Proportion

When I read about the Saudis’ reaction to U. S. government displeasure at Politico:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia warned Sunday it will respond to any “threats” against it as its stock market plunged following President Donald Trump’s warning of “severe punishment” over the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump made a point of visiting the kingdom on his first overseas trip as president and has touted arms sales to Saudi Arabia. But both the White House and the kingdom are under mounting pressure as concern grows over the fate of the veteran journalist, who hasn’t been seen since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

I couldn’t help but think of the cartoon above, sometimes captioned “That last grand gesture of defiance”. As the late Mayor Daley used to say, let’s look at the record. Saudi Arabia has a tenth of our population and its economy is less 8% of ours and most of that is the production of crude oil. We import about 5% of our oil from Saudi Arabia. We are their primary arms supplier. The Saudis punch above their weight because they’re the low-cost major supplier of oil and have the ability to affect oil prices. The Saudis are not popular in the Muslim world and, although there would be a response if we attacked them, the idea that the Muslims of the world would be outraged at any sanctions or non-military actions against Saudi Arabia on the part of the United States is nonsense.