Exposing the Saudi Arabian Royal Family, U.S. foreign policy, and the poverty currently occurring within Saudi Arabia
Preface
The current world dependence on oil leaves much to be said about the impact of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East on foreign policy and international politics. Presently the world's largest consumer of oil, the U.S. depends on Saudi Arabia and much of the Middle East for the energy to run its businesses, its homes, and most importantly, its automobiles. In the past few months U.S. consumers have felt the pressures of increasing gasoline prices as they struggle to commute and live their daily lives. This leaves the U.S. with important decisions to be made on behalf of its citizens and its position in the international realm.
Saudi Arabia, the leader of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies), maintains a powerful position in negotiations with the U.S. and other countries. Its vast supply of oil directly effects per barrel pricing and is a unique bargaining tool in international politics. But Saudi Arabia is no ordinary country in today's world. Its borders are governed by a royal family of nearly 30,000 individuals, all of which share most of the wealth and almost all of the power. Its people, with foreign exceptions, are wholly Islamic and many practice the faith with a frightening sense of devotion. And despite the immense revenue generated by its oil reserves, part of its population still lives in absolute poverty. Although recently it has seen immense change, it is still a country fair behind the progressive world.
This report draws from many publications written over the last twenty years exposing the unique situation in Saudi Arabia, while also utilizing recent headl...
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... September 2003 <http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2003/issue3/jv7n3a2.html> (31 May 2004).
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?Plots and bombs,? The Economist, May 1 2004: 47.
?Still at its mercy,? The Economist, May 22 2004: 10
?The limits of reform,? The Economist, Mar 27 2004: 47.
?US Challenges and Choices Saudi Arabia: A View from the Inside,? The Atlantic Council of the United States, The Middle East Institute, The Middle East Policy Council, and The Stanley Foundation, <http://reports.stanleyfdn.org/EFCgulfh02.pdf> (May 31, 2004).
?What if?? The Economist, May 29 2004: 69.
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America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%). The risk associated with these countries being the top oil producers is twofold. One, they are located half way around the world making it an expensive to transport the product logistically to a desired destination. And two, the U.S. has weak, if not contentious,...
Religion was very important in Aztec civilizations. They worshiped hundreds of gods and goddesses. They all stand for different things like, the sun and water to death. According to Ian Mursell/Mexicolore Aztecs believed “the gods created and controlled the world and kept the sun moving.”
arose when Saudi Arabia refused his aid in the Persian Gulf War for protection from the U.S troops. Infuriating bin Laden the power of U.S in Muslim territorie...
From the perspective of the Aztecs, sacrificing their people’s lives and worshipping gods served a greater purpose. To elaborate, the Aztecs believed that the gods had sacrificed their own lives so that the humans could live, and naturally, the Aztecs felt in debt of the gods. This was the reason for the many sacrifices and offerings given towards gods. Another contributing factor was that the Aztec lived in constant fear that the world would come to an end. As a result, their religion’s key focus, was on keeping nature in balance, and to do so, they need to keep the gods happy. Therefore, the reason behind worshipping and sacrifices was so that the Aztec’s could live in harmony with nature and their gods.
The quote given by George W. Bush on the top of this page laid down a strong game plan concerning the war on terrorism and where it is heading in the next few years. The result of declaring war on terrorism has seen much success over the past year and a half. However, in this war we have failed to apply two very crucial tactics in fighting terror; stopping the money sources and de-legitimizing terrorism. If we fail to apply these tactics, long lasting progress in the war against terror is doubtful if we continue to play the appeasement game with Saudi Arabia because this country has and will continue to remain the largest offender of both points. Saudi Arabia is a country that is run by a corrupt dictatorship which allows an extreme view of Islam called Wahhabism to thrive in the country as well as supplying funds for the spread of it throughout the rest of the world. We have cal...
Aztec religion involved the worshipping of many gods. There was a god for almost any aspect of nature. There was a god of fire, a god of rain, a god of water. Gods were also used to symbolize other aspects of life as well. The gods could be grouped into three main groups. The first group consisted of gods of fertility and agriculture, like the god of maize (corn), which was extremely important to the Aztec people as it was their staple food, the god of water, and the god of the farming cycle, etc. the second group consisted of the creator gods. This group contained some of the most powerful of all of their gods, including Tonatiuh, the warrior god of the sun and Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night sky. The third group contained the gods of warfare, including Huitzilopochtli, the chief deity of the Aztecs.
On the other hand, boys went to the military or began working. Aside from their educational life and marriage life, the Aztecs also had a religious life which was very important to them. The Aztecs just like any ancient civilization believed in many gods like the sun god, the rain god and even the god of war and fate. Another important aspect of the Aztec religion was the rituals and ceremonies in which humans were sacrificed to be offered to the gods. In addition to the rituals, the Aztecs also had a sacred year calendar which consisted of 260 days and a different solar year calendar consisting of 365 days. Another common belief that the Aztecs had was that they believed in another life after death which is why they buried the person with valuable items that he or she could use in that
Maynes, Charles. "The Middle East in the Twenty-First Century." Middle East Journal 52.1 (1998): 9-16. JSTOR. Web. 6 June 2011.
The U.S dependency on foreign oil presents many negative impacts on the nation’s economy. The cost for crude oil represents about 36% of the U.S balance of payment deficit. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). This does not affect directly the price of gas being paid by consumers, but the money paid circulates in the country’s economy and affects areas such as; the job market and production facilities. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). In addition to the rise in prices, another negative aspect of the U.S dependency on foreign crude oil is the risk of supply disruptions caused by political instability of the Middle East. According to Rebecca Lefton and Daniel J. Weiss in the Article “Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit” in 2010, the U.S imported 4 million barrels of oil a day or 1.5 billion barrels per year from “dangerous or unstable” countries. The prices in which these barrels are being purchased at are still very high, and often lead to conflict between the U.S and Middle Eastern countries. Lefton and Weiss also add that the U.S reliance on oil from countries ...
Gerner, Deborah J., and Philip A. Schrodt. "Middle Eastern Politics." Understanding the contemporary Middle East. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 85 -136. Print.
Saudi Arabia is a primarily oil-based economy, with oil being the most important component of the nation’s rapid economic development since World War II. U.S. geologists discovered oil in the region in the 1930s, and since exports expanded most notably in the 1960s, production and rich revenues have been seemingly limitless. The amount of oil in Saudi Arabia’s reserves amounts to close to a quarter of the world’s entire oil resources, and today the country produces about 10,000 barrels a day. As a result, the valuable resource currently accounts for 90% of the country’s exports and contributes to 75% of government revenues annually. During the 1970s, following the Arab-Israeli war, Saudi Arabia’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the world due to a sharp increase in the value of petroleum.
While oil revenue has been observed to bring positive effects to Saudi Arabia, large amounts of money have the intrinsic ability to corrupt leaders and produce negative effects. The extravagance of the Saudi Royal Family has drawn particular att...
...Arabia is a petrostate. Oil dominates the national economy, international exports, and the nation’s politics. It has greatly shaped what the kingdom is today. Having started out as somewhat of a tourist economy, the kingdom has become a world, monetary power. From their massive amounts of oil and extremely cheap production, the country has been able to gain large amounts of affluence and political power. With its large abundance of oil, the country has been able to profit immensely on sales and spur diplomatic outcomes to their benefit due to the great need of the resource. Without the discovery oil, Saudi Arabia would be of little importance in the modern world, having the Grand Mosque be the extent of its importance. But because of its discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia became of international importance, coming to be one of the greatest assets to world superpowers.
Dissociative Identity Disorder or “DID”, a condition wherein a person's identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personalities. DID is a form of dissociation, which is a mental process. Dissociation according to Webster is, “the separation of something from something else or the state of being disconnected.” So dissociation begins from the person’s thoughts, their memories, actions, sense of identity, and their feelings. Most people subjected to this disorder where victims of severe abuse or trauma. In this moment of abuse or trauma, dissociation kicks in as a coping mechanism to protect them. In this the person creates a new person to help cope the pain.
Like Abdelrahman Munif, Kim Barnes’s In the Kingdom of Men incarnates the disastrous consequences of oil wealth. Barnes reflects on the social, cultural and political changes that occurred in Saudi Arabia after oil discovery through the story of a young American woman, Gin, who leaves the dusty farmland of 1960s Oklahoma to follow her husband to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia where she faces a life that she has never imagined to live. “She finds a world of wealth, glamour, American privilege, and corruption” (Barnes, Home Page). In an email to the researcher Kim Barnes comments: