Ovis Suburbanus:

This is a complicated question about when export cutbacks from Saudi Arabia and the UAE begin to affect the US. In at least one area,price, the cutbacks are already affecting the US. The cutback of exports of light, sweet crude to Asian importers this year have raised the price of crude in Asian markets and helped it remain high, plus the Saudi's not raising their production of Arab Light to satisfy the growing world demand at a lower price has had an effect on the world.
The Saudi's are unlikely to specificially target the US unless they fell they have no choice, although individual members of the royal family may be against US interests. The US administration is unpredictable and out of control, and the Saudi's are likely to view any new conflict with any Moslem nation as proof that the administration's US policy is a crusade against Islam. I'm an American and hold the same view, it seems our foreign policy is being shaped by fundementalist Christians who have that view and its truly scary. So, in spite of having over 300,000 troops and mercenaries in Iraq, the US can't attack any country in the region without risking WW III.
The Saudi's have very substantial US refining interests. When Texaco lost its lawsuit to Pennzoil over Getty, they sold 1/2 of their US refining interests to the Saudi Arabians for cash to help pay off that judgement. That interest is at least part of a big joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell called Motiva, they have a couple of giant refineries. Texaco is now part of Chevron, and I'd guess that Saudi Refining also has some joint ventures with Chevron in petrochemicals, although I have no exact knowledge. Another reason the Saudi's won't target the US is the personal investments of members of the Saudi Royal Family. They own much of the Carlysle Group that, together with the Bush famiy, owns Haliburton and many other US investments.Until about a year ago these investments were managed by Prince Bandar, AKA Bandar Bush.
But, this tangled web is further complicated by the Saudi's own fanaticism. The Wahabi sect controls the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, and run the country through Islamic law. They are the basis of Jihadist cults like al Quaida, who want to destroy Israel and the western Materialist culture. Many members also want to destroy the Saudi family too because they have defiled the holy sites of Islam by allowing US troops in the region.

So, in summary, its a hell of a mess. All the regional powers, except Turkey, are run by fanatics. I haven't mentioned the Zionist crazies that control Israel or the Shia mystics with control of Iran, but they are all motivated by a fanatical view of the situation. And, we've barely begun to look at the situation, but the US policies are being formulated by our own crusaders. Eric Prince, the owner of Blackwater, is a non-denominational fundementalist, and looks to become the Praetorian Guard of the American Empire. Our professional military officer corps is run by non-denominational cultists, IMHO. We've abandoned the constitutional seperation of church and state that was the basis of the US success in the first 90% of US history. And its terrifying and gloomy unless we get some balance again in the world and go back to reason and tolerance, the gift of the 18th century to the west. Bob Ebersole

Bob, hope you are doing better today.

Yes, a fine mess the world is in. I have to keep reminding myself that some good minds are working on these problems in the administration along with what is probably the most concentrated nexus of computing power on the planet.

Scary that they are making the moves that they are. Obviously this is the best that they can come up with from the data available. I rather doubt that they are missing much.

It makes one wonder just how bad the alternatives are that they see.