On 9/4/06, Leigh Meyers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Tangentially speaking of economics...
Yoshie quoted:
"The Prophet Muhammad introduced Islamic teachings in this patriarchal
Arabic society. Thus, it is possible that the patriarchal views of
Arabic society interfered with the tradition of Islamic interpretation,
including on homosexuality."
This can be taken tangentially to mean that the Arabs are usurpers of
the islamic traditions, most recently as wahhabism, which purports to be
some 'purer' form of islam, but is really a distorted (perverse?)
teaching, as puritanism might be when compared to older christian
traditions.
The economic impact is immeasurable if one considers that the arabs
control THE symbol of islam; makka, control and/or steer the more
radical militant tendencies of islam through political, military and
cultural support of jihad while suppressing opposition to the ruling
powers or clergy of Saudi Arabia.
You got it. The problem is the Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia.
I sometimes think that Israel's main utility for the multinational
empire's power elite is that Israel functions as a red herring,
diverting Arab attention from the greatest prize in the Middle East,
oil in the Gulf States, which has funded Wahhabism and international
jihadists, to Tel Aviv's control over Palestine in general and
Jerusalem in particular.
AND they control the oil, which similarly perverse usurpers of christian
tradition is attempting to obtain, and in the process, teeing off every
muslim in the world.
Since the perverse usurpers of Christianity have destroyed Iraq, one
of the few secular states and one of the more secular societies in the
Middle East before their invasion, the Wahhabist influence has grown,
and that influence will grow further if they manage to wreck Iran, the
most modern and best functioning state and society in the Middle East.
Here's an overview of the US-Saudi relation:
<blockquote><http://hir.harvard.edu/articles/1297/>
Business as Usual
The Saudi-US Relationship
by Jean-Francois Seznec
From Energy, Vol. 26 (4) - Winter 2005
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Saudi-US relationship started with a common interest in oil. US
companies founded Saudi Aramco after British Petroleum had written off
the desert kingdom. Aramco, under US leadership, trained the large
number of Saudis who now comprise 92 percent of the country's work
force. The US oil company's shares in Aramco were eventually purchased
by the Saudi government in the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, Saudi Aramco
still uses US management and has become one of the world's most
respected oil companies. Aramco is largely free of political
interference and all of Saudi Aramco's senior managers hold degrees
from US universities and speak fondly of the United States.
The United States is also responsible for designing Saudi Arabia's
remarkable industrial development. The industrial cities of Jubail and
Yanbu were designed by Bectel. The Saudi development bank, Saudi
Industrial Development Fund, was organized by Chase Manhattan Bank.
The electric grid uses US standards and was to a great extent designed
by Stone and Webster after 1975. The largest petrochemical joint
ventures are between Sabic, a state-owned company, and ExxonMobil as
well as ChevronTexaco. The University of Petroleum and Minerals, which
trains oil engineers, was designed by US nationals, as were the most
advanced hospitals in the country.
The financial links between the authorities of Saudi Arabia and the
United States were also quite strong. The Saudis kept most of their
oil income in US dollars, invested in US government treasury bills,
thereby financing part of the chronic US deficit. All Aramco oil sales
are in dollars and are paid in US banks who then pass on the money to
Saudi Arabia's institutions' accounts, which are held in the same
banks. JP Morgan has had a permanent adviser at the Saudi Arabian
Monetary Agency for a number of years. The two countries are
inextricably linked in terms of finances.
Military cooperation is yet another area of extensive relations. The
joint Saudi-US military commission in Riyadh designed and arranged for
the purchase of huge arms systems including F-15s, F-16s, AWACS,
tanks, and missiles. These arms systems are maintained by US firms or
British firms using US parts. The Saudi National Guards are trained by
Vinnell Corporation. After the 1990 Gulf War, the United States
maintained a command center for the region together with a large
number of troops and airplanes in the Prince Sultan air base in
Al-Kharj south of Riyadh.
Until recently, all these links translated into hundreds of billions
of dollars in purchases in the United States by the Saudis. To this
day, Saudi Arabia imports more than US$4.5 billion per year from the
United States. Even though the number has substantially declined from
the US$10.5 billion of imports in 1998, it is still more than from any
other country. The links between the United States and Saudi Arabia
involved tens of thousands of Saudis and US citizens working together,
which should have provided ample opportunity for extensive cultural
exchanges and societal influence between the countries.
Previously, the Saudis helped the United States by increasing oil
production in times of supply stress. In 1982, when both Iran and Iraq
were forced to reduce their production, the Saudis increased oil
exports from 4.5 million barrels per day (mbd) to 7 mbd, bringing the
spike in price to a rapid end. In 1990, when both Kuwait and Iraq
stopped exporting, Saudi Arabia increased production to 9 mbd. After
September 11, the Saudis increased production by 500 mbd to help the
United States meet its needs at reduced prices. The Saudis also point
out that Aramco sells its oil in the United States and in the process
subsidizes US purchases by over one US dollar per barrel on the 1.5
mbd it sells to US firms. The Saudi Oil Minister repeatedly claims to
want a stable price of oil between US$22 and US$28 per OPEC barrel
(corresponding to about US$26 to US$34 per US-based barrel). The
Saudis have provided the United States with the assurance that they
will remain the stabilizer of world oil prices.
During the Cold War, the United States and Saudi Arabia found
additional common ground. The United States perceived the Saudis as a
rampart against the Soviet Union and Communism. The Saudis felt
comfortable developing with high-quality US technology. The Saudis
also saw the United States as a defender of last resort against the
Soviet proxies in the region, primarily Egypt, Syria, and South Yemen.
The United States as the main opponent of the "evil empire," could
provide security against the spread of "godless" anti-Saudi socialist
ideology and Arab nationalism.
When the Soviets got bogged down in their support of a socialist
regime in Afghanistan, the Saudis were content to become the proxy of
the United States. The Saudis, in particular the Saudi intelligence
directorate, led by Prince Turki al-Faysal, encouraged, armed, and
financed the resistance and, to a certain extent, "created" the
Taliban, with full US support.
The US policy of dual containment assured the Saudis that
post-Khomeini Iran and Iraq would be kept in check. In 1982, when Iraq
attacked Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States aligned to support
Iraq, providing them with funds, safe harbor for their Soviet-made
aircrafts, and oil to make up for their loss of production due to
Iranian attacks. The Saudis also allowed Iraq to build a pipeline for
the Iraqi southern fields to the Saudi harbor of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
This was done with the full support of the United States.
Again in 1990, the Saudis and the United States allied, but this time
against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Saudi state provided the bases
necessary for the US military, obtained permission from religious
institutions and religious segments of the Saudi population to allow
the presence of US troops in the land of the holy mosques, and also
increased oil production to make up for the loss of Kuwaiti and Iraqi
production during the conflict.</blockquote>
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
