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The number of countries messing around in that region is long.... From the US, Russia and china to local powers like Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran themsel
by hvb2 10mo ago
The number of countries messing around in that region is long....
From the US, Russia and china to local powers like Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran themselves.
Either you're a scholar studying the region, if not your comment feels naive at best
- ch4s3 10mo agoUltimately comments like this deny the agency of people who actually make decisions in these countries.
- therobots927 10mo agoWhen a country with vastly superior resources intervenes in the affairs of a country with less, then it tips the scales in an unnatural way. Do they depend on greedy, self interested members of Iranian society to succeed? Of course. But that doesn’t excuse western behavior at all.
- ch4s3 10mo agoMy point is that western behavior has really nothing to do with Iran going on a foolish dam building spree, or over pumping in a foolish attempt to grow water hungry crops in arid mountain plateaus.
- therobots927 10mo agoKind of like how the US built Phoenix and LA in the middle of the desert, and allows farming in the desert as well, setting the stage for a near term water crisis in the region when the Rocky Mountain snow melt gets cut in half?
- ch4s3 10mo agoEssentially, yes. Lots of places manage water poorly. You're basically making my point for me.
- coredog64 10mo agoThe Salt River enabled the Phoenix area to be an agricultural power house long before Columbus arrived in America. The Pima practiced irrigation agriculture and were using their crop surpluses to trade far and wide. What's problematic is Phoenix agriculture is the focus on extremely water hungry crops like alfalfa and not really the presence of agriculture in general.
- ch4s3 10mo ago> What's problematic is Phoenix agriculture is the focus on extremely water hungry crops like alfalfa and not really the presence of agriculture in general. This is entirely an artifact of arcane water law in the US. Any rational allocation would make alfalfa untenable there.
- imtringued 10mo agoDuring WW2 the US leveled 1/3 of all buildings in Japan including most of the manufacturing industry. That didn't stop Japan from rebuilding and coming back stronger. The same is true of Germany, except East Germany turned out to be an abject failure.