

The diplomat who said 'No' to Saudi oil - Keyframe
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-29954567

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AlexMuir
Ho ho ho, let's all chuckle at what a dastardly gaff our hapless Oliphant made
- leaving the door open for those pesky Americans to get stuck into the oil.

When we wonder why the Arab world is filling with hatred it's because this has
been 'the game' for the last 85 years. The West props up and enriches an elite
in return for them keeping the oil flowing and the population subdued. But
they'd better maintain and spend that money in London and New York. Ideally
re-investing it in our football clubs, supermarkets, and overboiling real-
estate markets.

~~~
reality_czech
The Arab world needs to take responsibility for its own problems and solve
them. As long as they continue to blame Jews, Americans, or other "outsiders"
for their problems, they will never be solved.

China took responsibility for itself and built itself into a superpower,
despite suffering more colonial aggression in the 19th century than the Middle
East.

~~~
hackuser
> China took responsibility for itself and built itself into a superpower

I don't agree that China's power has anything to do with development or
'responsibility': Saudi Arabia's economy produces around 4 times as much per
person as China's, but due to population size China's economy is over 10 times
the size of S.A.'s. That's why China is (becoming) a great power, and S.A. is
not. We could say the same about South Korea, Taiwan, and many, many other
countries who are wealthier per capita than China but lack their global
influence.

China's 'responsible' leaders killed tens of millions of their own citizens,
probably the most murderous and disastrous regime in the history of the world.
After they burnt down their own house, plowed under the ashes and salted the
earth, since ~1979 they've done a decent job economically for many Chinese,
and especially for the leaders themselves.

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hackuser
To put it in context, I can think of far more consequential foreign policy
decisions made in the 1930s ... and right now.

It's a very difficult job and often (usually) the largest influences are not
policy analysis or an individual's judgment, but domestic politics in the
participating countries. Consider, for example, issues such as climate change
and Iran's nuclear program, solutions to both of which are greatly restricted
by one political party in the U.S.

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leaveyou
I guess that was one of the first but still remarkable nail in the British
Empire's coffin..

~~~
Wintamute
This was a small nail compared to the massive stakes of the two world wars
which left Britain totally bankrupt.

