From the New York Times:
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Arab leaders on Wednesday that the American occupation of Iraq is “illegal,†and he warned that unless Arab governments settle their differences, foreign powers like the United States would continue to dictate the region’s politics.
The king’s speech, at the opening of the Arab League summit meeting [in Riyadh], underscored growing differences between Saudi Arabia and the Bush administration as the Saudis take on a greater regional leadership role, partly at American urging. The Saudis seem to be emphasizing that they will not be beholden to the policies of their longtime ally.
The Saudis brokered a deal between the two main Palestinian factions last month but one that both Israel and the United States found deeply problematic because it added to the power of the radical group Hamas rather than to the more moderate Fatah. On Wednesday, the king called for an end to the international boycott of the new Palestinian government. The United States and Israel want the boycott continued.
[…] King Abdullah invited President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to Riyadh earlier this month while the Americans want him shunned. And in trying to settle the tensions in Lebanon, the Saudis seem willing to negotiate with Iran.
Last week, the Saudi king abruptly canceled his appearance at an April White House dinner planned in his honor, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. The official reason given for the cancellation was a scheduling conflict.
Mustapha Hamarneh, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, said the Saudis are sending Washington a message. “They are telling the U.S. they need to listen to their allies rather than imposing decisions on them and always taking Israel’s side.â€Â
Wow. Shave this guy and tack a few stars to his robes and you’d have a difficult time telling him apart from Wesley Clark—though I suspect the accent might give things away. And, you know—the harem.
For his part, Jules Crittenden is dubious about the King’s rhetoric:
I doubt […] that Abdullah actually wants that “illegal†occupation to end any time soon. That would require Arabs and other Muslims to stop killing Arabs and other Muslims over beefs that date back 1,400 years. And they are not ready to do that.
Sure, but can you really blame them? Because If I had access to stallions and those cool curvy scimitars, I’d be keen on lopping off a few heads my own self, I think—though all that “Enlightenment” garbage I’ve internalized as the result of an increasingly-outdated paradigm shift would probably stay my hand.
Which might explain my supposed aversion to identity politics, now that I think about it. Like most hypermasculinists held in check by social norms, I’m really just jealous.
I mean, WHY CAN’T I PUT MY WOMAN IN A SACK AND COMPEL HER TO FEED ME DATES AND FIGS?
Man. Sometimes I just really hate modernity, you know?
You don’t compel your woman to feed you dates and figs?
Sissy.
You’re preachin’ to the choir, boyo.
I compel my woman to feed me all the time, and it works great…. So long as I’m not too choosy regarding which orifice is fed.
Say… If my woman did choose The Other Orifice, would that then be considered a …………………blind date?
Better hope we don’t start inquiring too closely into your domestic practices, Wankerdullah – the American people find out about stuff like this –
http://www.ampbreia.com/ampbreia2_054.htm
And you’re liable to find out that the American people do not, taken as a whole, really care all that much how many of our ex-diplomats you’ve purchased.
Or ex-Presidents, for that matter.
Keep in mind, this guy’s “king” of a “nation” that executes people for “witchcraft”.
(And, oddly, anyone notice over at Crittenden’s place who came out in support of the Fraudi Arabian’s position?)
I was at a bar the other night—talking to my buds about the upcoming baseball season and the Cards’ chances in the NL Central—when this guy walks up and asks us what we think about measuring the success of the designated hitter.
We all looked at each other like “who’s this guy?†But went ahead and answered his question. The whole time the guy was just staring off into space.
Then he asks about mental bats – you know those aluminum things that make the ball just fly. Again, this guy just stares into space, while we discuss that mental bats are too dangerous for the major leagues. Then this guy says, “Metal bats cause the college pitchers to be better than major league pitchers, because batters use metal bats.â€Â
I about choked on my beer – in fact, my pal, Frank, had it coming out of his nose.
Needless to say, we told this guy to screw off – and went back to talking about the Cards and their chances in the NL Central.
Haven’t seen him around have you – goes by the name of “alphie†. . . .
Still think the bartender, Jeff, put him up to it . . . .
Sounds to me like someone doesn’t like all of the alternative fuel buzz.
I’m being serious, did anyone see the interview with Greta last week? I thought Bush was pretty brutal. He came right out and said that the plan was to reduce oil consumption to the level that Canada and Mexico could handle our import demands. That’ll eventually seriously affect the price of middle-east crude and put a hit on the King’s pocketbook. So he makes some noise, raises the price short-term, and buys property in the West so when he has to run from the revolution, he’s got a place to stay.
TW: Clearly46 this is wishful thinking. I’ll just be happy if Ethanol production raises the price of high fructose corn syrup to a point where it’s cheaper to use sugar again.
GEORGE: Ah you have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she is allowed to infiltrate this world, then George Costanza as you know him,Ceases to Exist! You see, right now, I have Relationship George, but there is also Independent George. That’s the George you know, the George you grew up with—Movie George, Coffee shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.
JERRY: I, I love that George.
Go easy on the King.
I don’t think he’s had more wives than your average Republican Presidential candidate.
Hey . . . did someone just ask about “metal” bats?
DO NOT FEED THE ALPHTARD
Hmm. This Abdullah king-person wants the US out of Iraq. Just as the surge is getting on, and just as Sunni tribes are turning on Al-Qaeda and company and signing on with the Iraqi government.
Perhaps there is a bit of motivating fear there.
“WHY CAN’T I PUT MY WOMAN IN A SACK AND COMPEL HER TO FEED ME DATES AND FIGS?”
Jeff, c’mon man, you’ve got it backwards… I want a sack for my Dates & Figs, and my woman in the orchards picking more Dates & Figs.
I read that in a book somewhere….
J
alpo, what IS the color of the sky on your planet?
What’s the color of the inside of the large intestine?
Wesley Clark has a harem?
Speaking of metal bats . . .
That moron T. E. Lawrence has a lot to answer for, too.
TW: answer74 Now cut that out, Jeff!!
Wesley Clark knows what a harem is for?
Okay, now I’m gonna have nightmares.
I recall once at college being commanded to believe that irony is only an incredibly roundabout and devious method certain congenitally fiendish types like Jeff and me have twisted from its merely philosophically fiendish Greek origins to our always more base purposes, namely, the enslavement through sexual conquest of good (post-)Christian white wimmins.
Well, it wasn’t said exactly like that, but, you know, Woody Allen…something…and Beck! Jesus Christ, Beck. Etc.
I admit that even after all these years the argument remains beyond the grasp of the ball of corned beef and testosterone that is my brain, but I’m pretty sure it means that by now, upper midwestern regional mail-order winter wear catalog models must be off in the wings, pre-peeling Jeff’s grapes.
(Sarcasm is our cool curvy scimitar, I guess is what I’m saying. Might shoulda just said that.)
Can’t help with the harem and figs, but scimitars are readily available online:
<a href=”http://www.swordsdirect.com/swords-cas-iberia-scimitar-2.html” target=”_blank”>
Don’t run while holding one, though, cuz ya might poke yer eye out.
Link
And if it don’t work this time I give up.
Alphoid Mary, the obnoxious little twat appears.
Please avoid all contact.
Hmm. This Abdullah king-person wants the US out of Iraq. Just as the surge is getting on, and just as Sunni tribes are turning on Al-Qaeda and company and signing on with the Iraqi government.
Perhaps there is a bit of motivating fear there.
My thoughts exactly. This “democracy” thing might actually happen, and that’s got to be disturbing to a nearby smallish country that still has a king.
Hey . . . did someone just ask about “metal†bats?
I want to hear more about the mental bats.
alllphie?
alllphie?
alllphie?
Dude, that’s been obvious for years. You yearn for a stone age morality: “Why can’t we just kill more goddamn people? I want to KILL people!”
Hmmm.
Is it bad of me to state that I really don’t give a shit what King Abdullah thinks?
‘cause that’s the truth.
I can’t help but think that beetroot’s stone-age morality would dovetail nicely with the stone-age existence that the goracle and his minions command for us.
No just worthless fools such as yourself, beetroot. And I’m speaking for myself and not Jeff. And even at that I don’t want to kill you, just rough you up a little bit. Pssttt…the people that want to kill you are the islamists that you seem to have a hard on for. BTW, you’ll be the bitch in that relationship. NTTAWWT.
Can someone explain to me why the American head of state has a dinner scheduled honoring this douchebag? Are we really so enthralled to this guy because he was born on top of the world’s largest petro reserve? ‘Cause if so, make with the MisterFusion already. This stuff has to stop.
Beetroot, if you’re going to drag your strawman in here, please tie off the sleeves and cuffs so the straw doesn’t leak out all over the floor, okay?
Lemme see how this works.
Let the infidel explore, discover, and then extract enormous amounts of oil from your forsaken land. Check.
Groaning under the weight of billions of petrodollars, proclaim the family of Saud as royalty. Check.
Solidify as your sole exports oil and Wahabism. Check.
Buy off as many western politicians and toadies as you can. Check.
Demand protection of your oil facilities by Western (read US) militaries. Check.
Invest enormous funds back in the US and European capital markets and buy influence. Check.
A fine racket, actually. The Mafia? Pikers!
MScott…I was thinking the exact same thing. I understand that they supply a great deal of Gaia’s precious blood (aka, manbearpig’s bane) and we need that precious blood to be cheap for the masses (I appreciate that. I really do), but we have to give celebratory dinners for this jackass?
I am less concerned with what the Saudi government says than I am with what they actually do.
If democracy is to spread in the Middle East one of the last place to go that way needs to be Saudi Arabia. Put another way, the Iranian mullahs must fall before the the House of Saud does.
Democracy in Arabia means no House of Saud and a profound souring of relations with the US as the Salafists would likely gain ascendancy. Without direct US support Arabia could not maintain control of their own nation, much less withstand a foreign agressor such as Iran. Sure they have alot of snazzy military harware but they lack the personnel necessary to support any significant operations.
The Mullahs would dearly love the opportunity to gain dominion over arabia, and their wealth. Abdullah knows this as well as he knows that the closer he must remain to the US the freer his tongue can be.
Or when watching him address other arab potentates just envision him as Governor LePetomaine stressing the importance of protecting their phoney-baloney jobs.
Let me state that I understand that access to that oil is VERY important, in a pragmatic way, for an economy that runs off it. I also understand that the reason we didn’t go full-bore energy independence in the 1970s was because (a) Carter couldn’t accomplish anything, and (b) we had a Cold War to fight that quite understandably took center stage.
But the Cold War ended in the late 1980s, and I guess since oil was cheap again nobody worried too much about the potential problems the House of Saud (or Iran, or Iraq, or Venezuela) could cause us later down the road despite what a couple of decades of Middle Eastern geopolitical goofiness should have taught us. It’s not trivial to shift from an oil-based economy to whatever the alternatives are currently (and sorry, ethanol isn’t it). It should have started in earnest sometime in the last 20 years, though. We should be farting in Saudi Arabia’s general direction by now.
It is all well and good that we attempt to wean ourselves from foreign sources of energy for our own benefit. But even if the US ceased to import even one single barrel of oil the strategic importance of the middle east would remain so long as other nations (China, India, etc.) continued to do import their oil.
The only way to escape this situation would be to develop alternate sources of energy that are intrinsically more economical to all of those currently consuming petroleum. Otherwise petrodollars will continue to fund Islamists around the globe.
Yeah, but give credit where it’s due—all the Sicilians started with was some olives,a handful of goats, and a worn-out anchovy net.
Commenter Cuffy on a related thread at Ace’s had this comeback to their Alphie-like troll.
But Seattle, we are in Iraq enforcing the will of the world community under UN Security Council Resolution 1723 , dated Nov 2006. You do believe in the United Nations, don’t you?
I propose that this be adopted this as the standard response.
Um… because she’d kick your ass?
Just a guess.
[url=”http://bobdylan.com/moderntimes/songs/positively.html” target=”_blank”]Positively 4th Street
By Bob Dylan[/url]
You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning
You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that’s winning
You say I let you down
You know it’s not like that
If you’re so hurt
Why then don’t you show it
You say you lost your faith
But that’s not where it’s at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it
I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You’re in with
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don’t know to begin with
You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, “How are you?” “Good luck”
But you don’t mean it
When you know as well as me
You’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once
And scream it
No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I’d rob them
And now I know you’re dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don’t you understand
It’s not my problem
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you
“MisterFusion”
Uh, could I pre-order one of those on Amazon. Please.