{"id":19250,"date":"2016-03-28T13:20:28","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T18:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=19250"},"modified":"2016-03-28T13:20:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T18:20:28","slug":"alberta-and-oil-prices-how-middle-east-geopolitics-and-religion-affect-our-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=19250","title":{"rendered":"Alberta and oil prices: How Middle East geopolitics and religion affect our future"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alberta and oil prices: How Middle East geopolitics and religion affect our future<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Calgary’s economic fortunes enmeshed in decisions made on the other side of the globe<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Saudi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi at a news conference following a meeting in Doha, Qatar February 16, 2016. (Naseem Zeitoon\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Calgary<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Calgary is unlike most other cities.<\/p>\n

It is a city of 1.2 million people separated from its two nearest urban neighbours by 300 kilometres of prairie and 1,000 kilometres\u00a0of mountains.<\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0as a city\u00a0Calgary’s economic fortunes are affected less by the surrounding landscapes and neighbouring cities, and more by difficult-to-comprehend and impossible-to-influence decisions made on the other side of the planet.<\/p>\n

For better or for worse Calgary’s well-being and prospects hinge on the world price of oil.<\/p>\n

Here is a look at the escalating rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia and what its impact might be on Calgary.<\/p>\n

The history of the rivalry<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have visited and worked in both countries.<\/p>\n

To Alberta\u00a0eyes there are many similarities between the two Middle Eastern countries ruled by adherents of Islam.<\/p>\n

But that only makes the rivalry more difficult to understand.<\/p>\n

So, what are the differences between the two countries? What is the historical basis of this national rivalry?<\/p>\n

Why is it heightened today?<\/p>\n

And does all this have any implications for Calgary’s economic fortunes as a city tied in to the global oil market?<\/p>\n

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are the largest and most powerful countries in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Ethnically Saudi Arabia is Arab while Iran is predominantly Persian.<\/p>\n

Saudis speak Arabic, while Iranians speak Farsi.<\/p>\n

\"SAUDI-IRAN\"<\/p>\n

Shi’ite Muslims try to cross a barricade during a protest against the execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed along with others in Saudi Arabia, in front of Saudi Arabia embassy in New Delhi, India, January 4, 2016. (Adnan Abidi\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n

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Alberta and oil prices: How Middle East geopolitics and religion affect our future Calgary’s economic fortunes enmeshed in decisions made on the other side of the globe Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi at a news conference following a meeting in Doha, Qatar February 16, 2016. (Naseem Zeitoon\/Reuters) Calgary is unlike most other cities. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5],"tags":[1082,103,3544,3000,355,13148,522,594,13149],"class_list":["post-19250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-geopolitics","tag-alberta","tag-canada","tag-cbc","tag-cbc-news","tag-geopolitics-2","tag-harrie-vredenburg","tag-middle-east","tag-oil-prices","tag-tim-marchant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19251,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19250\/revisions\/19251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}