I would hope he would have had the good sense to get NORAD alerted immediately. Something Bush adm. failed to do.
Bush had personal relationships with the Saudi's. After oil went to $140 Bush was able to get the King to produce more. Bush ended up creating the biggest drop in oil prices in recorded history $140 to $30. _________________ http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/14/outraged_in_riyadh Outraged in Riyadh Is the House of Saud dumping Obama? U.S.-Saudi relations are in crisis. King Abdullah thinks the Obama administration's love of universal freedoms is naive and inappropriate for conservative Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, when the big threat is Iran. Washington is upset about the king's alleged offer to bail out Egypt if Hosni Mubarak had decided to cling to power. And there's also the oil factor: With U.S. gasoline prices climbing and despite Riyadh's promises to make up for lost Libyan hydrocarbon sales, the Saudis "throttled back production in mid-March," according to the International Energy Agency.
So Bush stood by and let oil to go $140, then after alerting his inner circle to get out...talked it down to $30.00? Bush was the presider (sp) and decider (sp) of how to manipulate oil prices?
Lets watch how Obama handles $4.00 a gallon gas. Bush did what he could do. Maybe Obama, as a fellow Muslim, could reach out to his brethren.
...A possible presidential candidate and clueless Obama our current POTUS. It sure sounds like we're fucked.
Bush did what he could? He pushed for alternative energy? He by executive order had every federal building use solar energy, had every federal vehicle converted to natural gas? Obama has done nothing I agree, and that is his problem. He also could do what Bush did not do with solar and natural gas.
Trump reminds me of an African junta warlord in a suit. Also, lets subsidize big oil somemore. Its the A-rabs ...right.
Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship that has been propped up by the united states. The saudi Royal family owes everything they have (obscene wealth) to the united states. I am certain if we wanted to apply more leverage or set terms, we could do so. Our poor performance in these wars has simply been a lack of will. Certainly, the USA has the raw firepower to force compliance with any dictate, if appropriate will exists. (note i am not saying this approach is the correct one)
The former USSR had the might to not only invade Afghanistan but also to control them, right? Rather than an approach where we claim to give freely to these countries and pretend we want nothing in return, why not just focus on what needs to be done in America? How about we give up trying to keep the US oil companies so heavily invested in that region and offering them free protection via our military presence? They pay next to nothing relative to their income in taxes for the protection America provides the US oil companies...they are getting a free ride, at the average American's expense. So, how about saying a big F/U to the US oil companies, leaving that area, cutting our losses, and get energy independent in several years. It can happen, we have the resources and technology today. What is stopping it? The oil companies aren't set up yet to profit from the conversion to natural gas, they aren't set up to profit from alternatives, etc. So the big oil is fighting energy independence and the fact that if we leave the middle east...their investments are going to go to shit. Why don't we stop blaming the Arabs for being Arabs, and start blaming the American corporations who spit on their own country for profit and free protection? I don't blame the Arabs, I have no feeling at all actually pro or con. I wish them well, and would like to see a situation where our business had nothing at all to do with their business. Let them do what they want...let them sell oil to other countries...we can take care of our own from within our own if we collectively and cooperatively put our mind and spirit to it. It is when I see Americans, i.e. big oil, not doing what is patriotic and best for America...not that is when I get upset. Energy independence will change the equation for America dramatically for the betterment of America...and if oil companies or some Arab countries take it in the shorts...why should we care? Oh, and Israel can take care of themselves quite nicely...so forget about Israel as well. Get the F out of that area of the world, we have no business being there. Trump is dead wrong to expect that we just take their oil. It is their oil, we didn't have a deal. Trump is all about the deal, but the deal was not to get their oil for removing Saddam. Bush made a bad freaking deal, and Obama is honoring it...I don't know why except for the big oil that he is protecting.
OPEC does not give a damn about the other side and has no sense of what is fair (same goes for China btw), they are maximizing their profits at the expense of the rest of the world, they openly collude to cut production and fix price. You'd be the first to throw hysterical fits if american corporations where fixing prices and rightly so but when OPEC does it it's somehow perfectly fine with you. Are you seriously suggesting we should be considerate of OPEC and make sure we are "fair" to them while our economy is collapsing because of their price gouging? You do hate America, don't you?