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The Delusional Addict
Here is a story on delusional addicts who believe they have leverage towards their drug dealers.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate have threatened to withhold military supplies from Saudi Arabia and its neighbors unless they pump more oil.
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"We have a strategic partnership with the Saudis, but it seems to me a partnership works two ways," Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, said at a news conference Thursday. "The Saudis want to purchase sophisticated weapons from our country. … They should understand there are certain things we need from them as well."
US Dems threaten Saudis with arms cutoff, April 26, 2008
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Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport is preparing a $4 billion arms contract with Saudi Arabia, the Gazeta daily reported on Tuesday.
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Experts say the helicopter contract alone is worth around $2 billion.
Russia eyes $4 bln arms contract with Saudis, May 13, 2008
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The Senators introduced a resolution of disapproval on the arms sale as President Bush prepared to head for Saudi Arabia, partly on a mission to contain runaway oil prices.
Senators Threaten Saudi Arms Deal Over Oil Prices, May 13, 2008
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Russia has won a 4-billion-dollar contract with Saudi Arabia in a competition with the USA and France.
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It became known that a half of the contract accounts for 100 Mil helicopters (mainly, Mi-17 and Mi-35). Half a billion dollars accounts for 150 T-90C tanks. The contract also includes 20 middle-haul air defense systems Buk-M2E and several hundreds of BMP-3 infantry combat vehicles.
Russia forces USA out from its traditional arms markets, May 16, 2008
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Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, rebuffed a call Friday by President George W. Bush to pump more crude for a second time this year, saying it would only boost supplies to meet customer needs.
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Oil traded in New York is forecast to rise to an average $148 a barrel next year, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a report Friday, citing supply constraints as the cause.
Saudis rebuff U.S. call to pump more oil, May 16, 2008
Why does no ‘western’ media mention the Russian-Saudi deal?
ONE LONE RACOON
We went into the city last night to visit some old friends, in
a town I used to ramble around thirty years ago on foot. It took
most of the time getting there in that last mile at the offramp,
backed out onto the freeway, waiting our turn at Human Paradise.
The surface roads that I remembered walking were there, sort of,
concrete-barrier-rail canyons now, like cattle chutes, pavement
shattered, spall signs of impact like shell holes, car body parts,
thick road grime, odd artifacts of human detritus, faceless, numb.
We tried to wend our way to their house, the way I used to walk.
Those by-ways were all freewayed now, boxed in by condo canyons,
deep in shadows, no sightlines, no points of reference, we ended
up in another part of town, turned around, roadkill not dead yet.
Their neighborhood, perched on a sunny, tree lined hill off an
1800’s cable car commercial boulevard, has become KeyWest-ized,
Waikiki-ized, coffee shops back to back with wine warehouses and
trendy restaurants, big garrish signs, streetlights and traffic.
We drove down a crowded aisle of parked cars, one open lane wide,
searching for their house, where oh where, just cars everywhere,
so many cars! At one point we were face to face with another one,
each of us stuck without a gap by the curb to pull out of the way.
We gulped a Costco dinner and Three Buck Chuck, then headed out
to the theatre, dropped off while our host drove around for ten
minutes looking for parking. What used to be a walking boulevard
faced on a sea of cars, pale-faces straight ahead, roar of metal.
The show was a four-act play, a modern dance of jerky movements and
staccato electronic buzz, an acoustic orchestra playing sounds I’d
never heard unplugged instruments make, dance/movie montage homage to
war, closing with a Blue Man -nee- Lilo Stitch, so epilepticly happy.
We looked for a place afterward to grab a coffee. Everyone sitting
with their mug-up, staring into their wifi laptop, everyone buzzed,
jazzed up, a Saturday night, leaden-faced, glumly golom, searching
for connection in a pale flickering glow of two-dimensional pixels.
The freeway home was wide open, skyscrapers disappearing suddenly,
gray box canyons opening up, billboards and offramp retails grown
few, then just tall trees, darkness and pavement, smoothly humming.
I cracked the window at our home offramp, and smelled new-mown hay.
Still, the birds haven’t come back this year. The mornings dawn
bright, and calm … and silent. No bees, no birds, just the sun
rising higher each day, burning down, heat record already broken,
and one lonely racoon, his tail torn off by dogs, begging for food.
“Remember oil is on the move, and you should buy it at any price!”
Posted by: Abetter Lief | May 18 2008 16:37 utc | 11
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