Let's Change The Conversation

The following is an article from Infidels Are Cool
For far too long the conversation has been hijacked...it's time to Change The Conversation!
So here's some more real information that you're not getting from your media.

Total cost of violence in the Middle East? 12,000 BILLION DOLLARS

WOW. That is a lot of dough. I recall someone commenting here on IAC a while back that the folks in the middle east never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. I think he was right, 12,000,000,000,000,000 times over…

MID-EAST: COST OF CONFLICTS, 12,000 BLN DOLLARS IN 20 YEARS
(ANSAmed) - GENEVA, JANUARY 23 - Middle Eastern countries hit by conflicts have ‘burned’ 12,000 billion dollars in the last two decades in terms of economic losses and missed opportunities. According to research by the Strategic Foresight Group (SFG) presented in Geneva by the Security Policy Centre (SPC), the region has paid an extremely elevated price due to wars and the absence of peace over the last two decades. The price was calculated taking into consideration all of the countries in the region, including Iraq. It is a detailed evaluation of the costs in economic, military, environmental, social, but also in psychological terms since 1991, following hundreds of parameters. The study carried out by the Strategic Foresight Group, an Indian based think-tank, includes the valuation of missed opportunities. Researchers - quoted by the Swiss agency ATS - calculated for example that if Iraq had not suffered from sanctions or the war, the GDP of the country could have reached 2,262 billion dollars compared to the current 58.6 billion. Israel has lost about 15 billion dollars in earnings in the tourism sector from 2000 to 2006. According to the authors of the study, Israeli and Palestinian income are equal to half of what they would be today if a peace agreement had been reached in the Madrid Conference in 1991. (ANSAmed).