Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “The kingdom and all involved in this brutal murder must be held accountable, and if the Trump administration will not take the lead, Congress must.”
***
In internal discussions, Mr. Kushner has urged the president and his aides not to abandon Prince Mohammed. But as Turkish officials leaked details of the grisly killing of Mr. Khashoggi and of the dismemberment of his body, the White House has become increasingly isolated in its defense of Saudi Arabia.
Take a moment and picture this scenario.
Caving to his image-advisors and pollsters who fret about a Blue Tide surging into key states, POTUS inks the sanctions.
As its merchantile supply line begins to dry up, Saudi Arabia does not blink. It does precisely what it said it would do. It retaliates by hitting the world where it hurts most: the oil supply.
For decades Saudi Arabia has been OPEC’s swing vote, able to turn up or down the light sweet crude flowing to international markets. No other producers have either the reserves or production to control the volume and thereby the price of petroleum.
Suppose they tightened the spigot. It would not be enough to merely reduce the flow. If they have learned anything in their years of military alliance with the Great Satan, it is the tactic of Shock and Awe. They close the valves. All of them. Call it the Third Middle East Oil Shock.
In spite of a record production year for the cartel of 32.78 million b/d, US sanctions on Iranian oil and deteriorating output from Venezuela have already begun pushing prices towards $100/barrel. Demand might be marginally slowing in climate-minded Europe or in economically stressed Turkey, Brazil, and Argentina, but in North America and Asia, oil consumption is still on an exponential trajectory. Despite the US’s shale oil production having increased at a spectacular annualized rate of over 5 million b/d (estimated), the hole created by Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal, accompanied by withdrawal of like supplies from its Middle Eastern OPEC neighbors out of enforced loyalty, would dwarf anything POTUS might have thought he held as a hole card.
Economic ripples became waves. Waves became a tsunami. The price of oil shoots to $400/b virtually overnight. It would take some weeks for that price to pass through refineries and reach retailers but already gas stations around the US jack up the price at the pump.
Then the Seventh Fleet sails into the Straits of Hormuz, but it is too little too late. The supertankers are empty. Short of landing the Marines to take the giant oil fields and recruiting an army of production engineers to run them, military options are few, and costly. Saudi Arabia, after all, is armed with state-of-the-art US weaponry, and with its honor at stake, is entirely capable of self-inflicting scorched earth if push comes to shove.
Meanwhile, back at home, everything descends to chaos. Markets crash. The most-energy-dependent sectors scramble to come up with downscaling plans that could keep the doors open, but within weeks — a month at the most — giants like WalMart and Amazon are shuttering million-square-foot warehouses. Freighters turn back to Shenzhen with full cargoes. Bankers are unwilling to extend lines of credit.
Economic contraction would spread like a pandemic across the face of Europe. It would reach into Russia and China, who had imagined themselves immune, but were already weakened by US economic sanctions. China’s giant economy demands 9 million barrels of refined oil each and every day.
Russia, now importing only 30,000 b/d, is likely to be the least harmed by a global energy supply drop, but is helpless to fend off the knock-on effects of global economic downturn, especially when its Chinese trading partner goes belly up. It could extend credit for gas purchases both Eastward and Westward but any expectation that it would be repaid would eventually be dashed. The world economy would be as a boxer who has been struck a knockout blow, still standing, but bound for the canvas.
In Scandinavia and Germany, breadlines form. In Spain and Italy, fascist movements take to the streets and find broad support. We’ve seen all this before, but this is a different beast. The event will be enormous, and it will be fast.
Central Banks and the Fed can meet in emergency sessions but the tools they used in earlier crises are gone, spent in 2008 and the lingering QE programs. In any case, this situation is not something that can be remedied by rejiggering debt. Energy is not money.
The televised bobbleheads we see wringing their hands over the Khashoggi affair, urging POTUS to stick up for “American values” would be mute. Their communications channels would be shutting down in any event. They might busy themselves thinking how they can feed their families as grocery store shelves go empty.
Of course, the other possibility would be that Donald Trump simply refuses to sign the sanctions bill and thereby saves Civilization. That is, until rising temperatures and rising seas erase it from memory.
Donald Trump has a chance here to do the right thing. He can kill Civilization and save the Earth. He just has to stick it to Saudi Arabia.
______
* Before Congress can take action of this kind, it is required to first invoke the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and give the President 120 days to investigate and recommend sanctions. Lawmakers did that on October 18.
Dredd on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 8:35 am
Why do we need the Saudis … I mean remember that the GOP says we have oil independence now in the US.
Fake arms sales … does that mean Trump huffed and puffed about billions and billions and billions in arms sales to the Saudis.
Or does it mean that the dismembered Khashoggi’s arms are up for sale?
The dems must have done it cause only a mob would do that according to Jarred Cashner (How To Identify The Despotic Minority – 5).
Sissyfuss on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 9:10 am
This article meshes nicely with the coming Halloween holiday. Scarier than any tale of ghouls and witches because it carries with it a huge kernel of truth. Lots of tricks without any treats.
print baby print on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 9:13 am
Economy is in ruins already. Peak oil has past . What spare capacity hahahahha. Now the KSA and USA have perfect story to cover up those things. The stage has been set . IMP must go down ( Iranian missile program)
Anonymous on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 9:43 am
I think we need to be practical. Libya and Iraq were worse off after the dictator left and populist forces took over (and going back to 1979 Iran). In the Middle East, the populist forces are often more radical Islam than the dictators. Plus you can have chaos.
Destabilizing the royal family would be stupid. Yes, the murder was wrong. No, we should not try to get involved. It happened on Saudi soil.
onlooker on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 9:51 am
If we were really serious about saving the Earth we would have nixed our mode of civilization quite some time ago. We will go down along with our precious civilization
Duncan Idaho on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 10:26 am
“It happened on Saudi soil.”
Actually, it happened in Turkey, although Erdogan is a psychopath also.
Anonymous on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 10:31 am
It was in the consulate. Technically extraterritorial.
Duncan Idaho on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 10:45 am
“It was in the consulate. Technically extraterritorial.”
But physically Turkey.
Humans can play games—-
Chrome Mags on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 11:18 am
“Why do we need the Saudis … I mean remember that the GOP says we have oil independence now in the US.”
Good point. Why doesn’t Trump contact US oil companies working in the Balken and Permian and demand they up their output by whatever Iran’s production declines. I mean, start doing what he does best, name calling; “You bunch of weak bastards! Get more oil fast!! Shove that sand and other chemicals down there NOW. Stop being such pansies and get me that oil!!!” He should do what he often does, become enraged with hatred. Have people called on the carpet to testify to the Senate as to why increases are not keeping up with sanctions substituted for the breached contract with Iran.
Pete Bauer on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 1:04 pm
If US can sell arms to journalist butchering Saudi Arabia, then Russia/China can happily sell all types of weapons to Iran and also buy their Oil.
They must be waiting for US response.
Pete Bauer on Sun, 21st Oct 2018 1:07 pm
Any journalist who goes to Saudi Arabia if he/she reports anything against their leaders, this is the fate.
Will the press community still continue to go to that country to cover the news or just stop.
And what about the Muslims, will they continue to go there for pilgrimage or stop in protest?
print baby print on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 12:29 am
*Anonymous it is exactly your attitude which is \destroying humans. No shame at all when its serves your interest
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:37 am
After a weekend where Remain scored big points with its 760,000 march in London, the “Norway” variant of Brexit gets new upwind:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6301355/MPs-unite-Norway-route-Labour-Brexiteer-Frank-Field-Tory-Remainer-Nicky-Morgan-EEA.html
“Norway” means that the UK gets its political and judicial independence back, to a certain degree, but economically it remains integrated in Europe. The chances that Scotland and Northern Ireland would break away would be diminished. Everybody agrees that a no deal Brexit would be a lose-lose for both sides, this would now have been staved off.
Although I personally have been flirting with jingoist thoughts in the wake of a potential no-deal Brexit, this would perhaps be the least damaging and least risky scenario for both sides.
Britain would become political independent of Europe, but we would become independent of Britain too, with the major consequence that we can open up towards Russia, the wish of all populists.
Watched yesterday “Anne Will” German talk show, this time about Brexit, with UK ambassador and former German FM Gabriel (whom I have in high regard btw, even though he is a socialist). All German guests deeply and sincerely regret Britain leaving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh9z4SBbIAs
Theedrich on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:39 am
The solution? Dump KSA & Yidland, & embrace Iran. The US-Saudi symbiosis was locked in around Valentine’s Day, 1945, when White-hating President F.D. Roosevelt and Winnie Ill-Church had just finished murdering about a quarter of a million Germans in Dresden. The American murderer met with the original King Saud in the Bitter Lakes region of Araby and signed a Faustian still-secret pact with the devil: to do anything necessary to keep the Mohammedan Sauds in homicidal power as long as the U.S. could get oil from them.
American “values” mean one thing to the plebs, quite another to the overlords, as is abundantly clear. Now that Yankeeland is being flooded with parasitic darkies who hate Whitey, the erstwhile mores of the Land of the Freebie are gone with the wind, and the true nature of the monster behind the curtain is becoming exposed.
makati1 on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 2:10 am
Yes, get their oil and use the oil to prop up the faux USD. That bargain is evaporating as we type. The petro-dollar is now in competition with the petro-yaun and the petro-rubble among others. Oil deals are made that go around the SWIFT system using gold, and/or, the buyer’s/seller’s currencies.
Anonymouse1 on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 2:31 am
Since when did the Jewnited snakes give a rats ass about murdered part-time saudi ‘journalists’? This is AMERIKA we are talking about here, aka Murder INC. One of the, if not the most violent pseudo-nation on Earth. No one in the ‘white house’, and certainly not anyone in its ‘congress’ lost a wink of sleep over 50k dead in Libya, 100’s of thousands in Syria, the million(+) in Iraq, and anyone else they’ve droned, bombed, invaded, used white phosphorus or depleted uranium on. Or assassinated in the recent, or distant past.
The idea, that this guys murder is somehow ‘upsetting’ to anyone in washingdum, is laughable on its face. If the uS ‘acts’ in some way(doubtful), it will only be because they are otherwise displeased with the current towelhead in Riyadh. But for entirely different reasons, having nothing to do with who the clown princes hit list.
makati1 on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:18 am
So right Anon, so right.
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:31 am
The western governments are merely embarrassed that it came out, courtesy the Turks. The Saudi incompetence, that is the real embarrassement.
The fact that the Turks embarrassed KSA is a sure sign that Turkey is distancing itself from the West. And KSA. And Israel.
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 4:56 am
“Yes, get their oil and use the oil to prop up the faux USD. That bargain is evaporating as we type. The petro-dollar is now in competition with the petro-yaun and the petro-rubble among others.”
There goes Milton the economist talking out his ass about currencies. Billy can you elaborate on the petro-yuan and petro-rubble and how they are doing? While you are at it tell us about the gold back Yuan. Maybe you haven’t seen lately but China is in bad shape. LOL
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 5:01 am
“The solution? Dump KSA & Yidland, & embrace Iran.”
Thee, there is too much bad blood between Iran and the US ever for a rapprochement. It is unconditional surrender now. BTW, I see Iran as no better than KSA or Israel. I laugh when I see all the anti-Americans here talk about Iran as if they are wholesome and good. What a bunch of delusional idiots wanting to embrace anything that satisfies their blind hatred.
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 5:04 am
“Jewnited snakes” “aka Murder INC.” “most violent pseudo-nation on Earth.” “washingdum” “towelhead”
LOL, West Coast Canada’s finest
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 5:09 am
“The fact that the Turks embarrassed KSA is a sure sign that Turkey is distancing itself from the West. And KSA. And Israel.”
Sure neder, keep thinking another piece of that unsolvable puzzle you have created. Read this again:
“Opportunities Abound After Khashoggi-Gate”
https://tinyurl.com/y9a6q3v6
The story is deeper than you are capable of with your micro fantasy.
Antius on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 6:04 am
Davy, as someone able to gauge the sentiment of the US people in your vicinity, do you have any suspicions on how the mid-term elections will turn out?
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 6:18 am
Antius, this is a solid Republican region except for liberal pockets so voting will be along party lines. The issue this time is motivation to vote. I think all the bad behavior coming out of the extremist left is going to motivate voters that may not have voted otherwise. I think this “MAY” be another case of the blind lying liberal extreme losing another election for their sane moderate core. The Democrats should have had this one in their bag but that bag is getting wet at the bottom yet again. These dumbasses are their own worst enemies. One need only read comments from “I AM THE MOB” to see this. Much could happen in the next few weeks but I see a closer election then it should have been.
Antius on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 6:49 am
Thanks Davy. It will be interesting to see how it goes. It seems to me that opinion polls increasingly fail to predict political outcomes. I am not sure why that would be.
If ‘The Donald’ maintains control of both houses, I would imagine that translates into a good chance of winning a second term. The opposition in the US appears to be in complete disarray. However, changing demographics points towards large parts of the population voting tribally, with performance and policies becoming increasingly irrelevant.
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 6:56 am
Even the Trump haters of der Dpiegel give DJT a good chance of winning:
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/donald-trump-was-droht-wenn-die-republikaner-die-midterm-wahlen-gewinnen-a-1227287-amp.html
Politics in the US is now fully tribalized, from which there is no way back. Nature is playing out.
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 7:12 am
“It seems to me that opinion polls increasingly fail to predict political outcomes. I am not sure why that would be.”
Because they are rigged to goal seek a result. This is especially the case with the fake news liberal mainstream media.
“If ‘The Donald’ maintains control of both houses, I would imagine that translates into a good chance of winning a second term.”
I doubt Trump will see a second term because I see a 2019 recession. Not many sitting president survive a recession?? I may be wrong but the next recession might be a mother of one so I suspect Trump will be history in 2020.
“The opposition in the US appears to be in complete disarray.”
Yea, that could be a wild card for Trump in 2020. The left is so bat shit crazy anything is possible. In the next year so many bones are going to be dug up on criminality and corruption I think this will make Watergate pale in comparison. All the crap is there it just has not been put into the criminal justice system.
“However, changing demographics points towards large parts of the population voting tribally”
I don’t agree with the “tribally” completely. It is more “identity” and that identity equates to ideology that favors various groups.
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 7:21 am
“Politics in the US is now fully tribalized, from which there is no way back. Nature is playing out.”
more of that puzzle that doesn’t fit together
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 7:27 am
“Italy Responds To EU Commission, Admits Deficit Breach But Refuses To Budge”
https://tinyurl.com/yctjto64
“Initial relief over a favorable Moody’s downgrade of Italy, which pushed the rating just one notch above junk but kept the outlook stable (which in turn prompted the following sarcastic remark from Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid “If there’s one thing the outlook isn’t for Italy at the moment it’s stable but rating agencies are unlikely to want to create a vicious circle”) faded after Italy’s populist government promised it won’t let its budget deficit widen further than currently planned and called for dialogue with the European Union to address their differences.”
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 11:49 am
more of that puzzle that doesn’t fit together
Sure.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a22685107/laura-ingraham-white-nationalism-fox-news-tucker-carlson/
For people who can count to three: white nationalism going mainstream.
Few years before the split.
https://www.amazon.com/Suicide-Superpower-Will-America-Survive-ebook/dp/B004YD36HS/ref=sr_1_sc_1
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 12:24 pm
Forming a militia to defend REAL AMERICA
https://i.redd.it/fwmpcmq2crt11.jpg
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 12:28 pm
Tweedle d and tweddle dumb each talking racism from their sick point of views.
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 12:55 pm
And the right is nearly all in general senior citizens..
All we have to do is cut off their social security and Medicaid and they die..
No shots even fired..
LMFAO!
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 12:59 pm
Davy
I hope the home boys run a train on your daughter when society collapses..
Without the police it will be payback time for the privileged..
Your sense of entitlement won’t save you either..
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:05 pm
“The United States Of Empire: “We’re Getting Close To The End Now””
https://tinyurl.com/ycem9vjg
“There are great pivot points in history, and we’ve arrived at one. The United States, ruptured by a thousand grievance groups, torn by shadowy agencies drunk on a gross excess of power, robbed blind by oligarchs and their treasonous henchmen and decimated by frivolous wars of choice, has finally come to a point where the end begins in earnest. The center isn’t holding… indeed, finding a center is no longer even conceivable. We are the schizophrenic nation, bound by no societal norms, constrained by no religion, with no shared sense of history, myth, language, art, philosophy, music, or culture, rushing toward an uncertain future fueled by nothing more than easy money, hubris, and sheer momentum.”
“The “Defense” Department, “Homeland” Security, big pharma, big oil, big education, civil rights groups, blacks, Indians, Jews, the Deep State, government workers, labor unions, Neocons, Populists, fundamentalist Christians, atheists, pro life and pro death advocates, environmentalists, lawyers, homosexuals, women, Millenials, Baby Boomers, blue collar/white collar, illegal aliens… the list goes on and on, but the point is that the conflicting agendas of these disparate groups have been irreconcilable for some time. The difference today is that we are de facto at war with each other, and whether it is a war of words or of actual combat doesn’t matter at the moment. What matters is that we no longer communicate, and when that happens it is easy to demonize the other side. Violence is never far behind ignorance.”
“Foreign malcontents can never be successfully integrated into a civilized society because they don’t even intend to try; they intend to conquer their host instead. Yet even though our own discontents are domestic for the most part, we have a much harder row to hoe than Old Europe because our own “invaders” are well entrenched and have been for decades, all the way up to the highest levels of government. That there are signs Austria is finally waking up is a good thing, but it serves to illustrate the folly of expecting the hostile cultures within our own country to get along with each other without rupturing the republic. Indeed, that republic died long ago, and it has been replaced by a metastasizing mass of amorphous humanity called the American Empire, and it is at war with itself and consuming itself from within.”
“Long ago, we once knew that as American citizens each of us had a great responsibility. We were expected to work hard, play fair, do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and serve our country when called upon to do so. Today, we don’t speak of duty, except in so much as a slogan to promote war, but we certainly do speak of benefits for ourselves and our “group” of entitled peeps. We will fail because of our greed and avarice. The United States of Empire has become quite simply too big, too diverse, and too “exceptional” to survive.”
Anontarded1 on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:20 pm
still refuse to name muzzie supertard(pbuh swt) ? what possible to name austria? 🙂
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:23 pm
Stop calling me supertard. dumbass
Anontarded1 on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:24 pm
wow ssrly? “Violence is not far behind” and the list does not include muzzies.
ZH is covering for muzzies.
Yeah it’s not far behind because it had been behind, like 9/11, san bernadino, boston, houston, ft lauderdale
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 2:16 pm
Davy just can’t stop spreading scaremongering propaganda..
Make sure to click on one of the ten thousand ads on that article why you are at it davy..
Learn to read from different sources you narrow minded right wing bigot..
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 2:22 pm
The United States of Empire has become quite simply too big, too diverse, and too “exceptional” to survive.”
Did you post that, Davy, or did somebody hijack your nick?
I’m amazed.
we have a much harder row to hoe than Old Europe because our own “invaders” are well entrenched and have been for decades, all the way up to the highest levels of government.
I still thank Dolfie for shipping them back to where they came from ca. hundred years earlier. Now America has the problem.
https://documents1940.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/amsterdam-deportations/
At least CW2 and potentially Gulag-2, where this time the guards will be partially of color:
https://documents1940.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/the-new-america/
Better be nice to Europe, we are your last hope.
Antius on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 2:35 pm
Cloggie, whilst I don’t want to downplay the situation, it is worth remembering that us white European types conquered the world before the FF era.
I tend to believe that in a civil war situation in which the US is black vs white, and the whites recognise the situation for what it is; darkie will most likely be on the receiving end of a new age of apartheid. Once it is realised that Millikikes people have aided and abetted black power; the Americans will be building a Belsen reenactment centre.
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:02 pm
Voters at a church applaud man after he ends his pro-Trump speech with a Nazi salute
https://i.redd.it/o8cap5ygujs11.gif
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:10 pm
George Soros Vows To Lead Migrant Caravan Into Promised Land
https://babylonbee.com/news/george-soros-vows-to-lead-migrant-caravan-into-promised-land?fbclid=IwAR3veY41bMvFdOHI8pK8o34cA9xUvpX9gcNiAKYoSDgjB0E9tshQ8fZhMLs
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:31 pm
“Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 1:23 pm Stop calling me supertard. dumbass”
BTW I did not say that, must have been cowards like JuanP, a-noise1, or gregt.
Davy on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:33 pm
“The United States Of Empire: “We’re Getting Close To The End Now””
BTW, I did not post this
Antius on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 3:36 pm
“George Soros Vows To Lead Migrant Caravan Into Promised Land”
Lord Sidious himself, showing the whole world what a nice guy he his. There is a special place in hell for that nasty little semite creep.
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 4:05 pm
Fox’s Newt Gingrich warns that civilization will end if migrant caravan is allowed to cross the border
https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/10/19/foxs-newt-gingrich-warns-civilization-will-end-if-migrant-caravan-allowed-cross-border/221757
You can’t make this stuff up..Boomers are so fucking stupid and insane..
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 4:13 pm
“I tend to believe that in a civil war situation in which the US is black vs white, and the whites recognise the situation for what it is; darkie will most likely be on the receiving end of a new age of apartheid.”
I don’t think CW2 is going to be a “race war”, but a war between left and right, or “globalists/communists” against “constitutionalists” and that without foreign intervention, the right will lose the civil war, like in Russia, 1922. Don’t forget that most of the government resources will support the left..
The big difference between Russia 1917-1922 and now is that today foreign powers now don’t need to recover from a war (WW1). Populist Europe will side with the constitutionalists. It will be like 1776, albeit on a hundreds time larger scale.
Cloggie on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 4:17 pm
“Italy rules out leaving the EU amid budget standoff”
https://www.france24.com/en/20181022-italy-rules-out-leaving-european-union-amid-budget-standoff
I AM THE MOB on Mon, 22nd Oct 2018 4:24 pm
Clogg
Globalist/communist? WTF? Globalism is capitalism..
You are so fucking brain dead..I am going to laugh when someone bashes your face in with a brick when the oil shortage hits..