[w4rma]

WASHINGTON: Despite denials from both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Editor at Large for The Washington Times has stuck to his story that Crown Prince Abdullah and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had reached a secret agreement on nuclear weapons during the former’s visit to Islamabad.

Under this agreement, he says, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal would provide the Saudis "a nuclear ‘deterrent’ in case of need."
…
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=273336

[Jim March]

Oh dear. That's not good.

Saudi Arabia is among the most politically unstable nations on the planet. If there was a betting pool for "which nation will have a totally different government 10 years from now?", the people betting on Saudi A. would be the most likely to win.

And the alternatives to the House of Saud are...UGLY. They make the Ayatolla look like Ghandi.

The whole nation is a social pressure cooker. Some of that pressure resulted in 9/11...but that was a SMALL percentage.

[MicroBalrog]

Didn't somebody already say we need to go after SA after we finish off with Iraq?

[Jim March]

SA is the world's biggest powder keg. Just BREATH on it wrong, and it'll blow up...taking oil prices and the world's economy with it.

The safest thing to do with SA is to install a practical, functional and flourishing democracy in Iraq. Prove to neigboring SA that an Arab/Islamic country can DO that, and the pro-democracy forces in-country get a powerful boost.

Those in-country native activists have the best chance of defusing that mess without chaos.

The second safest plan: gently prop up the saner elements of the House of Saud as long as possible, until the economy's dependence on oil is reduced enough to survive the chaos.

[Waitone]

Old news. Its been known for years SA and Pakistan have been doing the kissy-kissy over nukes. It just hasn't made it to US papers. Up until Powell talking India and Pakistan off the ledge last year, no on paid attention to Pakistan.

It is no secret that Osama B. Laden wants a country. Any terrorist organization will be ultimately ineffective until it controls a country. In SA OBL has all the money he'll ever need. Life will really be good if Pakistan throws in nukes for good measure. . . . .which may ultimately be the reason it will never happen.

The US has been obsessed with the war on Islamofascist terrorists for the last 2 years. We had better get obsessed with alternative suppliers of oil. The house of Saud could disappear tomorrow morning.

Our policy toward illegal immigration (or lack thereof) is just insane. Our failure to develop domestic sources is equally insane.

[w4rma]

IMHO, new domestic sources of oil are best left safe under the ground until we *really* need them.

IMHO, we need to be using this time that we have to develop, produce and integrate alternate sources of energy and to develop, produce and integrate methods of increasing fuel efficiency.

[Standing Wolf]

I think we should beat the Pakistanis and give Saudi Arabia a nuclear bomb at no cost.

[Jim March]

And on this note, terrorism just killed 30+ in SA:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Saudi-Explosion.html?hp

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Times of India? They wouldn't really be the most objective source on Pakistan related issues now would they?

[rock jock]

Prove to neigboring SA that an Arab/Islamic country can DO that, and the pro-democracy forces in-country get a powerful boost.
The "pro-democracy forces", Jim? You mean all two of them? Face it, SA is a lost cause. We should have been slowly in the process of distancing ourselves from them since Gulf War I. The fact that we haven't, and continue to stand by this hotbed of terrorism, is a black eye for both the Republicans and Dems.

IMHO, we need to be using this time that we have to develop, produce and integrate alternate sources of energy and to develop, produce and integrate methods of increasing fuel efficiency.
The US has had a viable, plentiful source of alternate energy for decades. It produces zero air pollution and for any given individual over their lifetime, has a significantly reduced chance of producing any adverse health effects. I am speaking of course about nuclear energy. The only reason why we are still dependent on the Middle East for our energy needs is because a small handful of environmental extremists long ago launched one of the most successful propaganda campaigns in history. Their personal bias is the reason we are in this fix (i.e., WoT) today.