When the Arab oil producers used crude supplies as a weapon during the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and Arab armies, those were distinctly different time. Things have changed and changed drastically, one can’t escape conceding at this stage.

Despite ingrained deeply into the psyche of West — the major crude consumer — the fact remains that the use of oil as a weapons has been dead, long, long ago. In the meantime, the overall equation has been completely transformed and even if there existed a desire, a will — and that itself is a big question mark — the OPEC oil producers are in no controlling position. And they have their limitations too.

But whenever there is a crisis, the question starts looming. While Israel was continuing with its naked aggression against Lebanon during the summer of 2006, similar reverberations were heard. There were definite calls then too, but people having a grip on the overall scenario, knew it well, such a possibility was extremely remote if not utterly impossible and it carried a heavy cost too.

The situation has not changed since. While Israel continues to pound Gaza, killing and injuring in the thousands, the West continues to remain insensitive, apparently to push its political objectives and goals. And yes, there have been calls within the region to use crude as a weapon.

It all started last Sunday, when an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Brig. Gen. Mirfaysal Bagherzadeh urged oil rich Muslim countries to use crude as a weapon to pressure Israel into ending its aggression in Gaza. And he was definitely not alone. There is no dearth of people romanticizing the very idea.

A few days earlier, some members of Bahrain’s lower house of Parliament said Arabs should use oil and the region’s huge investment funds to pressure the West over Israel’s offensive.

And this led to a stream of articles and papers in important publications throughout the world, as if a threat was looming large on the world. Wasn’t it sensationalizing the issue? Could someone in Arab quarters even plan anything of that sort? Would it be pragmatic? Are they in a position to do so?

The first salvo in this direction was indeed fired by some Bahraini parliamentarians. Now Bahrain is neither an OPEC member nor is a significant oil producer.

And thus the question arises how it could prevail on other Gulf crude producers’ and force its will on them. And secondly the move has got no official backing.

The government in Manama has definitely kept itself at a safe distance from the very debate. And literally no such possibility exists, for Bahrain ever attempting so, one could say with a sense of certainty.

And the next call for using crude as a weapon came from Tehran. Bagherzadeh is not among the top oil officials in Iran, OPEC’s second-biggest producer. His suggestion drew no comment at all from senior Iranian oil officials. And the fact remains that the Ahmedinejad government in Tehran has to tread carefully. It depends on oil revenue for as much as 90 percent of its income and is already suffering badly from market woes. With oil prices falling rapidly, it is virtually impossible for Tehran. Weak economics definitely doesn’t permit Iran to take the pugnacious and the belligerent route.

And things go much beyond that. It is not only an issue of will they? It is also an issue of Can they? It is not 1973. The environment has changed, the markets have changed and ground realities have changed. OPEC no more overwhelmingly controls the oil markets as it did in 1973.

At most today it controls 40 percent of the global market. The rest is under the thumb of non-OPEC producers and most of them, for their own reasons, would definitely not join in OPEC, even if it embarks on such a callous path.

And the other factor is the role of oil in the global economy. At a point in time oil was almost contributing eight percent to the global GDP. Today it constitutes almost one-fourth of the value.

Further, since 1973 oil embargo, the oil intensity, defined as the number of barrels of oil required to generate $1,000 of GDP, has gone down at least by half globally.

In the US, the world’s largest crude consumer, from 1950 to around 1977 oil intensity wavered around 1.5 and after 1977 it began to drop going down to about 1/3 of what it was in late 1970s and early 1980s. And with the gas guzzlers era finally coming to an end, as some say now, this could fall even further.

Regional leaders today are also embracing pragmatic politics, increasingly distancing from the angry rhetoric of the past. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has repeatedly emphasized that oil is not a weapon. It is an economic tool and would be handled the same way. Riyadh has been insisting for decades now that oil resources are for the development.

To continue meeting the growing aspirations of a youthful Kingdom, Riyadh needs oil revenues. It cannot live without it, every one knows. Other Arab OPEC members are also in no different shape.

All this brings us to the basic reality — OPEC cannot bring the world to its knees. It neither has the will nor the capacity to do so one has to concede. Let’s be pragmatic. Rather than sensationalizing the issue, it is finally the time to get down to the basics and let the issue rest in peace — forever!