7 Comments

It seems to me extraordinary that recent events raise the possibility that our decades-long ally, Saudi Arabia, is not in Biden and Blinken’s pocket.

This leads to the increasingly possible conclusion that Middle East ‘peace’ will further unravel under Biden’s ‘leadership’.

I was struck to read a few days ago that Biden’s chief energy security adviser is an Israeli/American named Amos Hochman. It is hard to imagine that the Saudis would not suspect an Israeli/American energy adviser of having mixed motivations regarding the Middle East status quo, especially the toxic and existential relationship between Israel and Iran.

Now we see evidence that Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia are increasingly discussing cooperation on energy matters. Together, these three energy producing countries far exceed the US and its Western allies in terms of carbon energy production. https://www.worldometers.info/oil/oil-production-by-country/.

In terms of global energy security matters, these three countries have enormous power.

And, to what extent do Saudi Arabia and Iran (and Russia) exert control over the production policies of the rest of OPEC? How much additional strength does this give these three countries? How much additional strength does this give Iran in the Middle East? It is hard to imagine that Israel could be happy with this development.

Further, it seems that alliances (in respect of energy production and distribution…and otherwise) between Russia, China and India are strengthening. And Turkey (a NATO member!) is apparently actively discussing stabilization in Syria with Russia.

These global developments and their potential consequences are not being well explained in US media. What should we make of a world which is being reshaped with Russia, China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and OPEC and the rest of the BRICS on one side, and the US, the rest of NATO, Ukraine and Israel on the other? Where does this leave us in Ukraine?

What is the likely outcome?

Expand full comment
author

I won't pretend to have all the answers. However, that's what I was reading/listening about yesterday and will hopefully be the first post today.

Expand full comment

I like the play on Hamlet :)

Expand full comment

If you want to know what the war in Ukraine is truly all about and who is responsible, here is the short of it in one handy website:

https://freenationsrf.org/en.html

Have to commend them for being honest, even though obviously the conference attendees-to-be have a rather tenuous grasp of present reality (haha).

Expand full comment

Winter is coming and it's gonna be a bitch.

Expand full comment
Removed (Banned)Jul 19, 2022
Comment removed
Expand full comment

The EU has been committing suicide for decades. They don't need us for that. Maybe Davos wants us to commit suicide too. Biden is doing a good job. Maybe he was hand-picked for this, and who can blame a man in his condition for committing 'mistakes.'

Expand full comment