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</html><thumbnail_url>https://victorhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Hanson-Logo-1.png</thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width>595</thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height>200</thumbnail_height><description>Thanks to oil discoveries elsewhere, the region is losing its geostrategic clout. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the trading nexus of three continents &#x2014; Asia, Europe, and Africa &#x2014; and the vibrant birthplace of three of the world&#x2019;s great religions.</description></oembed>
