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Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

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Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#71

Post by baybal2 »

zozin wrote: post #26

This is why we should not rely on businesses to lead the vanguard of social progress. A recent example is BLM. If you actually think most businesses that aired an ad or have a BLM webpage on their homepage actually care about advancing black interests in America, then I've got a bridge to sell you. These businesses only jumped on the bandwagon when it became untenable to say nothing, and saying _something_, anything…

> Every dollar returned to the House of Saud allows a regime that would've been considered repressive two centuries ago to continue repressing women, homosexuals, foreign workers, non-Muslims, etc.

Saying this make no justice to the fact that it's Saudi Sunni Arab Muslims, practicing, or not who suffer the most under the regime.

While Shia are the ones who suffer repressions by Saudi analogue of Stasi nearly all the time, the repression, domestic espionage, and political inquisition against Sunni populace is their primary activity.

Regular Saudis fear talking about Sauds even in their own homes.

I studied in Vancouver along tons of Saudi students picked among children of state employees, and ones given the "loyalty exam" to score their passport. Even among such hand-picked selection, people said nobody in the kingdom can speak about the king without chills running their spine. Were they having an option, they would've stayed in Canada.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#72

Post by stefantalpalaru »

secfirstmd wrote: post #43
baybal2 wrote: post #27

American relationship with "Middle Eastern North Korea" must be destroyed, severed, set on fire, and beshamed. Along with Guatanamo base, it's the biggest stain on US credibility in international relations. In other words, US can't dictate its allies who can they make friends with without taking the prickly subject of Saudi Arabia, and its chainsaw prince off the table.

Pretty sure the Iraq War was the biggest stain on US credibility. Also there's a strong argument that the US support of Israel's occupation of Palestine (and by that I mean Israeli rightwing government, not the many good and courageous Israelis who fight for peace) is the next biggest stain on US credibility in international relations. It's been the single most consistently pointed to example of US hypocrisy that has…

> Israel's occupation of Palestine

Careful there. I was hellbanned after writing "occupied Palestine".

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#73

Post by pyrophane »

I am not looking forward to the rehabilitation of MBS's image that will take place over the next couple of years.

After Khashoggi was killed, some prominent people took a bit of stand and pulled out of the Future Investment Conference. The narrative there was clear: we don't do business with people who murder journalists.

So now, the US has essentially confirmed it: yeah, MBS did in fact have that journalist killed. So what comes next?

What should happen is all of those people who boycotted the conference a couple years ago come out and say "we will not do business with MBS connected businesses, investment funds, etc moving forward!"

What will actually happen? Probably the something worse than what seems to be the official US government stance: "Yeah, he did it, but we aren't going to punish him or allow what he did to impact business as usual." Business leaders can't even afford to take a position that weak. They have considerably less leverage, so they have to kowtow. I expect for the most part they will refuse to discuss their relationship with MBS as they move forward with partnerships and investments. The real question is when his tours of US tech campuses will resume.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#74

Post by leesalminen »

chaganated wrote: post #68
WalterGR wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-content/twitter-r... Twitter removes hundreds of accounts it says are linked to Iran, Russia, Armenia "...Twitter said 100 accounts with Russian ties were removed for amplifying narratives that undermined faith in NATO and targeted the United States and the European Union...” Some are trying to turn this into a “Twitter censorship” story rather than a “Twitter fighting natio…

Plenty of anti-war friends from Maine & Connecticut penalized in that sweep. I doubt that the Russians have converted all of our old hippies into spies.

Pretty soon we’ll all be Russians!

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#75

Post by _x0ti »

baybal2 wrote: post #50
sillysaurusx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure HN is the place for this, but it's not exactly up to me. Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. I guess what rubs me the wrong way about this is that it's very easy to write an incendiary toplevel comment. The story was posted about 35 minutes ago. Looking over the other…

> Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. Calling Saudi kingdom the Middle Eastern North Korea is the best what you can do to conduct a "nice intellectual discussion" you want. Intellectual discussion is calling things their real names. It is a total intellectual dishonesty, and hypoc…

Saudi is nothing like North Korea this is just an edge lord comment. They’re completely different in a 100 ways. You can criticize the Saudi state without drawing comparisons that make no sense.

“Is the best what you can do?” Really? Coming up with an inaccurate comparison is the best you can do?

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#76

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

baybal2 wrote: post #50
sillysaurusx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure HN is the place for this, but it's not exactly up to me. Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. I guess what rubs me the wrong way about this is that it's very easy to write an incendiary toplevel comment. The story was posted about 35 minutes ago. Looking over the other…

> Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. Calling Saudi kingdom the Middle Eastern North Korea is the best what you can do to conduct a "nice intellectual discussion" you want. Intellectual discussion is calling things their real names. It is a total intellectual dishonesty, and hypoc…

Intellectual discussion doesn’t require us to minimize Saudi Arabia’s problems. The problem with “Middle Eastern North Korea” is that it drags another emotionally charged topic into the discussion for no real reason. If anyone responds, the comparison makes it sound like they're defending North Korea.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#77

Post by NeutronStar »

74d-fe6-2c6 wrote: post #51
sillysaurusx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure HN is the place for this, but it's not exactly up to me. Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. I guess what rubs me the wrong way about this is that it's very easy to write an incendiary toplevel comment. The story was posted about 35 minutes ago. Looking over the other…

> isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. "nice intellectual discussion" my ass ... LOL fuck the Saudis and their money

More like fuck the US for giving the Saudis so much money. But go on, blame them, not yourself. After all the US is blame free.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#78

Post by f6v »

baybal2 wrote: post #50
sillysaurusx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure HN is the place for this, but it's not exactly up to me. Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. I guess what rubs me the wrong way about this is that it's very easy to write an incendiary toplevel comment. The story was posted about 35 minutes ago. Looking over the other…

> Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. Calling Saudi kingdom the Middle Eastern North Korea is the best what you can do to conduct a "nice intellectual discussion" you want. Intellectual discussion is calling things their real names. It is a total intellectual dishonesty, and hypoc…

Keep in mind that North Korea hasn’t been bombing anyone on a massive scale in the last 50 years.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#80

Post by cbozeman »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #39
baybal2 wrote: post #27

American relationship with "Middle Eastern North Korea" must be destroyed, severed, set on fire, and beshamed. Along with Guatanamo base, it's the biggest stain on US credibility in international relations. In other words, US can't dictate its allies who can they make friends with without taking the prickly subject of Saudi Arabia, and its chainsaw prince off the table.

I'm not sure HN is the place for this, but it's not exactly up to me. Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though. I guess what rubs me the wrong way about this is that it's very easy to write an incendiary toplevel comment. The story was posted about 35 minutes ago. Looking over the other…

If your moral system means you need deep thoughtful comments to decide whether or not you should do business with someone who murders journalists, you have a right shit moral system.
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