DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD, THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!!

[redrumloa]

The death of OPEC
http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topst ... -opec.aspx

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday, saying it would not honor the cartel's production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran.

As the world's largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.

As the Saudis left the building, the message was shockingly clear. “Saudi Arabia will meet the market’s demand,” a senior OPEC delegate told the New York Times. “We will see what the market requires and we will not leave a customer without oil."

OPEC needs the Saudis to have any credibility in terms of pricing, supply, and the ongoing success of its bully pulpit. By failing to keep its most critical member, it forfeits its leverage.

OPEC has made no announcement about any possibility of dissolving, but the process is already over.

 

[Glaucus]

That's awesome. I'm sure all the Saudi political prisoners rotting away in their forgotten cells are doing a little dance for you too.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Well, the Saudis couldn't allow the US to sink. US supplied weapons and intelligence is all that stops the locals from stringing up the royal family.

 

[redrumloa]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

 

[Robert]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

I love the mendaciousness of this, "you hate the USA so bad......" patter when nobody said they hate the USA.

Is that even a full rung further up the ladder than, "when did you stop beating your wife?"

 

[metalman]

"when did you stop beating your wife?"

Paraphrasing Buck Owens :wink:

Where, where, are you tonight?
Why did you leave me here all alone?
I searched the internet over,
thought I found a "submissive",
You met a new "Dom" and
Phht! you were gone.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

There are those that claim that if you wouldn't gladly accept Dubya's tongue in your mouth then you hate the USA too. What do you say to that you un-American freedom hater!!

 

[faethor]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

Well Canada is our #1 oil importer. If they can get OPEC out of the picture then the evil liberals can lock up the market in the USA even more. It's all in their plan to get the USA to pay for their free healthcare.

 

[redrumloa]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

I love the mendaciousness of this, "you hate the USA so bad......" patter when nobody said they hate the USA.

Is that even a full rung further up the ladder than, "when did you stop beating your wife?"

You are asking *me* this question? Ask yourself that question.

 

[ilwrath]

Wow... That is pretty monumental. The Saudi's walking on OPEC. The question does become why...

As Fluffy stated, sure... the Saudi royals are supported by the US funding and weapons. They may not want to cross the US and hurt the rest of the West by cutting production. But, as US influence is waning, and it's seen as the stylish thing to turn the screws a bit lately. So I don't see siding with the US and West is a particularly popular move with neighboring countries or even their own people.

Personally, a move like this makes me wonder about supplies... Middle East Oil reserves are not well documented. Maybe the Saudi royals think the other OPEC nations have less reserves than Saudi Arabia does. If so, it would be to the Saudi's advantage to keep the cheap oil flowing now, in an effort to "drink their friends under the table" so to speak. Be the last one left in the game with oil reserves to sell, and you don't need a cartel, you are the absolute leader.



As an aside... What the hell happened around here? Why all the nonsense and name calling? Do we need to give both sides a good timeout and a bottle? It sure sounds like it.

 

[Glaucus]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

How the heck did you come to the conclusion that I hate the US and that I support Opec? I don't on either account. I was poking fun at your little dance mostly. Also, I know you hate Chavez and I can probably safely assume you have little more love for the Iranian leadership, yet you seem to have no problems with the Saudi leadership - which may be friends with the US government, yet hardly treats it's own people any better then Iran. In fact, I'd probably say Saudi Arabia is worse then Iran in some respects. In other words, it seems you'll happily tolerate Saudi Arabia's crimes for cheap oil.

Of course I think breaking Opec is good for oil consumers. From a political point of view I'd suspect this is a huge shock not only for Iran and Venezuela, but for Russia as well (which I suspect may have been behind the push to cut production). Despite that, I wouldn't make the mistake of think the Saudis as a good friend.

- Mike

 

[cecilia]

the sooner people get off the oil teat, the better

 

[Robert]

You 2 hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support OPEC? :roll:

I love the mendaciousness of this, "you hate the USA so bad......" patter when nobody said they hate the USA.

Is that even a full rung further up the ladder than, "when did you stop beating your wife?"

You are asking *me* this question? Ask yourself that question.

Yup, you got me. If you can't beat them.....

Jim, you really hate the USA so bad that you are willing to support the Saudis?

Is that better?