Arab boycott affecting US, though its cause is not understood

Arab News ^ | 9 jul 02 | Barbara Ferguson

[white trash redneck]

The Arab boycott is reverberating throughout the United States, but the reason for the boycott — US sympathy and support to Israel — appears to continue to be ignored.

The terrorism attacks of Sept. 11 also deeply effected US-Arab tourism, education and trade, which once strengthened ties between the US and the Arab world, despite quarrels over US support for Israel and other foreign affair disputes.

The Saudis, for example, used to flock to Disney World on Saudi Arabia Airlines’ weekly flights from Jeddah to Orlando. Now demand has evaporated and the flights have been canceled.

Visa applications to the US have also fallen, especially after stringent background checks that take up to three weeks were introduced for visa applicants from certain Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia.

Even without scrapping over US visas, the Arab-US boycott has taken a significant toll. Trade between the United States and Arab counties is said to be down by at least 25 percent since last year.

“Economists say it is hard to determine accurately how much of the decline can be attributed to such international factors as exchange rates and the price of oil, but there is extensive anecdotal evidence that the boycott has taken a toll,” wrote Howard Schneider in yesterday’s Washington Post.

The Post says the boycott has “cost soft drink companies and fast food franchises 40 percent or more of their business in the Arab world, and left some companies, including Procter & Gamble, with serious branding problems.”

The company lost a reported 60 percent of its sales of Ariel detergent — because its name is the same as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Coke and Pepsi are doing their best to overcome the boycott. Both launched aggressive marketing campaigns during the World Cup to regain their markets, and the effort is reported to be making headway.

American universities are also hoping that Arab enrollment would be up this fall, but hopes appear to be falling flat. “No one has registered,” said Sohair Saad, educational information director at the Washington-based training group Amideast. Students, she said, are expressing less and less interest in studying in the United States, and many are said to turning their sites to educational opportunities in Canada.

“We’re scared of them, they are scared of us,” Saad says. “This is very unfortunate.”

Attempts are being made to counteract the damage. The State Department is working to change the US image in the Arab world, and has recently launched a new Arabic-language pop radio station.

In an effort to restore relations business and travel between the two countries, the US Embassy in Riyadh recently launched a “Go-2-USA” website.

Alas, despite genuine efforts to bridge the gap, is easy to view these attempts as mere band-aids that cannot heal the real problem: American’s continuing one-sided support for Israel.

“The reality is that there is going to be an economic effect” by limiting trade, academic and other ties that thrived before Sept. 11, said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida, but it is a cost which he said Americans accepted in return for better security.

[white trash redneck]

In their dreams...

[egarvue]

O woe is us! How WILL we survive without the Arabs buying our stuff (the vast majority who are dirt poor sand-scrabblers anyway)? Will someone please invent a cheap source of fusion energy, so we can once and for all tell these Arab barbarians where to stick their ill-gotten oil?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Boycott? What boycott?

[Chi-Town Lady]

I'm glad they're not coming in droves anymore! Boycott the US all you want. I think it's great! Kinda like when Jesse Jacka$$ told the blacks to boycott ChicagoFest! Someone came up with t-shirts that said "Thanks Jesse". Maybe someone could come up with the same sort of thing here!

[newwahoo]

"In an effort to restore relations business and travel between the two countries, the US Embassy in Riyadh recently launched a “Go-2-USA” website."

Amazing how fast the machinery of government engages on some issues while others continue to be ignored. I'm not flying until things change, and I'm eagerly awaiting real action with regards to the border and immigration issues.

[liberalism=failure]

We should boycott their oil and show them what that does. I for one am sick of these worthless shitteheads thinking they can push us around and get away with it.

[Catspaw]

Oh, wow, I'm worried.

Perhaps they're boycotting the states because we really don't want them here post-9/11. How long did it take the Saudis to admit that 15 out of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia?

[Dialup Llama]

>Visa applications to the US have also fallen...

And this is a problem?

[xJones]

The Arab boycott is reverberating throughout the United States, but the reason for the boycott US sympathy and support to Israel appears to continue to be ignored.

Your post: "Boycott? What boycott?"

LOL! The reverberations are so bad that no one I know outside of Freepers has even heard of it.

[Alouette]

Visa applications to the US have also fallen, especially after stringent background checks that take up to three weeks were introduced for visa applicants from certain Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia.

And the downside of this is......?

[Koblenz]

I'm having real trouble selling camels here in CT. And burkas too.

[powderhorn]

I for one think it's time we do something to make the Saudies feel a bit better about America. Here's an idea: Let's send them expensive presents. The best present I can think of would be one of those brand new cars that run on hydrogen. Ya, they cost a lot, but let's not spare any expense to show the Saudies how much we appreciate them.

[Alouette]

brand new cars that run on hydrogen

Sweet!

[b4its2late]

Visa applications to the US have also fallen, especially after stringent background checks that take up to three weeks were introduced for visa applicants from certain Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia.

We should not be taking ANY applications for Visas....

[Cobra Scott]

It is obvious; those few with wealth are realizing very quickly just exactly where all those "Jihad-aid" petrodollars have gone, and have good reason to suspect continued terrorist actions in the US. They aren't afraid of Americans as much as they are afraid of what they've done to America.

[Hugin]

FACT: the combined GDP of all 21 Arab nations is less than that of Spain.

Just thought I would put this in perspective.

[powderhorn]

Boycott???

I don't think so. Since 1981 the Saudi average income has gone down 75%.

They just can't afford to spend money like they used to. Twenty five years from now the Saudies will be complaining about those darn rich Ethiopians.

[Salgak]

No, I've got a better idea. We form OFEC, the Organization of Food-Exporting Countries. Then we stop exporting them food until they stop exporting terror. We can live a lot longer without their oil than they can without our food. . .

[Kierkegaard]

I just don't believe that this is anything other than a fabrication. If it were a real article, rather than a bit of masterbatory spew by white trash or his source, it would be hilarious. "Alas", I think this time that this fiction is stranger than truth.

[LenS]

Since our food is planted, weeded, fertilized, harvested and shipped through the use of oil products, that might not be as good a bet as you think. *g*

Unless I've missed the latest solar-powered tractors?