Posted on 05/07/2019 4:03:22 PM PDT by Innovative
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a sudden, unscheduled trip to Baghdad on Tuesday, as an aircraft carrier and Air Force bombers headed to the Middle East amid warnings that Iran was contemplating an attack on U.S. troops in the region.
The surprise visit came after Pompeo abruptly canceled a trip to Germany, where he was scheduled to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. The State Department initially said only that the change was made because pressing issues had arisen.
Pompeos visit to Baghdad, which followed an Arctic Council meeting in Finland, took on an air of urgency as regional tensions rose on the eve of the first anniversary of President Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“” “” Saddam could have rolled over all the Gulf kingdoms.”” “”
So what? There could have been Israel, Iran, Egypt and Lybia left for balance of powers.
And US has its own oil. It had oil back to 1990 too.
If Saddam had eradicated Gulf tyrannies there wouldn’t be 95% of Islamist terrorism.
No 9/11 for sure.
[So what? There could have been Israel, Iran, Egypt and Lybia left for balance of powers.]
I understand Iraq was a longtime Soviet ally under Saddam, and Putin has benefited hugely from the rise in oil prices from $20 in the late 90’s to about $60 today, and would have benefited if oil prices had spiked to $100. The average American consumer, however, would not be pleased, since all domestic oil profits go to the producers and the mineral rights holders. American industry would be devastated. And in 1991, we’d still need to import 10m barrels a day, since our production was 7m barrels and our consumption was 17m barrels. At $100 per barrel, that would have been an annual oil import bill of $365b. By comparison, the $60b tab for Desert Storm, paid for by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Japan, was a bargain. It was probably the only war in which the Treasury received more in donations from Allied countries than it disbursed to the Pentagon.
I understand why you don’t like the Saudi royals. They were in part responsible for the strangulation of the Soviet economy by engineering the oil glut that killed Soviet export earnings. Part of the credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall must go to them. The fact, though, is that Russian interests are very different from, and mostly opposed to, American interests, which is why I find it very strange that you’re posting on an American opinion site.
In fact all of the above is not the case. I am just pointing at the fact that US has own oil and a lot of it. It is currently among top producers. It could be there in 1990 too.
And Saddam still had to sell his oil somewhere US included.
You are heavily exaggerating the above development impact on both oil price and US industry.
I think everyone agree that 9/11 was a price too high. And 9/11 is actually just a drop in the ocean.
[In fact all of the above is not the case. ]
You do realize that Saudi Arabian government, which gets the profits from oil production, redistributes* this money to the population in the form of universal welfare benefits, don’t you? Whereas the only Americans benefiting from higher oil prices are the people who work in oil companies and their suppliers. Chemical companies, car companies, etc all take hits, in addition to which the US consumer takes the biggest direct hit.
Even today, with US oil production at a record 12m, US oil imports are around 8m barrels a day. Because we consume 20m barrels.
* Russia’s actually the same way. It’s the Saudi Arabia of the north. Low oil prices are why Russia is having problems paying pensions.
We are mostly talking about terrorism and not the economy.
I am talking about 9/11. Was it worth it?
And no. Russia is not alike Saudi Arabia economically. It is a theory from McCain’s school of Kremlinology.
[We are mostly talking about terrorism and not the economy.
I am talking about 9/11. Was it worth it?]
Now, Russians think of the Saudi royals as the sponsors of the Chechen rebels who caused big problems in Chechnya and that’s certainly true. But they weren’t the sponsors of the 9/11 Saudi terrorists, whose leader, bin Laden, wanted to overthrow the Saudi royals and put himself in their place. Think of the Saudi government sponsorship of the Chechens as payback for the Soviet sponsorship of Yemeni rebels back in the 60’s, not to mention the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan in the 70’s. Of course, when Chechens started participating in al Qaeda and attacking Americans, the Saudi royals pulled back, which is why Chechnya has been relatively peaceful since 9/11. Money is the lifeblood of all war, including guerrilla campaigns. No money, no guerrilla war.
I agree that Russia is not like Saudi Arabia - Russia is poorer and less well-managed, despite having abundant natural resources and superior human resources, in the form of a higher IQ population. Russia’s average IQ, at 97 is just one point lower than the US (98). Saudi Arabia’s is 84. And yet, despite far superior mineral resource wealth and a far smarter population vs Mexico’s 88 IQ average, Russia’s nominal per capita GDP is similar to Mexico’s. Heck, Russia’s GDP per capita is lower than Poland’s, whose principal natural resource is *coal*.
https://brainstats.com/average-iq-by-country.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
You have near religious views on both Middle Eastern history and Russia. These are as wrong as any other myths but no logical arguments would fix it.
[You have near religious views on both Middle Eastern history and Russia. These are as wrong as any other myths but no logical arguments would fix it.]
Yep - and China wants to leverage Iran’s economic woes (which affect China too) against President Trump and they will overstep...
I completely understand why you dislike the Saudi royals. They did fund the Chechen separatists who tried to break free from Russian rule. You should similarly understand why I have an antipathy towards the Chinese and Russian governments. They were responsible for the deaths of 100K American deaths through their material support for North Korea and North Vietnam during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. And we sent huge amounts of aid to Russia during WWII to help them fight a war that had begun through a Russian alliance with Germany that gave Germany a free hand to invade the West.
I am familiar with all the numbers you brought too. Including US oil production and consumption over time.
[I am familiar with all the numbers you brought too. Including US oil production and consumption over time.]
The real bottom line is that gasoline and diesel used as transportation fuels are behind over 50% of the daily consumption of oil stateside and any big increase in prices is a major hit to family budgets across the country. That’s why Trump keeps jawboning the Gulf oil producers. He’s reminding them that they aren’t provinces of another country only because Uncle Sam is on the job. Imagine trying to jawbone a nuclear-armed Saddam with all the oilfields in his possession.
I didn’t claim any of it. All I said is that US had the capacity to produce own oil and no Saddam’s actions could actually push the oil price too high to become unbearable.
Pompeo sin....... we did not know in advance so we could write fake news condemning the trip
Kuwait was one thing but the post 9/11 invasion quite another...in my opinion.
Desert Storm was crucial and the following embargoes turned Iraq into a banana republic. By 2003 Iranian mullahs pulled the strings there.
There is no way anyone can justify 18 years of sacrificing American blood and treasure in the Middle East. The fallout of this includes millions of refugees that causes it’s own serious long term problems.
Still, you don’t seem to acknowledge the real reason for our interest in oil-rich ME, namely, the preservation of the petrodollar.
It’s not simply they sit on top of vast amounts of black gold, but it is absolutely imperative all that crude be sold for US Dollars.
Unless I missed it, I don’t think you mentioned that part.
[I didnt claim any of it. All I said is that US had the capacity to produce own oil and no Saddams actions could actually push the oil price too high to become unbearable.]
As to the US having oil, it makes no difference. “The US” doesn’t have oil. Individual mineral rights owners and oil companies have oil. Consumers pay every penny of price increases, which is why presidents get upset when oil prices increase. US companies produce every barrel they can at prevailing prices. The only reason they are showing record production at these price levels is because large numbers of companies went bankrupt and have liquidated their capital equipment at pennies on the dollar. Investors lost billions. Once that capital equipment is worn out, it will have to be replaced with non fire sale equipment and production will drop again, as production costs begin to exceed prices.
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