So your solution is for the US to just abandon the Mideast oil-producing region altogether on account of little Israel?Absolutely not. We're the consumers. We sit in the catbird seat. We have the money. To get our money, the Saudis, et al, need to sell it to us.
Abandoning Israel wouldn't affect the supply of oil to us one bit. So why do something that would hurt us diplomatically in the long run?
What about Europe and Japan who get most of their oil from the Mideast? If their economies go down, ours goes down with them. We live in an age of economic globalization.
Thank you for making my point for me in that last sentance.
Don't be a Chicken Little. The Persian Gulf states HAVE to sell. Cash flow must be maintained, lest these governments start going belly up. These nations do not have the political stability that the Eurotrash, Japan, and ourselves do. Geez, even Mexico is far more stable than the Gulf states.
For instance, Japan is the largest holder of US Treasury bonds, so if their economy tanked and they had to raise cash, it'd bring ours down with them.
Not gonna happen, for the reason that you outlined above. Besides, Japan has a strictly neutralist, if not mercantilist, pro-Arab stance in its foreign policy. And don't get me started on the Eurotrash. Hell, they'd open up Auschwitz again just to please the Arabs.
Secondly, America doesn't want to abandon the oil-rich Mideast, which contains two-thirds of proven global oil reserves, or any other oil-rich region to China, who'll be needing a lot more oil in the future.
Again, who says we have to abandon the oil patch to anybody? It's not our territory, you know, and we shouldn't treat it as such. But when they threaten us, we should act accordingly, as we will in the case of Saddam. Personally, I prefer that we deal with Saddam and then pull out of that briar patch. It's not like the Arabs wouldn't sell to us, you know.
You can't look at US foreign policy in terms of Israel alone. Thirdly, Russia has a lot of oil, but experts predict it only has about 40 years worth of oil left, so it can't really replace the Mideast as some wishfully believe.
No one is talking about looking at U.S. foreign policy in terms of Israel alone. But the thugs who run most of the Arab states will be observing closely just how much we stand by Israel. They will want to see how we treat our friends.
Be Seeing You,
Chris