| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Foreigners Seek Reassurance After Mayhem |
| 2004-06-13 |
| The surge in terror attacks in the Kingdom has rattled the nearly nine million expatriates in the country. Worry is particularly strong among Westerners working in the oil sector, banking and other high-level businesses. But with many families going away for the summer holiday, the long-term impact of the attacks might not transpire before fall and may depend on what happens in the meantime, expatriates and diplomats said. Peace and tranquility were among the major reasons for many expatriates to stay in the country. There were thousands of families, both Western and Asian, who preferred to live in the Kingdom rather than in their own country because they felt safe here. But the bloodbath in Alkhobar on May 29-30 has cast one reason for their presence here into doubt. Many Westerners are not renewing their contracts, and some who said after past attacks that they wanted to stay changed their minds after Alkhobar, said Pam Simmons, a Canadian in her fifties. The taking of hostages at Alkhobar had a tremendous psychological effect, said a French Embassy spokesperson, explaining the missionâs decision to bring forward the summer holiday at the three French schools in the country by two weeks âto enable families who wish to go home earlier to do so.â An official at the International School Group (ISG) said the number of students enrolled in American, British and international schools managed by the group, now standing at some 3,000, had declined and a further decrease was expected in the next academic year. Lucile Pons-van der Slikke, a French business consultant, said she thought the âturning pointâ was the May 1 shooting spree that left six Westerners dead in the industrial city of Yanbu. Before that, Saudi Arabia had been hit by a wave of suicide bombings, but expatriates saw these attacks as part of global terrorism, she said. Yanbu, followed by Alkhobar, fell in a different category, âwith people having their throats slit and non-Muslims identified and targeted,â she said. Pons-van der Slikke said that while she works with Saudis and had received many expressions of sympathy from local acquaintances, other Westerners felt isolated and the government needed to be more outspoken in terms of making them feel welcome here. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 The tech spots are the rub - and they won't fill them internally. Who will agree to come? Chinese and Russians, probably - Aramco's new-found buddies. Qualified, only maybe. But most important, they'll work cheap. They'll still be there after the coup. Nayaf will tolerate infidels as long as they aren't Western. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-06-13 9:08:59 PM |
| #7 From the Strafor article: Instead, at security briefings in the U.S. Embassy, government officials are simply warning the expatriates that they "should get the [expletive deleted] out of here." Isn't it slightly hypocritical (no matter how realistic) for America's government to permit us to remain so dependent on Saudi oil (and petroleum in general) while, at the same time, telling the expats to give up their good jobs with so few similar positions awaiting them at home? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-06-13 6:39:27 PM |
#6 Foreigners Seek Reassurance After MayhemI think we can safely "reassure" them that the attacks will continue, and even escalate. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-06-13 4:22:12 PM |
| #5 AP - here's the link to the story I referred to: Saudi Oil Crown Slipping Away? Better hurry before it goes away! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-13 2:48:07 PM |
| #4 Foreigners Seek Reassurance After Mayhem The only reassurance that foreigners should derive from Saudi claims of action against the The surge in terror attacks in the Kingdom has rattled the nearly nine million expatriates in the country. Three words in the above sentence say it all: "Nine million expatriates" signifies a number so large where just the time required to induct that many immigrants alone represents sufficient duration for Saudi Arabia to have trained up a substantial number of their own engineers. That they have not made it a crucial national priority epitomizes all that is wrong with the House of Saud and why they've essentially abdicated their privilege to make any claim upon what has (for right or wrong) become a vital natural resource to the world. Similarly, with their bilious and violent doctrine, the Wahhabists have equally renounced their own inheritance of the Arabian oil fields. Such wealth in their febrile hands instantly would be turned against the bulk of humanity with unimaginable brutality. If the royals cannot bring their own house to order, it must needs be stripped from them before they allow it to dissolve into chaos for all. That they have squandered the future of their nation's people can only amount to a crime against Saudi Arabian humanity. That their clerical body has done the exact same with the souls they are ostensibly dedicated to shepherding only amounts to a crime of similar proportion. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-06-13 2:32:34 PM |
| #3 AP - "qualified" is a flexible term when you think about it. I posted a fairly long response to Frank G about a week ago about what I thought the fallout of the Westerner exodus would mean. To my surprise (!!!) my take was echoed in the Strafor post last week. There are qualified people not from the US / UK of course. Will they come? Are they Saudis? To the first: I dunno. To the second: No. There are Saudis who graduated from the petroleum university, KFUPM (King Fahd University of Petroleum & Mining) and seem to be unable to do anything. There are grads who seem "qualified" to supervise - i.e. they get the basics and know the recipe. But hardcore technicals from KFUPM, I would say no. I knew one guy who was a Prof there 15+ yrs and took a job at Aramco - he turned out to be a dud and, when he realized he was waaaay behind the curve technically, he started wearing his thobe and sucking up to the Saudi power structure in the engineering dept we worked for. After about a year, he had made unit supervisor and was in-line for a division-head position. The tech spots are the rub - and they won't fill them internally. Who will agree to come? Chinese and Russians, probably - Aramco's new-found buddies. Qualified, only maybe. I think they will stagnate and suffer falling production from fewer upgrades, sloppy maintenance, and general malaise typical of Saudi society. The Stratfor piece hit it spot-on, IMO, so I don't want to repeat everything here. This won't make the Princes fall by itself, IMO. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-13 2:02:09 PM |
| #2 .com---Re: the possible employment boom for Saudis and AOAs. Will there be people qualified to take over the high power and technical jobs? It seems to me that the terrorists want to drive out the foreigners to bring down the princes, or is Nayaf in cahoots with the terrorists, and to what level? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-06-13 1:42:06 PM |
| #1 This is a surprisingly complete recap of a number of other stories from other sources - considering it's ArabNews. The "opinion management" spin is hollow BS and fails: "Yet while the constant threat of a terrorist attack remains among expatriate communities, the majority still believes that the situation does not warrant a hasty departure. Many believe that the problems will eventually be resolved and the old days of peace and tranquility will return." This will be an employment boom for Saudis and AOA's (Arabs and Other Asians - an Aramco designation). |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-13 12:49:14 PM |