> Because Saudi are our allies? Why are they our allies? I genuinely don't know. Assuming you're not trolling, it's because of the petrodollar and the deal Nix

> Because Saudi are our allies? Why are they our allies? I genuinely don't know. Assuming you're not trolling, it's because of the petrodollar and the deal Nixon cooked up with the Saudis in 1974[1] to prop up the dollar, after the US got off the gold standard (established between the Western allies as WWII was coming to an end). In the end no one in power in Washington cares about human rights as much as maintaining the balance of power. There was an amazing discussion on the gold standard dollar to petrodollar history recently on HN[2]. Then you can start asking questions on the timing of the Libya intervention, given Gadaffi's plans to trade oil for gold instead of the US dollar, which would upset the balance of power. The more you start digging, the more realpolitik strategies sound like something from a Metal Gear plot. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-05-30/the-untold-story-behind-saudi-arabia-s-41-year-u-s-debt-secret https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-05-30/the-untol... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25407583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25407583