No, it's Africans killing Africans themselves. Most Emiratis don't give a crap what's happening around the world either. They have their own. Thousands of companies have their headquarters in Dubai like Halliburton etc. UAE doesn't manufacture weapons or sell them. There are many foreign weapons manufacturers based there. China, USA, Europe, Israel are probably some of the world's largest arms dealers and they distribute to everyone. The US sent almost $25 billion of weapons to Israel in the past 3 years. If stuff is passing through UAE ports, then that's another thing. And no one gives a crap about Sudan's gold either. UAE has had a huge gold market for a long time and some of the largest gold sellers are Indian companies based there.
He doesn't need to. Saudi Arabia doesn't give citizenship to foreigners. We don't want permanent foreigner migration like Japan and South Korea and other countries. 99% of the population is already Muslim. All foreigners are temporary workers on 1 year visas. They're just in KSA for doing their jobs. Their views never mattered in the past, now and will never matter in the future. They do their job contract and they leave. Lol what's so amazing about democracy. Look at America. Democracy means income taxes, giving citizenship to foreigners, bringing third world shithole refugee criminals, junkies and crap, having your government policies change way too much often, giving precedence to foreigners for jobs. No thanks! Saudi Arabia has a good small growing population of 20 million Saudi citizens. It's close knit, homogeneous, same religion, culture etc. Monarchy provides us all the benefits we need. Look at Kuwait, it tried having a partial democracy and fails miserably.
Lol Saudi Arabia is for Saudi citizens. All foreigners are on temporary 3/6/12 month work visas that are renewed each year. We don't give citizenships to foreigners. We don't need and don't want permanent immigration from foreigners in the country. Look at how Japan and South Korea are thriving. And we certainly don't need advice about human rights from genocide supporting western countries. The same America that has given Israel $30 billion in the last few years to flatten Palestine and kill almost a 100,000 people. You keep talking about dissidents. The government keeps the country safe from terrorism, gun violence, criminals, religious extremists etc. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries are some of the safest places to live along with Japan, Singapore and South Korea. No one can cares about Western comments on dissidents. Saudi Arabia is still very tribal and family oriented. Saudi Aramco is 98% Saudi Citizens and we extract all the oil ourselves. The Americans left long ago. Focus on your own backyard with your crap healthcare, poverty, homelessness, racial violence, gun violence, etc. There's no Saudi citizen living on the streets. Every single Saudi citizen have to pay no income taxes and gets free healthcare, free education, free university education, free scholarships abroad (tuition, travel, housing, person expenses covered), interest free mortgages, first priority in all jobs, and so many other benefits. The richest country in the world (America) spent trillions of dollars in wars across the Atlantic but has thousands of its citizens homeless on the streets.
Saudi Arabia has 20 million Saudi citizens and they're the only priority and future of the country that has surpassed a GDP of $1 trillion.
Bla bla, human right violations, treating laborers as slaves and second hand people, killing political dissidents and throwing billions of oil dollars to whitewash the country's image.
Whatabouting the US doesn't mean Saudi Arabia's human rights violations suddenly vanish in thin air.
Saud Arabia's first priority is just for Saudi citizens only. No laborer is a slave or forced at gunpoint to come work in our country. They pay themselves thousands of dollars in their foreign countries to come work in Saudi Arabia. Nobody forces them. Their work visa is either only for 3 months or 6 months or 12 months. Then, they need to leave once the visa has expired. No one is forced to work in the country as a slave. You can choose to stay living in your own country. Lol political dissidents are turd implants from the Western countries designed to instigate anarchy in the country. It's never going to work anymore because the Gulf citizens themselves know how pathetic the Americans and the west are nowadays. Stop & STF trying to teach about human rights. The US and Europeans are responsible for the genocide of 100,000 in Palestine right now along with the millions in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Vietnam, and so many more. No one needs to whitewash anything. We are spending trillions for our country and the future of our citizens. All the big multi billion projects provide millions of jobs for Saudi citizens and foreigners. And they will continue to provide jobs and revenue for the country for generations to come. The US and the West isn't the bastion of amazing human rights after its support and financing of the current genocide in Palestine.
Saudi citizens are doing just fine and are being greatly supported and have a bright future with the Vision 2030 work happening so far. You worry about your shitty healthcare, gun violence, homelessness, high income taxes, crappy infrastructure, illegal drunks & junkies roaming the streets and other stuff. No one gives a crap about your lame accusations of human rights. You've historically been the biggest mass murders and genocides from killing off the natives in North America and Aborigines in Australia and the recent wars in the middle east. No one gives a crap about some fat old attention whore journalist here anymore. 70% of the Saudi citizen population is under 35 years old and we support the government to keeps the country and us safe from all outside terrorists and other threats.
> You've historically been the biggest mass murders and genocides from killing off the natives in North America and Aborigines in Australia and the recent wars in the middle east.
Absolutely true. And also responsible for the crusades, for the colonization of Africa, Australia and America, and the untold suffering of millions of non Europeans. Europeans also started both the world wars. Nobody is denying that. We know more about human rights violations than anyone else. Thats why we are calling out Saudi Arabia's, the same way I call Israel's genocide upon the Palestinian people.
> No one gives a crap about some fat old attention whore journalist here anymore.
Any normal human with a bit of empathy would decry a dictator killing a journalist and dismembering him like a coward. Also, wherever there a re human rights violations like in Israel, USA and Saudi Arabia, it's our moral duty to investigate further and dethrone the evildoers.
> Lol political dissidents are turd implants from the Western countries designed to instigate anarchy in the country
Ah, the old "everyone who disagrees with the government" is a foreign agent, let's detain them and maybe chop them to pieces. Putin did the same minus the chopping part. Trump is doing the same and trying to bring back Guantanamo. MBS just added the slice and dice for an extra flair.
> Saudi citizen population is under 35 years old and we support the government to keeps the country and us safe from all outside terrorists and other threats.
And whoever doesn't support the government, gets chopped to pieces?
I keep finding this baffling. An arab muslim criticizing OTHERS for practicing slavery? And a Saudi at that. WTF. I mean how hypocritical can you get?
> You've historically been the biggest mass murders and genocides from killing off the natives in North America and Aborigines in Australia and the recent wars in the middle east
Really? Who colonized the middle east, Asia and Africa? Look it up, the Roman Empire did, somewhat, and the actual colonizing (meaning conquering, taking free people and turning them into slaves, usually by mass-murder) was done by the successive Caliphates. Have you somehow missed the many paintings made by the slave trade, missed WHAT the slave owners are wearing? The west took over after the last caliph fled islam (the state, not that anyone at the time made any distinction between state and religion at all. And if we're being very honest, not many muslims were sorry to see it end)
The West then proceeded to end slavery and what's left are a bunch of separate states, with some very badly chosen borders, after stealing resources for a couple of decades.
Which state today would have more to do with these Caliphates that did the colonizing and extracting for >1000 years? The western states, the US? Or can you come up with a more responsible party? Perhaps a specific country, claiming to have been the center of islam for said millenium (they're lying, of course. Any time that it actually mattered the center was Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus or Istanbul, never even close to Saudi Arabia. We happen to be in the only incredibly exceptional moment in history Saudi Arabia is not a desert hellhole. That includes the future)
> crappy infrastructure, illegal drunks & junkies roaming the streets and other stuff ...
I once roamed around, by accident in Ryadh, by getting lost. Don't tell me you have any trouble finding the poorer neighborhoods, drunks and junkies (yes not on the streets, same reason you don't find drunks on the streets in Sydney during summer either) ... and, let's be honest, slaves. It is very much NOT the case that everyone has airco in Saudi Arabia.
And I keep hearing about stuff I haven't seen, like the "divorce prisons" of Saudi Arabia. Also, Saudi Arabia has debtor's prisons. Very progressive you people are.
> after its support and financing of the current genocide in Palestine
"The west" isn't supporting that, with some exceptions (Saudi Arabia IS, by the way). Second, Saudi Arabia has genocided more Jews in Saudi Arabia than the ENTIRE Israel-Palestine conflict made in it's >100 years of on-off fighting on both sides. By the way, a genocide, far bigger than the Israel-Palestine conflict is what brought in the current rulers and created Saudi Arabia not 100 years ago, do you even know that?
I mean, I know the answer to that. You learn that quickly when you're there. No, Saudis do not know the history of Saudi Arabia, not even a little bit. Saudi men (you don't see the women) know more about the history of perfume brands than their own history.
> Saudi citizens are doing just fine and are being greatly supported and have a bright future with the Vision 2030 work ... No one gives a crap about some fat old attention whore journalist ...
You mean when the current Saudi government had it's embassy staff kill and chop into pieces an American-Saudi dual citizen? Yes, that government is taking real good care of human rights. I really trust them to treat other Saudi citizens well into the future ...
And Vision 2030, which boils down to "tourism will replace oil revenues", is about as realistic as an umbrella manufacturer's plan to branch out into delivering hot soup during hurricanes. Wait, why am I even making a comparison. Let me repeat the vision: "tourism will replace oil revenues". That's also a joke, just so bad it's not even funny. So at least there's that: in 20 or so years when oil demand has dried up, Saudi Arabia will once again be the desert hellhole it was for most of it's existence. Maybe more like 10 years, or even less, because frankly I doubt oil demand will survive the next recession in the west, whenever that is.
The last thing anyone needs advice about human rights is from the west. The invasions and mass murders in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iran, Libya. Still remember that pr*ck Colin Powell showing that vial to justify that invasion of Iraq. The world's worst murderers have been the British, Dutch, Belgian, French, Spanish and American empires throughout history. The worst genocide in history was committed by Belgium in Congo where they killed millions.
Lol no one gets their head cut off for gay sex or wrong religion. Capital punishment is only for murder, terrorism, rape and drug smugglers. The Saudi Government is quite liberal there. It's your own Saudi families that will ostracize you based on their own decisions.
You keep talking about dissidents. I still remember Obama and his Arab spring and how thousands died because of him. The west like to implant people to create internal conflicts inside countries. It's not going to work in the Gulf countries as all the citizens know how the Americans thrive on instigating conflict. That journalist just wanted to create anarchy. I still remember the terrorist attacks at my American school and other cities in Saudi Arabia during 2004 - 2005. I trust the police and government to eradicate all the extremist and outside threats to the country and keep everyone safe. They've basically cleaned out all the extremism in these past 20 years from the country. The Americans also enjoyed keeping the Saudis and Iranians fighting until the Chinese stepped in and created peace between these two countries.
Americans need to worry about their own backyard with their crap healthcare, poverty, homelessness, illegals, gun violence etc. Saudi Arabia isn't perfect, but Saudi citizens have to pay no income taxes, get free universal healthcare, free education, free university education, all government paid scholarships for universities abroad (tuition, travel & living), first priority in all jobs, social security support for low income citizens, interest free mortgages, etc. Plus Saudi Arabia long with the other Gulf countries like UAE & Qatar are some of the safest countries. All illegals arrested and deported every month, low crime rates, no African/Asian Refugee illegal drunk junkies roaming the streets (like Europe/America), no homeless tents, no gun violence etc.
The Gulf countries along with Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China know how to keep their countries safe, clean and well. Look at Europe & Scandinavia now with all the illegals running around.
Your country, at least to the extent you seem to claim it as such, only started letting its women drive in 2018. As recently as 2011 there was no law prohibiting violence against women. So that's one way of keeping the crime rate low, I guess.
If someone were paying you to defend the Saudi state in online forums, you would probably go to the trouble of giving your posts at least a tiny bit of nuance.
No ones paying me anything. I've lived there for almost 3 decades there and travelled around the world too including western countries. I know how the country has transitioned in these last 30 years from the clutches of religious extremists and into a more comfortable country for its young generation of citizens. Saudi Arabia has always been a traditional country with Bedouin customs. Before, all families had personal drivers and chauffeurs to help the women travel around. In the last few years, Saudi Arabia has fired millions of foreigners and encouraged more women to get in the work force. Hence, the government decided to let them drive. Companies that hire women in Saudi Arabia get more benefits from the government. Women get all their travel expenses refunded to them by the government for the first few years. There are so many universities and programs for universities for women. Regarding the crime rate, yes it's low compared to western countries. Crime does occur both in families and around the country, but the government helps takes care of all these issues. The streets are still safer in the Gulf countries than compared to western countries. You won't find african/asian junkies, drunks, muggers roaming around the streets stealing or threatening people. The government does an amazing job of maintaining order and arresting and deporting thousands of illegals and criminals each month.
> Before, all families had personal drivers and chauffeurs to help the women
travel around.
It is frankly incredible how profoundly you are missing the point.
> Crime does occur both in families and around the country, but the government helps takes care of all these issues.
Oh I'm sure they do, and when something goes to court, a man's testimony carries twice the weight of a woman's. Or would you deny and/or sugarcoat that?
> You won't find african/asian junkies, drunks, muggers roaming around the streets stealing or threatening people.
You've described this weird racist fantasy of yours more than once now. Do you think that's what the world outside your country is like? That's really sad if so.
You are making the mistake of assuming most people share your values, which based solely on this thread seem to be authoritarian, nativist and male-supremacist.
Yes, all foreign workers get to keep their passports while working there. There were issues 20 years ago with certain companies and sponsors keeping the passports of their employees. It's always been illegal to do that and doesn't happen. The foreign worker comes on their temporary work visa and should leave before their work visa expires. Thousands of foreign skilled engineers, doctors, nurses, accountants, scientists, teachers etc. work in Saudi Arabia. Everyone keeps their passports and it's the company that hires them and renews their visa yearly if they want to keep them in their employment.
He isn't a volatile monarch. The western media likes to exaggerate everything that comes out of the GCC Arab Regions. Tiny past issues are irrelevant. The pandemic changed a lot of the mindset in the middle east. Saudi Arabia nowadays has good relations with 99% of all nations including Russia and China. There's currently peace talks happening with Iran mediated by Iraq. Qatar and Turkey are at peace with KSA too. Yemen's original government is at peace with KSA too. After the pandemic, Saudi Arabia is moving on focusing more on the future of its Saudi citizens and development of its country including signing good beneficial trade deals in manufacturing, science, tourism etc.
Joe Biden is irrelevant in the Middle East. Presidents come and go every 4 or 8 years. Kings stay for more than 50 years. None of the GCC countries really give a damn about Biden. There are so many Saturday Night Live sketches making fun of Biden's dementia and decision making. Joe Biden thought he could bully KSA around, but on the contrary he was disrespected so much when he came to KSA recently. The United States needs to focus on the welfare and future of its citizens. Millions living in poverty, while Biden is giving billions to Ukraine for war. Millions in the USA having to worry about student loans, housing, food etc, while Biden focuses on wasting it on useless matters. The United States is world's largest and richest economy, but many of its citizens live in poverty, despair worrying about healthcare, education, security etc.
The US isn't as oil rich as Saudia Arabia and has more than 10x the population, and far more diversity. So while I'm sure there are some good things the USA could learn from KSA I don't think money and monarchies would be as effective. (Though I'd like to see less spent on defense boondoggles and more on social safety nets.) Now certainly the KSA has much to learn about tolerating dissent, nepotism in government, and freedom of the press.
I really don't understand why foreigners tend to interfere in our matters. 99% of Saudi citizens don't really care what's happening around the world nor do they interfere in their matters. Saudi Arabia doesn't give Saudi citizenships or permanent residencies to foreigners. All expat workers here are on temporary yearly work visas who come and go Regarding the crown price, he's the best leader suited for this generation of Saudi citizens who are on average in the age group of 25 to 35 years old. The crown prince has done tons of great things for the country in the past 5 years of so. Increased all women's rights, increased women's employment, given them driving licenses, autonomy on movements. Furthermore, the best thing the government has done during the Covid pandemic was fire all unnecessary foreigners and increase Saudi employment by many folds. All companies and sectors are forced to increase employment and training of Saudi citizens. Many sectors require the firing and removal of foreigners. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is earning billions each day from oil and gas. All of this money is being used for the development of infrastructure, education, healthcare, and future of Saudi Citizens. All Saudi Citizens get free healthcare and education. Many even get university education for free. Unemployed or poorer Saudi Citizens get social security allowances every month and can be on waiting list for government free housing. Saudi Citizens don't have to pay any income taxes or anything. During the pandemic, the government paid for all Saudi citizens who were stranded in countries abroad. They paid for the accommodation, fees, food, and direct flight tickets to come back to Saudi Arabia. All Saudi wealth is only for the 23 million Saudi Citizens and their future.
Regarding the future, Saudi Arabia is preparing well. We're already onto renewable energy production such as Solar Energy and Green Hydrogen. We were one of top producers of fossil fuels and now will be one of the top producers of renewable energy in the future. There's already a giant pipeline in the initial stages of construction that will supply Saudi Green Hydrogen through Greece to Europe. We're also building one of the biggest Solar PV plants in the world. Eventually it would cover a majority of our energy needs and will supply to excess to abroad. In addition, Saudi Arabia has trillions of dollars of untapped rare earth minerals and other valuable things like Bauxite, Uranium, Gold, Lithium, etc. We've just started to increase the mining of these resources. Finally, Saudi Arabia is already in the Electric Car phase. Almost all new infrastructure requires the installation of electric car charging outlets. Saudi Arabia also has a majority share in Lucid Motors and is opening two electric vehicle manufacturing plants very soon.
Regarding life in Saudi Arabia, the government under him is more relaxed. The government allows all sects of the citizens to live here peacefully. The religious police is more restrained and can't interfere in political, scientific, security, healthcare etc. matters anymore. Saudi Arabia is also not indulging itself in religious issues of other countries. Also no more free money to neighboring countries or anymore. Just huge loans with late penalty fees. This is better because petty national of issues of other countries/regions (like Lebanon, Palestine, Africa, Pakistan, Srilanka etc) has dragged KSA and caused a lot of trouble in the past. Saudi Arabia also doesn't want to get dragged into matters with Ukraine/Russia/Europe/USA. We have good decent relations with all nations.
I think the brutal slaughter of Khashoggi is why people pay more attention to Saudi Arabia now than before. Until then the crown was viewed as a unique country prone to excessive wealth displays, but since has become something a bit more ominous.
I'm glad investments are being made in renewable energy sources. I hope they leverage the same comparative advantages as fossil fuels gave the country and allow for continued investment and growth.
The ongoing war in Yemen, as well as 9/11 have given the country a bad name for a long time. They both also directly counter the whole narrative of Saudi Arabia minding their business and not interfering in other countries' affairs.
Since Saudis are doing so well under MBS perhaps the US should also become more energy independent and leave Saudi Arabia to arm and defend itself. Then the US will be more free to criticize the imprisonment and dismemberment of Saudi activists and US residents.
Well, that is if you study something useless like art history, sociology, media, communications or english literature. I laugh whenever I come across someone who's spent thousands of dollars going to university to study english.
Well, if you studied engineering, science, medicine, accounting or law. You'll eventually probably make good money. If you can't land a job in the US, you can go abroad and your American degree will be valuable in other countries just for the fact that you studied in the US.
There is a huge glut in some of the sciences. I'll only speak to Biology/Life Sciences, since that's what my degree is in, but I would say well over 50% of graduates, including myself, don't end up working in the field. The jobs I got, and could get, in the Bay Area, were right about in the $34k/year range (and that was for someone fortunate enough to have multiple years of research experience).
Spending a few more years in school and taking on more debt to get a graduate degree might have helped, but I make as much or more now doing IT work than most of the people I know who have Masters degrees in the field.
THe problem is that Apple is being asked to build a modified iOS to extract that information from that phone. Should that software get into the wrong hands or if the FBI decides to keep that software for future use, then Apple's credibility about security will be at stake.
