Saudi full production back in 10 days. Less of a big deal than it has been played out to be.
Posted on 09/18/2019 9:12:59 AM PDT by gandalftb
Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of what it described as Iranian drones and cruise missiles used in an attack on Saudi oil facilities as “undeniable” evidence of Iranian aggression.
Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said a total of 25 drones and missiles were launched at two oil plants in last weekend’s strikes, including what he identified as Iranian Delta Wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and “Ya Ali” cruise missiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Let's assume (for the sake of argument) that this really is all linked to the Houthi's.
Who funds them?
Who trained them?
Who provides intel support to them?
The Iranian's. That's who. Even if it were the Houthi's the Iranian's are still responsible.
In as much as the Iranian's have been very bad actors in the Middle East since the 1970's, the Saudi's certainly aren't our friends either.
15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were Saudi. OBL was Saudi, his father made his money connected to the Saudi kingdom, the Saudi's propagate Wahabbism throughout the world and promote the most violent sect of Islam world-wide.
The Saudi's can deal with Iran. They've purchased tens of billions of planes and weapons through us, let them spill their own blood protecting their oil.
No more American blood should ever be spilled in the Middle East, IMO. Exception: defending Israel.
Saudi Arabia may be able to dominate the skies over Yemen (not that hard when there is no opposing air force) but they are getting their butts kicked by the rebels anyway.
The fact KSA has a large defense budget just underscores how relatively weak they are against what should be an inferior armed force.
This week's attack by the Houthis on their strategic infrastructure demonstrates this perfectly...expect more of the same in the coming weeks.
“but they are getting their butts kicked by the rebels anyway”
How so???
Despite the bloated Saudi “defense” budget and years of indiscriminate air strikes in Yemen, the Houthi rebels managed to deliver a kill shot on Saudi strategic infrastructure using inexpensive Chinese made drones.
The rock hits Goliath in the eye!
A pin prick. Saudi full production back in 10 days. Less of a big deal than it has been played out to be. Notice, the Houthi did not, and likely could not hit a major Saudi military target.
That's not the "deal".
Does anyone on here anymore know some history, or have recollection past 100 days?
SA has always been very vulnerable. It is a sizeable country with great wealth in petroleum resources, but a small citizenry. (It has an even smaller loyal citizenry - the renegades have included certain deceased outcast members of the Bin Laden family).
So, the "deal" has, for a long time, been that the West - basically the US - would protect SA in return for relative stability in the oil markets, and, therefor, relative stability of the global economy. FReepers may not like it, but, we ARE a part of the global economy, and changing THAT would be a long, difficult and in many ways very harmful project indeed. Just getting more balanced trade agreements has been tough.
Now, this deal may not be a treaty, but, the Saudi gov't has, for the most part, lived up to their side of it as best they could without actually being suicidal. And, we have usually lived up to ours, although the Saudis certainly cannot be happy with much of the Obama / Clinton ME agenda. (I would note that the Saudis obviously and wisely did not trust Obama at all, as was reflected by SA's huge push in defense spending. However, that was IMO an almost desperate move: The Saudis are generally not good warriors, and besides that, compared to, say, Iran, they simply don't have the people ("fighters") in quantity or quality.
SA DOES have a big foreign population doing most of the work. (And we think WE have problems along that line?)
The Saudis "could" turn to the Paks, and to a modest degree probably have, but, that's really NOT an alliance we want to see. (Money + Nukes + Nuts) So far, the Saudis, as best we can tell, would only go to the Paks for nukes if Iran gets such. Again, this can be considered sort of an extension of the "cooperation" that we and the Saudis, usually, engage in.
In short, my observation is that aside from opponents they can't fully control, the Saudis have generally "favored" us, and us, them. Who might be "ahead" in this cooperation is a useless argument.
It is sort of a "barter" and we exchange differing items: Guns for butter, one might say.
Well... I’m not sure it was a “pinprick”, but it absolutely was not a “kill shot”. “Mac” also ignores the OP’s most interesting details and comments about the weaponry (or mac just lies like most Russki trolls.)
No way the Houthis pulled this off on their own - and I am usually one to caution against underestimating opponents or other players.
Your comment was quite informative, and I read it with great interest. As I understand it, you seem to suggest that in a Realpolitik sense we have made our deal with SA and must honor it. Even putting aside the times SA breached the deal - the gas lines of the late 1970’s; the exporting of Wahhabism to the US through “investments” in our universities and building mosques across the country; and of course the suspicion that 9/11 was aided by at least some faction of the SA ruling class, the question remains whether we must send our young men and women to die to support a regime that seems not to hesitate to undermine us when it is convenient? I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question, nor do I pretend to know the consequences of failing to act as SA’s protector against the Iranians.
“Never have trusted the saudis. President Trump, Please allow the saudis to handle their crap fest. Once again the saudis act like monkeys and throw crap at America”
Agree 500%
Saudi full production back in 10 days. Less of a big deal than it has been played out to be.
“Undeniable”?? I mean, I could think of five or ten reasons to deny it off the top of my head...
Why should I care if Iran is attacking SA, or, for that matter, if SA is attacking Iran?
Hugs
Thank You !
Rocket boosters just like the JATO on the old B-47.
Iran wants us pulled in - and the Russians, Chinese and North Koreans with them. We need to peel off Russia... pull them to our side or sitting neutral.
JATO bottles only work on a large platform because they don’t vector very well.
These cruise missiles did have boosters that were jettisoned later.
Still not enough to launch them. I think they were air launched.
Link?
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