Article

2004-06-13 Arabia

Foreigners Seek Reassurance After Mayhem

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Posted by Fred 2004-06-13 08:32|| || Front Page|| [9 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#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|| 2004-06-13 12:49:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-06-13 1:42:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-06-13 2:02:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Foreigners Seek Reassurance After Mayhem

The only reassurance that foreigners should derive from Saudi claims of action against the ~~militants~~ terrorists is the occurrence of even more mayhem.

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|| 2004-06-13 2:32:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-06-13 2:48:07 PM|| Front Page Top

Foreigners Seek Reassurance After Mayhem

I 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|| 2004-06-13 4:22:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-06-13 6:39:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-06-13 9:08:59 PM|| Front Page Top

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