Should Israel exist?

When discussing such weighty matters, as should
Israel exist or not, one should keep in mind the entire picture and see the alternatives. What we currently have is a region waiting to be developed and, first and foremost, fed with real food, preferably grown locally.In my opinion, and I am not a Jew, Israel holds a unique promise as a possible growth engine for the entire
Middle East region. It has agricultural technologies to live off the desert. True, they are still based on irrigation and water is in short supply and the use of communal water by
Israel is one of the stumbling blocks in its relati
onships with its Arabic neighbors. However, their technologies are quite sophisticated in reducing the overall amount of water spent. Also, the use of GPS and customized care for plants opens the path towards new agriculture of small series along with robotics.One would ask why should we be so interested in new ways of raising food. After all, despite all the pictures of starving children in
Africa and elsewhere, growing sufficient amounts of food does not seem to present any problem. It is rather selling it that is difficult. I would counter that agriculture was and continues to be the most important economic activity of the man, especially on the brink of a new era, when many more new c
onsumers from the developing world strive for the comforts we learned to take for granted.If one looks at the start of any distinct historic era, from the first civilizati
ons of 3500 BC and up to the modern mass society, it is easy to see that each of them evolved in its own geoclimatic zone by finding a way to feed off it. Even the US that is more often related to huge plants in Detroit, could start its meteoric growth only after it built an appropriate infrastructure of rural electric stati
ons (to pump the Ogallala aquifer to water fields) and roads (to deliver its products to the market in the most efficient way). Local food production becomes even more important today, with the need to feed the emerging world according to prevalent nutritional standards.Thus, the experience developed in
Israel could become crucial in domesticating the arid and extreme zone of Middle East and take advantage of its other riches than solely oil.I think the future of the entire region depends on
Israel’s and Arab ability to find a mutually beneficial business model. The time, when it was possible to extinguish entire peoples to take hold of their land holdings, as it happened, for example, with the native Americans in the
US, is gone. As the latest war amply showed, forceful, pushup methods may backfire. This applies both to the Israelis and the Arabs. Instead, they should understand that they in fact present two parts of an equation and can be mutually beneficial, instead of being hostile. No one says that a start of an era was ever peaceful take for example, the ancient
Greece. Its famed trireme has its roots in the penteconter, a black swift ship, which was mostly used for pirate and other hostile activities as described by Homer. Nevertheless, out of such inauspicious roots
Greece turned into the cultural and economic engine of the then world, when its culture and technologies were disseminated by the, surprise, surprise, military means, by the victorious armies of Alexander the Great.Just as the Greeks and the oriental peoples that came into contact with them, not necessarily by peaceful or voluntary means, came out of the encounter enriched both economically and culturally, the time has come for both the Israelis and the Arabs stop nursing their hurts and start c
onsidering mutually beneficial deals. First and foremost, Israel, as more technologically advanced should join forces with the Sunni Muslims looking for better ways to invest their profits by starting to domesticate the inhospitable envir
ons of the
Middle East through developing a brand new agriculture suitable for the region. By feeding its multitudes it would find a better way to coexist with them. Satisfied people wouldn’t be so eager to pick a fight and follow the lead of their militants.It is not an easy program and, according to historic precedents, might take the better part of half a century. the sooner it is started, the better.

how to survive in the world with diminishing resources and growing appetites?

The gloomy daily news show that we are entering yet another Malthusian squeeze. As early as in 1798 the guy has found out that resources are limited (indeed), while people tend to multiply as so many rabbits. thus, the reasoning goes, sooner or later there must be a correction: people either die, of wars and famines, or stop multiplying voluntarily. and indeed we see as both of these scenarios are currently unfolding: the latter in the Western world, the former in the developing countries. So, all is gloom and there is no exit or salvation.

meanwhile, this is obviously wrong — despite occasional bloodbaths, people managed not only to greatly multiply since Malthus’ times, but also significantly improve their lot. So, there must be a solution to the Malthusian paradox, which is especially important nowadays during the crunch period, when we need to know how to escape or, at least alleviate it.

the solution can be found easily as soon as we look at historic maps. since the start of written history some 6-7 thousand years ago, civilization spread around by domesticating ever new distinct geoclimatic zones as soon as the older ones were exhausted.

We can name 6 such zones as to this date, corresponding to traditional historic periods. 1. Civilization started in the tiny area of great rivers’ deltas, uniquely suitable for irrigation agriculture. 2. Then, the center of development moved to the classic
Mediterranean, which grew rich on marketable cultures, to compensate for its soils unsuitable for wheat, but perfect for growing the olive and the vine in its arid climate. 3. After the collapse of Rome, we see the gradual rise of the medieval
Europe, which cleared its forests to till its heavy but fertile clay soils. 4. After the ecological catastrophe of the 1348 Black Death related to the deforestation of
Europe, the center of growth moved to the northern shores, with animal husbandry and fishing substituting for and stretching scarce grain. The growth of market economy led to trading in items that previously could be collected in the forest (i.e. timber) and led to the development of the sturdy “frame-built” ship able to sail the
Atlantic. As a side benefit the
Americas were “discovered” with the great influx of gold and silver specie leading to the marketing boom. 5. On the next stage,
England compensated for its lack of wood and rivers, the prime resources of the previous Age of Exploration by developing its unique model based on coal. it also pursued land improvement as the so called coppice woods (the source for renewable timber) could now be cleared off for sheep-grazing meadows. The British colonialism used this model of land improvement for the so called agrarian colonialism, with “white” settlements all over the world within the temperate climate zone. 6. The mass societies of the 20^th Century broke through the barrier of temperate climate that previously restricted the man-farmer. The agriculture in this new zone of the extreme climate, first and foremost, in the
US, was based on irrigation using the Ogallala Aquifer and an excellent system of roads to deliver its products to the market based on oil. The
USSR was less successful with its Virgin lands, presumably because of the lack of sufficient artesian water sources.

so, as we see, there is hope, even as the geoclimatic zone of the mass market agriculture dependent on oil seems to be exhausted. All we need to do is to find the next promising geoclimatic zone, with its unique resource and start domesticating it.

that wouldn’t be too easy. Domestication of a new zone is a difficult and trouble fraught process. fortunately enough, the past provides a good road map, as each zone, inasmuch unique must pass through the same stages, not unlike birth, maturity and death of a living being.

i analyzed these stages and will write about them in my future blogs. I feel that it is very important to start a wide discussion of it as we are swiftly approaching the period homologous to world war I the likes of which took place at the start of each new historic period.