The terrorism in SA is religious and economic in nature. It is a country run by a single family that calls itself a theocracy. Even with its oil wealth, it has massive unemployment and seems on the verge of something ugly.
ccc.nps.navy.mil
"The problem in Saudi Arabia is that the middle class is shrinking, and the more poverty you have, the more fundamentalism you have."---Turki Hamad
Introduction
For an increasing number of its citizens, the Saudi Arabia of the heady years following the 1973-1974 oil price revolution is a land of fable and memory. Yet to many outside the Kingdom, the country's economic statistics may come as a shock. Population growth (about 3.3 percent per year) has exceeded Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for several decades. The result has been a decline in per capita GDP from more than U.S. $15,000 in 1980 to about U.S. $9,000 in 2003 (adjusted for inflation). There is high unemployment (20 to 30 percent by some measures), while up to 20-30 percent of the population falls below the poverty line...."
pbs.org
"...What you're saying is that, if we wanted to look for the causes of what's happened -- Al Qaeda and the movement worldwide -- we would have to look to the schools, to the educational system which Saudi Arabia has fostered in the Islamic world?
... In order to have terrorists, in order to have supporters for terrorists, in order to have people who are willing to interpret religion in violent ways, in order to have people who are willing to legitimate crashing yourself into a building and killing 5,000 innocent people, you need particular interpretations of Islam.
Those interpretations of Islam are being propagated out of schools that receive organizational and financial funding from Saudi Arabia. In fact, I would push it further: that these schools would not have existed without Saudi funding. They would not have proliferated across Pakistan and India and Afghanistan without Saudi funding. They would not have had the kind of prowess that they have without Saudi funding, and they would not have trained as many people without Saudi funding..."
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This is what Bush said about OBL 3/13/02:
"I truly am not that concerned about him"
Hm. The rightwing blame Clinton for not sending more rockets into training camps after OBL (of course they also blamed him for sending in any rockets into the training camps...can't win) so it's very fair to blame Bush for not getting OBL.
After he took office, Bush was told repeatedly about the AQ threat. The Cole investigation finally pinned the blame after Bush took office but Rice said they weren't going to do anything because it would look like 'tit for tat.' So yes it's very fair to blame Bush for not getting OBL.
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The price of crude is based on supply/demand over the long run and fear/greed on the spot market. 911 was how long ago? When did the price of oil rise to these levels?
I have heard that if China raises its standard of living to that of Mexico, it will use as much oil by itself as the entire world (including us) does today. THAT's a demand problem.
The supply problem could be peak oil.
healthandenergy.com
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Apparently you can get employee pricing on GM's cars. If you have a biz and can get a really, really heavy GM car, maybe you can also get the big taxbreak. |
