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by rmah 1712 days ago
Saudi Arabia has the fifth largest military budget in the world. They spend more than Germany, France or the UK. Their training and readiness probably isn't nearly as good, but to say they have no military is ... odd.

More to the point, many nations sell oil for non-USD. It's quite common. Further, the oil trade is a small fraction of international USD movement. The idea that the "petrodollar" is a major factor in international politics is... unlikely to be true.
3 comments
javert 1712 days ago
Wikipedia says the Saudis have the 9th largest defense budget in the world. They also have a decent sized army, navy and air force. TIL.

I was under the impression that the Saudis literally didn't have a military, because the ruling family was afraid of coups.

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nradov 1712 days ago
Saudi Arabia has a large military to deal with external threats. And they also have a large and separate National Guard to protect the royal family from coups and terrorists.
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atatatat 1712 days ago
They have exactly as much military as they purchase from US and Israeli contractors/loan from militaries.
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atatatat 1712 days ago
> many nations sell oil for non-USD

Name the largest, why obfuscate?

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