Jerry writes: These positions are mutually contradictory. Do you now support Bina's position rather than that of Nwoke? __________ jerry, i am not in a position to render judgement on theories of energy pricing; i was just reporting different theories. however both theories put potential surplus profits at the hands of the Saudi state. ________ What is not speculative, however (since bin Laden has explicitly stated this) is that he has not forgiven the US for using military bases in Saudi Arabia, which are not far from Islamic holy sites, to attack Iraq in the Gulf War. ___________ bin laden has also unequivocally railed against the robbery of oil wealth. _______ jerry notes that " It would be most unwise, imo, to underestimate the force of religious convictions in motivating bin Laden. He may be a capitalist (heir to an enormous oil fortune) but he is motivated more than by the capitalist credo to accumulate." ________ i do doubt that in the absence of the precipituous decline in Saudi incomes in the last twenty years that Osama bin Laden would be able to recruit so successfully against the US occupation of holy sites. many saudis seem convinced that since the americans are not needed for protection after the decimation of saddam, they are only there to ensure that saudi oil wealth is essentially controlled and invested by American interests and that Saudi wealth is invested in the US and Europe. It is in this context (as well as the loss of Arab land to invaders) that the american occupation of holy sites is experienced as so humiliating, imo. ______ jerry then writes: The US may not be 'giving way', but it is no longer the hegemonic power that it was in the post WW2 period since the US capitalist class now has significant and powerful rivals in other nations, e.g. Japan and Germany (and now Europe). _________ yes but what puzzles me about bina's argument about the decline of US hegemony is own documenting of the overwhelming success by the US in channeling the Saudi's massive dollar reserves towards it own objectives. ________ jerry then notes Of course, the US still has the preeminent military force in the world (and the US$ is still the international currency for which US capital receives significant economic advantages), but fantasies of a "New World Order" led by the US that developed at about the time of the Gulf War (and the capitalist euphoria accompanying the "failure of communism") have been blown asunder in the subsequent period. ___________ the dollar is still the international reserve currency despite the introduction of the euro. as the article from the economist suggested, this is in part due to the continued pricing of oil in dollars. _____ lastly jerry asks: What is the 'tendency towards breakdown' re US capitalism? _____ i was unsurprisingly referring to grossmann's theory, and saying that the injection of surplus value into the US capitalist system by Saudi holding of US treasury debt probably weakens that tendency. Rakesh
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