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171 comments on DrumBeat: July 31, 2006

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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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