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H17510

Headlines : Government

Summary:

On Friday, President Bush met with members of the Saudi family as part of his ongoing tour of the Middle East. During the talks, Bush once again attempted to persuade the Saudis to increase oil production in an effort to offset the current surge in international oil prices. Once again, he was shot down.

In spite of the Saudis’ refusal to increase production – and whether or not they could actually do this is a hotly contested issue – the U.S. announced their plans to assist Saudi Arabia in the development of a “peaceful nuclear program.” What level of assistance they will be providing in this area, or how they could defend this action given their confrontational stance on Iran’s nascent nuclear program is still unclear.

[Posted By Heatscore]

By Haroon Siddique and agencies
Republished from The Guardian

Senate introduces bill to block arm sales until Saudi Arabia increases its production by 1m barrels a day.

Saudi Arabia today rebuffed George Bush’s appeal to increase production and help cut record oil prices, the White House said.

It was the second time this year that the pleas of the US president, who is visiting King Abdullah, have fallen on deaf ears.

Bush’s latest request came as the price of crude oil hit a new high of more than $127 (£65) a barrel.

“What they’re saying to us is … Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy,” the US national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, told reporters.

High petrol prices are a potential issue in November’s US presidential election. When Bush made his first appeal in January the Saudi oil minister said that oil production was at normal levels and the kingdom would raise production only when the market justified it.

Bush has conceded that raising output is difficult because the demand for oil — particularly from China and India — is stretching supplies.

[end excerpt]

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Posted by Heatscore
A jaded Raskolnikov waiting in disgust for this sick society's imminent paradigm shift.

RECENT COMMENTS

US oil prices have shot up to a record high, about $128 a barrel, despite an announcement of increased supply from Saudi Arabia.

The US energy department on Friday also said it would halt shipments to government stockpiles – potentially increasing supply – for the second half of the year after congress passed a bill calling for the suspension.
Oil prices have effectively doubled since last year and are six times higher than in 2002.

microdot @ 05/17/08 13:41:35

/me grins from ear to ear

criticalthinking @ 05/17/08 14:31:59

but let me guess, this is all part of an NWO conspiracy and there is plenty of oil left

criticalthinking @ 05/17/08 14:32:17

yep, supply is not driving price, speculation is… oil is worth $3/barrel at the well head and $20 refined… the rest is about how much the us wants to make taking iraq and iran worth it and control the ambition of others

johnnycivil @ 05/17/08 15:34:37

The sands if the Middle East are shifting a bit . . .

CLIP A (17 May 2008)

Sensing its growing isolation, Riyadh mounted the latest Arab League mediation in Lebanon on Wednesday. The Arab League meeting itself was scarcely attended.

CLIP B (17 May 2008)

Lebanon talks under way in Qatar — They are examining the make-up of a national unity government, especially the opposition’s demand that all sides have the power to veto decisions.

CLIP C (17 May 2008)

The United States plans to build a new detention camp at Bagram military base in Afghanistan, a Defence Department spokesman has said.

According to Wright, the move came as “our existing theatre facility is deterioriating”, referring to a jail at Bagram currently holding about 630 alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters captured under the pretext of the so-called “war on terror”.

END OF CLIPS the knives appear to be coming out of their sheaths. I don’t think I’ve noted such aggressive cynicism before. Someone’s given the go-ahead.

Have you guys seen the grains of sand exhibit in the latest issue of Discover?

Sand magnified beyond recognition . . . the images are unbelievably beautiful. These are from Mauii (magnified 300x):