The post you are reporting:
An interesting note here, Peter: Turkey, Syria and Irak have also had problems agreeing how much water each country can pump out of the Euphrates and the Tigris; Turkey seems to want to exploit the river sources to build a dam for electricity, while the Kurds, Syrians and Irakis all want to extract more water for agriculture.
I suppose it is hardly surprising that the Jordan also risks being exploited more than one would like, owing to the constant population increase of both Israelis and Palestinians. A million Arabs are Israeli citizens living in the State of Israel, so it does seem to be rather reciprocal and not just one-sided.
They all profit from the water that is exploited: Jews and Palestinians.
Yes, you mentioned investment/banking: I recall reading here and there about the financial debits of Dubai World, which seems to owe tens of billions of pounds to various creditors, including British banks. You can bet many British bankers are keeping their fingers crossed that the money comes back, as the debits of Dubai World have already been prolongued to prevent them from going bankrupt.
Being a state-owned concern, Dubai World's debts account for 80% of the national debit of the Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a confederate member. Not exactly something to have sweet dreams over, Peter!