291–300 of 448 posts
Oh the bias, quiet unfortunate. So many comments against ME countries with so many false pretenses, you can easily tell many haven't set a foot on ME soil let alone actually lived there - holiday doesn't count. Having lived in ME for a long, long time I've had many liberals and atheists friends jump on the first ship to ME on a 'good' salary - slavery you say. I'm an Englishman, not a middle eastern.
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No these tyrants survive because of realpolitik. And Joe Biden has been the first openly hostile/critical president of KSA, while Trump said he didn't know who murdered the American citizen Jamal khashoggi[1] despite clear evidence and information about it, all due to him wanting the business with KSA to continue. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/26/why-intel...
Mainly because when Trump was in power the democrats and media would keep pressure on Trump. Whereas now, as a genocide is happening the media isn't providing as much pressure as it would of Trump was doing it.
Also no need to regurgitate old irrelevant news, the complete 180 from Biden is the biggest slap in the face for people who were fighting for gender/human/civil rights.
Also, Biden is yet to go after Kushner for that $2bn bribe/corruption payment.
Realpolitik is a meme used to excuse bad behaviour.
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Looks like nowadays no one in US does really care about other countries, even US allies. 6 months ago they stopped sending limited amount of weapons to Ukraine. Current foreign policy of USA clearly sends a message that other countries can do anything they want to both their citizens and their neighbors.
I wasn’t aware that outside a great movie that the USA was the world police. Russia is evil for invading Ukraine, which is a non EU, non NATO nation. Europeans should be the one fighting for freedom in Europe not the Americans.
And btw, Americans are not fighting there. Sending weapons to Ukraine creates new working place in USA while weaken army of their enemy. It is obvious win-win for USA.
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Think about the fact that education is pretty much free there. They even pay for Western institutions to set up satellite campuses. You’d think they should have the most educated and skilled labor in the world. At some point, you have to realize it’s cultural: they don’t want to work. Funny you mention Switzerland because they have some of the highest skilled labor in the world.
You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone. How this is even an acceptable thing to say on HN is beyond me. The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future. To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant of the facts and probably related to the point I made above.
There are all kinds of promises when times are good, that change as soon as the economic winds change. This project is more evidence of that.
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You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone. How this is even an acceptable thing to say on HN is beyond me. The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future. To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant of the facts and probably related to the point I made above.
> You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone Yes, this is how you compare populations.
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You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone. How this is even an acceptable thing to say on HN is beyond me. The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future. To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant of the facts and probably related to the point I made above.
> The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future There are all kinds of promises when times are good, that change as soon as the economic winds change. This project is more evidence of that.
This project was a side project and always has been. Its success or lack thereof has very little to do with the overall financial position of the country.
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It's 4x more efficient than an electric heater, but not 4x more than a heat pump [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coefficient_of_performance
It still takes less energy than heating given climate differentials, so any argument that air conditioning is “garish” and “wrong” needs to be applied to heating also (and anyone living in cold climates ie. Europeans, Americans, etc). I see the argument that air conditioning is somehow “wrong” or “unsophisticated” on HN all the time (usually from Europeans) and it’s one of the weirdest things. I see no explanation fo…
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Aren't democrats holding the office and keep not sending efficient weapons? Only bare minimum which cannot significantly affect battlefield. Morocco received few hundred US tanks recently. Do they fight for survival?
Uh no. Republicans control the House which is enough to prevent even $1 from being spent or sent anywhere. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/What-are-some-yxB.yA2.SzS7M... There’s not some big mystery here. Democrats are proposing bill after bill after bill, and republicans are loudly and proudly blocking them.
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For decades, they wanted to diversify away from oil and build tech industries. The problem is they don’t have skilled labor and would have to import “slaves” as they do with everything. They have some of the lowest skilled and laziest labor in the world. If/when dependence on oil ends, these countries will go back to being poor. Edit: contrast ME with Mexico who is running out of oil. Yet, they are able to build beca…
some colleagues worked in tech companies in middle east oil countries and they confirm what you say. The local employees would show up for just 2h 3h a day, fake some working tasks, and leave. They is so much money poured down on them that they don't understand the concept of work, to them it is just a hobby.
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You can build all the vanity projects you like when you're rich with petro-dollars, and pay Asian workers less than $10 per day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa#Labour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_Stat... In 2021, inmates in federal prisons earned between $0.23 to $1.15 per hour.
The workers in SA aren’t criminals being jailed for some crime.