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Are you suggesting we sanction Saudi or drop sanctions on Russia? I buy the hypocrisy argument, but don't understand the direction of the whataboutism? The re

by ajross 4y ago

Are you suggesting we sanction Saudi or drop sanctions on Russia? I buy the hypocrisy argument, but don't understand the direction of the whataboutism? The realpolitik answer is that Russia is (just barely) amenable to international control via sanctions. Saudi is not, owing to it's irreplaceable control over critical resources. And that sucks, and we should do something about it. But we can't do it now, sorry.

jlmorton 4y ago
> Saudi is not, owing to it's irreplaceable control over critical resources. I'm not sure I understand the distinction. Russia is a larger producer of oil, and a substantially larger producer of energy products overall.
pjc50 4y ago
Saudi are extremely amenable to international control given that they have nothing but oil. They have to import almost all their food! A true embargo would collapse them in weeks. The problem is that (a) they have unlimited bribery funds, secure in Western banks and (b) the US has chosen to back them in their sectarian war against Iran and Iranian proxy forces in Yemen. The US can't even begin to exert pressure on Saudi until it stops arming them! At the very least pull the Patriot batteries and let Iran strike them. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/599065-us-transfers-patriot-missiles-to-saudi-arabia/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/599065-us-transfers-patri...
FpUser 4y ago
>"Are you suggesting we sanction Saudi or drop sanctions on Russia? I buy the hypocrisy argument, but don't understand the direction of the whataboutism?" Where did you see any mention of dropping sanctions on Russia? The post seem to advocate sanctions on Saudis. The US has oil. And yes Saudis are sensitive to sanctions. Not sanctioning Saudis just shows true colors to the rest of the world. See one day you are telling that some XYZ country is bad, bad, bad and the next day whatever bad they do is suddenly ok since it plays to your minute interests. I think that the reaction of any normal person would be something like fuck yourself and go preach your moral values to some other gullible idiots. I do understand the danger though. There are currently whole bunch of not so unimportant countries like China, Russia, India etc. They lately seem to show various degrees of go fuck yourself attitude when it comes to sharing the agenda. of the West. Having Saudis join the block will not do the West any good. No idea how to get out of this situation. However not selling them weapons should be a must.

by ajross 4y ago

jlmorton 4y ago

> Saudi is not, owing to it's irreplaceable control over critical resources. I'm not sure I understand the distinction. Russia is a larger producer of oil, and a substantially larger producer of energy products overall.

pjc50 4y ago

Saudi are extremely amenable to international control given that they have nothing but oil. They have to import almost all their food! A true embargo would collapse them in weeks. The problem is that (a) they have unlimited bribery funds, secure in Western banks and (b) the US has chosen to back them in their sectarian war against Iran and Iranian proxy forces in Yemen. The US can't even begin to exert pressure on Saudi until it stops arming them! At the very least pull the Patriot batteries and let Iran strike them. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/599065-us-transfers-patriot-missiles-to-saudi-arabia/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/599065-us-transfers-patri...

FpUser 4y ago

>"Are you suggesting we sanction Saudi or drop sanctions on Russia? I buy the hypocrisy argument, but don't understand the direction of the whataboutism?" Where did you see any mention of dropping sanctions on Russia? The post seem to advocate sanctions on Saudis. The US has oil. And yes Saudis are sensitive to sanctions. Not sanctioning Saudis just shows true colors to the rest of the world. See one day you are telling that some XYZ country is bad, bad, bad and the next day whatever bad they do is suddenly ok since it plays to your minute interests. I think that the reaction of any normal person would be something like fuck yourself and go preach your moral values to some other gullible idiots. I do understand the danger though. There are currently whole bunch of not so unimportant countries like China, Russia, India etc. They lately seem to show various degrees of go fuck yourself attitude when it comes to sharing the agenda. of the West. Having Saudis join the block will not do the West any good. No idea how to get out of this situation. However not selling them weapons should be a must.