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Who Needs Enemies? by Robert Gore

Posted by straightlinelogic 9 years, 5 months ago to Government
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If, way back in 2001, the Bush administration had been serious, as it said it was, about going after “state sponsors of terrorism,” the first front should have opened against Saudi Arabia. Most of the 9/11 jihadists and suspected mastermind Osama bin Laden were from Saudi Arabia, and there is strong suspicion that 28 pages of the Senate report on its investigation of 9/11 that has still not been publicly released (notwithstanding an Obama promise to do so) contain damning evidence of wealthy Saudis’ and the Saudi government’s involvement.

The Saudis and the US had supported the Afghan Mujahideen—led by bin Laden—who bedeviled the Soviets in the 1970s and 1980s (see “A Perfect Time to Leave the Middle East”). The 9/11 attacks were neither the first nor the last time that the US government’s designs to “use” Islamic extremist group have blown up in its face. As Putin noted: “Gentlemen, the people you are dealing with are cruel but they are not dumb. They are as smart as you are. So, it’s a big question: who’s playing who here?”

This is an excerpt. For the full article, please click the link above.


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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Comrade Left of Left and Comrade Right of Left. That is really a dismal choice.

    Not with a bang but a whimper...
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You know what we did back in the days after 9/11. When we switched to the Patriot Act, gave up all that civil rights bill of rights crap, went to a one party system of government with Comrade Obeyme in charge....That the one you mean?

    Not with a bang but a whimper......
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    What happens? Nothing ......not with a bang but a whimper...just .....nothing... too busy crying to notice they got what they asked for...nothing.

    Meanwhile I'm going to have a good chateaubriand with a nice sauce ...some fresh......and a little smidgen of ....

    What's on your menu?
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Most people couldn't see their nose as they cut it off to spite their face. A great many are always standing behind the door when intellect is passed out and, as humans, having no instinct as a fall back are happily doomed.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    yes, and it's such a b!tch keeping track of the previous lies
    you might have told -- gets all tangled up! -- j
    .
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This is one of the things that beggars my imagination: I cannot understand why people do not see that if you just deal with insight and integrity with the people around you, you will prosper. 'Insight' is necessary or those dishonest people around you will take you to the cleaners if you are not wary, and 'integrity' because then you will not only be the first choice for other people to interact with but you won't have to waste so much effort in maintaining your manipulations, secret deals and outright lies.

    Jan
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Excellent point. That is growing to compete with oil driven dollar demand. Oil demand for dollars is about $1.5 trillion per year and fluctuates with oil prices. The debt service can enslave a lot of other resource markets to dollars. That petro state debt could be a factor in keeping the oil trade tied to dollars. OTOH, it could be an incentive to crash the dollar to reduce the debt. I think the US military's drone program may be a bigger influence to the dictators of the oil producers. It appears that none of them are students of history.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Actually, the primary reason for the dollar's current strength is that the Fed's ZIRP policy has made the dollar a "funding" currency and corporate borrowers and governments have incurred dollar-denominated debt. In effect, they are short dollars, and now that debt is contracting, they are a bid for dollars. The amounts are not insignificant. Emerging market corporate dollar-denominated debt is in the neighborhood of $9 trillion. I'm not sure of numbers for EM governments or developed world corporations and governments, but again, they are not insignificant. The petro states would be a bid for dollars even if the oil trade wasn't denominated in dollars, because they have significant dollar debt. Right now, they want to denominate the oil trade in dollars to service that debt. If the Fed raises interest rates this week, it will amplify the pain, since some of the dollar debt is floating rate. For many EM nations, the commodity collapse has acted as a margin call on their debt. The collapsing debt bubble and deflation will continue to act as a medium-term prop to the dollar.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The main reason the dollar has been resilient is that nearly every transaction to trade oil must be paid for in dollars. That created a demand for dollars for every country that buys oil. All the oil importers in the world must have dollars to pay for it regardless of whether they want to hold dollars at all. The oil ministers could crush the dollar instantly by stating they will accept euros, pounds, and yuan. The demand for dollars would plummet and the dollar would fall ~30% in a few weeks.
    Supply and demand.
    Of course the looters in the banking industry would be tipped off first, so they would have time to short the dollar, causing it to start to fall even before the announcement.
    (There are other less important reasons for the dollar's long time strength. The second reason the dollar was strong was the US held a large amount of gold and until the 70's backed the dollar with gold, but both those things have changed. The third reason was the US leadership in trade and manufacturing in the world which is no more. The fourth reason is threat of military action by the US. That is the only reason that would remain.)
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  • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I did mention Saudi support for the petrodollar system, but only in passing and I failed to mention the consequences if it was abandoned. Thanks for pointing it out.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years, 5 months ago
    This is clear evidence of the Hegelian Dialectic in action. It's no longer a theory.
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  • Posted by wiggys 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I never worry about our dollar. there are so many out there that it will not be replaced. Go any where in the world with it and it is accepted. Come here wit any other currency and you are told it looks like monopoly money. You just can't hurt it.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 5 months ago
    we keep playing both ends against the middle, and then
    wondering "Wha Happun?" -- we need to grow up. -- j
    .
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 5 months ago
    I dont believe anything I hear from politicians nowadays. And since I have so little influence or power to affect their actions, I just have to deal with my own life and let the system crash.
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  • Posted by $ HeroWorship 9 years, 5 months ago
    Never let a tragedy go to waste. It it bleeds, it is an opportunity to grab more power.
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  • Posted by wiggys 9 years, 5 months ago
    It is all about money.

    Because the world economy is between the toilet bowl and the ocean, everybody is doing what ever they can now to get their share. All who die are collateral damage and the porn pushers do not care. Russia would love to make a mistake and bomb the saudi oil infrastructure. Say what you will but it all boils down to MONEY. Why else would it be written up in the WSJ!
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 5 months ago
    Surprised you didn't mention one of the most significant items that prevent rational action in the middle east regarding the Saudis: the US dollar.
    Any action against the Saudi's would be the death of the near-monopoly petro-dollar trading and that would mean an immediate plunge in the dollar's value. This could cause skyrocketing inflation in the US, imo, reversing all the benefits of the boom in oil and gas production.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago
    I still say that there is a chasm between what most people think and what most politicians think they think. That's what Trump has tapped into. Some of the Terrible Ten are just starting to get it and are beginning to grow hawk feathers. There are other factors for Trump's success, but protecting the homeland and making it safe for oneself, one's family and friends is more important than the economy, and every other issue. Plus, it is the first duty of a political executive.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 5 months ago
    "[sarcasm]Of course there would be no blowback from taking out both the Sunni side and the Shiite side, and no possibility, with Russia and Iran as potential opponents, of unintended consequences."
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