Five years after killing a journalist in cold blood, Saudi Arabia is stronger than ever
After the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the US vowed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable. Biden has done the opposite
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Lol no Saudi is weaker than it ever has been. The Saudis know their military is shit and their people won’t do anything to preserve their regime if the Iranians come after them. With the U.S. pulling out of the Middle East since Afghanistan they are flailing about seeking treaties with the Chinese and the Russians to guarantee their safety. However the Russian military and their equipment have proven to be very shit. The Chinese talk a good game but they don’t have the military to project power overseas and most of their equipment is based on Russian garbage.
The US doesn’t need their oil as we are a net exporter now. They’ve also cut oil exports in the last year to try and prop up prices. There is also a very good chance they have passed peak oil production and simply can not produce more.
So what does Saudi have left to offer? Peace with Israel and a conclusion to the Palestinian conflict… maybe. At least that is what they are offering Blinken for an Alliance during their latest visit.
Don’t let the article fool you the Saudis are weak and know they are in trouble without US guarantees of peace.
Do you really think the media would do that? Just outright lie to benefit their capitalist overlords?
Dont do that. The Guardian is a pretty good source. Yes they are alarmist at times, but they're the last UK newspaper to lick a boot.
The problem is systematic. It didn't take long for BBC to go from respectable journalism to trans genocide.
The BBC has reported the official line since time immemorial. Their director is now more pro-fascist than ever, but the Guardian is not the mouth-piece of the government as the BBC was, and have had their offices raided numerous times.
Alright you've convinced me. They don't attack journalists who are on the side of evil.
Eh, while they are a good publication overall, the Guardian is the definition of permitted dissent.
As an American, I really hope that Saudi Arabia crumbles and implodes. It's a horrible country with horrible leadership and governance.
I hope you're right. They sure have been breaking from the pattern lately, I guess it's a logical explanation...
The only reason the USA is exporting all that oil is because they don't have the facilities to refine it.
No. The USA has a lot of natural oil reserves, but a lot of them are more expensive to extract than the global average.
Even with American companies no longer investing in new production, the USA has a lot of oil it has access to extract.
How has Western equipment fared in the Ukrainian counteroffensive? Last I checked, the Leopard 2 and Challenger were relegated to backline support because they weren't effective on the offensive and that Ukraine is still struggling with air defence (given that Russia has been tossing around FABs with impunity). The real takeaway from this conflict is that artillery is king and that tanks/planes can't keep up in development pace with modern interceptors like drones and MANPADS. WW2's doctrine of large-scale combined arms and blitzkrieg tactics may be a thing of the past.
The only country on this planet that is currently capable is SEAD is the USA. No single or combined European power/s can put together a strike package that can significantly degrade an enemies air defenses. I don’t think China has the capacity yet and Russia obviously doesn’t have it.
I don’t expect Ukraine even with Western hand me down Vipers to take down Russian air defenses. They may be able to contest for air superiority over a sector of the battlefield but it would be costly.
Stealth is a huge component of modern Western air warfare doctrine that allows fighters to operate in contested airspace. But stealth isn’t SEAD.
For everyone else, light mobile artillery, long range rockets, AA and drones are going to be the way forward.
Stealth is still susceptible to infrared, which is what Ukraine was using to shoot down Russian aircraft at the start of the war.
If your CAS needs to get into visual range, it's fucked. If it doesn't, the usefulness of stealth gets called into question (particularly because, y'know, the entire point of CAS is to have a big bomb to drop on someone, and strapping that to a mounting point ruins your stealth profile).