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171 comments on DrumBeat: July 31, 2006

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fleam on July 31, 2006 - 5:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
OK here's an example of the stuff I've been hearing, an article by Zepezauer on Third World Traveler:

"The level of corruption in the House of Sa'ud is staggering. While they impose strict Wahhabi law on their subjects, with public beatings for alcohol consumption and amputations for thievery, the thousands of princes have siphoned off billions of dollars from the public treasury, wining and dining all over Europe and America, building lavish palaces and gambling away their stipends. A minor scandal ensued in Washington when some of the Saudi entourage's slaves tried to escape from a hotel suite by jumping out of windows. Meanwhile the standard of living for ordinary Saudi citizens has fallen dramatically over the past two decades, while annual budget deficits are soaring from the family's high living and the extraordinary level of military spending."

Thousands of princed spending away, and standard of living for the middle class joe going down.

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Darwinian on July 31, 2006 - 6:44pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Yes Fleam, this hits the nail on the head. There are still desperately poor people in Saudi Arabia, no matter what you hear. I have seen old women begging in the streets. When their husband dies they are all left destitute they have savings or unless their extended family will take them in. Life insurance is against the law in Saudi. It is considered placing a wager against the will of Allah.

Saudi has one of the highest unemployment rates in the Middle East. They have over five million expats in Saudi and about 5 million unemployed Saudis. But don't get the wrong idea, only a few thousand expats have a really good job making lots of money. The vast majority or expats from third world countries doing things that the Saudis consider "below" them. They will starve before they will do menial labor.

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canbrit on July 31, 2006 - 7:37pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Reminds me of that great P J O'Rourke quote; from 1st Gulf War:

"The heaviest thing you will ever see a Saudi lifting is money..."

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Don Sailorman on July 31, 2006 - 10:35pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
In fact, many Saudi princes carry no money. They have slaves for that.
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Apuleius on July 31, 2006 - 10:44pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
That does make me wonder about what happened in the 90's when there were American troops stationed in Saudi. On one side, rednecks, i.e. working class Americans, in large part from the South, for whome the highest idea of manliness is to show off broad shoulders and strong arms in doing heavy lifting, and on  the other side, Saudi Arabs, for whom that kind of display is the utmost servility...
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AlphaMaleProphetOfDoom on August 1, 2006 - 10:49am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/94343

I came across that googling after reading your post. Don't know if it's true. I found it highly disturbing.

If I ever have kids I'm adhereing to the Hulk Hogan school of parenting.  (Sidenote: he tossed some punkass pop star boy band member out of his house for being disrespectful to him. Didn't see it but the image is damn funny.)

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