With Friends Like These... (Part 2)

Yeah, I know it's been awhile since I last posted. While the usual intrusions of real life have contributed to the lack of posts, part of it was general fatigue and disinterest in this longer-than-usual primary season. Anyway, I hope to get back on a roll and post on issues!

First up is this article from the Los Angeles Times that confirms what I have been thinking and blogging about recently: with new powers on the rise like China and India (as I have discussed here), the U.S. can no longer arrogantly depend on its preeminence as the leading economic power to get all the oil it needs affordably.

Nor, apparently, can we depend on our friends. Even the well-documented cozy relationship that the Bush family has enjoyed with the house of Saud over several generations has not helped this Administration ease surging oil prices in the U.S. Despite the spectacle of an American president going hat-in-hand again to beg for help from Saudi Arabia (as I noted here the first time it happened) , the Saudis have all but told Bush and the U.S. to take a hike—now that they've got the Chinese to kiss up to.

If this in itself isn't enough to find new alternative sources of energy, then I don't know what is. The American people are now paying the price of our cronyism with and unwavering support of slimy oil regimes. It's time to stop letting backward Third World fiefdoms from running our lives.