Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Bush offers Saudis nuclear power in exchange for more oil

Curioso comportamento, vero?  Offrire assistenza per sviluppare impianti 
nucleari all'AS.
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Last update - 23:53 16/05/2008  	 	 	
Bush offers Saudis nuclear power in exchange for more oil
By Reuters
Tags: George Bush, Saudi Arabia
U.S. President George W. Bush, visiting the Saudi capital on Friday, 
hoped to formalize new agreements that would give the relationship 
between the two countries a boost.
Among them was an agreement for the U.S. to assist the kingdom in 
developing civilian nuclear power. Another agreement involves U.S. 
promises to help protect any Saudi nuclear infrastructure with training, 
the exchange of experts and other support services as needed. Hadley 
said it would not involve U.S. troops.
But the rising price of oil commanded attention.
 
Saudi Arabia's leaders made clear they see no reason to increase oil 
production until customers demand it, apparently rebuffing Bush amid 
soaring U.S. gasoline prices.
It was Bush's second personal appeal this year to King Abdullah, head of 
the monarchy that rules this desert kingdom that is a longtime prime 
U.S. ally and home to the world's largest oil reserves. But Saudi 
officials stuck to their position that they will only pump more oil into 
the system when asked to by buyers, something they say is not happening 
now, the president's national security adviser told reporters.
"Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil 
that they are not able to satisfy," Stephen Hadley said on a day when 
oil prices rose above $127 a barrel, a record high. "What the Saudis 
wanted to tell us was we're doing everything we can do ... to meet this 
problem, but it's a complicated problem."
The Saudi oil minister, Ali Naimi, announced that the kingdom decided on 
May 10 to raise production by 300,000 barrels at the request of 
customers, including the United States. He said that increase was 
sufficient.
"Supply and demand are in balance today, he told a news conference. How 
much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning 
our oil practices and policies?"
Bernard Picchi, an energy analyst at Wall Street Access, an independent 
research firm, said the 300,000-barrel Saudi production increase was a 
token amount that is not expected to have much impact on prices.
"It would be different," he said, "if Saudi Arabia boosted production by 
1 million or 1.5 million barrels a day. The announced increase will have 
Saudi Arabia pumping 9.45 million barrels a day by June, Saudi officials 
said. That's about 2 million barrels below its capacity."
Oil prices advanced Friday as traders, unimpressed by efforts to boost 
supply, kept buying on the expectation that prices would keep setting 
new records.
Saudi Arabia often adjusts its output to meet demand, and the increase 
coincides with the start of the peak driving season in the U.S. "It's a 
way to raise production without raising production," said Phil Flynn, 
analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. "I think it was a way to save face."
Hadley never mentioned the Saudi's new production in his recap with 
reporters. He said the Saudis briefed Bush again on their plan to 
increase their production capacity over time. They also argued that even 
an increase would be unlikely to bring down the soaring prices, driven 
more by uncertainty in the market, lack of refining capacity for the 
type of oil readily available and other complicated dynamics, he said.
Economists say prices are being driven up by increased demand, not 
slowed production. Energy-guzzlers China and India are stretching supplies.
As a result, Hadley suggested the White House was satisfied with - or at 
least accepted - the Saudi response. He added, however, the Bush 
administration will see if the explanation conforms to what our experts say.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said the discussion with Bush 
about oil was friendly. "He didn't punch any tables or shout at 
anybody," the minister said. "I think he was satisfied."
High energy costs are a major drain on the U.S. economy, which is 
experiencing a slowdown that some think is already a recession. At the 
pump, gas prices rose to a national average of $3.78 per gallon on 
Friday, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price 
Information Service.
When Bush and Abdullah met in the kingdom in mid-January, the president 
also sought more Saudi output in a plea that also ultimately was for naught.
Iran was the other dominant topic of Bush's overnight visit with the king.
The two shared a concern over the recent violence in Lebanon, where 
Hezbollah overran Beirut neighborhoods last week in protest of measures 
aimed at the group by the country's government. The display of military 
power by the Shiite militant group, which the U.S. considers a terrorist 
organization, resulted in the worst internal fighting since the end of 
Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
With Shiite-dominated Iran backing Hezbollah, Sunni-dominated Saudi 
Arabia - eager to stop any advance of regional power by Tehran - joins 
the West in supporting Lebanon's government. Hadley said Bush and 
Abdullah shared a concern that the recent events would embolden Iran. 
"The U.S. and Saudi Arabia," he said, "are of one mind in condemning 
what Hezbollah did."
On Thursday, Hezbollah and the government reached a deal to end the 
violence after Lebanon's Cabinet reversed measures aimed at reining in 
the militants.
Bush's Saudi stop was intended, in part, to celebrate 75 years of formal 
U.S.-Saudi relations and strengthen ties that, once strong, have frayed 
over the perception Washington favors Israel too much in the dispute 
with the Palestinians, the Iraq war and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. 
Fifteen of the 19 airline hijackers were Saudis, and Americans blamed 
Saudis for allowing the religious extremism that gave rise to them, an 
accusation that stings here.
Bush was spending the day with Abdullah at his lavish farm complex 
outside Riyadh, talking mostly out of public view over multiple tea 
services and meals. Abdullah greeted Bush warmly at the airport, and 
rode with him in his limousine out into the desert.
When Bush first ran for president in 2000, he criticized the Clinton 
administration for high fuel prices and said the president must jawbone 
oil producing nations and persuade them to drop rates. At that time, oil 
was nearing $28 a barrel - less than a quarter what it is now.
Bush's visit comes two days after Congress voted to temporarily halt 
daily shipments of 70,000 barrels of oil to the nation's emergency reserve.
After Bush's talks on Friday, his administration announced in Washington 
that it has canceled oil shipments into the reserve beginning in July, 
when the current purchase contract expires. Bush has refused to stop 
pouring oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying the stockpile 
was meant for emergencies and that halting the shipments would have 
little or no impact on gasoline or crude oil prices.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984311.html
-- 
[namib] Posso legalmente inneggiare al comunismo, ma non al fascismo.
L'una appartenenza è appunto *criminale*, l'altra no.
[tonibaruch] Purtroppo abbiamo questa legge idiota, è vero.
http://groups.google.it/group/it.politica.internazionale/tree/browse_frm/thread/3f0249225d16ae1d/9d60fe69c1a4658e

 nucleari all'AS.
mica tanto...se pensi alle mosse della Russia in Egitto...adesso i paesi 
arabi si comprano non più con i dollari ma con le tecnologie nucleari...si è 
partiti dall'Iran e vanno avanti...