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Arabia
Trump would consider halting U.S. oil purchases from Saudis: NYT
2016-03-27
[REUTERS] Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump told the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
he would consider stopping U.S. oil purchases from Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
unless the Saudi government provide troops to fight Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
Trump's comment on Friday was included in a lengthy foreign policy interview published by the newspaper on Saturday and came in response to a question about whether, if elected president, he would halt oil purchases from U.S. allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Islamic State.

"The answer is, probably yes," Trump said, according to a transcript.

Trump has said the United States should be reimbursed by the countries it provides protection, even those with vast resources such as Saudi Arabia, a top oil exporter.

"And yet, without us, Saudi Arabia wouldn't exist for very long," Trump told the Times.
Not really. Oil is a commodity. If the Saudis don't sell to us they sell to someone else. But I wouldn't mind getting our country to the point where we could swear off the oil ticks...
"... We’re not being reimbursed for the kind of tremendous service that we’re performing by protecting various countries. Now Saudi Arabia’s one of them."

Trump also named in the interview retired Major General Gary Harrell, Major General Bert Mizusawa and retired Rear Admiral Charles Kubic as additional foreign policy advisors to the five named earlier this week who were criticized as obscure.

Trump has faced questions about his reluctance to reveal who was advising his campaign. He told the Times he was willing to rethink traditional U.S. alliances should he become president.
Posted by:Fred

#8  Sort of like the Japanese opening up auto plants in the US after the oil embargo caught the (then) Big Three with gas guzzlers and the subsequent capture of over a third of the market by people who were making not only fuel efficient autos, but with better quality and no hundred of dollars additional add on costs at the dealerships. The pressure by the American auto companies and unions almost put involuntary quotas on them. They saw the picture too and got around any future threat to their market. If you can't control the resource market, control the means of production.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-03-27 21:59  

#7  Considering that the Saudis just went on a spree, buying up all the for sale refineries along the US Gulf Coast, this is something that they've been seeing in the distance.
Posted by: ed in texas   2016-03-27 15:43  

#6  makes sense to me, cut their cash flow, buy US oil and see what happens to KSA and all of their under the table deals
Posted by: Bill Clinton   2016-03-27 14:56  

#5  So buy from the newfound Israeli basin.
Posted by: Knuckles Wittlesbach8868   2016-03-27 12:27  

#4  "The answer is, probably yes,"

So less of a firm policy position and more of an incendiary device to ignite discussion. Go ahead, take the other side. Raise your and say "We should definitely keep buying Saudi oil". Oil embargo back in '73, OPEC, gas prices. Give that tarbaby a kick!

As our salmon-flavored moderator points out, the reality is more complicated. But this isn't reality, it's a media campaign. Trump may appear a cartoon buffoon, but he can play the media game.
Posted by: SteveS   2016-03-27 12:15  

#3  Mr. Trump was a hit at AIPAC. Some were shocked that the audience loved him. Others were appalled.
Posted by: trailing wife   2016-03-27 10:14  

#2  So much for the tired old Emperor has no clothes on expression; https://youtu.be/ygKgnd8CrIQ

Notice the TelePrompter and note reading.
Posted by: Dale   2016-03-27 09:23  

#1  It takes a child, or a buffoon, to see that the king is naked.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-03-27 03:26  

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