Looks like the 40-year joyride is over - a two-fer.
First - from CNBC:
Saudi Arabia takes out $10bn in bank loans
Saudi Arabia is raising $10bn from a consortium of global banks as the kingdom embarks on its first international debt issuance in 25 years to counter dwindling oil revenues and reserves.
More:
The oil-rich kingdom, which last weekend blocked a potential deal among oil producers to freeze output and bolster prices, has burnt through $150bn in financial reserves since late 2014 as its fiscal deficit is set to widen to 19 per cent of gross domestic product this year.
Strong interest in the loan, especially from Asian banks, came despite rating agency downgrades on Saudi creditworthiness since the oil price collapsed. The government raised the amount it wanted to borrow from $6bn-$8bn to $10bn after the deal was oversubscribed.
Heh - hope you enjoyed the ride. The debt from 25 years ago was to capitalize the oil infrastructure after they realized just how much they had and bet their nation on it. That got paid off in two shakes of a lamb's tail but this debt is going to be a lot more persistant and nagging. Welcome to the rest of the world...
Second - from the London Daily Mail:
Fresh evidence links Saudi government to 9/11: Flight certificate of would-be bomber found in embassy envelope buried underground
Fresh information allegedly connecting the government of Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 terror attacks has been released.
Officials have revealed that the flight certificate of Al-Qaeda bomb maker Ghassan Al-Sharbi was discovered hidden in an envelope from the Saudi embassy in Washington when they arrested him in 2002.
Al-Sharbi is believed to have learned how to fly with the hijackers but did not take part in the attacks. Shortly before his arrest, he buried a bundle of documents, which is believed to have included the certificate.
The cache was discovered by US authorities and details, written in a memo known as Document 17 in 2003, were released without fanfare by investigators last year. They were only brought to the public's attention when an activist discovered them and wrote about them on his website earlier this week.
The release has fuelled concerns the Saudi government may have been linked to the coordinated attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
Heh again - the little fiction about how Saudi Arabia has no terrorist blood on its hands is about to become very well known to be false. Scum sucking sons of pigs and monkeys - could not happen to a nicer bunch of people. Not like they are doing themselves any favors anyway...
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