Is there any scenario in which the Arabs defeat America in the current war?

[Sikander]

If the standard were the Arabs claiming victory, then I think that they can / already have. They claimed victory when the PLO was forcefully ejected from Beirut, and when the coalition crushed Iraqi forces in the Gulf War. Every concievable action or inaction by others seems to be capable of either causing unbearable shame or an undeserved cause for celebration by the Arabs.

[TheStinger]

If there was real threat to oil supplies not just a big rise in price wouldn't The US( and probably Europe if they couldn't run their cars) just take it

[Traianvs]

First, the world doesn't depend on Arab oils, they are only the cheapest.

50% of the remaining oil is in arab hands (iraq, iran etc)

you said somewhere that we are working on alternative means, sure, the hydrogen powered car for example? yup it exists already but it is far from finished, it'll take them about 10 more years to fine tune it so it's absolutely ready for mass use, and on top of that, every gasstation in the world would have to change from oil to a very expensive hydrogen station...

you see, if you want to refill your tank, you can't do it yourself, it's icy cold and you'll freeze your hands, so expensive equipment is needed to fuel automatically...


secondly, large oilfields are getting depleted as we speak, the smaller oilfields too, in a few years they will be depleted, sure there are a whole lot of small oilfields we could use, but the cost compared to the benefit is too high for it to be profitable, so we're having a problem

right now Australia has lost a lot of oil production, simply because their fields are being depleted, and the rest will follow, that's why the middle east is so important, they have the largest oil fields left

btw don't count on russia, their pipes leaked as much oil as they received oil, a true environmental disaster... ah well

i was told that the next 5 years were crucial and that the US really should start looking a bit further in the future instead of concentrzating on the current state of their wicked 'economy' as if everybody on this planet cared about their economy...

[Az]

In any case , The US has enough oil to ... say... operate a large military force , and project it ... say... into the region of the gulf.

che: Muslim != ethnicity.

in any case , Arabs don't have the logistics. They never had. Bin Laden's feat did require major logistics, but not even nearing the scale of a full war against the US.

[Lefty Scaevola]

If we made the mistake of letting the the non-Brit Euros take a bigger role, they could screw things up so badly that we might lose. Look at Bosina where the Frogs sabatoged NATO operations repeatedly, tipping off the Serbs and such.

[Pekka]

You don't want to go to Bosnia.

[Sava]

Bosnia is up there with the Congo and Afghanistan on the list of places not to go. I believe Texas is 4th

[Pekka]

Hehe.. Ok I'll just rest my case, I'm not up to this one.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by Sava
I believe Texas is 4th

Lexa Doig would be welcome here.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola

Lexa Doig would be welcome here.

No seriously, Texas isn't all bad. I'm sure their is a good person in that state .

[Lemmy]

The US can't win, and here's why.
First, they're fighting terrorists now, based in other countries, this makes it almost impossible to take 'm all out, unless invading each of those countries.
But if they start doing that, they would have to invade a few allies too, and also countries a lot stronger then Afghanistan, countries that might actually put up a fight.
Once these countries are conquered, the US still has make sure that the terrorists don't come back there, which would also cost considerable resources.
Then with every new country they invade, there is the chance of the rest of the world turning against the US, not military, but economically, and this could be just as devastating as any terrorist attack.

[Az]

The US can't win

but the arabs can?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Azazel
che: Muslim != ethnicity.

D'oh! Brain fart, meant Arab the last time I wrote Muslim.

[Lemmy]

but the arabs can?

You mean terrorists or countries?
Countries, no.
Terrorists, yes.

[Az]

Even terrorists can't . Heck , Terrorist's only cover are civilians. If SHTF noone would care , and not even Mr. Bin Laden can escape carpet bombings, MRLS launchers, etc. etc. There is no way they could actually win. The US is waaay too strong.