I've been reading the latest The Economist, which discusses the question "Is America addicted to mid-east oil?". The article makes a couple of stricking points. First, even if we were not dependent on Saudi Arabia for oil, they are still the primary price setter on oil, so we are still tied to their actions. Second, although there has been a lot of talk about alternate energy sources, it tends to focus on the average consumer's use of energy, when in fact it's the crucial transportation industries that are our biggest petroleum users.

In an interesting side note, the Economist mentions that as long as Saudi Arabia acts in a "sensibly self-interested manner", things shouldn't get too bad, but if an extremem and "irrational" Taliban-style regime takes control of the nation, all hell may break loose. Sadly for the economists, economic self-interest is not the strongest human drive.

Note: I wasn't able to link to the article directly. Most Economist online content requires a subscription, which costs money.