A Game-Changer in the House of Saud?

American Thinker.com ^ | November 17, 2017 | Alex Alexiev

[Kaslin]

The dramatic events in Saudi Arabia of the past few days portend a game change in the Middle East not seen in decades. Predictably, the mainstream media, desperate as they are to find something, anything to blame on President Trump, have completely missed it. Instead, they have babbled about the market implications of the arrests of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Co., Saudi Arabia ‘emerging’ as an arms manufacturer, conflict with Hezbollah, palace intrigue, etc. etc. Few have put their finger on the actual events – a palace revolution in Riyadh that could change the Middle East in profound and possibly positive ways. For the logic of what’s taking place in the House of Saud is a revolt against the medieval obscurantism that has been the lifeblood of radical Islam and indeed terrorism since the middle of the 20^th century. There is no guarantee that it will succeed, for the forces arrayed against it are formidable, but fundamentally, as with the demise of any long-lasting obscurantism, the more appropriate question to ask is: ‘What took so long?’

To seasoned observers, what is taking place in Riyadh is not a complete surprise and some inkling of changing attitudes was on hand as far back as the Arab Spring in 2011, when the Saudis appeared to end their longtime support of the Muslim Brotherhood, and take the side of the military in Egypt, quite unlike the Obama administration which remained wedded to the myth that the MB was a ‘moderate’ organization. Three years later, the UAE declared 82 Islamic organizations, including two prominent American ones (CAIR and MAS) long supported by the Saudis, to be terrorist and this past summer came the break with Qatar for its support of radical jihadists in Syria and elsewhere.

[dynoman]

Next question, what does a battery of 300MW look like??

I work at a coal plant, we can make money at $0.025/KW

[dynoman]

There’s a lot of crap floating around out there from Musk about solar panels and batteries running the grid. The MISO footprint runs a summer peak of 100,000 MWs. It will take a while for enough battery packs to run the grid a night when there’s no wind.

https://www.misoenergy.org/LMPContourMap/MISO_All.html

https://www.misoenergy.org/MarketsOperations/RealTimeMarketData/Pages/FuelMix.aspx

[dynoman]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3571303/posts?q=1&;page=1

A lot of ignorance in that article and on that thread.

[SamAdams76]

Amazing things are going on in the world and many Freepers have their heads buried in the sand, worrying about what MSM is saying and fretting that Jeff Sessions isn't working fast enough for them, as they sit in their armchairs not doing anything themselves. They are like two-year old children throwing tantrums on the high chair because mommy isn't working fast enough for them.

[ckilmer]

I work at a coal plant, we can make money at $0.025/KW

that’s the first time I’ve heard that a coal plant can make money at .025@kwh

I’m strictly an amateur rubber necker on the subject but I have read a lot of articles pertaining to the various energy sources.

Do you have any links to back up your claim?

[ckilmer]

Musk’s ideas won’t really work until the cost of battery power comes down much further. That said the speed at which battery costs are falling is imitating the speed at which solar and wind fell from 2009-2015. At those rates battery power will be ready for prime time in about four years.

[dynoman]

Mouse over the crosses on that MISO contour map i posted and you will see the current market prices.

[little jeremiah]

Placemark.

[little jeremiah]

I agree. What’s going on in SA is amazing, beyond amazing.