POST #10 – What Would It Take To Destroy America Without Firing A Shot?

The answer is “Chump Change” could do it. See Bill Holter’s article titled, “Chump Change Could Do It”, http://blog.milesfranklin.com/ . The amount of money required would be about $10 billion in silver contracts that would require delivery. In gold futures it would be about $100 billion. Either delivery would collapse the paper market for gold and silver.

The question as to whether someone would try to destroy America depends upon the attitude and desires of the Chinese and the Saudis. In recent times our government has angered the Chinese, Russians, Germans, Brazilians, and also the United Kingdom. One way this was done was by our spying on their leadership. Even though they have been doing it for years, it has only recently been focused on because of the NSA scandal.

Saudi Arabia has now cut diplomatic ties with the United States. Their stated reason was our handling of the Syrian situation. In fact, Saudi Arabia has moved closer to China and Russia while at the same time distancing themselves from the United States. Let’s examine what is really behind this movement.

Saudi Arabia’s primary threat is Iran. The issue between Iran and Saudi Arabia is religion. The Saudi leadership is Sunni Muslim. The Iranian leadership is Shiite Muslim. It is conservative to say that they do not get along. Even though Saudi Arabia is moving towards Russia and China, they know that they will not get protection from Iran from those quarters. The United States has for many years been a trusted silent supporter of the Saudis and at times an active defender of their interest such as in the 1990 Gulf War. During this period there have been destabilizing events that caused concern from the Saudi leadership. In all cases, the United States has supported the Saudis. Some of the events occurred during in the 1960s when Gamel Abdel Nassar sought to destabilize Al Saud by creating trouble in neighboring Yemen; in 1979 religious fanatics took over the grand Mosque in Mecca and had to be disgorged by the use of military; in 1990 the Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and was stopped by the United States. Saudi Arabia thought they were next.
Today, the Saudi’s find themselves alone with respect to Syria (Shiite). They are trapped in a proxy war with Iran – – – the Shiite Iran versus the Sunni Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s had sought and expected United States’ help in arming the rebels against the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad. This was done via the CIA but in secret. For the details, see my Article, “An Analysis of a Scandal: Fast and Furious / Benghazi – Gun Running” on my Blog, www.jpfinancialeducation.com. However, the support was not open support where we entered the civil war on the side of the rebels. The Russians and the Chinese warned us not to enter. On top of the lack of open support in Syria, President Obama sought a private meeting with Iran’s new president Hasan Rouhani to discuss their Nuclear Program. This was an open affront to the Saudis since they fear Iran’s nuclear program as much as the Israelis. As a result of this open affront, the Saudis canceled their speech at the UN and
turned down the opportunity to join the Security Council of the UN. This is diplomacy saying, “I no longer trust you Uncle Sam”. The net result of this is that Saudi Arabia is now walking away from the United States while at the same time supplying arms to the Syrian rebels. The war will continue as long as they supply those arms. The concern that the Saudis have with those rebels which contain at least 500 Saudi jihadists, as reported by a Wall Street Journal editorial article dated October 25, 2013, is that this trained contingent of jihadists will come back to Saudi Arabia to try to displace the Saudi King. However, the Saudis really fear the US talks with Tehran about nuclear disarmament. They fear that the current weak and naïve administration will agree to lifting economic sanctions without first obtaining ironclad evidence that Iran has abandoned its nuclear program.

The Saudi’s have another problem called oil that is distancing them from the United States. Iran, supported by China and Russia is a direct threat to Saudi’s oil exports. Meanwhile, the American oil and gas production is soaring. As a result, Americans are questioning the expensive Middle East support of Saudi Arabia by spending in the range of multiple trillions of dollars when it is becoming obvious that oil and gas is more plentiful and cheaper here in the United States.

Finally, Saudi Arabia has a real problem of succession. A band of brothers has ruled the kingdom since the death in 1953 of their father Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. He left 36 male heirs. Which one will become king? Prince Bandar is only one of the many potential heirs. Whoever wins the prize will guarantee that his family line will be very, very rich and very powerful. As a consequence, the infighting is fierce.

The most insightful way of discerning the future between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is an insight from Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal who is fond of saying that, “the United States and Saudi Arabia no longer have a Catholic marriage but rather a Muslim one”. This is a clever way to say that the United States and Saudi Arabia are no longer faithful to one another but Saudi Arabia looks upon the United States as its first wife and she will not be abandoned. This Muslim concept is what reigns here. Specifically, the Saudis are declaring a trial separation