[BartSimpson]

Seems the Arab Gulf is kind of tense after the Iranian plot to kill a Saudi diplomat in the USA. I had a chat with a friend who's deployed on a long gray metal thing over there and he says the airplanes all have white things on the rails and that you could drop a bag of popcorn over Siri and it would cook before it hits the ground.

Personally, I hope it stays boring over there. But here's a heads-up that the locals are talking like things are about to start happening.

[commanderkai]

Oh there's a fun thought. Though I am curious, since Iraq is relatively stable, whose side would it take? Not a big fan of Iran, and yet they aren't in bed with the Saudis, for that matter.

[DanSC]

My money's on the Saudis. More money, better hardware, the West will support them, and they have Audis.



Besides, they'll just wire the mosque in Mecca with explosives and use it as a negotiating tool.

[ShepherdsDog]

I guess i'm on the other side here. I see the Saudis as being the greater evil in this conflict. Even at the peak of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian society was no where near as oppressive as the Saudis. Saudi women can only dream of the rights and privileges enjoyed by Iranian women. They also didn't/don't bankroll Al Qaeda.

[martin14]

I say encourage it to happen, best thing for our own stability.

[Tricks]

I think we stay out of it and let them beat each other.

[commanderkai]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

They also didn't/don't bankroll Al Qaeda.

Eh, Iran bankrolls Hezbollah and the like, so they're not exactly innocent in that regard either. If it wasn't for Iran's sabre rattling, I'd be happy to see them destroy the Saudis.

[Zipperfish]

This story sounds fishy to me. Don't believe the Americans or the Iranians.

[GreenTiger]

If they are at each others throats, they will be less interested in our throats.

[CommanderSock]

It's not all that great actually.

A war (worst case scenario) between the two would cause oil prices to shoot up so high that it would seriously dent the recovery in the west.

[GreenTiger]

CommanderSock wrote:

It's not all that great actually.

A war (worst case scenario) between the two would cause oil prices to shoot up so high that it would seriously dent the recovery in the west.

A real shooting war war would be bad, but hell the Iranians are trying to kill Saudi diplomats and the Saudis have given permission for Israel to fly over their territory to bomb Iran and take out their nuclear weapons programme.

Things aren't friendly over there.

[bootlegga]

It all depends on whether or not the West intervenes - which I assume it would to guarantee access to Saudi Arabia's oil. With Western intervention, the Iranians don't have a chance. But if the West were to let them go at it, the Iranians would crush the Saudis in a heartbeat. Either way though, a war in the Gulf would cause oil prices to spike tremendously.

The Saudis may have better equipment, but it is hardly used and their troops are poorly trained, while the Iranians are better trained and supplied mostly by their own arms industries, so an arms embargo on the region would only affect the Saudis.

[Zipperfish]

bootlegga wrote:

It all depends on whether or not the West intervenes - which I assume it would to guarantee access to Saudi Arabia's oil. With Western intervention, the Iranians don't have a chance. But if the West were to let them go at it, the Iranians would crush the Saudis in a heartbeat. Either way though, a war in the Gulf would cause oil prices to spike tremendously.

The Saudis may have better equipment, but it is hardly used and their troops are poorly trained, while the Iranians are better trained and supplied mostly by their own arms industries, so an arms embargo on the region would only affect the Saudis.

I cant see the US intervening in this. Mind you, this is just the kind of thing that got WWI going.

[BartSimpson]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

I guess i'm on the other side here. I see the Saudis as being the greater evil in this conflict. Even at the peak of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian society was no where near as oppressive as the Saudis. Saudi women can only dream of the rights and privileges enjoyed by Iranian women. They also didn't/don't bankroll Al Qaeda.

And for that reason I'm hoping the US response to hostilities between the two consists primarily of...

[DrCaleb]

martin14 wrote:

I say encourage it to happen, best thing for our own stability.

Tricks wrote:

I think we stay out of it and let them beat each other.

I'm in this camp. Sit back, and watch the fireworks.

Not looking foreward to $2500/oz gold and $300/bbl oil though.