We are all Slave now.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

I think they're aligned with US interests here.

But maybe not. Suppose we called the Saudis' bluff, sanctioned them, put pressure on the family to throw out MsB, and then, when they retaliated by slowing oil production, we responded by ramping up our domestic production? Could we break them in that fashion, or would that just deplete our limited oil supply and allow them to hold theirs a bit longer, extending their oil market dominance longer than it'd otherwise last?

We lost control of our interests, which included not having allies kill journalists, a long time ago. Having done that, it's whole lot harder to get them back.

But they need us way more than we need them, especially over the long term. Oil for energy should be fading fast (and we could speed it along if we wanted to) and we have our own. They need their weapons purchases for regional rivalry more than we need the sales.

Maybe we need their intelligence and defense cooperation more than I think, but that's hard to tell from the outside.

What they have is the power to hurt us acutely in the short term, while doing the same to themselves. That should not be enough to keep us from pushing back strongly.

Anyway, I think US interests include expecting less overtly authoritarian conduct by our allies. I do not think the Trump and Kushner family interest correspond with that at all, so, we disagree. They have personal financial reasons not to push back that we, as a nation do not.