Saudi cuts employees arm off.

[UnderOpenSky]

I believe from a family member who worked there it's pretty common on the compounds and the Saudis turn a blind eye. I wonder who he pissed off?

 

[Lurcio]

But a 'regime' is people, ok perhaps a minority, but one that very often has a reach into the majority. It's like Nazi Germany, it was never a small minority it was a very large minority and grew, millions of Germans fought for the Nazis.

People can be complicit by ignorance, fear, greed, cowardice, silence and apathy. This is what happens in places like Saudi and happened in Nazi Germany. It will never change. People are in base fucking stupid.

Maybe, some old Prussian states were quite feudal and tribal back in the medieval period - but any comparisons between Nazi Germany and present day Saudi Arabia are tenuous.
The legions of princes/princesses dominate the upper echelons of the society and its all buttressed by Wahhabist headbangers and nihilists.

Change is possible because the majority of the people outside this hierarchy are ready to blow the lid off. There is internecine conflict within the Saudi family, collapse in foreign reserves, falling oil prices, a young and restive population that is no longer prepared to tolerate living in a feudal theme park.

The collapse can come at any time ... and it'll be sudden and dramatic. The ripples will go way beyond the Middle East, too.

 

[Lurcio]

I have considerably less sympathy in this case. The bloke is an oil executive who has chosen to live and work there, and by doing so has given his tacit support to the regime. Yes it's barbaric but he made his choice and he new the laws.

Yep, I'd be far more sympathetic if he was a poor migrant construction worker from the Indian subcontinent having to earn petro dollars to feed his family back home.
But an oil worker ... ?!
Marginally, higher up on the moral chain than a banker (imho).

 

[JHE]

I have considerably less sympathy in this case. The bloke is an oil executive who has chosen to live and work there, and by doing so has given his tacit support to the regime. Yes it's barbaric but he made his choice and he new the laws.

It is pretty certain that, as you say, he knew the law. He very probably knew something of the possible penalties too. He took the risk, probably because, in his and other foreign workers' experience, the Saudi authorities let the dirty kuffar get on with their drinking as long as they do it discreetly in their compounds.

He has not given his support, tacit or otherwise, to the regime. He has simply chosen to put up with it, just as thousands of other people from a variety of countries do. Generally, the motive is money. If your profession is in the oil business, as this man's is, you are likely to work in countries with lots of oil.

I don't think I would ever apply for a job there, but the best paid jobs in my trade are in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula and I see no reason to criticise people from Britain or elsewhere who take those jobs. Best of luck to them. They may need it.

The big problem with the current sentence is of course the severity. I hope the Foreign Office can persuade the Saudis to deport him instead of whipping him to death. If and when he gets home, he'll deserve a stiff drink.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Strangest thing about this case is people go to Saudi to earn money cos you can earn lots and it is tax free. The point of earning all this cash is to spend it though, so what the fuck is he still doing there working in his mid-70's?

 

[emanymton]

It is pretty certain that, as you say, he knew the law. He very probably knew something of the possible penalties too. He took the risk, probably because, in his and other foreign workers' experience, the Saudi authorities let the dirty kuffar get on with their drinking as long as they do it discreetly in their compounds.

He has not given his support, tacit or otherwise, to the regime. He has simply chosen to put up with it, just as thousands of other people from a variety of countries do. Generally, the motive is money. If your profession is in the oil business, as this man's is, you are likely to work in countries with lots of oil.

I don't think I would ever apply for a job there, but the best paid jobs in my trade are in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula and I see no reason to criticise people from Britain or elsewhere who take those jobs. Best of luck to them. They may need it.

The big problem with the current sentence is of course the severity. I hope the Foreign Office can persuade the Saudis to deport him instead of whipping him to death. If and when he gets home, he'll deserve a stiff drink.

He wasn't just working there though, he is an executive with an oil company. I think think that implies more than just putting up with the regime.

 

[Batboy]

Maybe, some old Prussian states were quite feudal and tribal back in the medieval period - but any comparisons between Nazi Germany and present day Saudi Arabia are tenuous.
The legions of princes/princesses dominate the upper echelons of the society and its all buttressed by Wahhabist headbangers and nihilists.

Change is possible because the majority of the people outside this hierarchy are ready to blow the lid off. There is internecine conflict within the Saudi family, collapse in foreign reserves, falling oil prices, a young and restive population that is no longer prepared to tolerate living in a feudal theme park.

The collapse can come at any time ... and it'll be sudden and dramatic. The ripples will go way beyond the Middle East, too.

I can see that... When Saudi does go it will be very painful. It's a fucked up world.

 

[DownwardDog]

Strangest thing about this case is people go to Saudi to earn money cos you can earn lots and it is tax free. The point of earning all this cash is to spend it though, so what the fuck is he still doing there working in his mid-70's?

Lots of people like it there and stay there so long they get acculturated and don't want to live anywhere else. I wouldn't mind living in Taif.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Lots of people like it there and stay there so long they get acculturated and don't want to live anywhere else. I wouldn't mind living in Taif.

If he is acculturated in to Saudi society what was he doing with a boot full of wine?

 

[DownwardDog]

If he is acculturated in to Saudi society what was he doing with a boot full of wine?

Acting like a Saudi, in my experience.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Acting like a Saudi, in my experience.

Not in mine he wasn't. The vast majority of ordinary Saudis do not drink, just as the vast majority of Muslims worldwide abstain.

However if your experience is correct, he deserves his flogging in the same way that an ordinary Saudi would. Maybe we should start a petition for the tax-dodging cunt to be lashed?

 

[Poi E]

Not in mine he wasn't. The vast majority of ordinary Saudis do not drink, just as the vast majority of Muslims worldwide abstain.

However if your experience is correct, he deserves his flogging in the same way that an ordinary Saudi would. Maybe we should start a petition for the tax-dodging cunt to be lashed?

How is he dodging tax?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

How is he dodging tax?

Ok pedant, he is not paying any tax in the UK, as is his right. Yet when it goes tits up for him his British citizenship is suddenly quite important to him and we're all expected to chip in to get him out of the pickle he has landed himself in.

If he were a US citizen he would have to pay tax in the US on his Saudi earnings in exchange for enjoying the benefits of US citizenship. Don't see why British people shouldn't do the same.

 

[Poi E]

Ok pedant, he is not paying any tax in the UK, as is his right. Yet when it goes tits up for him his British citizenship is suddenly quite important to him and we're all expected to chip in to get him out of the pickle he has landed himself in.

If he were a US citizen he would have to pay tax in the US on his Saudi earnings in exchange for enjoying the benefits of US citizenship. Don't see why British people shouldn't do the same.

Hmm, balancing the prerogative of UK citizenship against tax paid. That could disenfranchise a lot of people.

Whatever. Anything that gets anyone into raising an objecting to the deplorable human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is a good thing. Good luck to the old fella.