4/23    Awesome series of essays written by a foreigner living in Saudi Arabia.
        Not unbiased commentary of course, but very well written.  This country
        is one of our allies, apparently.
        http://victorhanson.com/Middle_East_Chronicles.html
        \_ "R. F. Burton" doesn't sound like a native Arab to me.
           \_ 1) It's an alias.  2) He's a foreigner.  That's the whole point.
              \- FYI: richard burton is the name of one of those victorian
                 adventurers who went into remote africa, central asia and
                 probably most famously into the middle east, infiltrating
                 various muslim-only facilities in disguise. --psb
                 \_ Not to mention making the famous translation of The
                    Thousand and One Nights.
                 \_ Including Mecca during Hajj.
        \_ "apparently"? did you forget they have a lot of oil?
        \_ Nothing much in the article surprises me.  Man, is that country
           going to be messed up if their oil production ever peaks.  That
           article reinforces what I believe is the ONLY punishment that
           might deter terrorists: Give them sex change operations and dump
           them in a country like Iran, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.
        \_ we would have not have won the Cold War without the Saudis.  The
           inner Royal Family is firmly aligned with the West.  Unfortunately,
           since the Royal Family numbers in the tens of thousands, there are
           quite a few who do not share their sympathies.
           \_ Not necessarily true about the Cold War, although possible.
              That said, we made a great many deals with evil people and
              corrupt, broken systems during that episode.  The letters are
              excellent--reminds me a bit of Graham Greene.  However, the fact
              that he's still living there is kind of sad.  -John
              \_ outside of a few Western style democracies scattered around the
                 world, governments are completely corrupt.  You either dealt
                 with them or they fell into the Soviet sphere of influence.
                 \_ Yes, and to a substantial degree we had ourselves to
                    thank for supporting or even establishing them.  The
                    concept of aiding a neutral bloc went entirely counter to
                    US foreign policy throughout the Cold War.  It was "with
                    us or against us" in many but not most situations.  -John
                 \_ Don't tell that to a Singaporean.
          \_ Gorbachev won the cold war for you.
             \_ Yeah, russia was in perfect shape before Gorby!
                \_ It was in its usual shape. That still doesn't change
                   the fact that the cold war could go on indefinitely.
        \_ Anybody who claims that people doing honest reporting from Iraq
           are "aiding and abetting the enemy" is automatically someone
           that I am not going to waste my time with.
           that I am not going to waste my time with. You should not tolerate
           this kind of crap either.
           \_ I read most of the links on that page, I think the articles about
              life in Saudi Arabia, and "we are not getting the full story in Iraq
              about how wonderful life is after elections" articles are by 2 different
              people. - danh
              life in Saudi Arabia, and "we are not getting the full story in
              Iraq about how wonderful life is after elections" articles are by
              2 different people. - danh
           \_ I think he's pointing out that the reporting is not honest.
              \_ So you think that the reporters are lying about what
                 they see? See that is why he is not worth bothering with.
                 Because the people reporting are not omniscient, he calls
                 them traitors. This is what has happened to the once proud
                 tradition of conservatism in this country. A simple
                 difference of opinion is considerd grounds for executing those
                 who disagree with the party line.
                 them traitors (which implies they should be killed).
                 \_ whatever happened to the berkeley I used to know?
                    where "traitor" was a word of praise...