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Trump expanded on his foreign policy. We all know Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are funding ISIS and the like. Trump has said he would stop buying Arab oil (the US has actually become the world's biggest producer of oil and other nations have huge reserves that could be developed). He also said South Korea and Japan would need to lay down substantial sums of money for their defense or the US would pull their bases out.
I think this could be good for the US and NYC as it's obvious a terrorist attack is a question of WHEN, not if. Substantial changes have to be made to US foreign and economic policy.
I do disagree with some of the racist things Trump has said, but his bold initiatives on foreign policy have impressed me.
I think as someone interested in NYC development I would be curious to see how a Trump administration deals with NY agencies like the MTA and the Port Authority.
As for the Democrats, despite her bad Saturday Hillary is away ahead in the lead and will win NY and California. So it's going to be Hillary vs Trump. Someone who repped NY vs someone born in NY. Considering the lack of success of NY politicians on the national scene this is awesome that two New Yorkers got this far. NY rules.
Come to think of it, Bernie is from Brooklyn. So NY has done well this political election year.
The end of the world is a question of when, not if.
Why is a major terrorist attack a question of when, not if all of a sudden? We haven't had a major one since 9/11 (some may count the Boston Bombing as major?) but now since France and Belgium got hit, we're destined too?
Trump's all talk and people who actually don't double check whatever he says are fools.
For example, the US imported 13% of its oil from Saudi Arabia in 2014. They clearly don't rely on us for their business. The Saudi's have taken a huge hit in revenue by increasing production and helping to drive down the price of oil, what makes you think they'd be running scared from losing 13% of their business? If anything, they'd just sell it on the black market and it'd wind up in the US anyway. If you think they're funding terrorism now, wait until we have no say in how they run their government whatsoever.
Oil is a commodity and therefore fungible. There were bans on importing Iranian oil but some of it wound up in the US and other countries anyway. Not only that, but the extremists in Saudi would get the upper hand.
As for the bases in Korea and Japan, we benefit more than they benefit. Korea and Japan can and would develop working nuclear weapons within 6 months. How would that make anything better? Instead of maintaining a balance of power in Asia, we'd have a nuclear standoff between China and Japan over some ****ty little islands. Our two largest creditors in a nuclear standoff. lol Maybe Trump's a genius. Let them annihilate each other so our debt is wiped out. Trump works in mysterious ways.
There is a reason that the US is such a dominant global power and has been since WW2. We have our hands everywhere and it certainly comes with drawbacks but it also comes with major benefits.
Last edited by wawaweewa; 03-27-2016 at 03:53 PM..
The end of the world is a question of when, not if.
Why is a major terrorist attack a question of when, not if all of a sudden? We haven't had a major one since 9/11 (some may count the Boston Bombing as major?) but now since France and Belgium got hit, we're destined too?
Trump's all talk and people who actually don't double check whatever he says are fools.
For example, the US imported 13% of its oil from Saudi Arabia in 2014. They clearly don't rely on us for their business. The Saudi's have taken a huge hit in revenue by increasing production and helping to drive down the price of oil, what makes you think they'd be running scared from losing 13% of their business? If anything, they'd just sell it on the black market and it'd wind up in the US anyway. If you think they're funding terrorism now, wait until we have no say in how they run their government whatsoever.
Oil is a commodity and therefore fungible. There were bans on importing Iranian oil but some of it wound up in the US and other countries anyway. Not only that, but the extremists in Saudi would get the upper hand.
As for the bases in Korea and Japan, we benefit more than they benefit. Korea and Japan can and would develop working nuclear weapons within 6 months. How would that make anything better? Instead of maintaining a balance of power in Asia, we'd have a nuclear standoff between China and Japan over some ****ty little islands. Our two largest creditors in a nuclear standoff. lol Maybe Trump's a genius. Let them annihilate each other so our debt is wiped out. Trump works in mysterious ways.
There is a reason that the US is such a dominant global power and has been since WW2. We have our hands everywhere and it certainly comes with drawbacks but it also comes with major benefits.
That report says *we* get 13% from SA. That doesn't indicate how much of Saudi's oil goes to us, which is the number that matters. We're also their main source of military hardware, which w/o our backing they could find themselves in a hot war with Iran.
That report says *we* get 13% from SA. That doesn't indicate how much of Saudi's oil goes to us, which is the number that matters. We're also their main source of military hardware, which w/o our backing they could find themselves in a hot war with Iran.
You're right. It's about 20% on their end. I still don't think that makes much of a difference to them as they'll make it up by selling it to traders or China on the cheap. We've been shrinking in terms of our imports from Saudi anyway.
As for military hardware, defense companies in the US like the $ whether it comes from Saudi or whomever else. They wouldn't be too happy with losing that market. The Saudis would just start buying more from the Chinese or Russians who are probably greater threats to the US than the Saudis. The Saudis fund Jihadis who can't do as much damage as a single Russian strategic bomber. All the while the Chinese and Russians steal US corporate secrets and penetrate into US government servers, power grids, and satellite communications. Who's the bigger threat here?
Playing hardball is fine but its not as if there's no pushback.
It's not like Saudi relies on us for a substantial portion of their oil exports. So what would shutting them off do? They'll sell it to traders who then will sell it back to into the US market at a markup? Part of the $ for Saudi oil goes right back to US defense contractors . So who's going to lose here?
Last edited by wawaweewa; 03-27-2016 at 05:09 PM..
Saudis may buy hardware from the US, but the US has fought multiple wars in the middle east. Saudi Arabia never militarily defends itself. So if US imports of Saudi oil are shrinking, you have our answer there. Trump has said he would substantially charge the Saudis for the defense and basically cut off their oil imports which you already said are declining.
Could they sell to the Chinese (Russia is a major importer of oil)? Of course. Could they buy hardware from the Russians and the Chinese? Perhaps but the Russians and the Chinese already sell hardware to Iran and Syria, two regimes that Saudi Arabia opposes. Saudis attempt to export Islamic fundamentalism to Central Asia threatens both Russia and China, both of whom have had to deal with major Islamic terrorist attacks.
US is run by corporate interest. America gave away the moral ground a long time ago. America is willing to go to Cuba and ignore the human rights issue if there is a profit to be made. Saudi Arabia has invested close to a trillion dollars in America's economy (in addition Saudi Arabia does US a favor in trading oil in USD currency, therefore propping up america's currency).
The trump family caters to Chinese people seeking to buy american citizenship, Donald Trump's granddaughter speaks fluent mandarin and celebrates Chinese new years.
Our two largest creditors in a nuclear standoff. lol Maybe Trump's a genius. Let them annihilate each other so our debt is wiped out. Trump works in mysterious ways.
I expect Trump to win the Republican vote in NY state, if anything, this will be the state that he'll get over 50% of the republican vote. I doubt many republican NYers will support Cruz after his remarks about NYers, so all 95 of those delegates are practically Trumps.
Trump expanded on his foreign policy. We all know Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are funding ISIS and the like. Trump has said he would stop buying Arab oil (the US has actually become the world's biggest producer of oil and other nations have huge reserves that could be developed). He also said South Korea and Japan would need to lay down substantial sums of money for their defense or the US would pull their bases out.
I think this could be good for the US and NYC as it's obvious a terrorist attack is a question of WHEN, not if. Substantial changes have to be made to US foreign and economic policy.
I do disagree with some of the racist things Trump has said, but his bold initiatives on foreign policy have impressed me.
I think as someone interested in NYC development I would be curious to see how a Trump administration deals with NY agencies like the MTA and the Port Authority.
As for the Democrats, despite her bad Saturday Hillary is away ahead in the lead and will win NY and California. So it's going to be Hillary vs Trump. Someone who repped NY vs someone born in NY. Considering the lack of success of NY politicians on the national scene this is awesome that two New Yorkers got this far. NY rules.
Come to think of it, Bernie is from Brooklyn. So NY has done well this political election year.
I like his ehtoric, but I also had to laugh and look at reality. Corporate interest controls America. Yes the president and rest of the fed has some say, but its corporate interest that runs things. Also Saudi oil is tied to the US dollar thanks to Nixon The Great. The Saudis fund Isis, but it was the US that helped create them. Saudi Arabia is a member of the trivium which is made of Turkey, Israel and Saudi that backs American interest in the area against Russia Syria, and Iran. Isis and the Jihadist is not a big threat. Al Qaida and Isis may use means to create mass destruction and fear, but look Wall street opened up after a week after 9/11. Russia China and North Korea could wipe out NYC and or DC with a stroke of a button. Isis and Al Qaida cant, that is why Russia and China are America's biggest threats. The US can not pull out their bases in East Asia, the US has treaties with these countries that allows them to police and protect their water and sky ways from Russia, China and North Korea. Trump would need congressional approval to remove bases from Japan and South Korea. Russia is technically in a state of war with Japan since World War 2 and border dispute over some islands. Japan has border disputes with China, and the Korean War was never ever resolved. Putin is no joke and he means business
Trump talked about Israel at the Aipac form which is mainly Israeli based as well as contribution from many prominent Jews mainly from the NYC area. It looks like Israel will not have peace with Trump as President and the Palestinians will continued to be marginalized and will create more turbulence between both Jewish and Gentiles of the Holy Land. but I personally think Trump would be good for Israel overall due to his NY upbringing, and being in an industry in NYC that is mainly Jewish. He has his connections. OVerall under Trump the two state solution for Israel and Palestine will never happen.
As for NATO? if NATO nations begin arming themselves. I can guarantee war with Russia would breakout in not time. Having the US reduce its spending on arming NATO would just create more problems. Also NATO countries like Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy are in a financial mess thanks to debts, bailouts or what not, do not have the finances to add money to NATO. NATO needs to be reformed and reorganized for the 21st century, however a resurgent Russia has made NATO come back into the spot light.
It sounds like you might support Trump right? I don't think Trump is going to win. half of the Republican party and its voters will vote for Hillary at the polls. Trump will loos big Republican states like Texas for example over Clinton. As for Transportation in NYC? My best bet is to raise federal taxes on Americans to fix NYC transportation woes, and give New York transportation authorities bigger grant money to fund such projects that will take half a century to complete. If you wanna fix roads and rails, taxes need to be raised. Should we tax the blooming rich, tax the declining middle class, or tax the growing poor? Neither groups like high taxes.
Saudis may buy hardware from the US, but the US has fought multiple wars in the middle east. Saudi Arabia never militarily defends itself. So if US imports of Saudi oil are shrinking, you have our answer there. Trump has said he would substantially charge the Saudis for the defense and basically cut off their oil imports which you already said are declining.
Could they sell to the Chinese (Russia is a major importer of oil)? Of course. Could they buy hardware from the Russians and the Chinese? Perhaps but the Russians and the Chinese already sell hardware to Iran and Syria, two regimes that Saudi Arabia opposes. Saudis attempt to export Islamic fundamentalism to Central Asia threatens both Russia and China, both of whom have had to deal with major Islamic terrorist attacks.
Every year the military industrial complex hosts a convention of military equipment and technology in the United Arab Emirates. Gulf States and Israel have plenty of money and they end up signing contracts with defense corporations from America and Europe to buy to equipment and gear. The Saudi military has the capability to defend itself. In matter of fact the Saudi military has one of the top five military budgets in the world, their military budget is even bigger than nuclear armed and major power India. The Saudis now have the capabilities to defend itself. All the Saudis need is to develop a Nuke deterrent for full protection. The Saudis would sell to the Chinese and probably already do. The big problem about selling to the Chinese is that the oil has to pass through the Indian Ocean. Indian Navy controls and over watches everything that comes in and out of the Indian Ocean from the Straight of Aden to the Straights of Malacca. India and China is a one of the major global pivots at the moment. Saudi will probably sell more to India as well. Yes I do agree with you about how Saudis and their exporting extremism. Sad part is that the US has supported the Saudis on exporting Whabbiism over the years. A good number of these Islamic extremist are based in Southern Russia, Central Asia and in Western China.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wawaweewa
You're right. It's about 20% on their end. I still don't think that makes much of a difference to them as they'll make it up by selling it to traders or China on the cheap. We've been shrinking in terms of our imports from Saudi anyway.
As for military hardware, defense companies in the US like the $ whether it comes from Saudi or whomever else. They wouldn't be too happy with losing that market. The Saudis would just start buying more from the Chinese or Russians who are probably greater threats to the US than the Saudis. The Saudis fund Jihadis who can't do as much damage as a single Russian strategic bomber. All the while the Chinese and Russians steal US corporate secrets and penetrate into US government servers, power grids, and satellite communications. Who's the bigger threat here?
Playing hardball is fine but its not as if there's no pushback.
It's not like Saudi relies on us for a substantial portion of their oil exports. So what would shutting them off do? They'll sell it to traders who then will sell it back to into the US market at a markup? Part of the $ for Saudi oil goes right back to US defense contractors . So who's going to lose here?
I don't think China would sell military hardware to the Suadis unless Saudi Arabia and China sign a major oil deal. So far China has an oil deal with Russia at the moment which supply much of Chinas growing energy needs, much of that going to factories that helps build goods for the global market including America. Its amazing how global trade works. Also China and Russia are at odds with Saudi Arabia over Syria. If I remember Saudis did approach Russia on buying military equipment but recent threats of war on Russia over Syria probably changed such demands. Also Russia and China side with Iran and are currently arming the Iranian regime with still uses outdated American equipment when Iran was allied with America during the Shah era.
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Witty comment.
