Saudi Arabia has longstanding relevance, obviously if you're talking about its role in the oil market. The history of the place is kind of interesting too. And I was less familiar with the origins of the country and many people in that part of the world actually don't regard it as a legitimate country. They were basically just a tribe that managed to grab the commanding heights of the territory through conflict and political maneuvering.
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In 1945 near the end of WWII, US President Franklin Roosevelt, on his way back from the Yalta summit, met on the cruiser USS Quincy in the Suez Canal with Kign Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. The meeting, prompted by Roosevelt asking how the United States had outlasted the mighty German war machine, was motivated by the fact that American oil resources fueled the enormous military buildout that went on to eclipse not only the production of Germany but also the output of all other Axis countries combined. Thinking ahead to declining American reserves, Roosevelt correctly saw and successful negotiated an alliance between the US and the kingdom that until recently has undergirded not only the industrial world’s need for energy but also America’s need for further legitimization of the US dollar in an era of large budget and trade deficits which came in the form of the ‘petrodollar.’ Growing from a population of fewer than 5 million in 1960 to over 33 million today, the home to Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed and Islam and the center of the broader Muslim world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has had mixed success in transitioning from its ancient heritage to the fabulous wealth provided by oil. It’s state oil giant – Saudi Aramco – is the world’s third largest company as measured by market capitalization, at $2 trillion, but looking ahead, with increased calls for a move away from fossil fuels and the rise of China, the kingdom looks to invest in the future while retaining its past, and hopes to maintain its central role, for good or for worse, in Middle Eastern culture and politics.
