Our Great Negotiator

[sleigh]

King George is on the final leg of his Middle East grand tour. Thank god. I don't think we could afford to have him stay out there much longer.

First he went to Israel -- his first visit there since he took office: obviously he doesn't think that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict requires much presidential attention. He had the two sides sit down together, they made the expected polite noises, and as soon as King George left, they went back to provocations and killings as usual.

Then he moved on to Saudi Arabia, where he handed the Saudis lots of nice new weaponry. Gee, wonder who'll be on the receiving end of that stuff?

During a speech there, he did his best to ease Iranian tensions by gently stating "Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror." Such delicate diplomacy!

Finally, King George then got on bended knee and begged the Saudis to up production of oil so as to ease the prices here. The Saudi Arabian minister of petroleum and natural resources responded that Saudi Arabia "will raise production when the market justifies it" and not before.

King George did not respond by saying "Well then, that weapons deal? Forget it."

I can't wait until we have an actual foreign policy again.

Comments

Oil

[casaubon.livejournal.com]

I don't think Saudi Arabia has enough spare capacity to dent the price much.

Re: Oil

[madtruk.livejournal.com]

I think, though, the thought process revolves around:

"If we provide you with high tech weaponry, please increase your production and weigh in on our side during your OPEC meetings as opposed to China's."

Whether the actual amount would vary significantly isn't the point with oil commodity sales. These prices are currently being driven by the appearance of scarcity (I mean, real scarcity to the point of rarity) and not by actual market supply. So, and perceived boost in production would lessen the drive of the speculators and thus lead to a lowering of prices. One look at the increase in refinery production should tell us all that the supply hasn't changed-the perception of that supply has (along with increased demand, but that had to happen-wait for the $2500 car to hit the market!). If gas prices truly followed oil, we'd be paying $5 a gallon right now.

The supply, being finite, won't change until it's actually gone, something we won't necessarily hear about until the last moment.

Re: Oil

[casaubon.livejournal.com]

I'm paying about $9 a gallon (go UK!).

Supply is based on rig count & refinery capacity, so it is subject to change regardless of what's actually left in the reservoir. It's just expensive and slow to change.

I take your point about the price depending on speculators perceptions rather than reality, but I imagine smoothing things over with Iran would do more than pumping a few more million barrels.

Re: Oil

[madtruk.livejournal.com]

I agree. Like Sleigh, I believe if we ever get a real foreign policy again, it would be wondrous.

If you get the chance, there's a great piece in The Onion "written" by Jimmy Carter regarding the peace process. I would have to say it's generally Not Safe for Work if anyone cares about vulgarity, but, oh my, if you know anything about the man, it's funny.

And sad, like all good political humor.

[madtruk.livejournal.com]

Wait-this is a foreign policy. It's a terrible way to go about it, but you have to admit it's there ;-).

My favorite bits are the ones that history will forget, like the fact that, even after a legal injunction, they are still editing what he actually says to what he was supposed to say for inclusion in the historical record.

A bunch of nasty lying liars, and we better hope the next batch wakes up and realizes the handbasket is getting pretty full and picking up steam.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

There's a new community that became an instant favorite of mine: wtf_humans. A recent post named the aforementioned individual as George Wtf Bush.

[alces2.livejournal.com]

Actually I think he's just working on the oil connections for after he leaves office. At least he got to dance with a sword, hold hands with Saudi royalty and kiss a young Saudi girl on the cheek. I wonder how hard she scrubbed her face after that one. Anyway, first we have to go through a recession, increasing lay-offs and the continuing decline of the dollar.