THE UNITED STATES SHOULD PREPARE FOR A REGIONAL WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST, FUTURISTS URGE

"The idea of a generalized war in the Middle East appears credible enough and its potential impact on the West serious enough to merit examination," write Forecasting International founder and president Marvin Cetron and science writer Owen Davies in the September-October issue of THE FUTURIST magazine. While Cetron and Davies acknowledge that a regional war engulfing the Middle East is still a "low probability event," they argue that such a war would have enormous consequences for the West, particularly the United States, likely resulting in greater incidents of terrorism, a dizzying spike in gas prices, and the possible destabilization of the nuclear-armed regime of Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan.

In their article for THE FUTURIST, titled "Worst-Case Scenario: The Middle East," Cetron and Davies discuss these potentialities as well as a number of wild-card scenarios wherein Russia and China—less dependant on the Middle East for oil than the United States—leverage the ensuing chaos from a Middle Eastern war for their own financial gain. "It is a worst-case scenario that needs to be understood and either defended against or, if possible, turned to the West's advantage."

Cetron and Davies are joined by James Forest, director of terrorism studies at the U.S. Military Academy and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and prominent futures scholar Ziauddin Sardar.

Pick up the September-October issue of THE FUTURIST for $4.95 at bookstores and newsstands, or write the World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20814. Order online at www.wfs.org .

THE FUTURIST is a bimonthly magazine focused on innovation, creative thinking, and emerging social, economic, environmental, and technological trends.
Among the thinkers and experts who have contributed to THE FUTURIST are Gene Roddenberry, Al Gore, Newt Gingrich, Richard Lamm, Alvin and Heidi Toffler, Buckminster Fuller, Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov, Vaclav Havel, Hazel Henderson, Margaret Mead, Robert McNamara, Betty Friedan, Nicholas Negroponte, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Lester R. Brown, Arthur C. Clarke, Douglas Rushkoff, Joel Garreau, William J. Mitchell, and U.S. Comptroller David M. Walker.

Editors: To request a review copy of THE FUTURIST magazine, contact director of communications Patrick Tucker, 301-656-8274 (ext. 116), or ptucker@wfs.org. More information about the World Future Society may be obtained from the Society’s Web site, www.wfs.org