Mate, I'm not saying they're "set" at all. It's a function of supply and demand. I'm referencing the financial trade papers on the topic, like WSJ or Bloomberg who report that there's an oversupply of oil brought on by the shale production in the US. (US oil production has doubled since 2008 due to fracking.) Traditionally, when there is an oversupply, OPEC cuts back to keep the price elevated, and although most of the OPEC members want to cut back, Saudi Arabia (the largest oil producer in the world) has announced they will not be cutting production due to price declines. This has caused the price of oil to drop to the lowest point in 5 years because it means the oversupply is not going to be addressed. Saudi Arabia is doing this intentionally because shale oil is expensive to produce, and the state-run Saudi oil companies can stomach losses longer than American firms, who have to answer to shareholders who have no will to absorb losses for a sustained period of time. As an added bonus, low oil prices hurt Iran, a regional rival politically and militarily.
Here's an article published a few days ago about the oil blinking contest between the US and Saudi Arabia:
(article can be found in jaysabi post above)
The Article only shows that others have also speculated on the
intent of others.
We agree on the consequences of the action (non-action) which this author quotes someone saying is "a declaration of war". Accusing the head of Saudi Arabia of declaring war by doing exactly nothing seems a bit extreme to me, but maybe I am alone in that?
I think you missed my point entirely, since all you did was aggravate it with an escalation of the violation rather than suggest that my point was not correct.
To be more clear:
You do not know the mind of another person without them telling you. Therefore claiming intention, rather than consequence, is unduly invidious.If you brought forth a quote of someone in charge of the decision saying why they were doing it, that would be one thing. Instead you brought forward a (worse) example of someone else doing this transgression of invidiously assuming the intention without evidence of that intention.