is an additional force to several kinds of transportation, such like Expressways, Railways, Airways and Rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) in Iraq, nevertheless compared to its counterpart, the Grand Canal gives the impression to be open to a broader range of a great internal waterway.