Thursday, July 30, 2015

Saudi Arabia Begins Buying New Patriot Missiles From The US -- July 30, 2015

This is where  I track Mideast geo-politics in light of the slump in oil prices which I date from October, 2014.

The Weekly Standard reports that Saudi Arabia is requesting more missiles from the US:
Just two weeks after Western nations and Tehran struck a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program, the Pentagon says Saudi Arabia wants to buy 600 new Patriot missile interceptors.
This “$5 billion-plus purchase is likely just the first of many more as America’s Middle Eastern allies arm themselves in response to the nuclear deal, which would lift Iran’s conventional-arms embargo sanctions in five years and sanctions on long-range missile projects in eight.”
Turkey, meanwhile, is shopping for its antimissile defenses in China.
So one immediate consequence of the deal is … an arms race.
Prior to all this, Saudi's budget was based on "$100-oil." Now that the US is no longer responsible for Saudi's security (the Obama Doctrine), something tells me that Saudi is about ready to quit giving away its oil for $50/bbl. 

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