Posted on Oct 29, 2014
SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
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Isis and saudi prince
This is a very interesting story because it underscores so many problems with all of the tactics used. No doubt this story has implications and I am sure that it will be spun by the political hacks in each party, but what is your take? There are no wrong answers necessarily. Thanks

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2014/09/16/prince-al-waleed-saudi-arabia-isis-obama.cnnmoney/index.html?iid=S_Taboola
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CW5 Desk Officer
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Edited 10 y ago
SSgt (Join to see), I'd say the Saudi Prince has it right. He's describing a very complex dynamic in the region, among Sunni and Shiite factions. Then throw in other countries - in particular, the United States and our allies - for good measure. I am impressed by the Prince's use of implicit and explicit in the interview. He's speaking in a second language presumably.
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
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CW5 (Join to see) Exactly and his guarded wording implies other things and this includes bad-mouthing America and President Obama. Depending on our feelings he may or may not have a point and judging by the Saudis proximity to danger he has a cause for these feelings.
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SCPO Intelligence Specialist
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MAJ (Join to see) - English is probably a second language, but one with which he is deeply familiar. He got his BS in Business Administration from Menlo College in Atherton, CA in 1979 and then his Master's degree in Social Science from Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) in 1985. I don't find his fluency in academic and political English is hardly surprising.

Also, as has been pointed out by PFC Stephen Eric Serati, he does own at least 7% of News Corporation (second-largest voting block), is the largest individual investor in Citicorp, among other major holdings in the US and UK - it is rather likely he uses English regularly and intensively.

As pointed out by PO2 Ed C. and CPT Jack Durish, the Saudis talk a great deal about someone else has to do something about extremism and threats to peace. What it often appears to amount to is "Someone (other than us) needs to expend blood and treasure to deal with the problems in our neighborhood."
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CPT Jack Durish
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Have you ever met a Saudi prince? I have. You should have. There are more than enough of them to go around. They are typically well-educated, well-spoken. They have to be. They live on a razor's edge balancing relations with western businessmen and politicians to insure that oil revenues continue to flow, and fundamentalist Muslims who fund the war against western ideas and institutions. It's a helluva job.

Whenever a Saudi prince speaks, you must weight his words in that context. (Notice that I didn't qualify the pronoun to include the feminine. Saudi princesses are of no consequence.)

So long as President Obama was popular, they respected him. Given his fall from grace not only in the United States but also the rest of the world, the Saudis will turn their attention towards currying favor with emerging powers, however, they will not field their army to oppose the very forces that their own clerics are financing.

Yes, they joined the fight against Sadaam and Iraq. After all, those were mere Shiites. And, they need not fear Iran so long as they continue to share the wealth and fund their various adventures in developing military weapons contrary to US interests. Like I said, the Saudi princes are masters of balancing opposing forces
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
SSgt (Join to see)
10 y
CPT Jack Durish Thanks. It is always good to learn something about the reality of things....
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
SSgt (Join to see)
10 y
SSG Matt Murphy Wow, very nice seeing you again. It has been awhile. Needless to say our Climate Change Czar is once again propounding his ad nauseum diatribes against us unwashed dirty deniers. LOL> But everything is cool and thanks for stopping by.
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SSG Matt Murphy
SSG Matt Murphy
10 y
2014 birthday cruise
...just back from 5 week vacation....Korea, SF and SF to SYD via cruise line.....great trip....as always, love your posts....keep up the good fight...pic is actual pic of us leaving SF in Sept 2014 on the way to Hawaii, Bora Bora, Tahiti, etc....birthday cruise...70 years old and still truckin'
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
SSgt (Join to see)
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SSG Matt Murphy Yeah and congrats on that magic birthday, you have a long life yet ahead and the ship is awesome because the Climate Change ship has sailed. Thanks for the segue.
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PO1 Ron Clark
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I quote "When Obama took office clearly expectations were raised" with that being said, expectations were raised where? At each juncture neither party when in office would work with the policies that he intended to implement. Secondly, billionaire Saudi Prince always rely on someone else getting their hands dirty and doing the heavy lifting while all they lift is their never exhausting wallets. No Saudi's military personnel on the ground in their own realm, get real, someone comes into my back yard and attempt to do mayhem or harm, I am duty bound to protect what I feel is my OWN people and interest regardless of the costs, which is some of the same reasoning to serve our country or put the uniform on to do your fair share. I may be wrong but, simply put, I always try to clean where I eat and sleep, doesnt everyone?
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
SSgt (Join to see)
10 y
PO1 Ron Clark The hyperbole doesn't match the rhetoric and I can find no reason to agree with or assent to the ideas coming from the top levels of leadership. The final straw is this bs over our troops and the administration. I am totally flummoxed. That said, the world together needs to combat this, not just indentured servants with basically no say in anything and being told to shut up or else.
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