Current Arab revolutions and uprisings are a critical stage of the nation's history, as were the military coups that marked the middle of the last century, with a major difference between today's events (led by youths following decades of disillusionment with the ruling regimes), and the events of yesteryear (led by armies and traditional parties, either to eliminate foreign tutelage or occupation, or under the pretense of liberating Palestine). Of course, in both cases, the difference between each country and another, in terms of the various developments taking place, must be taken into account, and so should the inevitable role of foreign powers be, in these crucial changes. There are many differences between the two phases. Since oil is the backbone of the Arab economy, its varying role in these events is evidence of the differences among them, most importantly, in terms of the role of oil in Arab countries from the mid-twentieth century until this year. In that first stage, attention focused on the nature of contracts signed with international companies and the extent of the revenues incurred by oil-producing countries as a result. But now, with oil revenues reaching tens of billions of dollars annually in oil-producing nations, the young protesters' focus was on the fair and sensible redistribution of oil wealth, and the establishment of productive economies that provide jobs for the millions of unemployed individuals amongst them. This is not to mention putting an end to the culture of corruption, which became rampant in Arab societies, and the policy of oppression that dominates the authorities' approach to dealing with their peoples. The youths may have had heard of the billions of dollars in oil revenues in this or that country, but not only have they not benefited from them to improve their standard of living, but they have also continued to live in societies that are denied the basic amenities of modern life, such as electric power, water, medical healthcare and modern education. These basic amenities are provided in other countries around the world, even in those that are considered less wealthy than our countries. Matters have reached such a bad point, that the speaker of the parliament in a certain oil-producing country declared that 40 billion dollars of public funds have disappeared, without knowing how that happened, or who is responsible for this. Incidentally, this figure is about half a year's crude oil output of that country. Thus, this anger and rage come hand in hand with the absence of the most basic foundations of democracy and freedom, in terms of the distribution of powers among the three branches, Legislative, Executive and Judicial, which are supposed to monitor one another and hold it to account. The major disappointment lies in the failure of most parliaments or Shura councils to exercise their primary duties of drafting budgets and allocating funds to be spent by ministries and governments, and whether this is taking place in accordance with the applicable laws in place or not. Not surprisingly, the young protesters' slogans did not focus on secondary issues, such as the nature of their countries' agreements with major oil corporations, in spite of the important role of oil in their countries, and not even on the slogan of the liberation of Palestine. Instead, they distanced themselves from the traditional issues that had been highlighted by political parties over more than half a century, and focused most of their demands on ousting and overthrowing regimes, with all their officials, from the president to the ministers, subordinates down to the elites benefiting from them. The absolute lack of trust in the existing regimes, after decades of corrupt and irrational rule, led, among other things, to these grave changes that brought about the mass exodus of the people towards all four corners of the world. It is hoped that the new changes would benefit from past lessons and bitter experiences, in order to avoid mistakes and to build modern societies where citizens are equal with one another, without any discrimination or segregation, and where officials are held accountable for their words and deeds. Matters have reached such an extent of deterioration that Arab citizens, in oil-producing countries or otherwise, began to wonder where oil in their countries was, not what the nature of the contracts held with this or that international companies is. Arab citizens ask why there is a shortage in power supply. Is it because of the scarcity of petroleum products or natural gas in power plants? If this is the case, then why does the state not serve its citizens first before exporting such resources? Is serving citizens not more important than supplying fuel to foreign consumers? In the event of exporting these resources, then where are the oil revenues, estimated at billions of dollars annually? *. Mr. Khadduri is an energy expert
