woiyo wrote:If the British lost to the Germans in the African theater during WW2, we would not be having this problem today.
That does not necessarily follow. A loss of the Suez would not have materially affected the Commonwealth war effort in 1942, as the threat of German submarines operating out of Italian naval bases along with Italian submarines had been such that the Royal Navy convoyed from the subcontinent via Cape Town and Freetown before the Afrika Korps even appeared in Lybia. The Royal Navy were unwilling (justifiably so) to challenge the Italian Navy in the narrow waters of the middle mediterranean without adequate air cover--and it was not until the Afrika Korps was already on the ropes that Malta was finally available as base for the Royal Air Force.
Had Rommel succeeded in taking Egypt, his supply lines, never better than tenuous at best, would have been stretched even further, as he would have been obliged to cross the Syrian desert to get to Persia. That would likely have resulted in the Soviet Union intervening, as they could not have tolerated any significant threat on that flank. It is doubtful, however, that the Italians could have sustained any significant force on the far side of the Syrian desert, let alone have safely convoyed petroleum out of ther middle east. The only other option would have been via the Balkans, and Tito and company made that route just as dangerous as would have been the Adriatic Sea.
Had the Germans and Italians pushed into the Syrian desert, they would have been even less able to deal with an Anglo-American landing in North Africa.
You need to learn some history, and weigh the consequences of each probability before you start shooting your mouth off about "what ifs."
The Germans did not win in North Africa because the English were able to sustain the Eighth Army, even though it required sailing completely around Africa; but neither the Italians nor the Germans were able to sustain the Afrika Korps nor provide any reasonable challenge to the supremacy of the Royal Air Force over the battlefield.
However, even if Mossadegh's government had deposed the Shah and nationalized the petroleum industry, Persian oil would still have been on sale in world markets. Absent the interference of the English and the CIA, it is doubtful that the Persians--already by then nuturing a sophisticated middle class with a thirst for western culture--would have gone down the road of fundamentalist Islamic reaction. After all, reaction requires something to have reacted to.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace