The use of oil by the Arab states as a diplomatic weapon against Israel has highlighted rather dramatically the energy crisis which now confronts most of the industrialized countries of the Western world. The crisis was brought to a head by the decision of the Arab oil exporters on October 17 to reduce their production of crude oil by 5% every month until Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967 had been freed.
Despite Australia's obvious national interests in the Middle East, our leaders have been strangely silent about the alarming security threats in that region, write Joseph A Camilleri and NAJ Taylor.
The article was published online on the ABC's The Drum