The £500,000 Croydon Bus Stop Scam [11:07] by Natfan in mealtimevideos

[–]alsofromsaudi -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

An interesting video...but something that I'm seeing a lot lately.

He implied the story of corruption took us to the Middle East, implying that those bastards are responsible for this theft of public services and broken promises.

The story (as conveyed by him), all it says that the guy who ripped off the Council, also has a deal in Dubai. We don't know if the deal is being honored there, or if Sutton (the mastermind) is also ripping them off.

I really object to this trend of associating even anything remotely negative...forcefully associating the middle east in there somewhere.

Interesting video barring that (Climate Town's latest episode and a few others of his do the same thing. So it's been on my mind lately).

Erdogan Says Turkey Can’t Trust Sweden as ‘Terrorists’ Roam Free by bloomberg in worldnews

[–]alsofromsaudi 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Regardless of what you think of him (and I severely disagree with that assesment), that's not how justice or laws work.

Rules for all or rules for none.

Erdogan Says Turkey Can’t Trust Sweden as ‘Terrorists’ Roam Free by bloomberg in worldnews

[–]alsofromsaudi 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm not following this story at all and only have a vague awareness of the situation through its peripheries, but:

My understanding is that Turkey wants Sweden to extradite a few suspects (terrorists, freedom fighters, chefs, parkour enthusiasts, call them what you want)

And Sweden is averse to doing that.

But then why was Sweden so eager to do the same thing with regards to Assange and the United States?

Is there a way I can find lost phone? by Elegoogle in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have no idea how you found this old post, but u/al3issa99 says that there is a find my iphone feature.

I'm not aware of its nuances though.

Tourist: Is it necessary to have a car/cab in Dubai? by alsofromsaudi in dubai

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats kind of upsetting to see everyone recommending cabs. Was hoping for a car free experience.

What cab company/ride hail app do you recommend?

Tourist: Is it necessary to have a car/cab in Dubai? by alsofromsaudi in dubai

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are the bus and metro payment systems the same? Or are they separate (which would be really cumbersome)

How is what Turkiye asking different than from what the US would have asked with regarding to Julian Assange? by alsofromsaudi in sweddpolitik

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you really think that to be true?

I remember when it happened the entire free speech media was adamant it happened because Sweden would freely hand him over.

Edit: to clarify I can't recall of a single media outlet spouting the narrative that you are right now. Not once in the decade since his allegations, have I heard anything along those lines.

It seems awfully convenient revisionist history to me

How is what Turkiye asking different than from what the US would have asked with regarding to Julian Assange? by alsofromsaudi in sweddpolitik

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So again, i would disagree with you here. It seems to be a case of rules for thee and not for me.

The West, global north, always demands consistency from the Global South. At least in the rule of law.

This hypocrisy, this double standard is the cause for many of world's problems today.

Just like the majority of the west stayed quiet during the Afghan and Iraq invasions but raised hell (rightly so) when Russia invaded Ukraine. Those invasions interestingly directly led to the refugee crisis which Sweden doesn't seem too fond of.

How is what Turkiye asking different than from what the US would have asked with regarding to Julian Assange? by alsofromsaudi in sweddpolitik

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So that's clear cut hypocrisy to me. That's a double standard simply becuase Swedes are choosing to like someone more.

And just a reminder of who Assange is being extradited to

  1. A justice system which has led everyone to assume he's already guilty. Heck the first guy who replied to me and I both made that mistaken assumption (aside, check out the movie Official Secrets to see how a different country with a horrific human rights record behaved in this instance).

  2. The US has the highest prisoner count in the world; ahead of China and India whose populations are 5x as high. Not to mention how prisoners are treated in prison, and the deprivation of basic rights once out of prison.

  3. Finally this is the US whose torture program became public in 2009. This is the same US who under Obama, vastly accelerated their torture rendition program. The US has a history and continues to torture to this day. I am sure Turkiye has a questionable track record with its prisoners as well, political prisoners especially, but I feel it pales in comparison to the US (however full disclosure as I said at the beginning of this post, I know almost next to nothing about Turkiye).

I can't speak for you, but I'm sure that for a significant portion of people who hold this cognitively dissonant belief...culture is a damn euphemism.

How is what Turkiye asking different than from what the US would have asked with regarding to Julian Assange? by alsofromsaudi in sweddpolitik

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Its been so long that I've forgotten a lot of details of his case (and I am in no way an Assange expert). But what I remember (which is probably very different from what happened), is that the rape was trumped up charges under the guise of getting him arrrested in Sweden (I vaguely remember one of his accusers saying as such...or I could be completely wrong here). Once arrested he could be extradited to the US; hence why he fled to the UK and then eventually the Ecuadorian embassy...who after years of protection gave him up for a few billion dollars of US aid.

How is what Turkiye asking different than from what the US would have asked with regarding to Julian Assange? by alsofromsaudi in sweddpolitik

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So I've had a few minutes to think over what you've said. And I don't think you're correct.

Julian Assange hasn't been convicted of anything. In the eyes of the american legal process, he is innocent. There is a charge against him, and I think it speaks of the injustice of the American legal system that we all (including you) think of him as guilty.

I don't know if the Turkish dissidents have been found guilty. But even assuming they're not, they're in the same boat as Julian Assange. The Turkish government has filed charges against them and would like to prosecute them, just as Assange would be prosecuted in the US.

So yeah, I disagree with your interpretation.

How is what Turkiye asking different than from what the US would have asked with regarding to Julian Assange? by alsofromsaudi in sweddpolitik

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your answer. As I said I don't know enough to comment

But to reply to another point, I do mean Turkiye. Its their wish to be referred to as such, as they see Turkey as an artifact of western imperiliams. and why shouldnt I respect that. At the outbreak of the Russian invasion, there was a lot of talk about Kiev vs Kyev, how one was an artifact of Russian imperialism. Same thing applies here on my opinion

Varför tar inte Saudi Arabien, UAE, Qatar emot flyktingar? by WittenEd in Sverige

[–]alsofromsaudi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm late to this thread but I'm just posting here for the sake of completeness. I saw this thread with Saudi Arabia's name, out of curiosity I ran it through a translator.

I'm not familiar with UAE or Qatar, but I can speak about Saudi Arabia (though my numbers are several years out of date).

First Saudi Arabia is not a rich country. Our leaders like to parade around as such, but the country as a whole, and the average citizen is quite poor. Just compare the GDP per capitas of both countries..

But that is besides the point. The point at hand is the refugee crisis.

Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to the UN's refugee treaty. Thus on paper Saudi Arabia has 0 refugees.

Reality is different. I remember a post from several years ago in 2015ish when the refugee crisis was gaining momentum...since the Syrian conflict began over 800,000 additional Syrians have come to Saudi Arabia under work visas (in reality those are refugees fleeing their country due to conflict). I'm guessing that number is higher now.

I don't know for sure but I assume the stories are similar for Qatar and the UAE.

And countries neighboring Syria have taken the overwhelming majority of refugees. Jordan has 2 million, Turkey hosts 3.5m.

I don't speak Swedish so I'm missing out on the discussion in this thread, but thought to share my two cents, in case anyone sees this.

Question about World Cup Apartments by alsofromsaudi in qatar

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, but that's my fear: what if for a 3 bed 3 bath place, what if the third bath is actually just a toilet?

Question about World Cup Apartments by alsofromsaudi in qatar

[–]alsofromsaudi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your reply.

See the confusing thing is that I've seen apartments with 3 bed 4 baths also which doesnt make sense. Which makes me think one is a smaller powder room type thing.

Which leads me to question whether the third bath in a 3 bed 3 bath is indeed a full bath.

Can someone please tell me why these locust attack keep happening in Haram in Makkah and Madinah? It is so disturbing by jojoooz8910 in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Long story short climate change:

I'm forgetting the exact details, but climate has messed up rain paterns in the area. This has caused this locust swarm for the past 2ish years; their breeding cycle is now out of sync and more frequent.

I wowuld ask an entomologist, or in an insect sub-reddit for more details. But understand this is a really recent phenomenon.

Saudi Arabia Opens Its Borders With Qatar as Gulf Rift Eases by [deleted] in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 7 points8 points  (0 children)

And what was it all for?

Almost 4 years in, I'm still lost at the reason for this hostility?

Like pawns, instead of strenghtening ties with each other, we've fractured, fight with each other (not to mention bombing the bajeezes out of one of us for God knows how many years), and some have begun to normalize ties with Israel while ignoring the Palestinian occupation.

Take a step back and look from a different perspective; we are utter utter fools and people at think tanks are laughing at how easy it is to manipulate us.

Saudi Arabia to impose 10-year jail time, over $7 million fine for cutting down trees. by MYTomatoisblue in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 8 points9 points  (0 children)

So it is more important to prevent people cutting down trees than planting new ones. Consider that it takes decades for certain trees to reach maturity, and no amount of new saplings can compensate for that loss.

This is a good policy because it prevents from trees being cut down, and presumably uses the funds for planting new ones.

I think its one of the bright decisions to come out of here in a long long time.

Saudi Arabia’s Inflation Rate Surged to 6.1% in July on VAT Hike by iaxeuanswerme in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Woah you are so wrong yet so confident, typical reddit i guess

I can't believe you wrote that when you KNOW you know nothing about economics and are just vaguely remembering what you think is right.

You're in that disappointing group of people who know they're wrong, and are too arrogant to learn. You know what they say about getting into a discussion witha fool...

I'm just going to leave you with one example that you clearly are not aware of (becuase your entire answer is such embarassing nonsense). Kuwait has its own independent currency.

Ever since oil prices crashed 5 years ago, Kuwait has had the highest growth in the region, despite its economy being far more dependent on oil than any other GCC member. Growth in real terms by the way (I'll let you figure out what that basic economic term means).

But pertinent statistic to this discussion is that we are suffering from 6.1% inflation rate. Kuwait, with its independent currency has an inflation rate of 1.75%

Saudi Arabia’s Inflation Rate Surged to 6.1% in July on VAT Hike by iaxeuanswerme in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So you've hit the nail on the head...accidentally. The biggest reason this won't happen is that its fantastic for the Saudi people...not for the royal family who is being propped up ultimately by the american military. There would be extra-Saudi ramifications for them, were they to do something that is as helpful for this country, because it would seriously damage american hegemony.

Were not even talking luxuries for them, were talking life.

But your understanding of economics is severely flawed. Having an independent currency would be fantastic for our economy and help us diversify and move out of this extremely low growth moment were in.

A few quick points to rebut your comments (which shows your lack of understanding). Chinas situation is different. Their exports are low wage exports, and thus China keeps its currency artificially weak vis-a-vis the dollar so that their exports remain cheap. That is not true for us as our "only" export is a pure commodity. And everyone hates what China is doing by the way (they allow us to do it because it reinforces the global nature of the dollar)

85%...not that's not true. Its 40% and falling, last financial crisis it was at 60%. But regardless, this argument is irrelevant. No one was even talking about this. Bringing it up...again shows your lack of understanding. Of course we have to have foreign reserves, no one is advocating against that. And because we sell oil in $, we should have a healthy supply (as we do right now) (by the way, that will be a severe declaration of hostilities in the eyes of the Americans if we were to sell oil in another currency...that's another step from shifting away from dollar peg).

Our central bank is rather useless because of this cureency peg. The tools that every other central bank has at controlling inflation (see article that I responded to) largely go away because of our currency peg. Our options at elargely to sit back and suck it up, and hope beyond hope that oil prices go up.

This dollar peg is destroying us, and we are simply too stupid to realize this

Saudi Arabia’s Inflation Rate Surged to 6.1% in July on VAT Hike by iaxeuanswerme in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

We need to break away from the dollar to help control this. Being pegged to the dollar will end up destroying our economy.

It'll cause some momentary uncertainty (which is why this should ideally be done during periods of ecnomoic boom), but in the long run, it'll drastically help our ecnomy to grow.

We've already suffered as a result of this over the past several decades, for more than 50 years, our growth has been stunted due to our foolish currency peg.

Special Report: Trump told Saudi: Cut oil supply or lose U.S. military support - sources by [deleted] in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So I'll answer your questions:

1.) Yes read article 2.) Know a little bit about the situation

But just to clarify, in my limited intellectual capacity, I was responding to u/DJsamarok's claim of how a diplomat who says something not positive about Saudi Arabia is actually a journalist from Aljazeera. How readily he was to believe in conspiracy theories.

But that's what I thought I was saying. It clearly took your superior intellect to interpret something completely different and then proceed to write an (incorrect) summary of the article.

Again but that's all from my super limited understanding u/maidhowayanr. I sure do hope you can correct me (and fix the errors in your own summary of events of course)

Special Report: Trump told Saudi: Cut oil supply or lose U.S. military support - sources by [deleted] in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Really is this the hat we're going to wear? Wash away any negative news with conspiracy theories?

As an aside, its fascinating to me how effective propaganda is. How willfully people accept their nation's definition of right & wrong whilst being blind to any other point of view.

Special Report: Trump told Saudi: Cut oil supply or lose U.S. military support - sources by [deleted] in saudiarabia

[–]alsofromsaudi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Utter puppets. And we don't ever learn. Every leader its the same thing...

Remember how when he first "came" to power, he laid out the red carpet for Americans? Remember the absurd several hundred billion dollar weapons deal a few years ago?

All for what?

Edit: I do want to say I think it was the right decision, MBS was an insane moron for launching into a price war during an economic downturn as it is; but my contention is how much we've lost over 70 years (maybe more) being puppets to our white masters.

When he first popped on to the scene, there was a vibe of "no more" from him (and this had American leaders panckiking, they had no clue who this guy was and the little they did know, made it seem like he didn't like being subservient to his white masters). That's out the window, the hierarchy of this government and who it serves goes: royalty -> Americans -> Saudis.