Argus Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 (edited) It is clear that you have difficulty with such comparisons because of a consistently displayed bias and ignorance. Yes. Yours. You are attempting, as you do so often, to deflect the conversation with your favorite game of "taunt the Canadians". In another thread, you made similar misinformed comments about Russian cultural contributions. The entirely true comments, you mean. The general point remains with respect to foreign investment and workers (of all types) for historical resource development in Saudi Arabia and Canada. What general point do you ever make that has any honesty in it? Saudis played NO part in the exploration, development or operation of their petroleum industry and play very little part today. The vast majority of Saudi post-secondary graduates studied Islam, not engineering. The focus of Saudi education has always been Islam, the Qu'ran and all its interpretations and accompanying religious texts. This puts them in poor shape to even go on to a scientific post-secondary course of study. Canadian companies do not own a majority of bitumen and petroleum production in Canada. And you can stick doggedly to that utterly irrelevant point as long as you desire. The Saudi petroleum industry is managed by westerners, and the lower level workers are from third world countries. The saudis are not capable of running their petroleum industry. I wish the Saudis the best of luck in their efforts to meet the challenges in building such a "skyscraper". Saudis will not be involved in meeting any of those challenges. Their sole influence will be selecting from amongst designs produced by foreign designers, and hiring western contractors to build the thing. Edited April 21, 2014 by Argus Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Argus Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 Ok I got it! You don't like Saudi Arabia. WWWTT Your conclusion is, as usual, based on ignorance. Do you even know where Saudi Arabia is? What language they speak? Do you know anything AT ALL about the country? I'm thinking... nope. Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Argus Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 Just because they are Islamic that does not mean that they are either stupid or have tunnel vision. The entire Muslim world has focused its education on the Qu'ran for most of the last several hundred years. It is by far the top subject studied in universities in the Muslim world. It is THE subject the most intelligent Muslim wants to study, and the one which brings by far the most prestige. Of the top 200 universities in the world, none is in a Muslim country. Tourism is also a priority in their planning. No, it really isn't. In fact, you can't get into Saudi Arabia without a special visa, and you can't go near any of the holy sites unless you are a Muslim. The only Tourism in Saudi Arabia is the required pilgrimage all Muslims are supposed to make to Mecca (no non Muslims allowed). Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
bush_cheney2004 Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 (edited) Yes. Yours. You are attempting, as you do so often, to deflect the conversation with your favorite game of "taunt the Canadians". Only the ones who consistently display wholesale ignorance and bias towards other nations and cultures while steadfastly refusing to recognize identical historical attributes in their own. The human achievement that the Saudi project would represent transcends such backward and biased thinking. It is ludicrous to criticize the Saudis for attempting such a large scale project that would otherwise be lauded in the "West". Edited April 21, 2014 by bush_cheney2004 Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
WWWTT Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 Your conclusion is, as usual, based on ignorance. Do you even know where Saudi Arabia is? What language they speak? Do you know anything AT ALL about the country? I'm thinking... nope. Man you're complicated buddy! This is about a fantastic construction project going on there. I'm just engaging about the project. But you want to debate other things. Save it for another thread. WWWTT Quote Maple Leaf Web is now worth $720.00! Down over $1,500 in less than one year! Total fail of the moderation on this site! That reminds me, never ask Greg to be a business partner! NEVER!
On Guard for Thee Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/etihad.asp They seem to have a little trouble with airlines though. They smashed up this brand new 380 before it EVER left the ground. Quote
Big Guy Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 No, it really isn't. In fact, you can't get into Saudi Arabia without a special visa, and you can't go near any of the holy sites unless you are a Muslim. The only Tourism in Saudi Arabia is the required pilgrimage all Muslims are supposed to make to Mecca (no non Muslims allowed). Yes, it really is. Religious tourism is tourism. In 2012, Saudi Arabia earned about $16.5 billion from the annual pilgrimage rituals of Hajj and Umrah in 2012, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. It is projected that to-days world muslim population of over 1 billion people will be about 2.5 billion in 15 years. The revenue from the pilgrims to the holy city of Makkah, Madinah and other religious sites in the kingdom, accounts for about 3 percent of the kingdom's gross domestic product. More than 7million pilgrims visit Saudi Arabia's holy sites every year with religious tourists spending about $10,000 per visit. More information can be found at; http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/tourism/saudi-arabia-opens-its-doors-to-tourism Quote Note - For those expecting a response from Big Guy: I generally do not read or respond to posts longer then 300 words nor to parsed comments.
Argus Posted April 21, 2014 Report Posted April 21, 2014 Only the ones who consistently display wholesale ignorance and bias towards other nations and cultures while steadfastly refusing to recognize identical historical attributes in their own. The human achievement that the Saudi project would represent transcends such backward and biased thinking. It is ludicrous to criticize the Saudis for attempting such a large scale project that would otherwise be lauded in the "West". I haven't criticized it. Perhaps some remedial English would be apropriate for you. I have simply pointed out that the title of the topic is off base given the fact the Saudis will have as much to do with building this thing as I did with building my car. Less. I at least drive my car, and do a little maintenance. Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
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