"Israeli concerns about the newest deal have been reportedly calmed by assurances that the jets will lack long-range weapons systems and be of a lower grade than those sold to Israel. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has reportedly discussed the deal with US officials and a US Defense Department official told Reuters that Israel is "fairly comfortable" with it overall. " CS Monitor
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Ratigan was pretty quiet about this today. Apparently he had not "gotten the word." He left it to his new "Robin," Cenk Uighur, (apparently some sort of left wing Turk type) to bash the Saudis, thereafter vaguely mumbling his approval.
I did not much like living in SA. They are, in many ways, insufferable in their arrogance and thinly veiled disdain for everyone else.
Nevertheless, one should contemplate what a replacement country would be like in that particular space on the map. Do we imagine that the new country would be some sort of liberal Islamic republic ruled by democratic Shia and Sunni secularists? If we imagine that we are even bigger fools than the Ziocons who still think that has been the outcome in Iraq.
The US and SA align themselves more or less on parallel courses in the ME because the two countries have quite a few parallel interests, even though in many ways their philosophies are at odds. The same thing is true of Pakistan and the US, as well as quite a few other places.
And, we need the money. pl
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0914/Why-60-billion-in-US-arms-to-Saudi-Arabia-isn-t-causing-an-outcry/(page)/2
