[quant5]

Very well written article. Thanks for the post. The author is dead on. As one poster mentioned, we may wind up punishing Saudi Arabia slowly but surely doing business with someone else for our oil. Problem is the countries such as India and China have exploding populations and rising income levels leading to much higher demand. We may not be paying the Saudis in ten years, but someone else will.

Let's not forget the $100 million dollar fund raiser by the Saudis either which went toward the Jihad against Israel. As more of these extreme nutcases Wahabbis get into power like Prince Nayef, the more stupid and demonic their actions become. Our goverment or media can only keep the ugly truth down for so long. I fear 9/11's will be repeated until we wake up and do what we have to do. That requires a strong stomach.

[blanknoone]

Saud's biggest stick is OPEC..they use their production (and threat of more) to limit the production of other oil producers. They face a problem though...more and more countries are becoming significant producers because the prices are held artificially high. If Iraq produces as much as it can...it could well mean the death knell of OPEC within the decade. OPEC's share of the world oil market is steadily shrinking...and is likely to continue to do so. I for one am very much looking forward to Russian Siberian oil piped to the far east in great quantities. West Africa may also become a big player with a little regional stabilty.