Saudi Arabia quashes protests, neighbors fail

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - A massive show of force snuffed out a Facebook-based effort to stage unprecedented pro-democracy protests in the capital of Saudi Arabia on Friday but political unrest and sectarian tensions roiled neighboring Yemen and Bahrain.

Yemen’s largest demonstrations in a month were met by police gunfire that left at least six protesters injured and seemed certain to fuel more anger against the deeply unpopular U.S.-allied president.

In Bahrain, a conflict deepened between the island kingdom’s Shiite majority and its Sunni Muslim royal family, whose security forces and pro-government mobs attacked demonstrators with tear gas, rocks and swords. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the tiny country, the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to reassure its rulers of unwavering U.S. support, officials said.

With uprisings threatening allies on its eastern and southern flanks, the Sunni Saudi monarchy appeared to be taking no chances in its effort to keep the popular push for democracy in the Arab world from spreading to the world’s largest crude oil exporter.

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Saudi Arabia quashes protests, neighbors fail

Lets take a look at the obvious.

Libya is in turmoil. Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iraq and many more nations in Asia and the Mid-East are in turmoil. Now, it appears that Saudi Arabia is coming under attack by people that are being called pro-democracy protesters.

And all the while Obama, the libber tree huggers and every group known to man are fighting at every turn to stop producers drilling for oil in this nation, on shore and off.

If the Mid-East goes under, if we can’t get the oil that we need, the oil that we MUST have, from those regions, how do these environmentalists think the USA will continue to run?

And even more importantly, what do these people think is going to happen to OUR economy, and that of the entire world, when oil goes to 2 or 3 hundred dollar a barrel and gasoline is in the $10 or MORE a gallon range?

Today, as I am writing this, the stock market is once again on the rise, recovering from what can only be called a devastating loss yesterday. An earlier report this AM said oil prices were down.

In the heavily Shiite eastern Saudi city of Qatif, a short drive from Bahrain, armored personnel carriers and dozens of officers in riot gear surrounded several hundred demonstrators shouting calls for reforms and equality between the sects. Police opened fire in the city to disperse a protest late Thursday in an incident that left three protesters and one officer wounded, but there was no repeat of that violence.

The thing about these *We want democracy* rallies in places like Libya and Saudi Arabia is the fact that the governments don’t want DEMOCRACY, they are pretty happy with their own brand of dictatorial powers.

And another point that has to be examined is this: once the democracy demonstrations are over, all too often what you get is an Islamic nation under the thumb of Sharia law. Granted, Saudi Arabia IS a Muslim nation, but they aren’t radicalized like Yemen and Iran for instance.

From the Wall Street Journal:

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -U.S. stocks rose slightly Friday despite the strongest earthquake to hit Japan in at least 300 years, as energy, materials and industrials companies climbed on expectations that they would receive increased demand from rebuilding efforts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38 points, or 0.3%, to 12022, in recent trading. Driving the measure’s gains, aluminum giant Alcoa climbed 1.7%, while 3M added 1.4% and Caterpillar rose 1.2%.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5% to 2713, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 0.5% to 1302, with its energy, materials and industrial sectors leading the ascent.

Still, the market is on track to post a weekly drop, with the Dow recently off 1.3%, the Nasdaq down 2.6% and the S&P 500 off 1.5% for the week. SOURCE

The rebuilding effort WILL help the economy in many ways, but again, if OIL is not available to move good and supplies, if OIL is not available to manufacture all that is needed, or if OIL is priced so high that it drives the cost of goods up to the point that no one can afford them, is the economy really being helped?

And we must look at this too, From Bloomberg:

European Stocks Drop as Insurers Slide After Japanese Earthquake

European stocks dropped for a third day, erasing their gains for the year, as insurers tumbled after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan triggered a 10 meter high tsunami. U.S. index futures and Asian shares retreated.

Swiss Reinsurance Co. plunged 6.7 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) fell 1.5 percent as Australia said it’s committed to a profit- based mining tax. K+S AG lost 6.8 percent after BASF SE (BAS) announced plans to sell its remaining stake in the potash maker, a holding that’s valued at about 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.8 percent to 275.59 at 8:19 a.m. in London, bringing this year’s decline to 0.1 percent. The gauge has tumbled 5.3 percent since reaching a 2 1/2-year high on Feb. 17 as crude oil surged amid political unrest and violence in Libya.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fell 0.3 percent before a report that may show U.S. retail sales climbed in February by the most in four months. Other data may show business inventories rose and consumer sentiment declined. SOURCE

The world financial markets are ALL tied together. A hiccup here creates a tsunami as it spreads across the world. No pun intended. The earthquake in Japan is already affecting U.S. markets.

From the Wall Street Journal:

KANSAS CITY (Dow Jones) -U.S. lean hog and live cattle futures closed lower Friday, pressured by overall demand uncertainty following the severe earthquake in Japan, but losses in cattle eased from their earlier lows as stock prices rallied.

Hog futures were hit the hardest by the news since Japan accounted for about $1.65 billion in pork sales in 2010, or 34% of U.S. sales dollars internationally. Pork shipments to Japan in January were up 27% from a year ago by volume and 24% in sales dollars. Beef sales to Japan in 2010 were worth nearly $640 million, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Meat Export Federation data.

April hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were down 1.70 cents, or 1.9%, at 88.15 cents a pound. June, which now carries the largest open interest among the hog contracts, fell 1.95 cents, or 1.9% to close at 99.50 cents. The hefty declines wiped out gains from the past two days in April and resulted in losses for the week in both contracts.

Traders were concerned about the probability of disruptions in the flow of meat products from the U.S. to Japan and a short-term reduction in consumption there due to power outages and the damaged infrastructure. In addition, some investors exited their livestock contracts as a precautionary measure, weighing on prices from the outset. SOURCE

As previously stated, ALL the markets are tied together, and I’m afraid we’re in for on helluva ride folks…