World Politics Thread

[CMRivdogs]

 

[Tigeraholic1]

10 hours ago, chasfh said:

It's definitely not too soon for #irishtwitter.

And this is one of the nicer ones. 

For all the good the Queen did and stood for you have this goofball to replace her......

[Jim Cowan]

2 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

For all the good the Queen did and stood for you have this goofball to replace her......

He has been a loser all his life and no one knew that better than his dad.

[mtutiger]

21 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

He has been a loser all his life and no one knew that better than his dad.

Could be worse... at least Andrew wasn't next in line for succession lol

[romad1]

Had an interesting discussion with co-workers who were non-Anglophile yesterday about how annoying this all was.   None of these people had much appreciation for history.   I took a very passive approach.  You can't talk to some people about topics which they have only a blunt appreciation.  

[romad1]

1 minute ago, romad1 said:

Had an interesting discussion with co-workers who were non-Anglophile yesterday about how annoying this all was.   None of these people had much appreciation for history.   I took a very passive approach.  You can't talk to some people about topics which they have only a blunt appreciation.  

This is what having strong alliances is like.

 

[chasfh]

20 hours ago, romad1 said:

This is what having strong alliances is like.

 

I love how he was flailing about and then all of a sudden just stopped and let his buddies flip him over. I definitely want to know how they communicated “Hey! Hey! Calm down!” to him.

Edited September 12, 2022 by chasfh

[romad1]

46 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I love how he was flailing about and then all of a sudden just stopped and let his buddies flip him over. I definitely want to know how they communicated “Hey! Hey! Calm down!” to him.

Reminds that sometimes silence is speaking.  

[romad1]

Watching the funeral.  This is the absolute culmination of tens of thousands of years of ceremony from the cave drawings and monoliths to the most elaborate possible veneration.  I would go out with the Clash's Death or Glory and smashed Boons Farms bottles against the garage wall, but this was amazing to watch. 

[Jim Cowan]

2 hours ago, romad1 said:

Watching the funeral.  This is the absolute culmination of tens of thousands of years of ceremony from the cave drawings and monoliths to the most elaborate possible veneration.  I would go out with the Clash's Death or Glory and smashed Boons Farms bottles against the garage wall, but this was amazing to watch. 

Trump is watching, saying "mine is going to be bigger".

[romad1]

2 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Trump is watching, saying "mine is going to be bigger".

Can you even imagine how envious that guy must be?  And to think he'll never have this.  The institutions do not exist for this to be his funeral.   Who would stand vigil?  His kids?  Maybe the strap hangers would say they would but none of them will. 

[oblong]

Presidents can and often do plan their funerals.   Harry Truman planned a state funeral but Bessie changed her mind after he passed away.  Nixon didn't ask for one, probably afraid he'd be turned down.

I mean... as President I guess he's entitled to one.  

Maybe his will be like Benito's or Caucescu's.

 

[romad1]

15 minutes ago, oblong said:

Presidents can and often do plan their funerals.   Harry Truman planned a state funeral but Bessie changed her mind after he passed away.  Nixon didn't ask for one, probably afraid he'd be turned down.

I mean... as President I guess he's entitled to one.  

Maybe his will be like Benito's or Caucescu's.

 

The level of stank that will be on him will prevent polite society from attending.  

[Jim Cowan]

He's planning it right now, guaranteed.  There will be 2 million people there, the queen only had 500,000.

[romad1]

24 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

He's planning it right now, guaranteed.  There will be 2 million people there, the queen only had 500,000.

Also, Kim Jong Un is planning his own.   Every tin-pot, despot is dreaming of ways they can put their people out for their god kings.  

[romad1]

I needed this good news today

 

[chasfh]

22 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

He's planning it right now, guaranteed.  There will be 2 million people there, the queen only had 500,000.

Two million easy!

Edited September 20, 2022 by chasfh

[gehringer_2]

I'm amused that after having played a dozen US adminstrations for the fool over better than 50 yrs, with one completely predictable vote on oil production,  the Saudi's seem to have suddenly outworn their welcome with the US Gov.

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by gehringer_2

[Screwball]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I'm amused that after having played a dozen US adminstrations for the fool over better than 50 yrs, with one completely predictable vote on oil production,  the Saudi's seem to have suddenly outworn their welcome with the US Gov.

 

This interests me because I'm an oil guy. Disclosure; I'm long oil.

I don't know what all this jawboning is going to do, but there seems to be some "issues" to jawbone about.

What do we think is going to happen here?

I don't want to get into a political pissing match, only what might happen as far as the results of this current spat with the kingdom.  Simple answers please.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I'd love to see Biden start withdrawing troops from Saudi Arabia and put them on full blast for their human rights abuses to their own people and those they have committed in places like Yemen.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Screwball said:

Simple answers please.

when it comes to the ME that's a tall order!

[Screwball]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

when it comes to the ME that's a tall order!

That's only half of the trade.

[gehringer_2]

27 minutes ago, Screwball said:

That's only half of the trade.

there is one thing about Saudi I am curious about though, which is how well assured MBS's ascension to the throne is once the old king, who is apparently well into dementia, finally passes.  

Eversince the death of Ibn Saud, the throne has passed from brother to brother among his sons. There was never, has never been any agreed upon plan for what happens when the last direct heir of Ibn Saud died. We are fast approaching that point. This is what has made MBS possible in a way. If more of his uncles were still alive, he would know he had no path to the throne so what he is doing to consolidate his personal power would be pointless, but I believe there is only one uncle left now - so he sees the throne as close enough to sieze. I don't know much about the uncle other than that MBS has had him arrested at least once, so there is probably no love lost there now. So the question is what kind of political operative is old uncle Ahmed? Is he content to just slip away into a posh Arabian sunset and leave the field to his nephew, or can/will he or his people be manuevering to block MBS's path to the throne when the time comes, and/or do/will they have any capacity to do that? And even if Ahmed's clan stands clear, there are at least 100 other grandsons of old Saud who may figure they have just as much 'right' to the throne as MBS. Are they all fat and happy enough? Is there some block of them with ambition? Will there be a knife in the dark one night in Riyadh? Who knows? I certainly hope US intelligence is working these questions for Biden though.

Edited October 13, 2022 by gehringer_2

[mtutiger]

11 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

I'd love to see Biden start withdrawing troops from Saudi Arabia and put them on full blast for their human rights abuses to their own people and those they have committed in places like Yemen.

It's a novel thought, obviously, but it stands to reason that increasing domestic production seems like a requirement to doing less business with SA and OPEC+ countries. I dont know enough about the oil market to know whether we are capable of increasing domestic production on our current footprint, but I'm guessing we would need to open new sources to cut into the percentage we get from SA and OPEC+.

And, politically, that is tenuous for Biden given the party he represents.

Not a climate change denialist or against moving toward cleaner energy or anything, but I do wish we collectively were more pragmatic about the fact that fossil fuels are going to be the reality for a while still. There just seems to be a "black and white" approach to this issue that eschews trying to balance the practical needs of the population with environmental concerns stemming from the use of fossil fuels.

Edited October 13, 2022 by mtutiger

[Hongbit]

I fear that Saudi money is so deeply invested in America that it will be near impossible to do anything to them.  They have greased palms on both sides of the aisle and have interests in Washington, Wall St., Hollywood, Silicon Valley and everywhere in between.   They have made a mint of money for many influential people over the years and are still out there as a funding partner on many deals.   Nobody is going to kill the golden goose.  They will fight to defend it.