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

To: Sultan who wrote (72839)	2/10/2003 1:13:40 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Same info posted here yesterday. The Saudis don't have a culture that values education (see their literacy rate for women, for proof), so they will never, not now, not in 100 years, have the skills to run a 21st Century infrastructure. Since their lifestyle demands that infrastructure, they will always have to hire foreigners, to defend them and run their sewer systems, etc. This puts them in an essentially dependant position, which makes them feel insecure and resentfull. Jobs for foreigners are secure until the Saudis decide to let their women read and drive cars. They may decide to kick out Americans, and replace them with less aggressive foreigners, like French, Germans, and Russians. And that may be why those countries are vetoing our plans in the UN and NATO.

To: Sultan who wrote (72839)	2/10/2003 1:25:10 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

Thanks for the field notes from Saudi Arabia. The US pulling out of Saudi Arabia has been in motion for some time. September 11th and the Saudi reaction to it (or non-reaction might be more descriptive) blew up the State Dept's treasured "special relationship" for once and all. However, neither the US nor SA felt like handing big propaganda victories to Al Qaeda so the differences have been papered over as best they could while the US built its new ME HQ in Qattar. I expect a gradual low-key pullout is underway now.