Abdullah dead (Saudi)

[R_Bert]

and apparently, the new king has dementia. 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-king-abdullahs-death-sets-up-complex-succession-process/2015/01/22/340e0a9c-a28e-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html

[btq96r]

If this transition gets bungled, the whole region will suffer.  Saudi Arabia is the real power in the area and most of the other nations there take their cues from them since they don't have the size to stand on their own.

[vontar]

and don't for the Yemeni president steps down.

 

The whole region is going to be more unstable now and ISIS is everywhere over there and Liam Neeson thinks we have 2 many guns while he considers joining the other side.   :stir:

[A.J. Holst]

I'll give a nod to NPR on this one, reported a few weeks back that the now King-elect (?) is over 80 and has had multiple strokes and yes, people in multiple governments are watching closely or playing golf.

 

No worries here, we already have an uncomfortably close official relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.   :tinfoil:

[vontar]

 or playing golf.

 

 

[btq96r]

and don't for the Yemeni president steps down.

 

That's not a big loss.  He wasn't in control of much outside of the major cities anyway. 

 

 

I'll give a nod to NPR on this one, reported a few weeks back that the now King-elect (?) is over 80 and has had multiple strokes and yes, people in multiple governments are watching closely or playing golf.

 

He's never been the healthiest guy.  Plush fat living, chain smoked, all those wives.  But people have commented how smart he was and how shrewd he was in foreign affairs.  That's something that hopefully won't be lost in the transition. 

[leroy]

This one will be interestin to watch... The middle east oil shiekdoms may, in fact, sink back into the bedouin nomadic sheikdoms from which they sprang...

 

Remember the quip by the great General George S. Patton regarding this territory... G. K. Chesterton said some sobering things as well...

Remember, these men saw the beginnings of the "modern" middle east...

 

...To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Muhammad and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing... General George S. Patton...

There is in Islam a paradox which is perhaps a permanent menace. The great creed born in the desert creates a kind of ecstasy of the very emptiness of its own land, and even, one may say, out of the emptiness of its own theology... A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it. There are no sacraments; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests; and yet this equality can only breed a multitude if lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mahomet produces an endless procession of Mahomets .... G. K. Chesterton

leroy

[Grand Torino]

Well I don't really give a damn.....no really...I don't. Another one bites the dust.

[Good_Steward]

He's never been the healthiest guy. Plush fat living, chain smoked, all those wives.

Yeah. Tough life... Edited January 23, 2015 by Good_Steward

[FUJIMO]

So can we start counting days back to those higher gas prices ?

The sole reason I paid attention this morning when they announced his death is to see if he was the guy in charge of the switch on the oil wells :)

For those that care about gas prices, I thought this was the old guy that claimed oil prices would NEVER be high again as long as he lived.

Well sh!t, we can't catch a break ! Edited January 23, 2015 by FUJIMO

[vontar]

But the public was just shown, cheap oil and knows it is possible and higher prices are the result of greed.  However, people are still over the barrel so to speak if prices do go back up as they are unable to give up their cars.

[leroy]

Well I don't really give a damn.....no really...I don't. Another one bites the dust.

 

Grand is right.... On a personal basis, i could care less...

 

Havin said all that; there are those who have said (...and are saying...) that the middle east oil shiekdoms are in trouble from a diminishing resources point of view....There are some learned ones who say that the middle east (...the Saudi's in particular...) has "over-pumped" their fields to keep the dollars rollin in and to try to compete with the rest of the world with regard to oil production... Oil is the only product these sons of satan have and is the only source of income to their sheikdoms...

 

We may well see the day when the worlds oil does not come from the middle east... It will (...and is...) flow from the Americas (...in spite of Obama and the dammed democrats and enviornmentalists...); specifically the good ole USA and Canada... Look for more to flow out... Last november (...2014...), the good ole USA wuz the number one producer of oil in the world...

 

HEHEHE... Take that, you oil sheik pirates...

 

leroy

Edited January 23, 2015 by leroy

[JWC]

I don't really know nothing about nothing... But to me, there ain't no way that system they have going with their kings and successors and all that can stand the test of time. There's too many wives and sons and grandsons and heirs. There just ain't no way that can all work out.

[MacGyver]

I've spent some time in Saudi Arabia at the invitation of King Abdullah.  They've got their issues - human rights and otherwise.  But, make no mistake.  His was a voice of moderation in the middle East, and they are an important ally.  I hope that their transition is a smooth one.  We need that, and so does the middle East at large. 

 

If we lose a moderate voice in the region, we all lose.

[bersaguy]

Grand is right.... On a personal basis, i could care less...

 

Havin said all that; there are those who have said (...and are saying...) that the middle east oil shiekdoms are in trouble from a diminishing resources point of view....There are some learned ones who say that the middle east (...the Saudi's in particular...) has "over-pumped" their fields to keep the dollars rollin in and to try to compete with the rest of the world with regard to oil production... Oil is the only product these sons of satan have and is the only source of income to their sheikdoms...

 

We may well see the day when the worlds oil does not come from the middle east... It will (...and is...) flow from the Americas (...in spite of Obama and the dammed democrats and enviornmentalists...); specifically the good ole USA and Canada... Look for more to flow out... Last november (...2014...), the good ole USA wuz the number one producer of oil in the world...

 

HEHEHE... Take that, you oil sheik pirates...

 

leroy

"Quote"   " We may well see the day when the worlds oil does not come from the middle east... It will (...and is...) flow from the Americas (...in spite of Obama and the dammed democrats and enviornmentalists...); specifically the good ole USA and Canada... Look for more to flow out... Last november (...2014...), the good ole USA wuz the number one producer of oil in the world...

 

Yea, we were #1 last year but the real issue with that is our oil companies are selling more than half of it to the highest bidders in Foreign countries instead of it remaining here. What we have now it was we were supposing to be striving for in the last 50-60 years and now that we have it we are not going to keep it. I would advise everyone to enjoy these prices while they last because which the way the Middle East is shaking and baking I don't look for these prices to last long. They have already began cutting back on our oil production to force the prices in foreign countries to go up.  Hope I am wrong but only time will tell.................jmho

[leroy]

Bersa... It's the ole "glass half empty or half full thing"...  

 

On a personal note, i would rather enrich american or western oil concerns than middle east oil sheikdoms any day... Others may be content to let the oil sheikdoms slide and vilify the US (...and western...) oil interests... I won't do that.... I dont like the saudi's nor the other desert bandits that have been pickin mine and your pockets for decades...

 

The middle east oil business was built by the good ole USA (...ARAMCO... the Arabian American Oil Company...) in the nineteen thirties.... It was nationalized by the desert sheikdoms in the seventies... They have been holdin the world up since then...

 

Their only product is oil; they produce nothing else... Their subjects live in a pseudo-socialist society where the kingdom's "subjects" (...and they are "subjects, not citizens...) are given a stipend; and by and large do not work...  

 

Militant islam is, by and large, a push back against both the desert seikdoms and the "imperialist" west (...particularly, the USA...)...

 

Don't thank the saudis for anything other than picking your pocket (...with the help of others, of course...) and exporting terror to the rest of the world....  

 

We can quibble about individual personalities, but it is my belief that the saudi's saw the USA as nothing more than a mercenary force to protect the "kingdom", a source of technical expertise to keep their infrastructure running (...both oil and civil....), and a cash plum to pick on an as needed basis... That means that your sons and daughters fought and died for arab oil interests (...and american ones as well...).

 

On balance, about 15% of our oil supply has historically come from the middle east; the rest from the americas...

 

By contrast, all (...100%...) of saudi arabia's protection came via the blood and treasure of the USA... I dont think that was a very fair trade...

 

Others may see it thru a different lens; i dont... I welcome the day when these arabian bandits fade back into the desert from which they sprang, and they are remembered no more....

 

leroy

[btq96r]

I've spent some time in Saudi Arabia at the invitation of King Abdullah.  They've got their issues - human rights and otherwise.  But, make no mistake.  His was a voice of moderation in the middle East, and they are an important ally.  I hope that their transition is a smooth one.  We need that, and so does the middle East at large. 

 

If we lose a moderate voice in the region, we all lose.

 

I would agree, that he was a voice of moderation, but only outside his own borders.  Inside Saudi Arabia is still very traditional, especially when you compare it to the other countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.  I'm fine with that, since it's there country and all.

 

But yeah, if we loose a moderate and cooperative Saudi Arabia, that would be bad on many levels.

[MacGyver]

I would agree, that he was a voice of moderation, but only outside his own borders.  Inside Saudi Arabia is still very traditional, especially when you compare it to the other countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.  I'm fine with that, since it's there country and all.

 

But yeah, if we loose a moderate and cooperative Saudi Arabia, that would be bad on many levels.

Inside the Kingdom seems to be troubled at best.  And, while the revolutions seem distant, they're probably not as far off as they look.  The house of Saud has been fairly effective at controlling their people internally, whether classic bread and circuses or forced repression of critical voices.  But, they've played with fire in their tolerance/support for the Wahhabists, and that's likely to bite them sooner or later.

 

It won't stand forever.