The current oil crisis repeats the 1985-1986 situation. when the US and Saudi Arabia played against the USSR. A sharp drop in prices for "black gold" dealt a strong blow to the then Russia-USSR.
True, the opinion that the oil war destroyed the Soviet Union is wrong. The USSR collapsed not because of the fall in oil prices, but because of a complex of reasons, internal and external (like the Russian Empire in 1917). The main reason was the conscious course of a part of the Soviet elite towards the destruction of Soviet civilization and the integration of its fragments into the capitalist world. The face of this course was Gorbachev, the future “best German”. The degraded Soviet elite wanted to become part of the global elite, gain real power, privatize (steal) the people's wealth and “live beautifully”.
Alliance of the past against the Red Empire of the future
The Soviet (Russian) civilization, even after the death of Stalin and the "perestroika" of Khrushchev, remained the world and society of the future. In the USSR, latent processes were taking place that frightened the Western elite. The USSR-Russia could still rush to the stars, overtake all of humanity for generations. To become a society of thinkers-philosophers, teachers, creators and warriors. This frightened the Western society of slave owners and slaves (disguised as a consumer society). The masters of the West could have lost the big game on the planet.
For all its shortcomings, the decay of the nomenklatura and the old system, which had ceased to be regularly updated, as under Stalin, the Soviet Union carried a powerful charge of creativity. The core of society and civilization of the future. "Beautiful is far away." Russia could break through into a new era, the "golden age", leaving the West in the distant past. The symbol of the "golden age" of the Union was a man-creator, a creator, a man who revealed his spiritual, intellectual and physical potential. A person penetrating the secrets of the human psyche, knowing the secrets of the atomic nucleus, designing settlements on the Moon and Mars, in the depths of the ocean and spacecraft.
However, this sunny Tomorrow did not take place. He was ruined by the alliance of the dark forces of the past, including representatives of the Soviet elite, who wanted to “live beautifully,” for whom bars and strip clubs were more important than palaces of culture and spacecraft. Literally everyone who was against the Russian "golden age" went on the attack against the USSR. The capitalist world opposed the USSR, which in fact continued the traditions of the ancient slave system. The world of domination of money, the "golden calf". The leader of the Western world, the United States, has entered into an alliance with other debris of the past, with the Saudi obscurantists, Pakistani fundamentalists, the Vatican, etc.
US-Saudi Arabia Alliance
The medieval kingdom, where "oil communism" was built for the indigenous population and its sheikhs (with the slave-owning exploitation of visiting workers), was an important ally of Washington and a key figure in the last battle with the USSR. The largest "oil barrel" in the world is in the hands of religious obscurantists and slave owners. At the same time, the center of Islam: the keeper of Muslim shrines, Mecca and Medina. One of the richest countries in the world, where sheikhs simply bathed in dollars, when “black gold” became the basis of the energy of human civilization.
Saudi Arabia has become a powerful US "battering ram" directed against the USSR. With its help, it was possible to bring down oil prices from $ 35 per barrel in 1980 (taking into account inflation in the 2000s, this is over $ 90) to $ 10 per barrel and below in 1986 (about $ 20 at the exchange rate of the 2000s.). Also thanks to the Saudis and Pakistan, the West was able to intensify the war in Afghanistan.
The Americans brought the Saudis under control in the 1970s and made Saudi Arabia their weapon. In punishment for supporting Israel in the 1973 war, Arab countries imposed an oil embargo on the West. It did not last long, but it caused serious panic. Western capitals suffered from a lack of fuel, and stampede began in stores for durable goods. The authorities had to ban the use of private cars for a time. Black gold prices soared from $ 3 to $ 12 per barrel in one year. This hit the US and Western European economies hard. The crisis has shown the true extent of the dependence of the developed countries of the West on oil prices. But oil exporters were bathed in money. Especially Saudi Arabia. The USSR also won by increasing oil supplies to Europe. However, there was a downside, the dependence on the so-called. oil needle. It seemed: why further develop production, if you can prosper from the sale of resources?
Washington made good use of this situation. Innumerable riches went to the medieval barbarians. Fine! The Americans offered their own version of the further prosperity of the Saudis. At the same time, without the development and change of lifestyle (parasitizing on resources). The Saudis transferred their oil billions to the United States, bought securities of the American state and corporations. They themselves lived on interest from investments, swam in luxury. They could build (not themselves, with the help of Western designers, engineers and poor workers from poor Asian countries) new cities in the desert, skyscrapers, first-class roads, bridges, airfields, ports, buy luxury yachts, airplanes, etc.
Thus, the more the Saudis received petrodollars, the more they returned to the United States. The kingdom became financially dependent on the United States, their military power, and steadily supplied America with "black gold", no longer raising prices. In return, the Westernizers built a modern civilization for obscurant slave owners, cities with the most perfect infrastructure, an oil refining industry, oil terminals, ports, water pipelines, desalination plants and water treatment plants, power plants, a network of excellent roads, airports, etc. The entire modern industry appeared in the cities. consumption and luxury. The Arabs were inundated with the best goods from all over the world: European, American and Japanese cars, Japanese electronics, luxury goods from Europe, etc. Sheikhs and other Arab rich people could collect beauties from all over the world in their harems. At the same time, the Saudis themselves did not work! They didn't produce anything themselves! Thousands of highly qualified specialists from the USA and Western Europe and tens of thousands of slave workers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt and other countries worked for them.
Also, the United States provided an armed "roof" for the oil monarchy, bursting with fat. The richer kingdom is overrun by stronger-minded and well-armed neighbors: Iraq, Iran and Syria. Shiite Tehran considered Riyadh to be a traitor to the Islamic world, which had thrown itself under the rule of the overseas "golden calf". The Iranians wanted to perpetrate the Islamic revolution in Arabia in their own way, to chop off part of the territories and plant a friendly regime in Riyadh. Yemeni tribes were also not averse to disturbing the peaceful sleep of their wealthy neighbors. To tear off part of the oil-rich territories from the Saudis (previously they were part of Yemen). In addition, Washington forced the Saudis to come to terms with Israel.
Saudis against the USSR
In just a few years, Saudi Arabia has transformed. Became a modern state. Externally. But it retained its slave-owning essence. All the finances of the Saudis were controlled by the United States. Now the Arab monarchies were materially interested in strengthening the United States. Preserving the same order on the planet.
In the spring of 1981, the head of the CIA, Bill Casey, visited the Saudi capital Riyadh. He met with the head of the royal intelligence, Prince Turki Ibn Faisal (head of intelligence 1977-2001). The Saudi prince was on good terms with D. Bush Sr., Vice President under Reagan. American oil tycoon and former CIA chief Bush struck up a relationship with the Turks back in the 1970s. The connection between the Bush clan and the Saudis has become one of the powerful threads linking Washington and Riyadh.
Casey promised the Saudis a US "roof". A guarantee of US military protection and the rearmament of the Arab army to NATO standards. In return, Riyadh joined the “holy war” against the USSR and increased oil production, driving down prices for “black gold” and inflicting an economic blow on Russia. And since natural gas is falling in price on the world market following oil, the economic blow was twofold. Moscow's gas plans were taking their toll. Also, the Saudis, together with the Americans, had to finance the Afghan mujahideen who fought against the Russian troops through a network of "non-governmental funds". In addition, Western and Islamic special services wanted to organize and support the anti-Russian underground in the "southern underbelly" of Russia - in Turkestan, and further in the Caucasus and the Volga region. The United States planned to move the war from Afghanistan north to the Soviet republics of Central Asia.
In the fall of 1981, the US Senate approved the rearmament of Saudi Arabia, in particular, the sale of new radar aircraft (Boeing E-3 Sentry) to it. Even earlier, Washington had given guarantees to Riyadh that the US Rapid Reaction Force would defend the kingdom in case of need (Iranian attacks). In 1982, the head of the Pentagon, Kaspar Weinberger, visited the Saudis. He agreed on a plan to defend the kingdom from possible encroachments by Tehran. Then the Reagan administration closed information about the investments of Arab sheikhs in the US economy.
Casey visited Riyadh again, where he met with Prince Fahd (the fifth king of Saudi Arabia in 1982-2005). Like, we protected you, it's time to work it out. It's time to bring down the prices for "black gold". It is worth noting that the decline in oil prices was not a severe blow to the kingdom itself. From the fall in resource prices, the US economy began to grow, that is, their securities, in which the sheikhs invested. On the other hand, the lower the oil prices, the less motivation Europe has to buy natural gas from the Russians and pull gas pipelines from Russia. That is, Saudi Arabia kept its market in Europe. Fahd agreed in principle. In the summer of 1982, he became king and began to pursue the policies that Washington wanted. Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan, helped the United States to wage war against the Russians in Afghanistan. Organize a project: "Holy Jihad against the Russians." So Saudi Arabia entered into a united front with the West against communism and the Russian world.
It was in the 70s and 80s that the alliance of the British, American intelligence services with the Saudis and Pakistanis gave birth to a monster - a bloody “black caliphate”. Oil dollars and specialists in terror and sabotage created the so-called. international terrorism. The program "Islam against communism" (de facto - Russian) was supposed to lead to the defeat of the USSR-Russia in Afghanistan, to blow up Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Volga region. It is worth noting that the future civil massacre in Tajikistan and the war in Chechnya became part of this program. An alliance of Islamist radicals, nationalists and drug dealers is being formed in Central Asia.
Pakistan also entered the alliance of the Saudis and the United States, which became a rear base for the war in Afghanistan, which was another blow to the USSR. Pakistan has become a rear base and a springboard for Afghan gangs. There they rested, were treated, joined the ranks, trained and armed themselves. In return, Pakistan began to receive large loans from the West (IMF and IBRD), helped the local regime to stay in power, and wrote off debts. With the money of the Saudis, weapons were bought and transferred to Pakistan to arm the bandits. Pakistani intelligence and the CIA oversaw this process. The Americans provided weapons, intelligence information, helped with the organization, money and propaganda of the "holy struggle"; the Saudis financed the war; Islamabad provided Afghan militants with a place to rest, replenish, train, arm and transfer them to Afghanistan. The Afghan "spirits" themselves played the role of "cannon fodder".
As a result, it seems that the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan did not fight with the USSR. But they were able to plunge the USSR into the Afghan war quagmire, at great expense. We got the opportunity to destabilize the southern regions of the Soviet empire. The Afghan war became a serious test for the already sick Soviet society, spoiled by the Brezhnev "golden stagnation".
Oil shock
In 1985, the US depreciated the dollar by a quarter. Devalued their national debt. They "threw" their creditors - the Americans, Europeans and Japanese themselves. At the same time, American goods became cheaper, exports grew, and the economy revived. At the same time, a blow was struck at the USSR. Contracts for the supply of oil and gas abroad were calculated in dollars. That is, the actual income of the USSR from the sale of resources fell by a quarter. But that was not enough. The Americans wanted to crash oil prices.
The time has come for the Saudis to work off their debts. Washington put pressure on King Fahd and his clan. Also, the Saudis were informed in advance about the future devaluation of the dollar. They were able to transfer personal capital in time to another currency. In August 1985, Riyadh sharply increases the production of "black gold" from 2 million barrels per day to 6 million, then to 9 million. Oil prices collapse. Natural gas prices also went down. The economy of the USSR, which had been hooked on the "oil needle" since the time of Brezhnev, experienced a strong shock. The positive balance in foreign trade was lost: now the USSR was spending more than it earned. Moscow had to sell gold. The blow was all the more painful because at that time there was a change of power. Gorbachev's team took over the country and began "perestroika". Soon, Gorbachev's gang surrendered the USSR to the West.
The Saudi strike took Moscow by surprise. There they did not expect that the sheikhs would cut off the branch on which they were sitting. After all, the raw material war hit hard on the oil monarchies. The "Great Oil Crash" halved the annual incomes of the Saudis themselves and other Arab monarchies, dealt a powerful blow to all the world's "gas stations": Iraq, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Mexico, etc. After all, everyone is accustomed to dollar abundance, life is not affordable. Saudi Arabia after 1985 found itself in a protracted socio-economic crisis. The Saudis had to go into debt. Only a new oil boom in the 2000s has straightened her out. But the golden days of the 70s never returned.
Thus, Washington forced the Saudis to act against their national interests. The selfish interests of the king and his clan were placed above the interests of the entire people. The Americans used personal connections and the corrupt, clan-mafia-like nature of power in the kingdom to their advantage. The Saudi family chose to collapse the oil market, but saved their personal capital (invested in the US financial pyramid) and their asses.
