Tuesday, September 10, 2013

From Damascus to Jerusalem

With all that is going on in Syria, I’ve been asking people how far they think Damascus, Syria, is from Jerusalem? One great answer I received was “it must be either very close or far away.” Apparently we are not much for geography in the United States. Most of us recognize that the Middle East is a very dense area of the world, but just how dense? In answering my basic question you can look in the New Testament, where Saul, soon to be Paul, has an encounter on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus. This indicates that, even 2000 years ago, it was possible to travel between these two cites on foot. The answer to my question is 135 miles. But this belies the question of density in the Middle East. Some interesting distances: between Damascus and Cairo, Egypt: 382 miles; Nicosia, Cyprus: 204 miles; Tel Aviv, Israel: 133 miles; Amman, Jordan: 109 miles; and Beirut, Lebanon: 55 miles. These are all capital cities in the Middle East and they are very close to each other. The fallout of the civil war in Syria on the countries surrounding it has lead to disruptions, as millions of people have fled from Syria to these nations. Any action that is taken in Syria will undoubtedly have repercussions on countries in close proximity, and we just don’t know where this may lead. Generally, this type of tenuous situation is not good for stock markets. The stock markets in the U. S. have shown no apparent significant downturn--yet! The Middle East still supplies about one-third of the oil that is used in the U.S. A disruption to the supply line, or worry about such a disruption, could send oil prices skyrocketing. Such an event would have a negative impact on the growth of the U.S. economy, with more consumer dollars going for gas and less for consumer products. While we are in the stages of becoming self-sufficient in energy, our infrastructure, to make this possible, is not yet fully in place. Today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, it was reported Secretary of State John Kerry, in London, 2855 miles from Damascus, in an off-the-cuff remark, suggested that President Bashar al-Assad could avert an attack by promptly handing his chemical weapons to the international community. Moscow, 2184 miles from Damascus, declared its support and quickly got Damascus on board. In Washington, DC, 5877 miles from Damascus, the vote on action in Syria became muddled. No matter the outcome, the Middle East does have an impact on the markets and citizens of the U.S.   

Ed Mallon