I do not intend to analyze the political or "justice" side of Middle East revolutions going on now in the region. The questions such as: Was this the right time to do them? Will the new regimes be better first to the people who helped raise them, and second for the rest of the world? Are in my opinion best left for History to answer.
But we cannot ignore the fact that these events happen in the worlds richest in oil regions and that while up until now the revenues and the flow regimes of the oil operated in a known and relatively predictable way.
Whether the new regimes (political and profit distribution) will stop the flow of oil, or just raise the prices, the deviation from the known methods and systems will cause uncertainty. In the short term that will lead to increased costs, but in the long term to the creation of emergency reservoirs, and therefore for a long term (if smaller) increase in prices.
The increased cost of this precious resource will not stop at increased travel costs in the developed economies. Worse than that, the secondary effect will be an increase in food prices (oil is important resource in food production and transportation) in all economies and especially in the less developed ones. As food riots (see Jordan five years ago) as a result of food prices increase, can lead to further impoverishment of these economies, combined with a tendency of revolution we may see that phenomena spreading to other regions in the world. In the movie "Under Siege" the terrorist leading the attack speaks of the term revolution as a process not a step. It continuously revolves. We may witness the embodiment of that statement.
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