BY RUSSELL TURNER
TRUE FRIENDS AND MILLSTONES
I have found that a true friend is one of the most valuable assets that we can have in life. I have also found out the hard way that sometimes individuals will make you believe they are a friend while all at the same time figuring out some way to scam you out of something. Whether we want to admit it or not the area of this world called the Middle East has been a millstone around our necks for a long while. Of all of the nations in that region, the only true ally we can count on is the nation of Israel. Over the past years of the Obama presidency our leader has ignored the advice of the Israeli Prime Minister; the Iran nuclear deal is just one instance of putting the only Democracy (Israel) in that area in jeopardy.
I recently read an article about rumors that our president will essentially abandon Israel and let them fend for themselves. Our president has, in my opinion, proved his support of the Islamic faith and Islamic nations. While he likes to cozy up to the likes of Saudi Arabia and preach to the American people that they are our trusted friends, that may or may not be true. According to what we were told about the9/11 attacks, the majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Recently there has been a call for the president to release a report known as the "28 pages," a batch of sealed government documents that many U.S. intelligence officials suspect show an intimate Saudi connection to the 9/11attacks. In a recent 60 Minutes report, a high-ranking person in our government who has read the report was asked if the Saudi government, rich Saudis and Saudi based charities were involved in the support of the hijackers. His answer was, all of the above.
It is a fact that OPEC has a huge impact on the oil market across the entire globe, I guess that even our presidents fear that financial clout. Maybe that is why they are ready to suck up to the Saudis and call them our most trusted friend, while in reality their actions prove that they are only concerned about what they want.
While we all enjoy the lower price of gasoline, that cheap gasoline is costing us in other ways. The OPEC nations are pumping full throttle not because they want us to have cheaper gasoline, they decided to foster a global oil glut that sends crude prices tumbling and knocks North American shale producers out of the market. They are doing everything to make sure that they do not lose market share; they also understand that fracking and other new technologies can make our nation totally self sufficient in energy. Here in Oklahoma our economy is based heavily on the oil industry, because of that fact our state tax collections are severely impacted. Instead of trying to understand the true cause of the shortfall, political opportunists are trying to use the current situation as a path to political power.
In my opinion the Saudis are looking out for themselves. I believe that it is time that we Americans open our eyes and reassess who our true friends are in the Middle East.
Comments
Post a Comment