Play dice with the devil don’t be surprised if you get burned.
What did he allegedly do?.................
So you want to defend yourself from a pointed stick ey?
A POINTED STICK?!!!:-)
That being the case why not offer 350 Brits who agree with that to take one lash each in his place?
I have known four different people who worked in Saudi and many who have traveled there. Those who lived in compounds have always said alcohol is not an issue.........IN THE COMPOUND.
I feel horrible for this man and this likely will kill him. Somehow though there must be more behind the scenes then we know about.
OK. I read the article.
What did the old guy do?
We should have dropped the Saudis as our first move following 9/11. Instead, Bush literally held hands with them.
He is not going to get the lashes. Everyone know it will kill him. The saudis will make more threats for internal consumption then send him home.
What’s ironic is most of the wealthy Saudi’s, related to the royal family, have large well stocked bars in their homes. They keep them behind a curtain ,tapestry, or hidden doors.
I know this because a relative of mine did business with them. He said they’d laugh at the hypocrisy.
Why is this antiquated religion even allowed to exist in any form in America? To hell with the “freedom of religion” that protects Islam; Islam is no more a religion than cannibalism or slavery is. Giving a set of savage beliefs a capital letter shouldn’t grant it equal protection.
Exactly what kind of business did this guy do with the Saudis?
I have have absolutely no interest in visiting any Islamic country ever!
The only way I’d voluntarily visit any muslim country is from the safety of a high altitude bomber.
All cultures are equal, right?
The US Army would tell the Brits not to intervene in local customs.
We've been doing business with bad regimes for many decades. We've done business with the old Soviet Union and communist China. Both those regimes (the SU in the past and communist China now) have done barbaric things to their citizens. Our policy is to ally with whatever country/regime is useful to us. Every other country in the world does the same thing.
Is it moral? In the short term no. It's only moral if you're looking at the long view i.e. we need these countries for the things they provide so that we can survive and keep on doing "good." Sometimes you wonder what "good" we're doing.
Making home-made wine is very common among foreigners there usually for home consumption.
But you don’t want to get caught.
I knew a guy who made heavier stuff in partnership with a Saudi, for sale, but again you don’t want to get caught.
Our company evidently had an agreement with the authorities that we would get a call a couple of days in advance of an arrest so the employee could be spirited out of the country on the next flight. You couldn’t actually get an exit visa that quickly but on those cases seemingly it was not a problem. We had a couple of people who left suddenly for various infractions.
That courtesy mainly applied to Americans or Westerners. If you weren’t an American or you worked for a smaller company you probably didn’t have that kind of protection.
Hope that was worth going over there to make a fast buck.
Poor man must have really needed that drink.