Hopeless but not serious

A blunt, honest look at the irrelevance of the Middle East's instability for the rest of the world:

 "The economic significance of the Shi'ites of Iraq and Lebanon is negligible; the Palestinians represent a net drain on the world economy, as consumers of subsidies. If space aliens were to transport all of them to another planet Tuesday next, world markets would not notice." (Spengler in Asia Times)