Boston Globe: "A Match Made in Petroleum" - The Saudis hold the whip

[Nothing Without Hope]

Also highly significant but not mentioned in this article - the long-term close and mutually rewarding relationship between members of the Saudi royal family and the Bush family. The article opens with funny comments about the hand-holding and kissing, as well as explanations as to why they are normal for men in Saudi Arabian society, but it still does not connect the dots to the consequences of having a (p)resident who has been in the pocket of the Saudi and US oilmen from the first.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0428-21.htm

A Match Made in Petroleum

by Joan Vennochi
Published on Thursday, April 28, 2005 by the Boston Globe

(snip)

Saudi officials are said to be seeking to improve their relationship with the United States, which suffered after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Fifteen of the 19 suspected terrorists were Saudi citizens. However, US economic realities, and their political implications for Bush, currently strengthen the Saudi hand.

Bush and Abdullah issued a joint statement pledging cooperation in the war on terror, a promise to work together toward a peaceful settlement between the Palestinians and Israel and support for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. The joint statement cited US appreciation for the Saudi pledges to increase oil production. And it also said the two countries would work together ''with the aim of welcoming Saudi Arabia" into the World Trade Organization. In an editorial headlined ''Abdullah at the Ranch," the New York Sun pointed out that while the WTO is dedicated to free trade, Saudi Arabia maintains a strict economic boycott of Israel. Asked the Sun: ''Why should America support membership in a free trade organization for a country that by its actions has shown its hatred of Israel outweighs its interest in free trade?" The answer, is of course, oil.

Under pressure to address rising gas costs, Bush is outlining new steps to increase domestic energy prodution, including incentives that could result in construction of nuclear-power plants and building oil refineries on abandoned military bases. But the president has already acknowledged it would take years before the ideas generate results.

The pressure is on Bush, and the leverage remains, as always, with Abdullah. The US-Saudi relationship went beyond hand-holding a long time ago.