It’s Still All About the Water

This one will be short, but really, what is there to say at this point when absolutely none of us know what is actually happening?

A recent article in the New York Times titled “War in Iran Has Put Middle East Water Supplies at Risk” focused my attention on a regional problem that is poised to affect the entire Middle East.

The Holy Lands are fundamentally arid to start with (click here for “We All Need a Drink”: an earlier post that discusses some of the background — historical, climatic, environmental, societal, religious, political — of the water woes in the Middle East). After reviewing this earlier post (I seriously recommend it to get up to speed), I feel it’s important to consider recent rumors/reports suggesting that desalinization plants have become targets in the ongoing, and escalating U.S./Iran conflict.

In case you are unfamiliar with the term, desalinization is a process that starts with seawater and, upon removal of the “salts” (the “desalinization” part), creates fresh, potable water that can be used for drinking, agriculture, goldfish bowls… whatever.

Both sides blame the other for the alleged destruction of the plants, and I am in no position to pass judgement on who is at fault. Along with being halfway around the world (I can’t see either of the water treatment plants from here), I surely don’t have much faith in the veracity of any Iranian pronouncements, nor do I blindly believe everything I hear coming out of Washington, either.

With that being said, the region’s water supplies would be a tempting target for whichever side wanted to inflict serious damage on the civilian populations. Let’s be sure we understand what this means: attacking the water systems in the Middle East doesn’t just target the military, or a nation’s industrial base, or their evil governments and leaders… it primarily goes after the people — moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, and most especially the kids.

Look in a mirror with open eyes and you’ll quickly come to the realization that the principal targets of the (alleged) desalinization campaign are people that mostly look and act just like you and your family. They certainly share many of the same needs, wants, and desires… and dreams for the future.

Personally, this offends my version of Christianity! But that’s just me and, as usual, I am obviously in the minority…

I’m a big fan of water! It is — without any fear of contradiction — the ultimate arbiter in ANY society: access to fresh, potable water has been, and will always be, the ultimate demographic control. An appropriate quote from Marker Bed may help clarify some of the fundamentals of the issue (click here to order your copy):

GeoFantasy: Water and Magic

Water… It’s run through our tale like the alphabet: holding it together and influencing—even controlling—the outcome of much that has occurred. And rightfully so. A wise man once said that if there’s magic anywhere on earth, it’s in the water. I think I agree.

Sadly, part of water’s magic is muddied up in the legal. The Code of Hammurabi dates from the 18th-century BCE, and in part defined The Rules regarding water and water rights (along with your neighbor’s ass and other topical issues of the day).

Through time, the availability of potable water—arguably the essential substance of existence—has sparked jealousy, subterfuge, and raging battles, contested between armies of one to armies of entire populations. In many cases these hostilities were to the death; for the individual or the race. It could be argued that the fortunate losers fell in combat, with the ill-fated survivors doomed to suffer a more protracted demise from dehydration.

The overwhelming majority of the hydrosphere is salty. With only a parched 0.0002% of earth’s fresh water in rivers and streams—and a bit more in lakes and the ground—there’s not much to fight over. It’s a priceless resource, and sure to become ever more battle-worthy as humans continue to expand within the closed system that is the earth.

So yeah, going after the water makes abundant sense… from a completely military and “make them all suffer as much as possible” point of view. Again speaking only for myself, and considering that all parties involved proclaim to be doing so because their version of God is telling them to, I think this attitude kinda/sorta sucks. I’d like to think that my version of God agrees with me.

Anyway, read the Times article if interested, and invest a couple minutes in sympathy for the affected peoples: they are just like us in all the ways that matter, and — again in my opinion — surely don’t deserve the millennias of grief inflicted upon them, no matter their history of religious and/or social indoctrination.

Considering all the things that many of us choose to believe — just because we are told they are the truth — at least we can drown our confusion in a glass of ice water…