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UAE to leave OPEC

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Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#411

Post by traderj0e »

Teever wrote: post #303
stickfigure wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If gasoline is more expensive, customers will demand more efficient vehicles. We aren't mindless zombies buying whatever we see on TV. I'm old enough to remember when Japanese small cars practically took over the market in the 70s and 80s due to gas price shocks. It can happen again.

> We aren't mindless zombies buying whatever we see on TV. But we are. I don't want to turn this into a political slap fight but it became apparent to me the extent in which people are swayed by advertising when I read an article that talked about how one party in the US was concerned that the other was going to win an important seat becase the other party had done a recent spending surge on ads in last few days befo…

If you don't want to make this about politics, use a product advertising example instead of politics which is not even comparable.

Advertised products will sell more, but only to a certain point. Like someone who wants an SUV and knows nothing else might buy the one from Chevy instead of Mitsubishi because of advertising.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#412

Post by nkmnz »

watwut wrote: post #387
nkmnz wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Arabs dont have equal standing and treatment in israel. Also, Israel is increasingly far right and best estimate is less rights in the future.

I agree that we should hold Israel to highest standards (which are, unfortunately, eroded especially by the US, these days).

Nevertheless, you should always ask yourselves: would you prefer being an gay Arab in Tel Aviv or a gay Jew in Gaza?

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#413

Post by perpetualpear »

watwut wrote: post #387
nkmnz wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Arabs dont have equal standing and treatment in israel. Also, Israel is increasingly far right and best estimate is less rights in the future.

There are 2 million muslim, mostly arab, citizens who are officially and legally equal to jews. They are distinct from the arabs in Gaza or the west bank, who are not citizens.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#414

Post by thaumasiotes »

anigbrowl wrote: post #315
deepsun wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

-- Moshe, why are you keep reading anti-Semitic papers? -- I just like to hear how powerful and clever we are.

Defense of Israel was the primary justification offered in a recent State department memo asserting the legal basis for the war with Iran. Unusually, its publication was not announced on social media or to the press, unlike most state department official pronouncements. Anyway, rather than being opinion, this is (for the present) the official position of the United States government. https://www.state.gov/releases/of…

> Defense of Israel was the primary justification offered in a recent State department memo asserting the legal basis for the war with Iran.

It's funnier than that. The justification is "self-defense of its [the USA's] Israeli ally".

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#415

Post by ifwinterco »

boringg wrote: post #330
mmooss wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of things have existed throughout history, yet we have overcome them in the last few hundred years. There is peace in Europe (west of Russia) which had as ancient conflict as Yemen; there is democracy, freedom, women have equal rights in much of the world, starvation and many diseases are mostly overcome, warfare is very rare and not an omnipresent threat, ... Thank goodness our predecessors didn't think this wa…

While I commend the positive attitude and I tend to have a positive view on the trajectory of humanity. This part of the planet has been almost intractable since the age of Hammurabi - it is quite fractured without any current overarching unity or framework. There isn't a dominant religion (similar to Europe) or shared values. I could say almost meaningless things like "thought that through reason, hard word, and hum…

Europe didn’t have a common religion after the Reformation (at least not in the sense people who lived there at the time would recognise).

In fact it was wars with a strong religious element between Protestant and catholic factions that tore Europe apart for centuries afterwards

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#416

Post by kingstnap »

amiga386 wrote: post #293
nradov wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CAFE standards were always a stupid idea. If we want to reduce fuel usage then increase the tax on fuel instead of punishing manufacturers for selling vehicles that consumers want to buy.

Vehicle emission and fuel efficiency standards are a great idea. The stupidity was allowing a "light truck" exception at all. It made the manufacturers turn to manufacturing and promoting what should be work vehicles to rich idiots who need nothing larger than a regular car (but can easily be upsold on something they don't need) America is already fucked, given how awful its urban sprawl is. Trucks used for commuting…

The exception being blamed on "stupidity" makes it sound like an oversight.

It was not an oversight. It was corruption.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#417

Post by wolvoleo »

bobthepanda wrote: post #238
tcp_handshaker wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are missing this interesting, and confidential until now, deployment of Israeli forces in UAE: "Israel sent "Iron Dome" system and troops to UAE" - https://www.axios.com/2026/04/26/israel-iron-dome-uae Also...their central bank governor quietly asked the US Treasury for a dollar swap line...Combined with the Pakistan $3.5B recall and OPEC exit, that is three coordinated moves of a cashflow stressed country...and…

UAE is in a tough spot because while they have diversified from oil, the industries they have diversified into like tourism, air travel and banking, were relying on a halo of safety that turns out to not exist.

Also, for tourism they aren't exactly welcoming to western culture. They don't even allow trans or non binary people (X) to transit to other places at dubai or abu dhabi. Can't have your cake and eat it.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#418

Post by ceejayoz »

nkmnz wrote: post #409
cma wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they join a religion that isn't on the state approved list, they can't get married there and hard or extra expensive to get buried. There are some limits on religious freedom.

That’s a lie. You can form a civil union, which is very similar to the religious marriage. On the other hand, does Hamas recognise a Jewish marriage?

> You can form a civil union, which is very similar to the religious marriage.

Yeah, we tried "separate but equal" here too.

> On the other hand, does Hamas recognise a Jewish marriage?

Being the good guys is about more than being "second worst".

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#420

Post by fakedang »

boringg wrote: post #330
mmooss wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of things have existed throughout history, yet we have overcome them in the last few hundred years. There is peace in Europe (west of Russia) which had as ancient conflict as Yemen; there is democracy, freedom, women have equal rights in much of the world, starvation and many diseases are mostly overcome, warfare is very rare and not an omnipresent threat, ... Thank goodness our predecessors didn't think this wa…

While I commend the positive attitude and I tend to have a positive view on the trajectory of humanity. This part of the planet has been almost intractable since the age of Hammurabi - it is quite fractured without any current overarching unity or framework. There isn't a dominant religion (similar to Europe) or shared values. I could say almost meaningless things like "thought that through reason, hard word, and hum…

No dominant religion in the Middle East? Haha!

The reason is fractured is because of the inherent tribalism within the cultures of the region. Strip away the tribalism (Oman, Qatar, UAE to an extent), concentrate the people near a few cities (Egypt), or provide them a unifying overarching culture (Iran, Turkey), and you get some success. In fact, the early Islamic empires were heavily mired in infighting even though they were "unified" under the Caliphate, in spite of the Prophet's calls for the "Ummah" (One Islamic Nation). I would even argue that Islam's biggest contribution to the region was in providing a specific administrative framework with which to shed the tribal infighting and unite culturally similar but disparate peoples together. It's also why Israel succeeded as a nation with its European flavor of nation-state identity.

An Israeli intelligence officer perhaps correctly attributed it to the past culture of water scarcity and needing to protect your water sources. That is, in the desert, there are only so many sources of water, and if someone steals it away from you, you simply die. So that created a culture of inherent suspicion of outsiders and people outside the clan, even though they all share the same customs and culture.

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