Saudi Arabia King Rolls Out Reforms
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: RIYADH—Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah returned to the kingdom Wednesday after a three-month absence for medical treatment and introduced a number of nonpolitical reforms amid regional uprisings that have toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and infected neighboring Bahrain.

The social and economic overhaul, estimated to cost around 135 billion Saudi riyals ($36 billion), include housing support, funding to offset inflation and guarantee of payment for students overseas, according to a series of royal decrees published on the official Saudi Press Agency, or SPA. They come as political upheaval continues to sweep the Arab world.

"The measures are paying particular attention to housing, unemployment, education and helping the brunt of Saudis who work for the public sector be better protected from cost of living pressures. The unemployment benefits are the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi. "The message from King Abdullah is that he's aware of the challenges facing the economy and steps are taken to address immediate and more medium-term issues." >>> Summer Said | Thursday, February 24, 2011

King Abdullah Back in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's king returns home after months of medical treatment abroad. Video courtesy of Reuters

”Let Them Eat Sand”
As I have been saying all along, the Saudis need us every bit as much as we need their oil. It’s high time to remind them of this fact. Remember this: Arabs respect strong people, not wimps. By behaving in a weak manner with Arabs, you get nowhere. They’ll walk all over you. Our political leaders do just that: Behave in a weak manner, and fawn. Quit it!- ©Mark

Photo of George W Bush with Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia, the king’s brother, courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: When President George Bush went to see Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in January to plead for higher oil output, he was politely rebuffed.

The rematch today is likely to be a great deal more strained.

If the Saudis deny help once again, they risk incalculable damage to their strategic alliance with Washington. The price of crude has rocketed by over $30 a barrel since that last fruitless meeting, briefly touching the once unthinkable level of $127.

Goldman Sachs fears a "super-spike" to $200 a barrel this year.

Asked what he would tell King Abdullah this time, Mr Bush said caustically: "the price is even higher."

Indeed, it is, especially the political price.

The US-Saudi tango has been on thin ice ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Sixteen of the hijackers were Saudi nationals.

The Bush family has cleaved closely to the Saudi monarchy, but strong factions in Washington see Riyadh's Wahabi monarchy as part of the Mid-East problem-- not the solution.

Saudi Arabia's one saving grace -- in the eyes of US critics -- is that it has over the years been willing to cap extreme surges in the price of oil, deploying its power as the world's swing producer. This time Riyadh is giving no ground.

Oil minister Ali al-Naimi insists that there is plenty of oil about, blaming the latest spike on "the internal logic of the financial markets”, meaning hedge funds and speculators. The US Congress gave its riposte this week.

New York Senator Charles Schumer is pushing for sanctions against Saudi Arabia, targeting $1.4bn in sales of bomb kits, light armoured vehicles, as well as gear for AWACS aircraft and F-15 fighters.

"You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers.

"Saudi Arabia could do a lot more than they have done," he said.

The Democrats are also pushing legislation that would penalize the OPEC producers cartel for "anti-competitiveness practices".

The Bush White House has rolled its eyes in exasperation at such blunt methods, but hot feelings are aroused in American public discourse.

There have been calls for a food blockade of the Arabian peninsular on the US talk radio circuit. "Let them eat sand", has been the rallying cry of the shock-jocks. OPEC has -- in effect -- cut production repeatedly. US-Saudi Oil Axis Faces Day of Truth >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | May 16, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/07/cnoil107.xml>Oil Could Hit $200 in 'Super-Spike' >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | May 10, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Stresses Need to Keep Oil for Future Generations
Photo of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia courtesy of Arab News
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH, 13 April 2008 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday emphasized the importance of keeping part of the Kingdom’s natural resources for the welfare of future generations.

“When new discoveries (of natural resources) were made, I told them... Leave them in the ground because our children and grandchildren will need them,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as saying. King Abdullah made his remarks while receiving several members of the National Society for Retirees (NSR), including its Chairman Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Ansari, at his palace in Riyadh.

During the meeting, King Abdullah highlighted the significance of oil revenue and said that as long as there is oil the Kingdom would not experience economic problems. “I told them once: May God give it long life... they asked me what is that... I told them petrol. As long as petrol is there, we will remain well... Our country will not have any problems,” he said.

King Abdullah urged government officials to be sincere, truthful and frank in their dealings. “You should inform the authorities about what is happening in the country... Tell us what is in your mind,” he said.

Earlier, Interior Minister Prince Naif, honorary chairman of the NSR, gave a brief introduction about the organization.

Al-Ansari, whose organization represents more than 600,000 retirees, spoke about the difficulties of many retirees, who only receive a SR1,725 monthly pension. [Source: King Stresses Need to Keep Oil for Future Generations] | April 13, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

A Letter from Saudi Arabia: A Bush visits a Saud, but much has changed
Osama bin Laden couldn’t have wished for a ‘better’ outcome from 9/11 than this scenario: A seriously weakened America!

Photo of George Bush with King Abdullah courtesy of the International Herald Tribune
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: RIYADH: The Saudi monarchy once depended on the United States to protect its reign and its oil from foes like Saddam Hussein. These days, President George W. Bush needs the world's biggest exporter of crude more than it needs him.

With oil at about $90 a barrel, the U.S. economy at risk of sliding into recession and American banks trying to raise cash to ride out the subprime-mortgage crisis, Bush has become a supplicant for Saudi financial help. He also needs the kingdom to get behind his Palestinian peace push, to keep Iran at bay and to support political stability in Iraq.

"It's very late in his tenure," says Craig Unger, author of "House of Bush, House of Saud," which probed the relationship between the two families, and a new book, "The Fall of the House of Bush." "He's in a much weaker position now, and he has very little leverage."

It wasn't always this way. During the presidency of Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, "the United States had an extraordinarily close and cooperative relationship with Saudi Arabia across the board," says Chas Freeman, who was then U.S. ambassador to the kingdom. "Saudi Arabia made a special effort to remain the principal supplier of oil to the U.S., something it no longer does. We had forces in Saudi Arabia. We no longer have that relationship." A Bush visits a Saud, but much has changed >>> By Janine Zacharia

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)