Archive for 2012
December 30, 2012
The Saudis provided — at a minimum — money to al Qaeda. I know it. Kleiman knows it. Graham knows it. You know it. The administration knows it. The Saudis damn sure know it. Al Qaeda knows it. The families of the victims know it. I’ll lay odds that my Chinese taxi-driver on the way home tonight knows it. Yet its classified?!?
What’s this, the betrayal that dare not speak its name?
If the Bush administration’s plan does not ultimately include regime change in Saudi Arabia, it is destined for failure and the President is going to lose a lot of supporters very quickly. This had all better be part of a brilliant Machiavellian strategy to oust the House of Saud, while Poppy Bush lulls them into a false sense of security by groveling before them for donations to that sanctuary for the needy and oppressed, Andover Academy.
Fracking may do for the Saudi problem what a decade of diplomacy, “smart” and otherwise, has failed to do.
UPDATE: Reader Matt Borcherding writes:
Terrorism is also a Iranian export, fueled by their oil money. Russia’s thuggism, including its invasion of Georgia, is paid for by their oil and natural gas exports. Here in the Western Hemisphere, Venezuela’s oil funds Marxist support if not outright terrorism. But the same argument still applies to all: cheap fracking and shale oil equals less money to the enemies of progress, democracy, and freedom.
Indeed.
IRON BUTTERFLY: IN-A-GADDA DA VIDA.
EARLIER TODAY, I LINKED this article from the Stanford Law Review Online. Several readers point out that it says: “The vulnerability of reporters’ confidential relationships became front-page news in 2005, when Judith Miller, a reporter for the New York Times, spent eighty-five days in jail before finally revealing to a federal prosecutor the identity of the confidential source who outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative (her source turned out to be Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby).”
In fact, however, State Department official Richard Armitage, not Scooter Libby, was the source of the Plame leak. Yet this error persists.
CLAUDIA ROSETT: Girding For 2013. “Perhaps the most important bottom line in girding for 2013, is, if you care about capitalism and freedom, about a strong America and a safer, freer world, do not give up. There is a struggle of ideas going on here; and even when much seems lost — spun off the road, over the cliff — plenty may yet depend on even a few who keep the faith, and at the right moment, are ready with a plan.”
MOSTLY DEAD IS STILL SLIGHTLY ALIVE: Obama Defends Chuck Hagel.
Related: James Hormel: I question the sincerity of Chuck Hagel’s ‘so-called apology.’
UH OH: And It’s Biden in the Fiscal Cliff Home Stretch. My own suspicion is that Obama expects the economy to tank in 2013 and wants to hit the cliff so he can blame the Republicans. Which is silly, but the press will go along as usual so it’ll probably work. Putting Biden in charge certainly doesn’t indicate a desire for success.
REPORT: Hillary In Hospital With Blood Clot. “She is expected back at her desk on Monday, Mr Reines said. Mrs Clinton is due to give evidence before a Congressional committee on 10 January in connection with the attack in September on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi.”
PAGING ALEC GUINNESS: Cotton fabric cleans itself when exposed to ordinary sunlight.
CHANGE: Saudis Sweating Bullets As Energy Revolution Changes The Rules.
The US shale gas boom, drastically cutting the cost of gas, is shaking the foundations of the Saudi Arabian economic model—and more is coming. The highly profitable $100bn Gulf petrochemical industry is taking a hit as its biggest customer—the U.S.—is importing less and relying instead on domestic production.
US petrochemical companies, propelled by cheaper access to raw materials, are competing effectively against companies like the Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), the world’s largest chemical maker. Sabic also has some home-grown problems. The rapidly growing Saudi population wants to consume (subsidized) petrochemicals at home, air conditioning Saudi houses and running Saudi cars instead of exporting product abroad. Falling production, demand, and prices are beginning to hurt the once stalwart $89bn company. . . .
US gas prices have plummeted due to new techniques, known as fracking and horizontal drilling, developed to extract the vast deposits of shale gas in the North American bedrock. Production has jumped by nearly a quarter since 2000, reducing demand for Saudi gas. If China figures out how to exploit its own shale gas reserves the Saudis will have every reason to be nervous. The two pillars of the Saudi economy—oil and petrochemical exports—will both be on shaky ground.
But the changing energy landscape threatens more than economic consequences for the Gulf state. The US could surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by 2020, and this could mean big changes for US foreign policy and the domestic economy.
Terroristic Islam worldwide is basically a Saudi export, fueled by Saudi money. The less Saudi money, the better.
AFTER A DECADE THAT NO ONE COULD NAME, Tuesday we’ll enter the ‘Teens!
AT AMAZON, markdowns on Men’s Athletic Shoes & Boots.
Also, Women’s Athletic Shoes.
RATHER UNCONVINCINGLY, Obama Channels John McCain.
MORE ON Ray Kurzweil and Google.
PRESS: “There are many murders, but some get more media than others. . . . The media reports are — I must assume — a causal factor in the creation of a murderous impulse that some people are not going to be able to control. And yet, the media have their own irresistible impulse to publish these highly stimulating stories, an impulse which, by linking, I am stimulating.”
REVEALED BY GOOGLE: What America Really Thinks.
15 THINGS that overachievers do.
ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF SELLING Old Man’s War, John Scalzi has some thoughts. If you haven’t read the book, you ought to.
ADVICE ON LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS.
WHAT IT’S LIKE to be an adult without kids.
ON INSIDE WASHINGTON: Evan Thomas, Charles Krauthammer rip Obama for lack of fiscal cliff leadership.
“This is not Congress’ fault,” Thomas said. “Congress is behaving like Congress. This is the president’s fault. The president needs to go to the country and explain why they need to get this done. He has never done that.” . . . Thomas later reiterated his point by saying the aftermath of the election is a time for the president to spend his political capital not on gaining political advantage, but on solving a crisis.
“All political advances are with the president,” Thomas added. “What is he running for? He won, right? This is his time to actually take some political hits and tell the truth for a change instead of trying to get political advantage.”
He’s voting present while casting blame. But you gotta admit, that’s an approach that’s worked pretty well for him so far.