Our friends the terrorist-loving Saudis

This has angered me since 2002. It got to the point that I blogged about it for the better part of 2007 (http://wahaudi.blogspot.com) just to demonstrate how much influential the Wahabbi/Saudi has become. And I succeeded by amassing over 1,100 posts culled from the world's new media.

Nobody cared.

Every President - particularly George W. Bush - has relied upon their oil and their capital to fund our economy and our debt. What infuriates me to no end is that the "hawks" who are supposed to be the most pro-defense policy wonks are in the bag for the Saudis. So opposed they are to Iran, that they side with Saudi Arabia -- the two are locked in a Middle-East Cold War. The biggest insult, in my opinion, was this 2007 editorial signed by "The Editors" over at the National Review titled "The Saudis and Us":

Saddam Hussein's regime was long one of the most important counterbalances to Iran, and now it has been replaced by a weak central government with ties to Iran. We need another counterweight and have to look to the Gulf.

Supplementing these considerations are two others. First: The Saudis could get a lot of the hardware we are selling them from elsewhere, in which case the natural clout that comes with being the supplier of arms would be denied to us. Second: Our work with foreign militaries has been one of the most important ways we have influenced foreign governments.

The Saudi arms deal is part of a broader initiative to knit the Gulf states closer to one another and to us. We are plugging them into U.S. air- and missile-defense systems, counter-proliferation and maritime-security efforts, and regional defense planning. And the Iranians notice.

We could greatly reduce our consumption of foreign oil by conducting energy audits of our houses, businesses, and public facilities, and taking the most cost effective measures to prevent energy from leaking right out our roofs, windows, and heating ducts. More fuel-efficient vehicles have been produced since the 1970s. This link will raise a few eyebrows:

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/08/super-cheap-high-mpg-cars-1978-1981/

There is nothing new under the sun. Oil prices have surged in the past, we made advances in energy efficiency. When oil prices dropped again, these lessons were forgotten: until recently we had U.S. car companies SWEARING they could not increase fuel mileage. We have backed up questionable authoritarian regimes again and again, only to have them come back and bite us in the bum later.

Are we capable of learning?

If the al-Sauds fall, what will replace them will be far worse.

Doesn't matter what comes next, there is no way the cost of change could be justified.

Saudi Arabia is such a very large oil producer that violent transition (and it will be violent) will put 30% of the worlds oil production off-line for between 2 and 5 years. The resultant oil price rise will bring about a recession that makes the current "global economic crisis" look like a stroll in the park. That scale of a recession looms as a career ending event for every currently empowered politician.