Support NeoGAF

[Inuhanyou]

That's our "staunch ally" there. Human rights leader of the world

 

[sturgboski]

Ugh now I almost want a president Trump. All of that document will be in Twitter in an instance.

 

[Stinkles]

Ugh now I almost want a president Trump. All of that document will be in Twitter in an instance.

That's not how anything works.

 

[Kyzer]

Ugh now I almost want a president Trump. All of that document will be in Twitter in an instance.

No. NO. Bad sturgboski. BAD.

 

[Battersea Power Station]

Saudi Arabia is on the verge of a collapse that will completely redefine the Middle East, and likely the world. Let's rip the bandage off now and meet it head on instead of waiting to be at the mercy of a Saudi financial meltdown.

 

[Linkified]

What US assets to Saudia Arabia have?

 

[sphagnum]

You could scarcely devise a greater axis of terrorism than the US-Saudi Arabia alliance. One provides the world's most advanced weaponry paired with a willingness to back anyone for the sake of realpolitik. The other provides the theological foundation, spreading the most viciously evil religious system that the world presently knows (Wahhabism). Combine the two and you get situations like the 1980s-2016 Afghanistan and the Syrian Civil War.

Shush. We're the good guys, remember?

 

[Makai]

So what? The money supply constricts and we print more to avoid deflation.

 

[Escape Goat]

What US assets to Saudia Arabia have?

$750 billion in treasury securities and other assets

 

[Condom]

If that happens, will the US have to pay reparations to Iraq?

Morally they should have to pay reperations no matter what, this should have nothing to do with it. As the world leader though the US can comfortably destroy weaker nations without having to care for such a thing.

 

[bill0527]

If that happens, will the US have to pay reparations to Iraq?

I totally get that sentiment but would that be a really wise idea for a country that's so unstable? The money would probably land in the hands of terrorists who will continue to blow up innocents around the world or get wasted in other ways.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/much-of...cial-auditors-final-report-to-congress-shows/

 

[dabig2]

You could scarcely devise a greater axis of terrorism than the US-Saudi Arabia alliance. One provides the world's most advanced weaponry paired with a willingness to back anyone for the sake of realpolitik. The other provides the theological foundation, spreading the most viciously evil religious system that the world presently knows (Wahhabism). Combine the two and you get situations like the 1980s-2016 Afghanistan and the Syrian Civil War.

Don't forget Yemen and the massive humanitarian crisis going on there right now. Thousands of civilians dead in just a year not to mention the massive infrastructure costs.

Oh, and also this nugget which I'm sure must come as a complete surprise:
Reuters: How Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen has made al Qaeda stronger – and richer

DUBAI/CAIRO – Once driven to near irrelevance by the rise of Islamic State abroad and security crackdowns at home, al Qaeda in Yemen now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the country’s third largest port.

If Islamic State’s capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then al Qaeda’s is Mukalla, a southeastern Yemeni port city of 500,000 people. Al Qaeda fighters there have abolished taxes for local residents, operate speedboats manned by RPG-wielding fighters who impose fees on ship traffic, and make propaganda videos in which they boast about paving local roads and stocking hospitals.

The economic empire was described by more than a dozen diplomats, Yemeni security officials, tribal leaders and residents of Mukalla. Its emergence is the most striking unintended consequence of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. The campaign, backed by the United States, has helped Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to become stronger than at any time since it first emerged almost 20 years ago.

Yemeni government officials and local traders estimated the group, as well as seizing the bank deposits, has extorted $1.4 million from the national oil company and earns up to $2 million every day in taxes on goods and fuel coming into the port.

AQAP boasts 1,000 fighters in Mukalla alone, controls 600 km (373 miles) of coastline and is ingratiating itself with southern Yemenis, who have felt marginalised by the country’s northern elite for years.

By adopting many of the tactics Islamic State uses to control its territory in Syria and Iraq, AQAP has expanded its own fiefdom. The danger is that the group, which organised the Charlie Hebdo magazine attack in Paris last year and has repeatedly tried to down U.S. airliners, may slowly indoctrinate the local population with its hardline ideology.

“I prefer that al Qaeda stay here, not for Al Mukalla to be liberated,” said one 47-year-old resident. “The situation is stable, more than any ‘free’ part of Yemen. The alternative to al Qaeda is much worse.”

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is struggling to extricate itself from the Yemeni quagmire a year after intervening in the country’s civil war. Riyadh is determined to deny bitter rival Iran sway over another Arab capital. It has focused on attacking the Houthis who have seized parts of northern Yemen and who are allied to Iran.

But despite thousands of aerial bombings, the Saudis and their Gulf allies have failed to push the Houthis from the capital Sanaa. An estimated 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed. A temporary ceasefire between the internationally recognised government, which is backed by the Saudis, and the Houthis is due to begin on April 10.
...

It never fucking ends, does it. No lessons will be learned. Rinse repeat.

 

[JPLMD]

Yes Saudi Arabia go ahead and sell all your assets and watch your country go into complete economic collapse. And I'm sure they just have all of that 750 billion lying around waiting to be sold in a heartbeat. Empty threats.

 

[Oppo]

We don't negotiate with terrorists.

that really ought to be the answer

also this threat is empty, particularly in light of oil prices lately

 

[dapperbandit]

The Saudi doth protest too much

 

[Deserted Maniac Island]

Saudi Arabia is quite literally on the verge of collapse. With oil prices at an all time low, high government spending due to social programs and a war in Yemen, Shia population unrest, and western allies distancing them selves, Saudi Arabia can't sustain it self for too long. At least the UAE is diversifying their economy, and are relatively a more open culture (Key word relatively). The thing I'm worried about is what happens to the population, which is the almost the same as Canada (30 million people), as a Saudi Arabian what happens to us, thank god I live in Canada. Its easy and all to say good riddance to Saudi Arabia, but its a country with people in it after all.

... This is not helping, I fucking hate Saudi Arabia.

 

[sphagnum]

Don't forget Yemen and the massive humanitarian crisis going on there right now. Thousands of civilians dead in just a year not to mention the massive infrastructure costs.

Oh, and also this nugget which I'm sure must come as a complete surprise:
Reuters: How Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen has made al Qaeda stronger – and richer


It never fucking ends, does it. No lessons will be learned. Rinse repeat.

Hahahaha oh god *shoots self in head*

 

[Wag]

Nice blackmailing Saudi Arabia. Fuck those guys.

I think you mean extortion.

If the Saudis stopped promoting Wahhabism this wouldn't be a problem.

 

[pj]

If they flood the market with treasuries they'll have to sell them at a steep discount. What's stopping us from buying them ourselves and lowering our debt?

 

[Nibiru]

We have known of Saudi involvement in 9/11 since day one so if neither administration has done anything about it by now then the issue is doa imo.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

:lol This is such a hollow threat. Just sell them already Saudi Arabia, you're going to have trouble selling that much debt to others at a reasonable price. This will have no long term effects on us so not sure why people are making a big deal of it.

 

[FZZ]

What a bunch of babies

 

[gutter_trash]

majority of 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals

15 out of 19

 

[Luschient]

Makes me so fucking sick the lengths our govt has gone to to "protect" SA from any 9/11 implications over the years.

 

[RustyNails]

This is bluff. KSA cannot afford to divest from US. Tadawwul would collapse.

 

[Kyzer]

USA buys back all its assets, SA totally powerless. We won the long game

 

[Abstrusity]

For anyone worried about that, China has been selling hundreds of billions of US assets over the last two years. They always find a buyer because they're stable investments, especially right now, that we're t he best industrialized economy in the world, systemically. They're trying to play up fears in the uneducated, who just so happen to have marginally more educated representatives in government who have also been playing asset dump/debt fears.

SA will only harm itself doing this.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

So they were involved then.

 

[Timeaisis]

I hope we call them on this.

 

[darkinstinct]

Nice blackmailing Saudi Arabia. Fuck those guys.

Yes, but I wouldn't call it blackmail. Of course they have to protect their assets, the US justice system has proven more than once that it can do some really stupid stuff. And to go to war with Afghanistan and later Iraq only to find fifteen years later that it might have been Saudi Arabia is messed up.

 

[Abstrusity]

So they were involved then.

Well, I mean, it's better than blaming Israel for it, I suppose. Still, I would like to see the entire thing uncensored. I've HEARD about Mossad information assets being in the area a the time of the attack, and my gut says they warned about the attack, too. A lot of misinformation likely disseminated from conspiracy theories surround it, but it's been almost 15 years.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

So when are we going to threaten to move all energy production to domestic means and tell all the oil exporting nations to go fuck themselves?

We have enough oil from offshore drilling and fracking, plus building nuclear, hydroelectric, and solar plants, to become energy independent at staggering cost. We could do it if we wanted. Don't fuck with us Saudis.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

The US could begin by stopping whoring its navy out to Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

 

[BearFlexington]

Is the thread title misleading, or the article content? The thread title implies that the trigger is being blamed for 9/11, while the articles are implying that the trigger is being able to be blamed.

If it's the latter, that does make these threats seem a bit... overly defensive?

They know that 9/11 is a golden ticket for "boots on the ground" that never expires.

 

[cameron]

SA doesn't appear to have any leverage here. And the controlling stake in high value treasury securities doesn't seem to be the main issue.

The Senate bill is intended to make clear that the immunity given to foreign nations under the law should not apply in cases where nations are found culpable for terrorist attacks that kill Americans on United States soil. If the bill were to pass both houses of Congress and be signed by the president, it could clear a path for the role of the Saudi government to be examined in the Sept. 11 lawsuits.

Obama administration officials counter that weakening the sovereign immunity provisions would put the American government, along with its citizens and corporations, in legal risk abroad because other nations might retaliate with their own legislation. Secretary of State John Kerry told a Senate panel in February that the bill, in its current form, would “expose the United States of America to lawsuits and take away our sovereign immunity and create a terrible precedent.”

The bill’s sponsors have said that the legislation is purposely drawn very narrowly — involving only attacks on American soil — to reduce the prospect that other nations might try to fight back.

¯\_(&#12484_/¯

Don't know who to agree with. Not knowing anything, I'm tempted to say "if you've done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to worry about" could apply here. Haha. Applies to both SA and the US. But I assume that's not how this shit works.

I wanna see the conclusion contained in that 28 page report.

 

[Ogodei]

GOP has the right idea for once. Get fucked, al-Saud.

 

[Goro Majima]

So when are we going to threaten to move all energy production to domestic means and tell all the oil exporting nations to go fuck themselves?

We have enough oil from offshore drilling and fracking, plus building nuclear, hydroelectric, and solar plants, to become energy independent at staggering cost. We could do it if we wanted. Don't fuck with us Saudis.

Someone could correct me but I believe the vast majority of oil that is refined in the US is from the Western Hemisphere...particularly Canada. I think the bigger concern is Saudi not trading their oil for dollars or not selling it on the open market somehow.

So even if we are "energy independent" (and we easily could be), it's all still valued at the open market price and Saudi could change the game to increase that price dramatically.

It would also ironically be exactly the opposite strategy they've been playing to destroy US oil and gas. I know Houstonians would love nothing more than for Saudi to take their ball and go home.

 

[akira28]

If that happens, will the US have to pay reparations to Iraq?

God I hope so

 

[Joezie]

I always liked Kuwait better anyway.

 

[Q8D3vil]

I always liked Kuwait better anyway.

Thanks.
Saudi are real assholes.

 

[gutter_trash]

it is high time for the US and Canada to partner up and self sustain a North American energy policy on fossil fuels and cut-off the evil Saudi out of the equation all together.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Someone could correct me but I believe the vast majority of oil that is refined in the US is from the Western Hemisphere...particularly Canada. I think the bigger concern is Saudi not trading their oil for dollars or not selling it on the open market somehow.

So even if we are "energy independent" (and we easily could be), it's all still valued at the open market price and Saudi could change the game to increase that price dramatically.

It would also ironically be exactly the opposite strategy they've been playing to destroy US oil and gas. I know Houstonians would love nothing more than for Saudi to take their ball and go home.

Yeah, most of our oil is from Canada. They have a lot of it and happen to be our largest bilateral trading partner.

In a situation where we were truly energy independent, we wouldn't need to buy oil on the open market so the market price would be largely irrelevant. We would just set our own domestic price for domestic consumption and ignore the market as we wouldn't participate in it. This is pretty much what the oil exporting nations do for domestic consumers.

And yes, it would be a huge net positive for America if oil prices suddenly shot through the roof. Unlike in the 1970's, we have the technology and resources to achieve energy independence. But with oil prices being held as cheap as they are, we just don't have an financial incentive to pursue that goal even though it's arguably in the national interest.

We dare you to give us the financial incentive, Saudi Arabia.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

Fuck em. All the oil in the world isnt worth the monumental hypocrisy of supporting a medieval theocratic shitstate like them.

 

[Anfang]

.0000001% it could be true but what if it was the long con. From a Reddit user:

If you think about it, the US played a perfect end game. They knew Saudi Arabia was responsible for 9/11, but played along since taking Mecca would have united the entire Middle East and started a huge regional war. So the US started to chip away at every 'Cold War'-armed ME nation with direct invasions (Afghanistan, Iraq), revolutions (Arab Spring, Syria), and sanctions (Iran) until none were left standing.

Last year, the US 'made a deal' with Iran to lift sanctions in exchange for non-interference in future conflicts (Iran reduced forces in Syria as an act of good faith). Saudi Arabia knew its time was running out so they put their Wahhabi terrorism project (ISIS) into overdrive to delay/deter US intervention.

This is near the end for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The US has started to use its most powerful tool, the mass media, to rally their people and inform them of the true enemy. Economic withdrawal or military intervention will result, and the Kingdom will fall. There will be more terrorist attacks as this process continues, but we must hold steadfast and let justice be done.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

 

[Sorc3r3r]

Ugh now I almost want a president Trump. All of that document will be in Twitter in an instance.

Yeah, almost is the key word.

Funny situation btw.

 

[Kurdel]

.0000001% it could be true but what if it was the long con. From a Reddit user:

If you think about it, the US played a perfect end game. They knew Saudi Arabia was responsible for 9/11, but played along since taking Mecca would have united the entire Middle East and started a huge regional war. So the US started to chip away at every 'Cold War'-armed ME nation with direct invasions (Afghanistan, Iraq), revolutions (Arab Spring, Syria), and sanctions (Iran) until none were left standing.

Last year, the US 'made a deal' with Iran to lift sanctions in exchange for non-interference in future conflicts (Iran reduced forces in Syria as an act of good faith). Saudi Arabia knew its time was running out so they put their Wahhabi terrorism project (ISIS) into overdrive to delay/deter US intervention.

This is near the end for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The US has started to use its most powerful tool, the mass media, to rally their people and inform them of the true enemy. Economic withdrawal or military intervention will result, and the Kingdom will fall. There will be more terrorist attacks as this process continues, but we must hold steadfast and let justice be done.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

This isn't the case, and that conspiracy theory is loony.

Elements of the SA gov could mean one of the hundred+ princes. Still a finger in the eye of the SA state, but to say the State is responsable and the US had a decade long plan to take them down is insane.

 

[Deserted Maniac Island]

Yeah, most of our oil is from Canada. They have a lot of it and happen to be our largest bilateral trading partner.

In a situation where we were truly energy independent, we wouldn't need to buy oil on the open market so the market price would be largely irrelevant. We would just set our own domestic price for domestic consumption and ignore the market as we wouldn't participate in it. This is pretty much what the oil exporting nations do for domestic consumers.

And yes, it would be a huge net positive for America if oil prices suddenly shot through the roof. Unlike in the 1970's, we have the technology and resources to achieve energy independence. But with oil prices being held as cheap as they are, we just don't have an financial incentive to pursue that goal even though it's arguably in the national interest.

We dare you to give us the financial incentive, Saudi Arabia.

It's not simply the need for oil that drives the relationship between Saudi Arabia and America, it's also a geopolitical relationship. Saudi Arabia is against Iran (Russia's ally), so Saudi Arabia keeps Iran's 'expansion' efforts to a minimum (Thus Russia's sphere of influence). Thats also why America is staunchly supporting Israel (The only 'real' democracy in the middle east).

 

[TheRealTalker]

Okay let us say America fully blames the Saudis for 2001 attack

Then what?

Invade? Kill a ton of people who were youngsters at the time of the event who are now adults?

Bring that Democracy of Freedom they are known for.

After they wipe Saudi Arabia off the map with death then who is next... Iran? Then who else is next?

I am taking about pure invasion here of any country... it seems that is the only thing America loves to do. Invade and point fingers that they're never wrong.

 

[Abounder]

No wonder the West is improving relations with Iran; Saudi Arabia is on the downtrend

 

[ColdPizza]

USA buys back all its assets, SA totally powerless. We won the long game

Should just take them back. Muahaha.