After a short, sharp war, Russia invades and reabsorbs Ukraine which is abandoned by the west. Russia becomes the world s leading produce of oil and gas, and major exporter of water. They then team up in shifting alliances to fight one another. Israelis long for the old days of isolation. Similar nationalist coups occur in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Jordan.
Oil prices soar.
Islamic-nationalist forces overthrow the regimes in Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia. Berbers revolt in Algeria. Syria and post-Saddam Iraq collapse into vicious civil war. Israel dominates the Mideast making Jordan and Palestine protectorates. In 2003, Israel and Turkey occupy shattered Iraq and divide its vast oil fields.