Bush Prods Saudi Arabia on Oil Prices

King Abdullah and President Bush at the king’s horse farm near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Mr. Bush has raised the issue of oil prices with leaders during his trip.

Speaking to a group of Saudi entrepreneurs and later to reporters, Mr. Bush expressed concern about the economy in some of his starkest language yet, saying that rising oil costs and gasoline prices were causing hardship for American families. He vowed to raise the issue with the Saudi leader, King Abdullah, during a meeting and dinner at the king’s lush horse farm in the desert outside of Riyadh, the capital.
“My point to His Majesty is going to be, when consumers have less purchasing power because of high prices of gasoline — in other words, when it affects their families, it could cause this economy to slow down,” the president said in an expansive interview summarizing his eight-day trip to the Middle East. “If the economy slows down, there will be less barrels of oil purchased.”

Saudi Arabia, he said, shared the president’s concern that a downturn in the American economy could have profound effects around the world, including on the oil market. He even raised the prospect of “recession,” a word Mr. Bush studiously avoided in the interview, even when pressed about “the R-word.” But Mr. Naimi said Saudi Arabia would raise production only “when the market justifies it.”

Source: NY Times

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Bush's Saudi sword dance

Now this. Like the past seven years haven't been embarassing enough with this Administration.
Now we have a President dancing with people who behead people who commit crimes. Thanks Saboma for the info on this one!

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Something to Prove for Peace

The president acknowledged that he had something to prove on this trip.
"I do, but it's not so much to prove for my sake. It's really to prove for peace," he said. "And I believe the time is right to push for a Palestinian state. The time is right because there's an Israeli leader who understands that and a Palestinian leader who understands that."

"I'm sure people view me as a war monger and I view myself as peacemaker," the president said. "They view me as so pro-Israeli I can't be open-minded about Palestinian peace, and yet I'm the only president ever to have articulated a two-state solution. And you just have to fight through stereotypes by actions."
Read entire article.

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Iran is Getting Into Position

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 28, 6:00 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boldly declared Tuesday that U.S. political influence in Iraq is "collapsing rapidly" and said his government is ready to help fill any power vacuum.

The hard-line leader also defended Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite Muslim who has been harshly criticized by American politicians for his unsuccessful efforts to reconcile Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Ahmadinejad said at a news conference, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq. "Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation."

Read More....Iran ready to fill any vacuum in Iraq

I may be wrong but it looks like Iran and Saudi Arabia are getting into position to oppose the United States in Iraq. This is going to get much worse.....based on his past performance Bush is going to make sure it does.

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Understanding Saudi Arabia

The paymasters of the Iraqi insurgency - A twisted alliance with a twisted regime

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This Can't Be Good!

Dmitry Astakhov/Presidential Press Service, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who is offering nuclear aid.

So, too, Turkey is preparing for its first atomic plant. And Egypt has announced plans to build one on its Mediterranean coast. In all, roughly a dozen states in the region have recently turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for help in starting their own nuclear programs. While interest in nuclear energy is rising globally, it is unusually strong in the Middle East.

“The rules have changed,” King Abdullah II of Jordan recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Everybody’s going for nuclear programs.”

In Washington, officials are seizing on such developments to build their case for stepping up pressure on Iran. a senior administration official said that the recent announcements were “clearly part of an effort to send a signal to Iran that two can play this game.” And, he added, “among the non-Iranian programs I’ve heard about in the region, I have not heard talk of reprocessing or enrichment, which is what would worry us the most.”

So now it's a game of tit for tat? Great. All under the guise of Nuclear Energy? We will have to wait and see who "wins" by making the first nuclear bomb and pushing the button...oh wait, there won't be anyone left to know who won!

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