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UAE to leave OPEC

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Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#691

Post by negura »

ericmay wrote: post #690
negura wrote: post #683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as i mentioned elsewhere. i don't disagree that america is in a strong position, relatively to everyone else. and has the means to achieve its interests. even without the superficial image of acting in good faith. but the old messaging ("america's tide is lifting all boats" etc) comes across uncalibrated

Sure, but you can step outside of an American context and still recognize that we shouldn’t support these authoritarian regimes.

agreement on fundamental principles at a global level was the american (liberal) context. stepping outside of it leads to discovering a diverse world that you didn't account for before. as an example, even among iranians there doesn't seem to be enough support for the attack on their regime

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#692

Post by nirav72 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #594
ajross wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Asian countries in particular are going to burn They won't sit still, though. Eventually, if this were tried, we'd see Chinese-flagged tankers buying passage rights from Iran and being escorted by PLAN ships. No way does Commander TACO take that shot. The US interdiction threat in the gulf is empty, and everyone know it. Iran gets paid at the end of every story. The whole boondoggle has been a failure for the US in…

> escorted by PLAN ships This would be a blunder by Beijing. It would involve trotting their ships through half a world of American and allied sensors, only to put an untested-in-blue-waters navy perilously far from nearest bases or support if anything goes wrong. I’m not saying the likes of Xi, Putin or Trump couldn’t do it. But it would be an intelligence bonanza for the West, India, Japan and Taiwan.

Even if PLAN ships aren’t as capable or matching the U.S, it doesn’t really matter. They just have to be there. The U.S is not going to risk an escalation with China.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#693

Post by troad »

tovej wrote: post #582
troad wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm sorry, you seem triggered by this discussion, it doesn't seem productive to continue on my end. I suppose shall have to make do without 101-level instruction in Chomskyian anti-Imperialism, woven through with whataboutism and international conspiracies. > whereas my claim is that governments (democracies or not) that run afoul of their local hegemon tend to have a short shelf life. this is not unique to US hege…

Ok, lot of stuff to unpack here, but I'll stick to just pointing out obvious misinfo, which is often repeated: Chomsky never backed the Khmer rouge, he questioned some of the claims and western focus on the Khmer rouge, which was ignoring US culpability. He also never denied that the Khmer rouge were committing atrocities. Was he wrong? Yes, at least in specific instances. But he was never outright supportive of the…

I've read Chomsky's work (more extensively than most people here, I'd wager, given I have degrees in both polsci and linguistics) and his sympathy to the Khmer Rouge was pretty clear.

Chomsky was about as pro-Khmer Rouge as Tucker Carlson is pro-Russia; he's not out there waving flags and singing patriotic songs for them, but he's sure as hell doing a lot of very useful work "just asking questions" about biolabs in Ukraine / the extent to which the US may have "provoked" the Khmer Rouge to do what it did. If someone wrote equivalent things about the atrocities in Nazi Germany, we would not be mincing words about that person's sympathies. Chomsky ought to be treated with the same intellectual honesty.

Chomsky was a useful idiot for murderous tyrants. And a truly wonderful linguist. Ah, the duality of man.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#694

Post by thisislife2 »

shykes wrote: post #670
thisislife2 wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UAE may be the only Arab country where Jews are not only allowed to live, but can do so safely without fearing either their neighbors or their government. That's not entirely true. Judaism is one of the legally recognised minority religions of Iran and Iran still retains an ancient Jewish community of 10,000 - 15,000 Iranian Jews that also have 30+ synagogues in Iran - Tehran’s embattled Jewish community endure…

There are a few layers to this: 1. As another commenter already pointed out, Iran is not an Arab country 2. It is very true that the Iranian people absolutely does not hate Jews. In most Arab capitals, simply to walk around while visibly Jewish is either risky or downright suicidal. The same is true in other Muslim countries such as Pakistan, and increasingly in majority Muslim neighborhoods in Western cities. Iran d…

Yes, the Iranian government has indeed targeted Jews suspected of working against Iran, especially when things were in a turmoil post-revolution, and that did lead to around 70%-80% of the community migrating to US and Israel. But I don't believe it is just the fear of persecution that was their motivation in migrating - for some it was zionism, for others it was more of the political ideological difference with the revolutionaries (they were in the Shah's camp) and the real uncertainty and lack of political stability and violence during and after the revolution.

> the Iranian diaspora is conspicuously absent from anti-Israel protests in the US

Iranians who migrated to the west are largely supporters of the Shah, who was overthrown by the revolutionaries, and thus they despise the revolutionary government. Israel hates the Iranian revolutionaries too and so the Iranian diaspora found themselves in favour of Israel because of this shared sentiment of hate against the current Iranian government. However, anti-Israeli sentiments in Iranian diaspora has increased now because of Netanyahu's foolish genocide in Gaza, and the supporters of Shah (and Israel) have now increasingly have resort to intimidation to suppress many of them from speaking out for Palestinains and against Israel. As this MEE article outlines - How pro-Israel Iranian Americans are silencing Palestine supporters - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-how-pro-israel-i... :

> Several Iranian-American activists who spoke to Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity have said they fear speaking out in support of Palestine, saying that anyone who does so publicly has been faced with doxxing campaigns and even threats to their lives. "It's one of those things where it's caused a huge divide in the community," said one Iranian activist ... They say the reason that it appears that most Iranians in the diaspora are pro-Israel is because most of the ones who do support Palestine are afraid to speak up. "The vocal presence of Iranian Zionists online and at rallies might create a misleading perception. In reality, many Iranians are afraid to speak out and do not align with this viewpoint," said one Iranian activist who spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity. "The loudness on social media doesn't accurately represent the broader sentiment."

> But let's be clear: Jews in Iran live in a state of submission and fear ... jews are eternally suspected of duplicity and disloyalty, and must continuously prove that they are not secretly "zionists".

This is a common propaganda for fear mongering amongst the minorities. Interestingly, Pakistanis say the same thing about Muslims living in India. And yes, while there are isolated incidents of minority violence against Muslims in India too (just as there are against the Jews in Iran), it is not a common occurrence in society driven by hate against these minorities.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#695

Post by rramadass »

don_esteban wrote: post #686
rramadass wrote: post #586

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we are not talking past each other ;-) You simply are not understanding my comments nor reading the provided informative links. There are three things to consider viz. 1) Production Capacity i.e. new wells/sources 2) Pipeline Capacity i.e. pipeline bandwidth and no. of pipelines 3) Storage Capacity i.e both at terminal/port and distributed worldwide. The Iran/Strait of Hormuz problem was foreseen long ago and the…

You yourself said "five year from now, there will be far better bypass options". That is very, very long term for what is now going on with Hormuz. Yes, petrochemicals have many, many applications. But those are not in millions barrels per day, that volume is driven primarily by transportation, that can (and is, currently) being replaced by electric.

You still are not reading any of the articles i have linked to nor understanding them.

I did not say "five year from now, there will be far better bypass options"; that is the expert being quoted in the last linked article above. If you had read that you would know he was talking about the situation as a whole i.e. involving Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE and other gulf countries all of whom are looking at ways to bypass Hormuz once and for all. Of these Saudi Arabia and UAE are the most ahead now and that is why UAE left OPEC to chart its own course since the others are lagging behind. Five years is definitely not long term but very aggressive for all gulf countries to setup infrastructure to bypass Hormuz. UAE is ahead of the game (with ADCOP since 2012) and it can easily setup its parallel lines in the next couple of years.

Again, i recommend you actually do some research on renewables vs. petroleum needs. Most transportation which can use electric is small-scale (eg. cars) but aviation/shipping etc. need Oil for the foreseeable future. What is being done with renewables is to control pollution/greenhouse-effects (essential) and lower dependence on Oil (financial/geopolitical reasons). I have already pointed out the need for Petrochemicals. If you do some research on the share of renewable energy sources in some of the world's biggest economies (specifically China and India) you will see that it is still very small considering their current/future needs. Renewables have a long way to go before they can actually make a dent in the global Oil needs.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#696

Post by shykes »

thisislife2 wrote: post #694
shykes wrote: post #670

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few layers to this: 1. As another commenter already pointed out, Iran is not an Arab country 2. It is very true that the Iranian people absolutely does not hate Jews. In most Arab capitals, simply to walk around while visibly Jewish is either risky or downright suicidal. The same is true in other Muslim countries such as Pakistan, and increasingly in majority Muslim neighborhoods in Western cities. Iran d…

Yes, the Iranian government has indeed targeted Jews suspected of working against Iran, especially when things were in a turmoil post-revolution, and that did lead to around 70%-80% of the community migrating to US and Israel. But I don't believe it is just the fear of persecution that was their motivation in migrating - for some it was zionism, for others it was more of the political ideological difference with the…

Your entire argument is built on a single source: Middle East Eye. That source is a known Qatar propaganda outlet, they do not meet even the lowest bar of journalistic integrity or credibility. You might as well be quoting Russia Today about the war in Uraine.

A few facts about MEE:

1. During the 2017 diplomatic crisis with Qatar over their support of terrorism, Saudi Arabia and the UAE issued a list of demands to Qatar. One of these demands was to shutdown their propaganda outlets - including MEE. Other demands included the severing of ties with Hamas and Hezbollah, and the handing over of internationally wanted terrorists harbored by Qatar. Another demand was to cut off collaboration with Iran's REvolutionary Guards... [1]

2. MEE is entirely controlled by a single individual, Jamal Awn Jamal Bessasso - formerly director of planning and human resources at Al Jazeera in Qatar [2]. Bessasso was also a director at Samalink TV, a company that broadcasts Al-Quds TV - a Hamas-controlled station. [3][4] He has a history of social media posts praising Hamas and advocating for violence against the enemies of Islam.

3. Several other MEE employees have previously worked at Al-Jazeera. At least one MEE employee has previously worked for a Hamas-funded nonprofit.

4. Over the years, MEE has often gained exclusive access to Hamas leadership, and acted as their de facto PR arm.

5. MEE does not disclose its sources of funding. It is a complete black box.

In short: you are uncritically quoting a known propaganda outlet of Qatar, that was explicitly designated by several countries as part of Qatar's terrorism support network, has several links to Hamas, does not disclose its sources of funding, and is controlled by a known supporter of Hamas.

So, I hope you'll forgive me for not taking any of your derived arguments seriously. I took the time to share this information to make sure that nobody reading this exchange takes them seriously, either. This uncritical amplification of obvious propaganda has got to stop.

[1] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-... [2] https://honestreporting.com/behind-middle-east-eyes-viral-re... [3] https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/18388/ [4] https://honestreporting.com/behind-middle-east-eyes-viral-re... [5] https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/middle-east/q...

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#697

Post by KingOfCoders »

elcritch wrote: post #606
KingOfCoders wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problems the UAE has are not based on Iran attacking the UAE but Iran closing the Strait - which is a direct and foreseeable result of Israel attacking Iran.

The US and Israel attacking Iran. Also with the Saudis heavily lobbying Trump to do it as well. The Saudi crown prince wants Trump to continue the war still. 1: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-israel-attack-iran-iran-i... 2: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/us/politics/saudi-prince-...

"It's pretty convoluted logic to blame Israel for Iran attacking the UAE"

That was the argued point, not the US.

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#698

Post by KingOfCoders »

bfivyvysj wrote: post #618
elcritch wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US and Israel attacking Iran. Also with the Saudis heavily lobbying Trump to do it as well. The Saudi crown prince wants Trump to continue the war still. 1: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-israel-attack-iran-iran-i... 2: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/us/politics/saudi-prince-...

Careful, you'll break its world view.

Mentalist, huh?

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#699

Post by chii »

cman1444 wrote: post #381
don_esteban wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only is the renewable energy cheaper, it also raises energy independence, which turns out to be quite relevant in today's world. Furthermore, it also reduces the drain on the (often very fragile, for thirld world countries) foreign reserves, especially relevant when the oil prices fluctuate wildly. If your solar panels are old and you don't have money to replace them, you get slightly less electricity. If you are…

This is exactly why I don't think it's a huge risk to be reliant on China for solar panels. If relations between your country and China go bad, it can't be that much of an emergency when they stop exporting them to you. All the panels you already bought still work! Unless there is some hidden cybersecurity risk of them shutting off panels remotely?

> Unless there is some hidden cybersecurity risk of them shutting off panels remotely?

The weakest link won't be the panels themselves, but the grid infrastructure, or telephony infrastructure. Unless somehow the chinese were able to embed a radiowave activated kill-switch or something. Highly doubt it!

Re: UAE to leave OPEC

#700

Post by throwaway2037 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #594
ajross wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Asian countries in particular are going to burn They won't sit still, though. Eventually, if this were tried, we'd see Chinese-flagged tankers buying passage rights from Iran and being escorted by PLAN ships. No way does Commander TACO take that shot. The US interdiction threat in the gulf is empty, and everyone know it. Iran gets paid at the end of every story. The whole boondoggle has been a failure for the US in…

> escorted by PLAN ships This would be a blunder by Beijing. It would involve trotting their ships through half a world of American and allied sensors, only to put an untested-in-blue-waters navy perilously far from nearest bases or support if anything goes wrong. I’m not saying the likes of Xi, Putin or Trump couldn’t do it. But it would be an intelligence bonanza for the West, India, Japan and Taiwan.

There is a Chinese naval base in Djibouti. They don't need to travel very far. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army_Sup...

    > untested-in-blue-waters navy
I disagree with this assessment. While they have not engaged in combat in blue waters, they certainly are all over the Pacific, far from home. Also, the US and Canada regularly run spy flights that capture photos and radio signals from Chinese naval vessels. I'm sure their boats are well painted with NATO radars by now.
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