Chapter 628 Biodiesel

"The regime change in Saudi Arabia is a normal change in line with Saudi Arabia's national system and laws." That night, as a representative of the French government, AFP announced France's attitude to the world: "King Khalid and King Fahd have passed away one after another, and the new king, King Abdullah, is the only legitimate king who can represent the Saudi royal family. Therefore, the abdication agreement signed by King Abdullah is valid! We are very happy to see the spread of democracy and freedom in the Middle East, the end of the ancient royal rule, and the leader who came to power through elections, a modern democratic method, is the most legitimate representative of public opinion! At the same time, we also hope that Saudi Arabia can restore peace as soon as possible and restore the stable supply of crude oil to the world."

This news from AFP completely shocked the world! Europe was stunned, and so was the United States.

Damn, what are the French doing? Do they really like to undermine the United States? Even if they have a grudge against the United States, they don't have to publicly support the Riyadh government and slap the United States in the face? The United States even supported a new Saudi king in Mecca!

However, because France is not a NATO country, although the United States was extremely angry after hearing the news and immediately expressed serious protest to France through diplomatic channels, it was just a protest and the United States could not do anything to France.

Just after France made the statement, French tankers began to load new crude oil at Saudi ports and sailed towards France. France needs energy and a stable supply of oil. But now, even the Americans are unable to take care of themselves and it is impossible for them to support France and provide it with oil resources.

In this case, why does France have to keep acting according to the Americans' wishes? Moreover, France has already seen that the influence of the United States in the Middle East will become increasingly weak, and a new world order is slowly taking shape!

When the United States lost the Far East, its influence began to weaken. When the United States lost the Middle East, what qualifications would Americans have to be the leader of the Western world? In this case, France must always be prepared!

Even if the United States turns the tables in the Middle East again, the most France can do is to get back on good terms with the Saudi royal government, and France will not suffer any losses.

France is unique in the Western world, and by doing this, France is also trying to strike a blow against the leading United States.

This made the United States very upset, but it didn't have much to do. However, what the United States did not expect was that within a few days, neutral countries such as Switzerland and Sweden also announced their support for the current Saudi government!

"These short-sighted guys actually support Saudi Arabia's puppet government for a little bit of oil resources! Don't they see that the Soviet Union is actually behind the Saudi puppet government? If the Soviet Union completely controls the oil resources in the Middle East, the economy of the entire Western world will collapse! The international oil price will even exceed two hundred dollars a barrel!" In the White House, Reagan has realized that things are out of control. The Soviets use oil as a weapon just to make the new Saudi government gain the support of the international community!

If the new government is supported by the international community, what about the royal government supported by the United States? They will become refugees in the West! Although the royal family's wealth will allow these people to still live a wealthy life, but if they lose control of the country, what is the point for the United States? The United States might as well freeze the royal family's wealth and leave it for its own use!

"It seems that we have to prepare for the worst-case scenario." Bush was also worried. Now, the development of the situation was completely out of control. Bush had an ominous premonition that if the Middle East was out of the control of the United States, then the US economy might be completely ruined.

Why can the United States enjoy the status of economic hegemony now? Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system after World War II, the dollar has been decoupled from gold and is no longer strong. After that, the United States has relied on the petrodollar system. Countries around the world need to use dollars to settle if they want to buy oil. In this way, the dollar continues to be the world currency! This system was established by Saudi Arabia in OPEC. The dollars obtained by Saudi Arabia are taken to the United States for consumption. In this way, it is equivalent to the United States as long as it starts the printing press to obtain cheap oil resources.

Now, oil is controlled by the Soviets. If the Soviets follow suit and create a ruble-oil system, the ruble will become the world currency, and the dollar will become waste paper!

In later generations, the United States launched a war in the Middle East and eventually overthrew Saddam’s rule because Saddam used the euro to settle oil payments, which of course angered the Americans!

The United States could start a war at that time, after all, it was fighting a small opponent. But now, is it really going to enter a world war? The little European brothers are not willing to fight at all, and even if they are forcibly tied to the chariot of war, can they guarantee victory?

The United States had no confidence. A conventional war would not necessarily lead to victory. On the contrary, the Soviets could advance to the French beaches and face Great Britain across the sea in just one month.

And a nuclear war? In such a war, there are no winners!

"As long as we don't solve the oil crisis, more countries will definitely support Saudi Arabia's current government. The Soviets' meaning is very clear. As long as they recognize Saudi Arabia's current government, they can get sufficient oil imports. Although the price is high, it is still available. The whole of Europe is now in an oil shortage. Even in the UK's gas stations, there are often long queues for refueling." Secretary of State George said.

Solve the oil crisis? There is no solution! Because solving the oil crisis is equivalent to solving the current Middle East problem!

"Our own oil production has increased. At the same time, oil imports from the UK, Canada and other countries have increased. However, our current ability is to solve our oil import problem. We do not have the ability to take care of the whole of Europe," said Energy Secretary James.

"Is there no new technological solution?" Reagan asked. As the most technologically advanced country, Reagan didn't believe that there would be no alternative solution!

"Yes, now our scientists are developing renewable fatty acid monoesters, called biodiesel, and now, significant progress has been made in the research and development," said James.

In fact, the concept of using plants as fuel has been around for a long time. At the earliest, Diesel, the inventor of the engine, pointed out in a report at the Missouri Engineering Conference in 1912 that using rapeseed oil as engine fuel may not seem to make much sense today, but in the future it will become as important as oil and coal. At that time, he pointed out the significance of biofuels.