safe pitcher offensive to many on the front cover of iran. supreme leader. i mean, some people who say professor, that it's just a case of playing with fire. surely after has done this in the past. could the cover have been designed? do you think to provoke more anti so called anti government protests in iran? you know, the western narrative on this for the past couple of months? well, this french journal was not just trying to insult the iranian meter, it was try and consult iranian religion and culture and the religion and culture of hundreds of millions of people in west asia and abroad. and for them, that's called freedom of speech. but when it comes to iranian voices west, the west and the french, the french, they sanction all persia, iranian media, all media affiliated to its allies. and the french also

in have media information that encourage riots and violence in iran. so for them, freedom for, for the french side is very different from freedom for iranians. they have extraordinary double standards. i lost you again though, or i professor side bob mirandi from the university of toronto having a bit of a trouble. this time here with getting a solid connection. thank you for your time. please stand by. thank you for joining us here on our t. apologies for a few technical glitches technology today. not always as ideal as they tell us. anyway, more stories at r c dot com for the meantime. thanks for joining us. we're back soon with the news.

the news. hello, i'm manila chan you were tuned into modus operandi. on today's show. the world is shifting towards green energy. popular sentiment seems to be that fossil fuels are bad. so why then is opec more powerful than ever before? going green is cool, but oil is still re orthodoxy. that's why saudi arabia, the de facto leader of opec, is more powerful now than just a year ago. find out why next. all right, let's get into the and low. the me, it began around 60 years ago, a group of energy rich, but otherwise, relatively poor countries were just fed up with getting ripped off by wealthier western nations for their main export oil. so they decided to form

a coalition that group now known as opec, the organization of petroleum exporting countries. the original founding 5 members consisted of saudi arabia, iran, iraq, kuwait, and the only non arab state of venezuela. now over the last 6 decades, group membership has now grown to 13. the original 5 along now with the u. a. e, libya, nigeria, algeria and gola. gov bohn, congo, and equity real guinea. once more in 2016, the group has added plus to their alliance opec plus includes 11 cooperating states who are not official numbers, but largely and in effect act as such. now, the biggest of the plus group, russia, russia, is the world, 3rd largest producer of petroleum, among other liquids behind only saudi arabia and the united states. now this,

according to the b p. statistical review of world energy 2021 report. russia produced some $10800000.00 barrels per day that year, and is classified as an upper middle income economy by the world bank. now according to the opec annual statistical bulletin for 2022, the so called cartel controls, more than 80 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. a staggering 67 percent of that fits in the middle east. and venezuela, to the surprise of many, has about 3 percent more crude than the saudis. so while the ultimate goal of the world claims to be going net 0 at present oil, literally grease as the wheels for the entire world. then opec roiled the west after us president joe biden approached the saudis, about holding off on there 2000000 barrels a day, cut and production. he said,

hold off by one month, presumably until after the us mid term elections. but then the saudis, they just said, now also worth noting their this was done in conjunction with russia who the g 7 is aiming to punish with price caps on russian crude. now russia was considering a 1000000 barrel a day cut, but saudi crown prince m b s, decided. now let's just double that. so is that a signal? the us saudi relationship is souring for more on packed, and the growing power of saudi arabia invited someone who has served as an advisor to for not one not to not 3 for us presidents on mideast policy. al bruce, right, dell is a senior fellow at the brookings institute center for middle east policy and director at the institutes intelligence project. bruce,

thank you for joining us now. many have described opec as a cartel. is this a fair description of a group of nations who work together effectively? you know, as an oil cooperation council, especially since the term cartel is often associated with gangs and thumbs and illegal activity and things like that. i will leave it to specialists and lawyers to determine whether opec is technically a cartel. it is perceived to be a carter, a particularly in those countries which are the recipients of its oil. and the other thing i would say about this perception ok is a collection, autocracies. in fact, a good deal of number of them, absolute monarchy is like saudi arabia and united arab emirates, most of its customers are democracies, united states, europe,

india, japan, australia. so there is a perception that this is a collision between a bunch of autocrats and the democratic forces of the world. and that's not a perception that is in opec's advantage by any means. so ho, or which country is the, the factor leader of opec. saudi arabia, the leader of opec, and it has been since the creation of the organization i saw your radio provides at least a quarter if not a 3rd of all the oil that ok produces. and it's the only country that has the capacity to increase production significantly or decrease production significantly, which gives it the key swivel road swivel route in opec.

now, goldman sachs commodities chief jeff curry seems to believe the groups. power is at an all time high of their, you know, roughly 60 years. can you give us an example of the sheer power of this group? i mean, does it go beyond just shaping markets? can it actually shape global politics? i think as strong as opec is today, it's actually been stronger in the past. i was particularly stronger in the 19 seventy's, 1973 of course, saudi arabia, post the oil embargo that lead to chart to quadruple oil prices. the iranian revolution led to a significant curtailment and oil that produced recessions. opec is strong and powerful today, but it's actually been even more powerful when more of the world was dependent upon it for its oil reserve. uses. united states today produces much of its

own oil is not as dependent as it was back in the 1970 s. they overthrown and murdered long time leader of libya. mo, mark duffy. he played an outsider role in shaping modern day opec methodology. how would you describe his efforts? i mean, was he just sort of like a guy trying to unionize these mostly oil producing states or would it be like something else to dock? he was a true era national. he believed that the solution to the our world was to unify all of the arabs, as they said, from the ocean to the gulf, from morocco to alma. now, his quirky personality often got in the way of his political objectives and he never did successfully unify libya with any other country. but he certainly had a dream, probably unified her world,

which would dominate opec even more than the our world dominates it today. let's shift gears a little bit and place them focused on saudi arabia. now the us relies heavily, i would say, even primarily on saudi oil, the u. s. a. saudi arabia, number one, customer, and conversely, the saudis are america's number one customer in the way of military arms. they buy up tens and tens of millions of dollars of hardware from the d. o d, i would say almost every quarter, it seems. how would you characterize the u. s. saudi relationship? is it a symbiotic one? or the relationship between saudi arabia in the united states is very on equal or the united states provide saudi arabia with security, particularly against external foes. without americans support saudi arabia would have been toppled by masters egypt in 1900 fifties by saddam hussein. in the 1990 s,

it would have been at the mercy of up to soviets. us support has been crucial for the survival of the kingdom. this kingdom provides united states with some of this oil. but the united states also produces a lot of its own oil and has increasingly gotten to find new ways of developing oil . and if you look at the future, not the next 10 months, but the next 10 years. as climate change increasingly drives american politics in economics, we're going to be less and less reliant on fossil fuels. that's a good thing, but it also means we won't need the saudis that much anymore. the saudis, on the other hand, don't have an alternative to the united states for secured. clearly, russia is not going to be able to provide security for anybody is losing the war in the ukraine. and the chinese aren't that interested in projecting power around the world. and taking on security concerns. neither russia or china is very much

interested in taking on the iranians, which is the saudis, traditional so. so the saudis need america much more than america need saudi arabia can, can you, can you elaborate a bit on the, the brookings white paper that you released on this, this clandestine and saudi israeli relationship. saudi arabian israel have had clandestine intelligence cooperation since the mid 1960 s in 1962, there was a qu in yemen. and what was then ne, that brought into power a pro soviet and pro gyptian republican government, both the israelis and the saudis wanted to support the alternative to royalists. and the 2 of them cooperated in getting arms to the royal. it's literally the israeli air force flew down the red sea over saudi territory and dropped arms to many royalist levels. this collusion was the

beginning. it has continued ever since then. and it continues to this day has been very successful for both sides. one of the reasons that the israelis one so and the famous 6 day war in 1967 is the quagmire. israelis in saudi is created for the egyptians in yemen was bogging down 70000 egyptian soldiers the best and brightest of the egyptian army. was in the wrong desert in june 1967. they were in the m and they were not in the signer. all right, so the, the term opec plus the plus that actually includes russia. what is russia's position in this cartel? how important a player are there russians are not formally a member of opec, but they are a member of full tech plus. and as a very large oil producer,

they have considerable weight. doors. ukraine though, has undermined their weight because there are so many countries that apply sanctions against russia and are not importing russian oil anymore. so russia is relative position has declined since he began the war with ukraine. which is why saudi arabia's decision last month or earlier this month to cut production was so much to the russians advantage. because the russians need to get as much money as they can for the amount of oil that they can find consumers for on the world market. mostly china and india. and even in china and india, they're selling oil at a bargain price. so pushing up the price of oil has been a significant help for the russians and keeping their economy going in the face of the very expensive war. they're fighting in the ukraine, former presidential adviser bruce right now. thank you so much for being with us

today. and coming up next will turn our focus on to saudi arabia and their growing strength beyond just their region of the world. we'll discuss it when we return that type. emma will be right back. i ah, ah, is your media a reflection of reality? ah, in a world transformed what will make you feel safe, isolation community, are you going the right way? where are you being led somewhere? which direction? what is true? what is faith?

in the world corrupted, you need to descend to join us in the depths or remain in the shallows. ah ah ah . the

news re, saudis had been an economic powerhouse in the middle east for decades. but now in a growing multi polar world, the saudis are flexing their powers, are broad. for more we will bring in ali med, he is a saudi academic and journalist, founder of the institutes for golf affairs. i'll be good to see you. so the us, you know, relies, i would say a lot on saudi oil. the saudis also rely very heavily on the u. s. the saudis, or america's number one, d o. d, customer, you know this, they buy a billions of dollars worth of arm, huge contracts, go to the pentagon and affiliated companies. how would you describe the us relationship with saudi arabia right now? while there is a lot of economy ties between sort of a, b and the united states and the primary market for so the a,

b is china in terms of the exporting and importing goods. and which makes the relationship sort of a bit odd. yes, the idea a b as a number, one source of arms and walk entry has been the united states. and the united states sold more weapons to saudi arabia than any other country. and that is, that explains a lot. so, and because the united states, the relationship has been as, as stated, even by many american presidents and officials, the united states is committed to the security and the survival of the saudi monarchy over the past few decades. and most of that source is not the as, as claimed because oil and saudi oil in the united states is very minimal.

but in terms of being a customer for american honors. so there it is, number one, and the saudi government. and the market has spent a lot of money in washington in the united states in general. basically buying influence in universities, media, reporters, politicians, past and current american officials and both sides of the iowa democratic site and the republican side in congress and government. so that relationship is definitely a symbiotic relationship because you have a small group of people that is the monarchy or the those people who are now in control of the country among the monarchy, who require security and defense against 1st

and foremost, their own people. and the united states have provided that security and protection in spite of any denial. these are the stablish facts that the united states stopped the overthrow or the removal of the monarchy from one end of that country, starting in the sixty's and continued until now. so it's not only, i guess outside threats, but against their own people. and in exchange there, the saudi monarchy has provided the united states government and officials with large contract opened the country space and land for us to establish a forward basis and to and the saudi. monica also funded a lot of american efforts in and the region in the gulf

and in the middle east, in general, be it in cash or in giving the united states and bases. so they can cross out both spy or attack countries in the region from yemen. to add to iran to syria, for example. so there are there provided a place for to train serial numbers isis linked and others in saudi arabia, you know, and that's in this information is new, obviously. but these are facts. so over the past 6 years. so did i be served, the united states, security and economic goals? and the u. s. served the monarchies, survival and power within the country and in the region. the saudi has considered and seem to have agreed to start taking the chinese you want for oil. now,

if this really does happen, do you think this will be really destabilizing to market, specifically here, states, i mean, is this going to, is this going to cause the collapse of the u. s. petro dollar? it, i do not think saudi arabia relying and popped on the want will bring an end to the euro dollar sort of to the dollar. but it will open the gateway to other countries to start depending or using the dollar as a currency and international trade. trade between china and russia, for example, would stop using the dollar and people dealing with china who are not who understand change or bullied by the united states. and then as well and other countries. cool. but unit with was started dealing with china when their own

currency. and that is, i think it's out of the united states, sort of a loose cannon policy of sanctioning countries and starving populations around the world. so people will go with the chinese currency and deal with china rather than the united states to avoid us sanctions and to just stop being bullied. so i guess if the saudi government is going to do it, it will be limited. it will not, this is not supposed to shake the market, but because this, these kinda market are based on speculations and people inflating, changes, there will be some losses. but i think in general it would be a good. it's a good, a step for international. it cannot mix because using

a single currency as a main trading and their vehicle is not good. it limits the options of many people. so it's important that an international economy uses different currencies and, and it should be an open market. isn't that supposed to be capitalism? ideas to have an open market or free market. so it would be good for the saudis and for the chinese even, i think from the americans. but if they do it, of course the united states will take this as a huge insult and cause for, for revenge or steps. however, i think m b s will not do it until he is confident that this will not cause massive reaction. and i think that is explained by his

recent sentencing of an american citizen to 16 years. this is the harshest sentence, an american hospital has received ever in the united states. government basically did not react to this centers and did not try anything to stop this from happening . although they had that information from last year 11 months ago. yet they did not to extend to any effort to even ask the saudi to free this. 74 year old man in any of the meetings between secretary blink can or sullivan, or by dealing with the saudi authority, with the saudis consideration of taking in the chinese you on. does this signify a strengthening of their relationship with china, especially a saudi arabia is also considering application to the bricks block in the so the

relationship would be, so i need to have been growing. and now the number one, trading partner for saudi arabia is china as a consumer goods oil energy. and there are many projects and saudi arabia that are being built by chinese companies and supposed to have been american companies. but again, people who feel more comfortable, even those who are protected by the united states government are finding dealing with the chinese is easier and maybe even cheaper and better for them at the end. so it is very clear as it has been happening for awhile. and saudi arabia is expanding its investments in china and along the chinese as well to, to bring a lot of it can on the projects into saudi arabia inc

. but this is not only limited to the economy projects, but also so i get a b, i have purchased and chinese military hardware, including service to service missiles. and there are saudi military officers who i'm training in china. so the united states now is not the only source for military hardware, it is still the primary source, and it will continue to do to, to be so. but the chinese are also now a provider. so d artists to show that we're going to have to leave that right there. my friend ali on that always good to see you. thank you for sharing your expertise with us this week. so while the saudis leave the opec group, the collective west is also now considering

a buyer's cartel of their own in response. check that out. not sure how that's all gonna play out, but we'll have to wait and see. that's going to do it for this weeks. episode of modus operandi the show that dig deep into foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thanks for tuning in. we'll see you again next week and figure out a with a new media. if it's deployed near to me, i think you know them on the new book that probably the national shift anyway. did

your showcase in a boy? why is it up to a boy a a down in my chair. it's laura doesn't want that much extra mom, but i know it's a program that y'all got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy. even foundation, let it be an arms race, movies on, often very dramatic development. only personally, i'm going to resist. i don't see how that strategy will be successful,

very political time. time to sit down and talk a, a made ongoing riots and rallies in brazil. facebook parent company met centers, all posts with an anti president lew left flood. we take a deeper look at why the west, fully back some protests, but not others to run slums from for double standards. i'm hypocrisy. after the later, surely abdul cover depicts around supreme leader sparking angry protests hardest justifies that publication. so i think freedom of speech also lead.