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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (19239)	2/18/2002 5:21:30 PM
From: carranza2	Respond to of 281500

I have read somewhere that the Saudis are $40bn in debt, not an inconsiderable sum even for a relatively small oil-rich kingdom. I think they may have also paid for a substantial amount of the US expenditures during the Gulf War--as well they should have. Being oil-rich is not what it used to be. The Kingdom is unlikely to survive in its present form on any kind of long-term basis. Corrupt elites without popular support eventually get their comeuppance. The problem is the nature of the elites which supplant the ones that goes by the wayside. All appearances indicate that some kind of radical Western-hating group will take over. The present state of Saudi affairs is the most compelling argument for energy conservation in the US.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (19239)	2/18/2002 6:37:10 PM
From: Climber	Respond to of 281500

Nadine, The guest worker programs have been a real albatross for Saudi Arabia. It's not only the hard labor that was / is being done by foreign workers, but more importantly, the administrative, technical and managerial jobs have largely been farmed out as well. The majority of Saudis never had to develop skills to compete in an open job market. Yes, for years the Saudis did, for all practical purposes, provide "full employment" for it's male population, but in many cases these jobs were merely job titles, the real work being performed by non-Saudis. There have really only been two, maybe three, generations of Saudis that have grown up since the kingdom began to modernize, and at least the first two of these had no tradition of "employment" (as we think of it) to provide guidance or motivation in developing skills, career paths and so on. It's been a few years since I've been there, but I can't think of any industries outside of oil, construction, and Haj-related services that were being developed to help provide a broad economic base. Climber