Saudi Arabia - This fall is going to hurt.

[awake]

Further Signals of Unease in Saudi Arabia (http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/02/further-signals-of-unease-in-saudi.html)

Robert Wenzel

I don't read Arabic but Blake Hounshell thumbs (http://twitter.com/#%21/blakehounshell/status/41599402112057344) that this (http://t.co/DYYpPCK) says Saudi liberals want a constitutional monarchy.

Things have been quiet in Saudi Arabia, relative to what has been going in in other parts of the greater Middle East, but there is clearly unease under the surface. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah recent announcement that the government would increase benefits by more than $36 billion is a clue that the King is aware that tensions need to be defused.

If the unease turns to outrage and riots, with a threat to Saudi oil production, then things get real serious, globally. Libya is responsible for less than 5% of OPEC production, but Saudi Arabia produces over 30%. Iran produces roughly 12%.

If Saudi Arabia or Iran blows (and Iran looks very close) then world stock markets get really smacked.

[MN Patriot]

I've been thinking about this for some time, and now the middle east revolts adds more proof to my theory. Seems to me the markets depend on oppression and exploitation. Suppose there were a tax revolt in the USA. Some maniac Tea Party congressperson proposes to end payroll withholding of taxes, make the tax slaves write a check every month to the IRS. After about 6 months the USA would have a serious revenue problem as people get fed up with how badly government is exploiting them, something they never fully realized when the IRS was taking money from their paycheck before it goes into the workers bank account. What would happen to the financial markets? Would they collapse as it becomes apparent T-bills, T-notes, T-bonds may not be paid back?
Kind of like the old South that depended on chattel slavery to produce cotton and other crops. They didn't want to end slavery, that would destroy their economy.
People in the middle east are tired of being oppressed, and that threatens the markets. Something is fundamentally wrong here.

[libertybrewcity]

it's about time Saudi Arabia falls!

[dbill27]

If turmoil in saudi arabia brings oil production to a halt, does anyone have any idea of what oil would be a barrel?

[doodle]

Saudi Arabia and Israel theocracies would probably fall in the final wave of democracy in mideast. These maybe early currents.

[AFPVet]

We need to go full production in the Bakken shale formation.

[TNforPaul45]

Good. Let every single one of those countries kick the US Intelligence installed puppets the hell out of their countries. Those poor peoples are as tired of their brutal dictators as we poor people are of ours.

[LinusVanPelt]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/saudi-arabian-king-to-populace-dont-even-think-abo,19302/

[LinusVanPelt]

Good. Let every single one of those countries kick the US Intelligence installed puppets the hell out of their countries. Those poor peoples are as tired of their brutal dictators as we poor people are of ours.

Yeah, I dunno about that. I support the sentiment in theory, but I haven't stockpiled quite enough guns to feel comfy with the absolutely cataclysmic Mad Max scenario that is pretty much guaranteed to result if we start seeing $15/gallon gas prices overnight in the US.

And I have absolutely no confidence that any of these regimes will be replaced by anything better. People describing these uprisings as "democratic" as if it were a good things are kidding themselves. Personally, I am betting on a new massive pan-Islamic caliphate, of the kind which has actually come close to annihilating Western civilization in the past. To which I say: no, spank you. I'll take the US puppets.

[TNforPaul45]

Yeah, I dunno about that. I support the sentiment in theory, but I haven't stockpiled quite enough guns to feel comfy with the absolutely cataclysmic Mad Max scenario that is pretty much guaranteed to result if we start seeing $15/gallon gas prices overnight in the US.

And I have absolutely no confidence that any of these regimes will be replaced by anything better. People describing these uprisings as "democratic" as if it were a good things are kidding themselves. Personally, I am betting on a new massive pan-Islamic caliphate, of the kind which has actually come close to annihilating Western civilization in the past. To which I say: no, spank you. I'll take the US puppets.

A pan-islamic caliphate? Really? I really really dont understand Glenn Beck's reasoning behind this crazy, insane theory. Do you know how much the sunni and the shia hate each other over there? Do you really think that these countries are going to kick out their little dictators to just unify under one single one? And please do not sit there and tell me that Van Jones and George Soros made a few calls to union buddies and the entire islamic world erupted in the throws of furor to replace US puppets with Union Progressive puppets.

Do you think that if these rebellions were not taking place that we wouldnt see insane prices? We are and it is inevitable, no matter what we do or who we elect. We only hope for someone like Ron Paul so that we can shorten the time that we will have to spend in misery.

Pan islamic caliphate. Please. That thought has absolutely no basis in reality.

[LinusVanPelt]

A pan-islamic caliphate? Really? I really really dont understand Glenn Beck's reasoning behind this crazy, insane theory. Do you know how much the sunni and the shia hate each other over there?

Those people hate everyone for everything. Sunnis and shiites have co-existed before, why couldn't it happen again? Such alliances shift all the time. And incidentally, I have never watched or listened to Glenn Beck in my life, so any similarity in views is pure coincidence, thank you.


Do you really think that these countries are going to kick out their little dictators to just unify under one single one?


Dude, it's anarchy. You're talking as if any of these people have any sort of coherent plan whatsoever. Anything could happen. I could be wrong. So could you. Revolutions end up with more oppressive regimes than the ones they replace all the time.


And please do not sit there and tell me that Van Jones and George Soros made a few calls to union buddies and the entire islamic world erupted in the throws of furor to replace US puppets with Union Progressive puppets.


I seriously have no idea what you are talking about with a single word of any of this. I don't even know who Van Jones is.


We only hope for someone like Ron Paul so that we can shorten the time that we will have to spend in misery.

Uh, yeah, I love Ron Paul but statements like that are a little too messianic for my tastes.

The juice is loose. No one person is going to do anything about anything.



Pan islamic caliphate. Please. That thought has absolutely no basis in reality.

Well, except for the hundreds of years when such caliphates did actually exist in historical reality.

[Jack Bauer]

A pan-islamic caliphate? Really? I really really dont understand Glenn Beck's reasoning behind this crazy, insane theory. Do you know how much the sunni and the shia hate each other over there? Do you really think that these countries are going to kick out their little dictators to just unify under one single one? And please do not sit there and tell me that Van Jones and George Soros made a few calls to union buddies and the entire islamic world erupted in the throws of furor to replace US puppets with Union Progressive puppets.

Do you think that if these rebellions were not taking place that we wouldnt see insane prices? We are and it is inevitable, no matter what we do or who we elect. We only hope for someone like Ron Paul so that we can shorten the time that we will have to spend in misery.

Pan islamic caliphate. Please. That thought has absolutely no basis in reality.

You have a zero knowledge of history.

Most of the Islamic expansion outside Mecca and Medina occurred under the political system of a Caliphate.