The Wall Street Journal reported today that leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have refused to take phone calls from President Biden, who wanted to talk to them about supporting Ukraine and, yes, oil prices. I can’t get past the WSJ subscription firewall, but I picked up the details elsewhere. Josh Marshall:
The WSJ reports tonight that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have both signaled to Washington that they won’t help ease the global squeeze on gasoline supplies and surging prices unless the Biden administration falls into line on Yemen and other regional issues — one of these being immunity for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. The specific hook of the article is that the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both declined calls from President Biden in recent weeks.
Well, bleep them. Crown Prince MBS is one who specifically refuses to talk to the President, btw, according to other sources. Josh Marshall continues,
It has seemed clear to me since early 2021 that the Gulf states have been working to undermine the Biden administration in part because of these issues in the Gulf and also because of their close ties with ex-President Trump and Jared Kushner. But over the course of the year energy prices have become a key driver of inflation. Now the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made the need to open up new supplies of oil a matter of acute urgency for the United States and really much of the globe. What it amounts to is that at a moment of acute and profound economic and geopolitical need they’re squeezing us.
Saudi Arabia and UAE are sovereign states. Yemen and Iran are huge issues for them. They’re entitled to make their choices. But it goes without saying that the U.S. has directly and indirectly underwritten their security for decades. It is a reminder that they are on Team Autocracy. And in a moment when autocracy versus civic democracy is suddenly the central factor in global politics, we shouldn’t forget that. They produce products that the whole world is deeply dependent on but which are also driving the global crisis of climate change.
Yes, we should not forget this. The Daily Mail (UK) reports that MBS is asking Wall Street to bankroll a new project of his, “a $500 billion futuristic city-state, powered by robots and artificial intelligence, that would cover 10,000 square miles of Saudi Arabia‘s Tabuk province.” I seriously hope no one invests a penny. Arms sales? Nope. See also The top 11 favors the Trump administration has done for Saudi Arabia from 2019.
MBS’s snub of Biden’s phone call is perhaps not surprising.
Since becoming president, Biden has made clear that he did not see the crown prince — the de facto ruler of the country — as an equal and that Saudi Arabia was a US partner, not an ally. Russia and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, have strengthened ties.
On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the murder of the Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.
After Biden took office, the White House effectively demoted MBS to the rank of defense minister, and the two leaders have not spoken.
The news of the snub came in the wake of the publication of a rare interview with MBS in The Atlantic, in which the crown prince made clear his view of Biden and the US.
Here is a link to the Atlantic article, which I have not read. I do not care to know what this depraved piece of crap thinks about anything.
Maha, I think you meant "MBS" in your line right after the snippet from Josh, not "MLB" – Major League Baseball.
For a second, I thought you changed the topic because there are ongoing negotiations between the MLB owners and the MLB players.
Yeah, I'm pissed at MLB, too.
It is driving me nuts that my beloved Cardinals are not in spring training so I can find out which pitchers are healthy. If you are a KC Royals fan, boo on you. We shall never forget or forgive Don Denkinger.
I lost track after the Cactus League was consolidated.
I'm living in Cardinals territory, where the Cardinals are a religion, so I don't dare even look at another team.
Oh, if only there was another way we could get vehicles to move around besides using gasoline.
Something like electric cars which can be recharged.
Then, we wouldn't need to cuddle up with psycho Authoritarian thugs like MBS.
Or Putin, for that matter
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Sadly, I'll never have an electric car.
Not because I don't want to.
But because I'm too poor and too old.
I wish I had one now.
But my 2007 car is still doing fine (cross my fingers – and please cross your fingers too to help me out!). 😉
My '07 is doing fine also. Thank God neither of us needs new wheels. And I thank God I don't need to drive very far.
U.S. oil companies have the resources to pump plenty of non-Saudi, non-Russian oil. But they're playing the "scarcity" card to raise prices on their oil and shovel profits to the shareholders.
Milton Fucking Friedman has a lot to answer for still…
We have two options; we can waste less fossil fuels or increase the supply to exceed our and our ally's demand. I think the best option is to waste less. The push for this must come from our good citizens. Is it not the least we can do for the people of Ukraine, the cause of democracy, and the good of the planet? We can get this done.
Just over a month ago, I had solar panels installed. My avg. electric was $109 mo. The new electric panels will run $120 mo. for the next 20 years but there's a rate hike on the way. I figure I break even right away. In the first month, I'm producing 150% of my consumption. That's 50% extra, that I get credit for and accumulate as a credit that I can cash in.
All is not perfect – I still have to be hooked up to the grid and I pay a service charge for that even when I overproduce. The Florida legislature just authorized a reduced rate on the credit – electrons I buy from the power company are worth twice as much as the electrons I produce and "sell." But I'm protected from rate increases.
We've been trying to get buy on one car – almost impossible after I got a part-time job. As the crisis in Ukraine grew, I got a loan from my credit union at a decent rate.and found a used Chevy Volt. It will be my wife's car – her commute is longer than mine but it's literally a solar-powered car. (I'm not sure, but when gas hit $4 I'd guess electric cars went up in price.)
Have I beat the system? Only partway. I have a car payment but the cost is offset by over half in direct fuel savings. Will my system work for everyone? No. But for many, the solutions to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels is there, but you have to find them. I went through three solar companies before I got a deal that worked. (A 20-year lease rather than purchase because the tax credit wasn't there for us.)
We need to share ways of getting over on the electric companies and big oil. There's not a one-size-fits-all fix, but there's an arsenal of options we need to know about.
According to The Slaves Of Timbuctu published in 1961 and written by Robin Maugham, Riyadh, the capitol of Saudi Arabia, still had a very large slave market in 1959. Saudi Arabia is a medieval kingdom more than it is a country.
<i>he Daily Mail (UK) reports that MLB is asking Wall Street to bankroll a new project of his, “a $500 billion futuristic city-state, powered by robots and artificial intelligence, that would cover 10,000 square miles of Saudi Arabia‘s Tabuk province.” I seriously hope no one invests a penny</i>
China might like it.