Posted on 11/23/2017 10:42:55 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
I think Pat’s article is about a quarter of the whole story, and he misses a number of points.
The change in oil pricing over the past six years has changed the perspective of the Saudis, and challenged their long-term survival.
The leadership today? Heavily focused on issues which weren’t apparent back in the 2010 era. Financially, they need oil prices back at $80 to $100 a barrel, today? It’s resting at $55 to $65.
The reality of corruption, money-laundering, and sponsorship of ISIS by private Saudis? It threatens the very core of Saudi stability. The Iranians? By the US getting this nation back up and giving them an open window to the world economy? It’s invented a massive problem for the Saudis in the long-run.
The Saudis need Yemen’s little war to conclude, but no one can say for sure how the end would be achieved, or recognized.
The relationship with the Russians? Growing day by day. Some are shocked that some relationship now exists with the Israeli government and business interests.
If ISIS now shows up to start a civil war within Saudi Arabia? They don’t have the manpower to put it down and would have to approach Trump (with money) and get US assistance. Trump might say no, and then the Russians enter to say they’d do the dirty-work for the right sum of money.
All of this is just begging for a massive market correction in 2018.
War is very ugly business. The civilian population is a valid target in war as the farmer, the baker, the mechanics etc. are an integral part of the war machine. Without the civilian population that supports the war machine the war machine would grind to a halt due to lack of supplies.
I do not know if the war between Saudi and Yemen is justifiable by the Saudis. . I do know that war must be brutal in he extreme to win.
Buchanan is correct in his analysis of post World War I. Our actions set in motion World War II.
If you are not willing to kill your enemy and all that stand with him, surrender, for you have already lost.
>The Saudis say it was an Iranian missile, fired with the aid of Hezbollah, and an “act of war” against the kingdom. The Houthis admit to firing the missile, but all three deny Iran and Hezbollah had any role.
Well, they’re lying, it came from Iran. Yemen’s a Sunni vs Shia proxy war between KSA and Iran. We’d do best to let those 2 sides deal with it on their own.
Hitler was an assuagement to their battered dignity, but at a terrible cost to humanity.
Both sides can easily lose in a war.
I agree
And anyhow, perhaps all the wars of the 20th century, more and more about politics and territory, contributed to the spiritual slide of the West. People saw themselves being pulled by governments into drawn out conflicts that didn’t seem to make sense.
Perhaps the conquest of Japan was the cleanest war of all those waged in the 20th century. Two atom bombs and that saved the rest of Japan, as well as the morals of the West. Broad population wars are very demoralizing.
I guess the moral would be that if you MUST wage a war, don’t do it as trying to inflict a death of a thousand cuts. Smack as hard as you possibly can and then when a surrender comes, accept it graciously.
And frankly... if the US gets petitioned to participate in a war that’s not going to be along those lines, it should decline.
I’m a little confused. Is Pat saying it’s better to have open warfare than to use starvation as a tool/weapon to get the enemy to submit?
I ask because I’m thinking if we ever have a civil war again in America most of the left will flock TO the cities whereas most the freedom loving right will flock away from them if they are at all prepared. The fastest and most direct way to end the conflict will be to cut all supply routes into the cities to starve them into surrendering. Would bombing or other open warfare be more preferable according to Mr. Buchanan? It seems to me far less damage and loss of life would happen from the starvation method when given two bad choices.
Actually Pat would be right if that’s what he means.
Conquer or get out of there. Anything less is about pride.
If they don’t like starving they can always ask for terms.
I’d be concerned about terms before God.
If what he said is true about starvation four months after Germany laid down her arms, then I’m going to put Britain in with France, whose insistence on the draconian Versailles Treaty guaranteed WWII, as a country who deserved what they got from Nazi Germany.
I guess so if you don’t care about preserving buildings, bridges, roads, airports, and other infrastructure.
Remember; in the civil war scenario we would also be living in the same places (somewhat) we just destroyed afterward. I just can’t see us destroying the tall buildings in NYC or other cities if we had another way to win; albeit taking longer but with less loss of life.
Maybe I’m dreaming but let’s say the right won; would those who fought for the left have to concede or leave? What if the left won? Would we have to concede or leave?
Well actually I’d rather lose that stuff than sell my soul.
And what you’re proposing wouldn’t shrink the left. It would grow it, including among places where “we” thought we were prevailing.
They would need to concede (surrender and agree to our terms) or leave. If they didn’t then they would be exiled.
I’m thinking a couple of weeks of no new food supplies and turning off their water supply would be enough to get their attention. Maybe just one week if we stopped the water. If that didn’t work then we can always do it the conventional way.
As much as I don’t consider leftists American; they consider themselves American.
I dunno; in a perfect world we could snap our fingers and all the leftists would either disappear or be re-located to a communist or socialist hell hole of their choosing.
Yemen is a failed state and a major security threat to Saudi Arabia and the region because it is a source of endemic human trafficking, smuggling, terrorism, and maritime piracy. If a blockade is prohibited, just what security measures does Pat recommend to Saudi Arabia, the US, and our other regional allies? Kinetic measures like dropping bombs would cause more civilian casualties and suffering than a blockade does. Moreover, when the source of the problem is a hostile and obdurate civilian populace, they can legitimately be targeted as they are the adversarial center of gravity. And it is worth noting that, like Muslim government, conflicts among Muslims tend to have brutal rules that harken back to the savagery of ancient times. My guess is that most Muslims in the region think that the Yemenis deserve far worse than a blockade.
There is so much awfulness about Churchill that we are never taught.
BS.... The Saudis are NOW taking on responibilitys.......they are being squeezed
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