Biden to grovel before Khashoggi's murderer/the Butcher of Yemen in exchange for lower gas prices.

[Santander]

There are a ton of other sources for cheap gas—Iran, Venezuela—and gas we are currently exporting for some reason that could be used by our people. Going to the Saudis and begging as the leading superpower and the only thing keeping them in power is more pathetic than building up our relations elsewhere.

Brandon's representatives already went on bended knee to Maduro.

The sane solution would be to thaw relations with Iran, a country far less bad than Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, but this is America and being stupid is what it does best.

[Santander]

There are a ton of other sources for cheap gas—Iran, Venezuela—and gas we are currently exporting for some reason that could be used by our people. Going to the Saudis and begging as the leading superpower and the only thing keeping them in power is more pathetic than building up our relations elsewhere.

Brandon's representatives already went on bended knee to Maduro.

The sane solution would be to thaw relations with Iran, a country far less bad than Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, but this is America and being stupid is what it does best.

The sanest solution would be to kill two birds with one stone and transition to renewable. But I guess that's a no-go, right, Biden?

Transition to renewable. A worthwhile investment (if done with the encouragement of government, not indiscriminate subsidies) but it doesn't solve the problems of today.

[Santander]

A long, Noble, and bipartisan tradition of kowtowing to one of the world's greatest sponsors of terrorism and violators of Human Rights.

It's true, it's a disgrace. Saudi Arabia should be kowtowing to the US, seeing as the US has sponsored far more terrorism and violated far more human rights than Saudi Arabia.

[Santander]

Accolades to you - wow - just wow. You were somehow able to take even this and rationalize it to the extent that I get why Biden did this now. You have a great skill of defending Biden through and through. I commend you. I know I've said it before - but I mean it very seriously: You should be Biden's Press Secretary. You really know how to defend him and rationalize what he does no matter what, and you do it so well that (I think) most reasonable people feel compelled to agree with you. It is a great skill. You could've taken the easy way out and just criticized Biden like all the rest of us have, but instead you've written a long, well-reasoned, logical post that really makes what Biden did sound reasonable and the best option.

No, he does not deserve credit for contorting himself into a pretzel to kiss Biden's ass defend Biden no matter what, as if Biden will give him a job if he keeps at it. He claims that somehow Saudi Arabia is far better than Iran and suggests they aren't on Russia's side (Lavrov was literally in Riyadh today). The difference between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the former values money ahead of Islamic fundamentalism, while the latter values Islamic fundamentalism ahead of money. You wouldn't even need American oil execs in Tehran - there are existing brokers and intermediaries to do that. Actually, you wouldn't even need to bring a single drop of oil into the US from Iran to alleviate the current situation.

Please tell me how "letting Putin win" is worse than letting MBS win. If that's how we're defining the stakes, Putin has already won.

[Santander]

eehhh...   You are wrong.  The United States was a net oil EXPORTER in 2020 and 2021.  On a net basis we don't need to get oil from elsewhere.  The problem is oil is traded on a global market.  And if oil is trading at a higher price our unpatriotic oil companies simply ship it overseas regardless of how high gas prices are for consumers.

We have to get others to pump to get prices down overseas.

Let's stop posting this BS about the US needing other people's oil or needing to loosen regulations so oil companies pump more.  That is not the problem.

All these other countries are looking at us crazy because we have enough oil to supply our needs.

It's more complicated than that. The global energy market helps balance supply and demand between countries and regions. For example, some regions (Europe/Latin America) higher relative demand for middle distillates than the US, so it makes sense for the US, which has enormous refining capacity, to export middle distillates to those regions, while Europe exports light distillates to the US. Canada is a huge supplier of crude to American refineries, but has very limited refining capacity itself, so it makes sense for the US to buy cheap crude from Canada and sell back a portion of the much higher-value refined petroleum products. (not to mention bitumen from the tar sands can't even move in a pipeline by itself, so needs imported oil to move it along in the pipe)

The energy market is one of the areas where global trade is most crucial, and having an overly-simplistic nationalist view does not solve any problems.

[Santander]

A few things to keep in mind.

1. Gas cars today are more fuel efficient than ever, even the trucks. The 2022 Ford F150 gets 25 miles a gallon average, which is spectacular for a gas truck. We even have hybrid trucks now. And Tesla might have a electric truck to boot.

2. The shift to full online work or partial online work will mean that people will commute less. Something different huh ?

3. Many states don't have the charging infrastructure ( many rural states for example ), and even in California, Chico might not have the charging stations compared to say Palo Alto.

Braindead non sequitur from you, as usual.

[Santander]

we do not depend on Saudi Arabia for oil ffs

I mean, the US does not import a great deal of oil from Saudi Arabia, but its unparalleled ability to ramp up and down production is at the core of the US-Saudi relationship and the global energy market. So while the US may not strictly depend on Saudi Arabia for oil, it does depend on Saudi Arabia for oil production.

That is the greatest argument in favor of working with Saudi Arabia - you could work with Iran and Venezuela to open the taps on their beleaguered oil industries, but Saudi Arabia can put by far the most oil on the market in a short period of time. (UAE has a lot of spare capacity, but they will not step on Saudi Arabia's toes) And their leaders will continue to literally get away with murder because they have the world on bended knee at the altar of black gold.

[Santander]

Tbh I don’t even think Iran is worse than Saudi Arabia.

Iranian women at least participate in society to a meaningful degree. Hardly a shining example of women's rights, but compared to Saudi Arabia...

[Santander]

Tbh I don’t even think Iran is worse than Saudi Arabia.

Iran hates us and has for decades, Saudi Arabia doesn’t. It’s really that simple.

I wonder why Iran hates us... really struggling to find any reasons.

[Santander]

Tbh I don’t even think Iran is worse than Saudi Arabia.

Iran hates us and has for decades, Saudi Arabia doesn’t. It’s really that simple.

I wonder why Iran hates us... really struggling to find any reasons.

The coup of Mossadegh was the brainchild of MI6, not the CIA. Sure America had some involvement, but they were not the main orchestrators. Also the current government of Iran is totally insane and America really should've just crushed the revolution in its infancy in 1978.

LOL, please, don't try to minimize American involvement. Also, it's not really about the coup, but the Shah's grotesque rule afterwards.