Posted on 03/30/2014 8:22:11 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey
Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi authorities have arrested three citizens who posted YouTube videos urging the oil-rich kingdom to improve their living standards and criticising "corruption", activists said on Sunday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ahh yes, our “friends” the Saudis. Real bastion of Democracy they are. /s
There won't be, the Instigator In Chief is on the Saudi payroll.
Well that should quell any concerns over corruption and poor living standards.
the saudi no nonsense... no common sense approach....
Just spent a few days in the United Arab Emirates (which borders Saudi).In the valet parking section of the Mall of Dubai you routinely see Ferraris,Maseratis,Lamborghinis.Bentlys and Rolls Royces lined up as far as the eye can see.And at least half of them have Saudi plates on them.Dubai,which is quite conservative by our standards,is a virtual hedonistic playground by Saudi standards and,as a result,it’s where rich Saudis go for a long weekend of debauchery.
the head saud does not want me to know this.....
In fact, to stave off the predictable BATTLE between and among wealthy and important families, the KING personally owns all the petroleum and natural gas, both on- and off-shore.
The KING gives away tons of money in charity, to both Muslim AND Christian countries, people of the "BOOK." He HAS to. In 1985-money the King was taking in one BILLION dollars EVERY TWO AND A HALF DAYS from the petroleum and natural gas revenues.
Also, right off the coast there between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain is a large industry of FRESH WATER PEARLS. The oases from all across the Saudi desert lands drain there and a pearl industry grew. Since the water was FRESH (though brackish as heck) the pearls were ODD-SHAPED, not the perfectly round pearls from Japan.
Naturally I HAD to have a fresh water pearl ring. It is beautiful. They put all their jewelry in 22k gold, turning up their noses at mere 18k gold.
My husband and I lived there for five years, working for ARAMCO (Arabian American Oil Company). There isn't any poverty in the Kingdom anymore. Hasn't been since the petroleum and natural gas business took off. We were there in the 1980's and traveled extensively throughout the country.
BEFORE that, the Bedouins were some of God's POOREST people.
Corruption? Yep, still there, though, people being people, it's no surprise, it it?
The folks I do feel sorry for are the Filipino men and women who go there to work. NOT a good place for them. The wealthier Saudi families have a Filipina for every baby and child in the family.
The extended families all live together in a compound. The men and women don't sleep together: men sleep all together in the men's quarters and the women all together in the women's quarters. DON'T ask me how and when they manage to, um, get together, but they do. DON'T wanna know either. That WOULD be way too much information.
The male children stay with the women until they are nine years old--then graduate to the men's quarters.
Male Filipinos work as houseboys. We had a houseboy come every week. It was strange for me as my family NEVER had "help." He was very nice and explained to us the poverty in the Philippines.
We had friends who has an African houseboy who also cooked. His name was "Musa," which is MOSES in Arabic.
THINGS are changing there. Smaller families, husband, wife and children WANT to live on their own, with the families CLOSE by...but not in the same compound.
They had All the American examples of that. It doesn't guarantee a successful marriage but it is sure nice for the privacy part.
I knew quite a few Middle East muzzies when I was in the USAF. They were virtually all a bunch of debauched, lecherous, amoral, alcohol loving horn dogs. I was anything but impressed by them.
We were there before the bridge was built. Saudis had to take a boat over there...now they can drive.
You would think that with all that money, they could get what they wanted in the Kingdom. Lol. Nope. They have to go across the bridge to Bahrain, another Islamic country where MONEY talks.
I bet the Emirates have changed TREMENDOUSLY in the last few decades.
Remember, both Saudi men and women don't get to marry whom they CHOOSE. The matriarchs of the families decide that. Cousins marry too. LOTS of birth defects, especially in the heart and eyes. You can ALWAYS tell with the eyes. One eye is looking north and other other eye keeps movin' around.
So it's understandable that the men like to, um, "get outta Dodge" for a bit...and I bet wifey-poo is EQUALLY delighted to send him off.
The BEST heart clinics ON THE PLANET are in the KSA and the King's plane.
You would be too if you had to marry your first cousin...the one with the hairy back, mono-brow and one-toothed smile. And SHE was the "pretty" one in the family.
The WEALTHY men are pressured to marry the four wives, spreading his wealth, so to speak. Maybe he had to marry the "pretty" wife's three LESS pretty sisters.
Lol.
By the way, the thirty Saudi men I worked with, all blue-collar "JoeSchmoe" types, ALL had just ONE wife. I asked them all about having four wives. They ALL responded the same: ONE wife is enough.
Ah yep, I think I can agree with that.
were it not for western technology they’d never have benefited from the oil we pumped out of the ground.
ABSOLUTELY correct.
Those Bedouins were for all time some of God's POOREST people on the planet. WHODDA thunk that the Good Lord would see fit to FINALLY give them the sun, the moon and the stars?
There are a number of them who wish that the West had never come to them. Money isn't always the KEY to happiness. AND you, I and THEY all know that.
They were poor, uneducated and dusty...but NOT stupid.
Wealth can be a mixed blessing...
the worlds bankrupt Lottery winners prove that better than anything I know of.
No kidding!
When my husband and I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia we were, to us, WEALTHY.
The American and Saudi governments have a DEAL going so WE Americans pay NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX on Saudi earnings. We were able to travel ALL OVER THE WORLD, buy a home in San Francisco (second year there) and had it PAID OFF completely, IN FULL, after only nine years. We had more money than God.
Also, since we were out of the Golden State for longer than a year we ceased to be residents there and paid NO STATE INCOME TAX. We were rolling in dough.
Some ARAMCONS stay there in the KSA for their entire working life. The Saudis don't let them become citizens but they can stay until they retire. Mandatory retirement is 60 years of age.
We stayed there for only five years. Enough was enough. It was TIME TO COME HOME! I KISSED the ground of the USA at our first port of entry (LAX).
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