MetaFilter posts tagged with SaudiArabia

Sex, bribes and videotape

ryoshu — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:01:17 -0800

FBI whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds, has gone on record with her allegations of government corruption and treason. (previously)

non-flight of the unPhoenix

Artw — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:00:56 -0800

Abandoned PBY-5A Catalina Flying Boat in Saudi Arabia. More images. (via)

Today a sewing machine - tomorrow a dirty bomb

rongorongo — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:48:45 -0800

Dig out your old Singer sewing machines from the attic and sell them to somebody in Saudi Arabia for a fortune on account of the red mercury they contain. Red mercury allows nuclear bombs to be constructed without the need for plutonium [previously]. Red mercury came originally from Russia. Or from the Nazis. Red mercury was invented to lure terrorists in sting operations. It is a medicine for treating impotency. Red mercury will bring long life. It is cinnabar. It is mercury iodide. It is Lithium 6. It is a Bose Einstein Condensate. It is a ballotechnic mercury compound. It is a codeword. It's a game. It costs $300,000 per kilo.

...perhaps in Dubai

Navelgazer — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:15:50 -0800

They cannot perform in public. They cannot pose for album cover photographs. Even their jam sessions are secret, for fear of offending the religious authorities in this ultraconservative kingdom. The AccoLade is Saudi Arabia's "first all-girl rock band."

"Camels are just like humans."

amyms — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:08:07 -0800

"It's just like judging a beautiful girl," said Fowzan al-Madr. "You look for big eyes, long lashes and a long neck." The art and science of Saudi Arabian camel beauty pageants. More Riyadh market photos here. Lots of information about Dromedary (Arabian) camels here and here. Listen to Dromedary camel sounds and read about Saudi camel history at this site.

The Construction Site Called Saudi Arabia

stbalbach — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:47:23 -0800

Six new cities are planed in The Construction Site Called Saudi Arabia. "The vision is to turn the kingdom into a major industrial power by 2020. Drawings of these new towns depict a cross of the futuristic “Blade Runner” and traditional Arabic design." The cities will focus on petrochemicals, aluminum, steel and fertilizers, and will together have four times the geographical area of Hong Kong, three times the population of Dubai, and an economic output equal to Singapore’s. First city: King Abdullah Economic City Official Wikipedia CNN clip Second city: Jazan Economic City Wikipedia Third city: Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Musaed Economic City Press release Fourth city: Knowledge Economic City, Medina Official Fifth city: {unknown} Press release Sixth city: {unknown}

Forty years on.

kirkaracha — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:05:19 -0800

Forty years on. After a quick buildup, the Six Day War started 40 years ago today and reshaped the Middle East. At the time, Israel's quick win looked like a triumph, but after 40 years the war is still being fought and it looks like it may have been a pyrrhic victory.

Ghawar, Going, Gone...

DAJ — Tue, 15 May 2007 07:53:03 -0800

Heard enough about Pain at the Pump? The 24-hour news love to cover the "unreasonable" record gasoline prices, but the real issue is crude oil supply--and this latest installment of Stuart Staniford's highly detailed analysis of the world's largest oil field, Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, provides new evidence of sharply declining production. Can Saudi Arabia really increase supply to meet world demand that is surging on growth in India and China? Signs point to no--in the past week they have again voted to maintain OPEC's "voluntary" production cuts, and their petroleum minister commented that there may not be a "need" to increase Saudi production much further.

Mariah Carey album covers in Saudi Arabia

russilwvong — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:00:39 -0800

Mariah Carey album covers in Saudi Arabia. These appear to be genuine, not a hoax (although the album covers on the Megastar website don't appear to have been changed). From the comments on the post: Actually, I think she looks better in the covered up pictures. Via Mini ZuD.

mmmmm

hadjiboy — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 06:40:13 -0800

Food from the Kingdom

Doing our homework on the Middle East

LobsterMitten — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:41:44 -0800

22 basic suggested readings on the Middle East from history professor and informed commenter on Middle Eastern affairs Juan Cole.

cartoons of the prophet.. not ok. turning his house into a parking lot.. ok.

zog — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 21:07:23 -0800

paved prophets house, put up a parking lot.. “What makes this demolition worse is the fact that the home of the Prophet is to make way for a parking lot, two 50-storey hotel towers and seven 35-storey apartment blocks; a project known as the Jabal Omar Scheme, all within a stone’s throw of the Grand Mosque. Yet despite this outrage, not a single Muslim country, no ayatollah, no mufti, no king, not even a Muslim Canadian imam has dared utter a word in protest. Such is the power of Saudi influence on the Muslim narrative.”

Armchair travel

carter — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 07:28:40 -0800

Images of daily life Photoessays of daily life in Morocco, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. [An update on a plep thread from 2003, and some nice armchair travel for a Sunday morning]

Abu Ali guilty of terror plot

justkevin — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 15:40:59 -0800

Abu Ali guilty of terror plot. A Virginia jury has found Ahmed Omar Abu Ali guilty of terrorism related crimes. The prosecution charged he provided material support to Al Qaeda (pdf). His defenders claim his confession while in Saudi custody was obtained through torture. Does the goal of preventing terrorism justify relying on the Saudi's questionable interrogation methods?

Wahhabi U.

Postroad — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 07:56:13 -0800

Wahhabi U. A top U.S. diplomat recently revealed Saudi Arabia still teaches students to hate non-Muslims and the West. So why are we making it easier for Saudi students schooled in that hatred to visit the U.S.?

Saudi Swimwear

kanewai — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:11:10 -0800

The Mutaween - Saudi Arabia's Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, is rigid in it's enforcement of Wahabist Shari`a. It's website offers a list of banned consumer goods, along with a form for turning in one's neighbor [English translation here]. The kingdom uses internet filtering technology to stop residents from even viewing provocative clothing. Non-compliance means death.
So what's the style-conscious Saudi woman to do? Hasima Islamic Swimwear was the answer.

The Rift

philmas — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 07:22:35 -0800

The Rift: The state of Islamic Alienation in Europe and for that matter any Western nation. Do Muslims get to retain their complete identity, values, and customs unfettered by their residency in the West? I think not. Inversely, if 1-5% of the population in Saudi Arabia was western what could they expect of their adopted (i.e. a choice) Wahhabi nation... Where does this end?

A post-Iran nuclear Middle East?

Rothko — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 07:09:32 -0800

Who else has Khan worked with? As far back as 2003, there have been strong indications of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia building a strategic alliance based upon an exchange of nuclear technology, funding and natural resources, after a worsening post-9/11 relationship between the United States and the Saud family. Concerns deepened after Saudi Arabia requested a change in its relationship with the IAEA in May.

Forced Marriage

jenleigh — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 12:09:27 -0800

A week after Saudi Arabia banned the practise of forced marriage, Hamid Karzai followed suit, announcing he would seek the same freedoms for young women in Afghanistan. In the UK, a special unit within the Foreign Office has handled almost 1000 cases of forced marriage since it was set up in 2000, and this year a special joint Forced Marriage Unit was launched by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for outreach & awareness purposes. While a law barring forced marriage is expected to publish in the UK later this year, some take umbrage at the often-misleading "forced marriage" terminology and are worried that its criminal-offence status could actually deter women from speaking out against it.

R.F. Burton

IndigoJones — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 18:03:10 -0800

Burton had his time. Now "R.F. Burton", a long time pseudonymous expat in Saudi Arabia, is writing occasional pieces on the place he calls the Magic Kingdom. They are by turns appalling, alarming, fascinating, outrageous, odd, dispiriting, interesting, depressing, enlightening, and provoking. Eleven so far. The index (along with the latest entry, if you have the stomach for it) is here. Request to those who know Saudi first hand- is the brush too broad or are the pieces nicely observed? Or something in between?

The Schumer-Collins bipartisan letter

jenleigh — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:05:59 -0800

Senators Charles Schumer and Susan Collins urge stronger action on Saudi Arabia | "Sen. Schumer said, It is a massive contradiction that a country we call an ally could be both so regressive in their own country and so brazen in its propagation of anti-American, anti-women, anti-Semitic books, publications, and practices. American security is undermined as the Saudi government exports these hateful commodities to millions beyond its borders, planting the seeds for new generations of terrorists and totalitarian Wahhabi leaders." In the recent past, Schumer has demanded answers on the Islamic Saudi Academy in Arlington, VA—where Omar Abu Ali graduated as 1999 valedictorian—and on the growing Wahhabi influence in the U.S.

The Final Solution

Mick — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:29:21 -0800

Would You, as a Human Being, be Willing to Shake Hands with a Jew?

Bush cares for the Saudis--not us.

amberglow — Mon, 06 Sep 2004 20:33:12 -0800

Factfilter: Sen. Bob Graham's new book shows coverup.on Saudi's behalf Bush had concluded that ''a nation-state that had aided the terrorists should not be held publicly to account,'' Graham wrote. "It was as if the president's loyalty lay more with Saudi Arabia than with America's safety.'' And there's stuff about Iraq, too. After wearing 9/11 like a tiara during the convention, will the facts finally be aired?

House of Bush, House of Saud, House of Cards?

twsf — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:52:06 -0800

House of Bush, House of Saud, House of Cards? A superb, reasoned discussion of "How Does the Saudi Relationship With the Bush Family Affect U.S. Foreign Policy?" - regardless of which side you might agree with, it's one of the very few calm, rational media conversations on this topic.

Unger chews Isikoff a new one

troutfishing — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 05:39:29 -0800

The Newsweek-Fahrenheit wars - Michael Isikoff's "seven errors, distortions and selective omissions of crucial information" detailed by Craig Unger, "House of Bush, House of Saud" author (read excerpts of his book at Salon.com, for members or by a "day pass") Isikoff has heavily cited Unger's book but, it seems, not bothered to read Unger's generously provided source files. "Liberal" PBS is not excluded, as credulous (or ignorant) "On the Media" host Bob Garfield's July 2 interview with Isikoff demonstrates. What shall we call such pervasive, ongoing and seemingly willful patterns of inaccuracy, distortion, and selective omission?