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Innovation in the Middle East
(UPI) James G. Zumwalt - On Jan. 22, Iranian President Ahmadinejad railed against the West, saying: "Don't buy our oil? To hell with you. It's better if you don't buy...10 times more money will head into people's pockets through the inventions of our scientists." Yet Iran hasn't been an ideal environment for fostering the development of inventions with non-military applications. During 1977-2011, 4,508,076 international patents were granted. Less than 3,800 went to Muslim countries. The Iranian patent contribution was 71. These numbers should come as no surprise: the more restrictive a state government is, the less creative are its people. During this same period, Israel's patents exceeded 22,700 - almost six for every one granted a Muslim country and almost 3,200 for every Iranian patent. This is particularly impressive when one considers the much smaller global population base of Jews compared to that of Muslims (0.2% versus 25%). A 2005 article by James Lacey posted on military.com noted, "In economic terms...the combined weight of the Arab states is less than that of Spain. Strip oil out of Mideast exports and the entire region exports less than Finland." The writer is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer and author.