Replacing Saddam with butchers.

[cancel2 2022]

That's not true.. 40,000 Americans live and work in Arabia who like it. People like you are ignorant and can't help themselves.

I know many that have worked in Saudi, Kuwait or Libya. I even considered a contract in Saudi myself back in the 80s. Oh and I might add that my oldest son, who works for Cisco, has been to Tel Aviv twice now. In fact he just got back from Boston where several Israelis joined him and his team from London.

 

[Airstrip One]

I know many that have worked in Saudi, Kuwait or Libya. I even considered a contract in Saudi myself back in the 80s.

My dad knew a guy who worked in SA for a few years in the 80s. Made good money, but, you can't really have a life over there. All of his mail was censored, illegal to possess a Bible (or anything else worth reading), couldn't really go out or do anything, and, obviously, no alcohol.

 

[kudzu]

Suezmax Tankers fit through the Canal. There's more than just oil transiting the Canal.

kudzu: "Yemen was attacking KSA for a full year before they retaliated."
Wow! You sure can tell tall tales. How long have you been a propaganda spokesperson for the KSA"

The oil supertankers won't fit thru the canal.

The Houthis overthrew the government of Yemen in 2014. Cross border attacks began much earlier.

Lots of different jihadi groups settled in Yemen including some AQ from Afghanistan and Pakistan..

1 million Yemenis refugees are sheltering in Arabia.

Egypt fought on the side of the Communists and the Saudis fought on the side of the Monarchists in Yemen in the 1960s.

I spent nearly 2 decades in Arabia.

 

[kudzu]

My dad knew a guy who worked in SA for a few years in the 80s. Made good money, but, you can't really have a life over there. All of his mail was censored, illegal to possess a Bible (or anything else worth reading), couldn't really go out or do anything, and, obviously, no alcohol.

They have always had Bibles in Arabia.. Mail is NOT censored and they have plenty of lending libraries.

Its not a good life for a bachelor..

There is every kind of club in Arabia.. SCUBA diving, stamp collecting, Church and Sunday school, drama clubs, photography clubs, tennis, softball, Little League, boy and girl scouting.. The list goes on and on.

 

[cancel2 2022]

My dad knew a guy who worked in SA for a few years in the 80s. Made good money, but, you can't really have a life over there. All of his mail was censored, illegal to possess a Bible (or anything else worth reading), couldn't really go out or do anything, and, obviously, no alcohol.

One guy I used to know was working in Kuwait in 1990. He couldn't get out before Saddam's army marched in and he ended up hiding behind the panels in a bathroom to escape detection.

 

[Airstrip One]

They have always had Bibles in Arabia.. Mail is NOT censored and they have plenty of lending libraries.

Its not a good life for a bachelor..

There is every kind of club in Arabia.. SCUBA diving, stamp collecting, Church and Sunday school, drama clubs, photography clubs, tennis, softball, Little League, boy and girl scouting.. The list goes on and on.

They may have lightened-up since then, but, that was the situation in the early 80s.

 

[kudzu]

I know many that have worked in Saudi, Kuwait or Libya. I even considered a contract in Saudi myself back in the 80s. Oh and I might add that my oldest son, who works for Cisco, has been to Tel Aviv twice now. In fact he just got back from Boston where several Israelis joined him and his team from London.

Saudi Arabia is not like Libya or Kuwait or Tel Aviv.

 

[cancel2 2022]

My dad knew a guy who worked in SA for a few years in the 80s. Made good money, but, you can't really have a life over there. All of his mail was censored, illegal to possess a Bible (or anything else worth reading), couldn't really go out or do anything, and, obviously, no alcohol.

That's not really true, they used to make alcohol, called siddique, distilled from fermented sugar water.

 

[kudzu]

They may have lightened-up since then, but, that was the situation in the early 80s.

No.. it wasn't ...The 1980s followed the Iranian Revolution and the attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Both made the Saudis frightened, but Bibles have never been banned in Arabia..

 

[kudzu]

That's not really true, they used to make alcohol, called siddique, distilled from fermented sugar water.

Sure did. We made 50 gallons a year.

 

[cancel2 2022]

Saudi Arabia is not like Libya or Kuwait or Tel Aviv.

Holy fuck, where did I say Tel Aviv was like Saudi? Tel Aviv has a Mediterranean beach party culture.

 

[Airstrip One]

No.. it wasn't ...The 1980s followed the Iranian Revolution and the attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Both made the Saudis frightened, but Bibles have never been banned in Arabia..

Well, there was a guy who was getting his mail censored, and there's you telling me that this was not Saudi policy...

 

[kudzu]

Well, there was a guy who was getting his mail censored, and there's you telling me that this was not Saudi policy...

Was he getting Playboy Magazine in the mail?

 

[moon]

kudzu is a spokesperson for the KSA. He seems pretty smooth. I'm OK with these different national operators. i think it gives depth to the Forum.

Whereas you're going to specialize in potted characterizations and prosemitic ass-gas. See you, Jiminy.

 

[Airstrip One]

Was he getting Playboy Magazine in the mail?

No, but, he also warned people who might send him letters not to criticize the government, etc.

 

[kudzu]

No, but, he also warned people who might send him letters not to criticize the government, etc.

Where was he living?

 

[cancel2 2022]

No, but, he also warned people who might send him letters not to criticize the government, etc.

The making and drinking of alcohol had to be done in the ex-pat compounds. Woe betide you if caught drunk on the streets by the religious police. I would think it was eminently sensible to assume that they monitored mail and telephone calls in the past. They recently lifted the ban on Skype and WhatsApp but you can be sure they are being monitored. Although not sure how they can break the encryption on messaging apps.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...app-calls-but-will-monitor-them-idUSKCN1BW12L

 

[Granule]

Worse than Saddam ? Sure- but no threat to ' Israel', and that's the important thing.

Saddam Hussein was a wise, benevolent soul; worthy of praise, and certainly above reproach.

-- moon

 

[dukkha]

well this is all interesting...
KSA and USA are a Special Relationship. Its paid off for both. Keep it that way.

To Trumps credit the first trip he took was to KSA to undo the damage to relations done by Obama.
Plus you got bin Salman's reforms -not that I expect a liberal democracy,but it appears to this non-traveler
that KSA is on a better track.

 

[Truth Detector]

We're just swapping opinions, Truth Detector.
Like, my view is that Iran wants a 'Shia Cresent' to the Mediterranean Sea. They want to connect a Shia Iran and a Shia Syria through a Shia Iraq. Assad and the Russians want to crush the Northern Federation (Syrian Kurds) that are laying claim to eastern Syria (with American help). If the Americans abandon the Northern Federation, they basically hand over all of Syria to Assad and the Russians and the Iranians.
Oh yeah. Turkey, a NATO ally, also hates the Syrian Kurds and attacks them from the north. So, without American resolve, it's bad news for the Syrian Kurds and their Northern Federation.

"Democratic Federation of Northern Syria a challenge to status quo
The Democratic Federation of Northern Syria presents an alternative-- one that has survived and grown under adverse conditions. Its constitution structurally empowers women and ethnic minorities."

https://anfenglish.com/features/dem...orthern-syria-a-challenge-to-status-quo-23592

I can't say I disagree with any of the above.