Its kicking off in Saudi now!

[Mega]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pro...d-saudi-arabia

Now, remind me where does the US gets its oil from?

Midnight oil being burnt at the White house/State dept tonight ;)

It reminds me of 1979 Iran etc....

Mike

[metalman]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pro...d-saudi-arabia

Now, remind me where does the US gets its oil from?

Midnight oil being burnt at the White house/State dept tonight ;)

It reminds me of 1979 Iran etc....

Mike

[GRG55]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pro...d-saudi-arabia

Now, remind me where does the US gets its oil from?

Midnight oil being burnt at the White house/State dept tonight ;)

It reminds me of 1979 Iran etc....

Mike

From the Zerohedge item:

"...That this is even occurring in a state where the average wealth is orders of magnitude greater than in Egypt is remarkable..."

Now WTF does "average wealth" have to do with anything going on here? The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is much like the USA is becoming...most of the wealth is held by an extraordinarily small cohort at the top of the economic and political heap. There's nothing remarkable about what is going on here...

[GRG55]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

Further, I would point out that the USA doesn't really give a damn about what happens in Saudi Arabia as a whole. These protests are happening in Jeddah, on the far side of quite a large landmass from the oil fields, which are concentrated along the western shore of the Persian Gulf.

Lot's of "informed" pundits make a fuss about what the threat of Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz, or the fall of the House of Saud, would mean to oil supply security. At best the disruption would be a few weeks to a few months. Clearing the Strait of Hormuz, or securing the strip of land along the Persian Gulf that holds almost all of Saudi Arabia's oil supply, is a much simpler military exercise than the adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the USA will have no trouble finding allies, including China, to take the actions needed to accomplish those goals should they become necessary. For all they care the Wahhabis can keep the rest of the deserts of the Arabian peninsula in perpetuity.

Don't be distracted. What is happening in Egypt is many times more important to the world in the greater scheme of things than anything that happens in Saudi Arabia.

[lektrode]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

Further, I would point out that the USA doesn't really give a damn about what happens in Saudi Arabia as a whole. These protests are happening in Jeddah, on the far side of quite a large landmass from the oil fields, which are concentrated along the western shore of the Persian Gulf.

whoa.... THANKYOU for being stuck there in the big sandbox GRG - what do you think is the chance of this heading into riyadh (and causing the military to respond)?

Lot's of "informed" pundits make a fuss about what the threat of Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz, or the fall of the House of Saud, would mean to oil supply security. At best the disruption would be a few weeks to a few months. ....
...
Don't be distracted. What is happening in Egypt is many times more important to the world in the greater scheme of things than anything that happens in Saudi Arabia.

and an even BIGGER thanks for that comment - perspective = everything in this kind of event (is this a 'swan' or isnt it?)

[Chris Coles]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

Don't be distracted. What is happening in Egypt is many times more important to the world in the greater scheme of things than anything that happens in Saudi Arabia.

Always nice to hear another viewpoint so please excuse my asking; but .... Why is Egypt so much more important?

[Mega]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

http://www.thedailybell.com/1717/Fal...ve-System.html

I don't think its a CIA op, i think its simply the cost of Food & Crap OLD goverments.
Mike

[GRG55]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

whoa.... THANKYOU for being stuck there in the big sandbox GRG - what do you think is the chance of this heading into riyadh (and causing the military to respond)?

Not much chance of that. The Saudis are second to none at putting down anything that is a threat to the regime. They haven't yet had to resort to the tactics that Hafez Al Assad employed at Hama, but nobody doubts they would do the same, if necessary. You'll note that there's rarely any terrorists captured by the Saudi security forces. They are always slain in a gun battle against "the valiant security forces" at a petrol station in broad daylight - or something similar.

A little story from a few years back from one of my security contacts here...Some years ago, in the early days of Somali piracy activity, they attacked an empty LNG tanker on backhaul from Europe to the Persian Gulf, using three inflatables. The Indian captain of the tanker did exactly the right thing; trained the fire hoses on the Zodiacs and put the ship to full speed - modern LNG tankers are among the fastest of large ships on blue water. The US Navy knew there had to be a mother ship from which the inflatables had been launched, sent up a search aircraft and found it running south parallel to the African coast. As dusk was approaching the Navy decided not to use a surface ship to intercept until after daybreak. They tracked the ship all night, but by the time they made the intercept the next morning their target was in Kenyan waters, so the pirates were arrested and turned over to Kenyan authorities to be put on trial. No points for guessing whether anybody actually showed up in court. The Saudi's were aghast. They simply could not understand why the US Navy with all its sophisticated equipment and weapons didn't just blow the ship out of the water in the middle of the night. After all, who was going to ask any questions? They warned the Americans that by not doing this the piracy would escalate. And sure enough, that is exactly what happened.

How do you think the Saudis would have handled finding Saddam in his underground hiding hole? Arrest, trial and botched hanging? Or another valiant shoot-out story?

and an even BIGGER thanks for that comment - perspective = everything in this kind of event (is this a 'swan' or isnt it?)

Certainly not a Black Swan. Entirely predictable outcome - see some of my previous posts on this topic on another thread - but as always, timing is entirely unpredictable.

[metalman]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

http://www.thedailybell.com/1717/Fal...ve-System.html

I don't think its a CIA op, i think its simply the cost of Food & Crap OLD goverments.
Mike

sure it ain't the crap food & the cost of gov't?

[mliu_01]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

I don't think the GRG knows that we give 1.5billion to egypt every year while we import tons of oil from Saudi.

[lektrode]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

I don't think the GRG knows that we give 1.5billion to egypt every year while we import tons of oil from Saudi.

uhhh... thats a joke, right?
from what eye've read from GRG55, he knows quite well, pert near _all_ about this topic

it always amazes me when people who dont know much about who/what they talk about can say stuff like this (even when i'm as guilty of it as some...)

[dcarrigg]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pro...d-saudi-arabia

It reminds me of 1979 Iran etc....

This article seems to do a decent job of summing up what's going on in various countries: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nation..._east_upheaval.

[jpetr48]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

Like some of you I am trying to quickly grasp the significance and potential scenarios.
The article from Tuscon says "Whoever leads Egypt next will inherit the region's most important diplomatic power, both geographically and historically."
Diplomatic??
Hilary Clinton says "Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people."

The Mubarak regime is not stable nor diplomatic. It is an authoritarian, corrupt, anti–human rights, anti–free speech regime.

There is one county missing in the article analysis, Israel which could be at the epicenter if Jordan falls after Egypt.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pro...d-saudi-arabia
Midnight oil being burnt at the White house/State dept tonight ;)

This article from global research Canada is probably overblown, but it is food for thought: "Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?"

[Sharky]

Re: Its kicking off in Saudi now!

This article seems to do a decent job of summing up what's going on in various countries: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nation..._east_upheaval.

Interesting. It seems that one of the common triggers for protests has been high inflation. I wonder if the inflation they're experiencing was exported by the US, or is it something different?