Qatar makes migrant workers run "megamarathon"

[politicus]

Not generally a fan of small countries being colonized, but their system is too horrible and unlikely to change, so:

Indians and Nepalis make up half the population, so India should just invade it too liberate their fellow countrymen + fellow Hindus and make it an overseas Indian state. Their oil income might as well add to development in India.

[politicus]

Disgusting.  The entire Arabian Peninsula is awful.  

Oman much less so than the others, but yeah.

[politicus]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

The U.S. has no choice because of all the oil they have.

Or, just a thought, we could tap into our own oil reserves.

Not as cheap to dig up. Besides, having oil reserves domestically is a good strategic move in the off chance that overseas reserves become forcibly unavailable, so we don't want to deplete them if we don't have to. Plus, environmental concerns.

Ah. So the trees are more important than actual people. Good to know what you truly think, Beet.

Envríronmental concerns affect people - even more so long run.

[politicus]

At this point it's less about oil and more about geostrategy and pivoting, whatever that really means.

China, Japan and Western Europe still need that oil. You could make a case that the Americans should stop securing our oil supply, but it would still be bad for the world economy if they cut us off (+ Japan and Western Europe are US allies).

[politicus]

Qatar is not about oil, it's about natural gas.

Bahrain wasn't about Shiahs 1st, but more likely about the fact that a big Gulf US base could have eventually fallen in the hands of some eventual Iran allies, yes. Same island, same shiahs, but no base, maybe that would have been different.

Western Europe is diverse and is not condemned to be US allies, for my sake I live in a country that proved it (which might be one of the last advantages of this country).

Quatar is primarily about natural gas, but they do have significant oil reserves.

Saudi-Arabia and UAE did not intervene to safe a US base from the Iranians, but to 1) prevent Iranian expansion across the Gulf and 2) safe the Bahraini monarchy. A popular uprising dethroning a Gulf State monarch would have set a dangerous example. You should not understate the second motive. Regarding the first motive the base was not crucial. Bahrain is at the doorstep of Saudi-Arabia and you can drive across.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Fahd_Causeway

Most of Western Europe is still dependent on Middle Eastern oil, if we didn't have the Americans to secure these places we (and Japan and China) would have to do it ourselves. I find it unlikely China would be willing to do the dirty work, so Europe would have to get involved.