CAN GEOLOGISTS BRIDGE THE ISLAMIC COUNTRIES AND THE WESTERN WORLD

The writer, having come from an Islamic country and having lived in the United States for more than 40 years, is aware of various motivations on both sides, and can link them to many of the trends and events. Here he addresses certain relevant points: · The Islamic countries as part of the underdeveloped world. · The similarities, and dissimilarities, between the Islamic countries and other underdeveloped countries. · The Western countries extensive, and unique, relationship with the Islamic countries, and how it leads to a complex relationship and to a myriad of contradictory interactions. · The crucial role of science and technology in the western countries, and the weak role they have, versus the significant role of faith and ideology, in the Islamic countries. · How science and technology have been misunderstood in many Islamic countries, and how the westerner's mind confused this state with Islam itself. · Can scientists, and especially geologists, make a difference in combating this schism in human relations, and in alleviating the potential animosity and tensions. Examples are presented.