George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 267

< Episode 266 >

America Decides to Increase Production by 6 Million Barrels!

“Why is America suddenly jumping into the war now?”

King Abdullah and Prime Minister Abdullah of Saudi Arabia wore looks of utter dismay upon receiving the alarming reports. He had hoped for good news that would bring glory to Saudi Arabia, but instead, a messenger of doom arrived. How could Abdullah, the leader of the nation, not lament?

It was Saudi Arabia’s desperate struggle that started the oil price war, but weren’t they the ones who had been consistently on the defensive? So why, all of a sudden, did they switch to the offensive?

In fact, he was planning to end this meaningless war soon. The reason was that, damn it, the American oil companies might have faltered for a moment, but they hadn’t collapsed. Of course, some had truly collapsed.

However, it didn’t seem to be causing significant damage to America. Whether they had anticipated it or urgently pulled money from somewhere, the government was stepping in to protect the shale gas industry. Thanks to this, the oil tycoons were praising the government more fervently than ever before.

Thanks to that, there was an unprecedentedly high level of support in that sector, something that could never have happened under normal circumstances, bordering on fanaticism. No president in history had ever maintained such high approval ratings.

Saudi Arabia’s fear had inadvertently helped Bush’s political standing.

There was a limit to self-inflicted wounds. With Russia joining this insane situation to somehow end the oil price war, if even America started to retaliate, there was no way they could withstand it.

The accumulated financial deficit of Saudi Arabia so far was not something that could be resolved by tightening belts for one or two years. He would rather have stopped midway, but it wasn’t as simple as just stopping, which made Saudi Arabia even more miserable. There was no decisive opportunity to stop this oil price war.

Then, on April 2, 2005, that opportunity suddenly appeared. The media focused on the passing of Pope John Paul II on the same day, but the leaders of each country could not. Because the end of this meaningless oil price war seemed to be within reach at last.

‘Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,’ the King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, had died.

Unlike the Western world, where Saudi Arabia had transformed into a constitutional monarchy where the king did not directly influence state affairs, it was still an absolute monarchy like in the Middle Ages, where the king was both the head of government and participated in state affairs.

Originally, he had been in and out of consciousness due to a stroke, so Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, or simply Vice Prime Minister Abdullah, had been acting as regent. But something went wrong, or perhaps Allah had finally made a place for him in paradise, and took Fahd away.

Therefore, it was a matter of course for Vice Prime Minister and Crown Prince Abdullah to ascend to the throne, and he finally became the leader of Saudi Arabia at the age of 80.

“The Yankees and the Ruskies are all in cahoots!”

The ornate decorations held in the angry old man’s hands flew through the air for the first time in their existence.

Abdullah had become the king he had so longed for, but he couldn’t just be happy. Since he became regent in 1995, Saudi Arabia had already been his in practice, and only the title had changed, while his responsibilities remained the same.

The war was not started by the comatose former king, and the report detailing a huge national deficit was still on his desk. Nothing had changed.

It was a war started with the intention of maintaining Saudi Arabia’s status as an oil-producing country and crippling the suddenly emerging American shale industry, but this war was already beyond what Saudi Arabia could handle.

Of course, he knew there would be a reaction from Russia, but he never imagined they would grab him by the collar, eyes wide open, trying to kill him.

When they drastically reduced crude oil exports, he thought they were going to stop exporting altogether to normalize oil prices, but in reality, they were sharpening a dagger in their bosom to stab Saudi Arabia’s defenseless abdomen.

While Saudi Arabia was sweating with a fruitless one-man show, Russia, finally taking a break, released all the refined oil they had produced and stockpiled, greatly screwing over Saudi Arabia. Thanks to this, oil prices went beyond low oil prices and even hit negative territory.

People who tried to make money with oil futures have long been showcasing their historic freestyle swimming from this world to the next in the Hudson River, and truly wealthy people saw this crisis as an opportunity and made even more money.

A crisis is an opportunity. It was a truth that had not changed since the beginning of time. However, turning a crisis into an opportunity may be a coincidence, but most of the time, it is created by competence. And Saudi Arabia did not have that competence. That was all.

Perhaps if the American president had not foreseen it and prepared the budget in advance, or if Russia had not been beaten up by the United States and terrorists from all sides and was full of poison, perhaps they would have been able to easily pressure the American shale industry and end it there.

However, the situation was only getting worse. The United States was preparing by allocating a budget in advance, and Russia was showing the potential of the Siberian bear not with its army, but with the natural resources sleeping in Russia’s vast territory.

But this could not be Saudi Arabia’s swan song alone. Especially in the case of Russia. Maybe in about 10 years. At this point in time, waging an oil price war was tantamount to suicide.

Even America, which seemed fine on the surface, was the same. How much better would it have been if they could have used that huge budget elsewhere?

“Are we really all going to die together, or what?”

Abdullah covered his head with his hands, feeling despair creeping up from his spine.

It wasn’t that there was no way out. It was just that each of those methods would have a fatal effect on Saudi Arabia at the moment.

If they could properly trample on the American shale industry without backing down, then conversely, those wounds could become wounds of glory and raise Saudi Arabia to a higher place. It just seemed impossible in the current circumstances.

Should he sit at the negotiating table in an unfavorable state to end this war? Or should he endure and wait indefinitely for an opportunity to arise in America or Russia because Allah takes pity on the House of Saud [the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia]?

Abdullah stood at a crossroads.

* * *

“Is that so? Good work.”

Bush received the report on the trends of the Abdullah regime in Saudi Arabia with a calm expression. It wasn’t perfect, but the fraudulent poker [risky bluffing] he had roughly guessed because he knew the future was definitely paying off.

In fact, it was called a trend report, but it wasn’t like a spy operation you would see in 007. Among the acquisition routes that Bush knew, it was a completely legal and normal route.

It was a report received from the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, which had been re-established due to the restoration of the Afghan regime.

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia was withdrawn in August 2001, using Israel’s oppression of Palestine as an excuse, but as soon as Afghanistan was normalized, it was re-established, saying that it could allow an embassy.

In any case, the situation in Saudi Arabia was so obvious that you could tell without an unofficial route. The turmoil in the royal family was visible to the outside world. In fact, with just a little insight, you could tell that Saudi Arabia had reached the limit of self-inflicted wounds.

To be precise about the limit, it means the point where Saudi Arabia cannot return to normal without sacrificing something.

For example, the National Defense Forces, which are only a handful and have terrible training, but have excellent equipment and eat up the budget as much as they can.

“Chief of Staff.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“I’m finally convinced. As I said at the beginning of my term, America no longer needs to pay attention to the Middle East because of oil. Our black gold, sleeping soundly in the shale layer, can be used for at least 200 years, based on what has been revealed so far. And in those 200 years, America will have developed to the point where it doesn’t have to fret over oil.”

“Isn’t that too optimistic an observation?”

“There’s too much that’s been done for an optimistic observation. If it doesn’t work even after doing this, it means America is destined to fail. Or is it?”

Indeed, it was. Despite the opposition of Congress, he stubbornly persuaded them to invest steadily in space development, believing that in 200 years, they would be able to mine resources in large quantities somewhere in the solar system, not just on Earth.

In addition, Bush was pleased that he would be able to see a lunar base before he died. Unless something ‘happened’ in the middle, it would actually happen.

Specifically, the terrible economic depression that was scheduled to occur in 2008, which would plunge the world into a quagmire, or the Iraq War, which was like a cuckoo [a bird known for laying its eggs in other birds’ nests] that only eats money and has little income. Or a super-giant hurricane that would completely destroy the southern oil refining and drilling facilities.

There was no way to prevent the former, but in the case of the latter, all he had to do was practice accurate response and rapid recovery. It was a breakwater for that, relief supplies for that, and large-scale joint training for that.

It was leaking out here and there in the name of aid, but he released as much as possible, thinking that it would become useless if he stored it more than necessary. That was all. That was enough for now. Because he would be able to gain relief experience in some way.

‘However, considering that there have been four earthquakes, there is no guarantee that the hurricane will actually come…….’

But even if he didn’t take that into account. If there was enough money in the national treasury and he didn’t prevent disasters, it would be a sin. Besides, even if it wasn’t Katrina, other hurricanes could occur.

‘It’s not during my term, but from 2011 to 2019, there were at least 10 hurricanes that mercilessly swept through the United States. There’s no reason not to prepare.’

Bush was confident that his choices were not always the best, but at least they were the second best. And the results that actually came out represented Bush’s pride.

“200 years from now, I’ll be dead, but the legacy I left behind with my sweat and blood will be shining brilliantly.”

At least it was certain that Bush’s reign would be written in history books in a fairly favorable way. And if that day comes.

“For the Stars and Stripes that will fly somewhere beyond outer space.”

Finally, Bush would shout that the world he had dreamed of had come.

“You have to sign the documents.”

“Ah, right.”

With this signature, he would get one step closer to his dream. Of course, there was still as much as a house left [a lot more to do]. As the saying goes, little things make a big thing, right?

“What the hell! That damn new highway construction! Who put this up?”

Or not.