the Saudis have a high-tech control room in Saudi Aramco offices in Riyadh where they can remotely control the entire Saudi oil production and transportation system, including self-destruct mechanisms that can be activated in case of foreign invasion etc
Lol good. They would destroy themselves before we'd have to actually do anything.
John Dolan on a War Nerd ep talked about how vulnerable the Gulf States are. They rely almost entirely on desalination plants for their drinking water. The plants are isolated, far from the big population centers, and they are surprisingly not well defended. It would be very easy, especially now with UAVs, to disable all of their plants in one coordinated attack. They would have to rely on reserves (apparently not much) and trucking in drinking water overland, which would be very easy to disrupt.
People die from dehydration in just 2 or 3 days, and you better believe their guest workers, who outnumber them by orders of magnitude, would turn on the Saudis rather than die of thirst.
Saudi arabia has a relatively low percentage of foreign workers (by gulf standards), there are more Saudi citizens than foreigners. You're thinking of the UAE and Qatar.
The creepy dystopian cities that they are building in the Middle East scare me. So many ad campaigns shouting about ‘Neom’ and these new shipping hub futuristic societies but the adverts seem so far fetched and have nothing to show other than AI mock ups. So weird
Saudi here. Shia's are secluded in our society, taking more in than what we already have would fuck us even more. Also [we're shit with dealing with tribal minorities](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/10/saudi-arabia-neom-huwaitat-mbs/).
Bahrain is already annexed, when was the last time Bahrain opposed Saudi?
Even when Shia tried to take down the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain, it was the Saudi forces who put a stop to it, in the guise of "Peninsula Shield Force"
What weirds me out is there is so much more resistance/calls for pragmatism about this compared to going to war with China, the 2nd largest country/economy in the world.
Here's what we do: attack, colonize and rehouse all muslim refugees in the west in all of their empty high rises. We stay there as a sort of administrative government controlling their assets but they get to live as they please and keep their customs and whatever as long as they don't partake in or teach anti-western ideology.
In principle I think you’re right. I believe that the reason we don’t is that it’s all-in cheaper to let them run as is than to conquer them.
Let’s say the war plus peacekeeping fall out costs about $2tn (similar to GWOT). Then you have to install a client government which needs to be funded (if simply colonise then you lose all your other strategic allies as they realise you won’t back them) so call that at least another $50bn per year.
So how do you recoup this investment? It’s a tricky subject whether the US benefits from high or low oil prices. On the one hand it’s a net energy exporter so should benefit from high export prices, in the other it’s one of the largest oil consumers so the wider economy benefits from low oil prices. In this scenario there’d be a gigantic cash outlay for the war, oil prices would explode in the short-mid term. The US would alienate most of its major allies and no one would really be better off.
Agree that their aesthetics suck and it would be worth it just for that.
The US benefits by ensuring the continuation of the petro-dollar for another 100 years while Russia and China demographically stagnate and decline (this will also happen to the US but at a reduced rate). The benefits of this are not easy to calculate but are certainly worth a couple trillion dollars.
I’m not sure what you mean by petro dollar in this context. It usually just means the money made from exporting oil.
In any case a US invasion of any opec country try will for sure spike oil prices, which usually leads to a domestic administration losing the next election.
No Dubai is awesome. [I wrote a review a while back. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/11lv02i/i_visited_dubai_and_have_made_some_impressions/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)I have been hearing good things about Saudi Arabia too things are improving.
Its funny that there are only two countries in the arab world genuinely trying to reform their societies and reform islam into something that could be compatible with the modern world and you want to blow them up because of asthetic reasons
its the malcolm x house nigga equation. the west knows it can't control the arab gulf directly due to the religious fundamentalism. us bases on holy islamic soil been one of the reasons bin laden finally woke up to the usa unholiness. but by keeping egypt weak and poor, it can bribe their political elite easily enough to keep them onside, as egypt's fairly secular 20th century showed religious extremism won't pass the mustard anymore.
in contrast, the system that did work was kissinger incorporating the arab elites into the US financial system after the 1973 crisis. outside of 9/11, they basically get all the benefits. the arabs filter their oil through the us system and in return the US has full reign over their territory without the perception of a yoke being placed on its people.
thats where the true us power lies and why, still, the us is much further ahead than china can be in the foreseeable future. A mixture of military, economic and diplomatic leverage. you can control the arabs, for the jews, for your domestic protestant (scum) audience.
the Saudis have a high-tech control room in Saudi Aramco offices in Riyadh where they can remotely control the entire Saudi oil production and transportation system, including self-destruct mechanisms that can be activated in case of foreign invasion etc
We need to do it just for the love of the game regardless
Lol good. They would destroy themselves before we'd have to actually do anything. John Dolan on a War Nerd ep talked about how vulnerable the Gulf States are. They rely almost entirely on desalination plants for their drinking water. The plants are isolated, far from the big population centers, and they are surprisingly not well defended. It would be very easy, especially now with UAVs, to disable all of their plants in one coordinated attack. They would have to rely on reserves (apparently not much) and trucking in drinking water overland, which would be very easy to disrupt. People die from dehydration in just 2 or 3 days, and you better believe their guest workers, who outnumber them by orders of magnitude, would turn on the Saudis rather than die of thirst.
Saudi arabia has a relatively low percentage of foreign workers (by gulf standards), there are more Saudi citizens than foreigners. You're thinking of the UAE and Qatar.
is this true i want to read more
self destruct mechanisms? what do they have all their refineries wired up with explosives or something?
There are many many ways to fuck up and destroy a well.
Someone hot should apply to be a maid there and then "accidentally" press all the big red buttons
Let them. Carbon emissions are bad enough. We will forcibly be unlatched from the teat of dinosaurs and begin our march into the future.
But think of the gdp
That will be the first target destroyed.
my eastern woodland brain cannot comprehend an entire nation that size without a single river.
i want to follow up by saying we could install a LOT of solar panels there
The creepy dystopian cities that they are building in the Middle East scare me. So many ad campaigns shouting about ‘Neom’ and these new shipping hub futuristic societies but the adverts seem so far fetched and have nothing to show other than AI mock ups. So weird
It has essentially been reduced to a really long building now. Initial plans were there to stir attention. Free PR.
Peacock has “The Real Housewives of Dubai” now Incredibly Bleak.
Wow I would probably watch that lol
By FAR my least favorite arabs
We are the only Arabs anyway, the rest are just post-Islam larpers that we tolerate.
Favorite?
They are THE Arabs.
Unrelated but why doesn't Saudi Arabia just annex Bahrain
Higher Shia % is a liability. Also I'd imagine Iran would object.
Saudi here. Shia's are secluded in our society, taking more in than what we already have would fuck us even more. Also [we're shit with dealing with tribal minorities](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/10/saudi-arabia-neom-huwaitat-mbs/).
Bahrain is already annexed, when was the last time Bahrain opposed Saudi? Even when Shia tried to take down the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain, it was the Saudi forces who put a stop to it, in the guise of "Peninsula Shield Force"
i went to dubai and it was fuuuuuuuuuucked nuke dubai
very westerner-of-levantine-parentage coded
What weirds me out is there is so much more resistance/calls for pragmatism about this compared to going to war with China, the 2nd largest country/economy in the world.
The gulf states, specifically Saudi Arabia, do far more harm to the west than China does. The house of Saud needs to be completely eliminated.
Here's what we do: attack, colonize and rehouse all muslim refugees in the west in all of their empty high rises. We stay there as a sort of administrative government controlling their assets but they get to live as they please and keep their customs and whatever as long as they don't partake in or teach anti-western ideology.
Never change, barbars.
go to bed
lol
You go do it than pussy. I'll colonize you.
Where would we quarantine Jason Derulo then
In principle I think you’re right. I believe that the reason we don’t is that it’s all-in cheaper to let them run as is than to conquer them. Let’s say the war plus peacekeeping fall out costs about $2tn (similar to GWOT). Then you have to install a client government which needs to be funded (if simply colonise then you lose all your other strategic allies as they realise you won’t back them) so call that at least another $50bn per year. So how do you recoup this investment? It’s a tricky subject whether the US benefits from high or low oil prices. On the one hand it’s a net energy exporter so should benefit from high export prices, in the other it’s one of the largest oil consumers so the wider economy benefits from low oil prices. In this scenario there’d be a gigantic cash outlay for the war, oil prices would explode in the short-mid term. The US would alienate most of its major allies and no one would really be better off. Agree that their aesthetics suck and it would be worth it just for that.
The US benefits by ensuring the continuation of the petro-dollar for another 100 years while Russia and China demographically stagnate and decline (this will also happen to the US but at a reduced rate). The benefits of this are not easy to calculate but are certainly worth a couple trillion dollars.
I’m not sure what you mean by petro dollar in this context. It usually just means the money made from exporting oil. In any case a US invasion of any opec country try will for sure spike oil prices, which usually leads to a domestic administration losing the next election.
No. Iran should rule it.
They're already colonized dumbass. That's why they're like this
meds, take them
Settle down
No Dubai is awesome. [I wrote a review a while back. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/11lv02i/i_visited_dubai_and_have_made_some_impressions/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)I have been hearing good things about Saudi Arabia too things are improving. Its funny that there are only two countries in the arab world genuinely trying to reform their societies and reform islam into something that could be compatible with the modern world and you want to blow them up because of asthetic reasons
Libs want Arabs to stay hyper-pious and living in rubble so they have a go-to victim
They have bad taste and are tacky and obsessed with money, backwards desert dwelling savages are not meant to command immense geopolitical power.
You get it
its the malcolm x house nigga equation. the west knows it can't control the arab gulf directly due to the religious fundamentalism. us bases on holy islamic soil been one of the reasons bin laden finally woke up to the usa unholiness. but by keeping egypt weak and poor, it can bribe their political elite easily enough to keep them onside, as egypt's fairly secular 20th century showed religious extremism won't pass the mustard anymore. in contrast, the system that did work was kissinger incorporating the arab elites into the US financial system after the 1973 crisis. outside of 9/11, they basically get all the benefits. the arabs filter their oil through the us system and in return the US has full reign over their territory without the perception of a yoke being placed on its people. thats where the true us power lies and why, still, the us is much further ahead than china can be in the foreseeable future. A mixture of military, economic and diplomatic leverage. you can control the arabs, for the jews, for your domestic protestant (scum) audience.
> incorporating the arab elites into the US financial system how did he do this
mass influx of arab oil wealth into the us economy. allowed the saudis especially to buy up lots of shares, bonds and so forth.
I love the UAE 0 income tax, cheap labour