Qatar makes migrant workers run "megamarathon"

[Simfan34]

In jeans. In flip-flops. And in 90+ degree weather.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/02/slaves-to-run-shoeless-in-qatar.html

[Sol]

The gulf emirates really are the worst.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Lol

[The Free North]

I hope Oil goes to $5/barrel

[politicus]

Not generally a fan of small countries being colonized, but their system is too horrible and unlikely to change, so:

Indians and Nepalis make up half the population, so India should just invade it too liberate their fellow countrymen + fellow Hindus and make it an overseas Indian state. Their oil income might as well add to development in India.

[Simfan34]

I was thinking about this when... oh. Never mind.

[TDAS04]

Disgusting.  The entire Arabian Peninsula is awful. 

[politicus]

Disgusting.  The entire Arabian Peninsula is awful.  

Oman much less so than the others, but yeah.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

[The Free North]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

[Beet]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

The U.S. has no choice because of all the oil they have.

[moderatevoter]

Not generally a fan of small countries being colonized, but their system is too horrible and unlikely to change, so:

Indians and Nepalis make up half the population, so India should just invade it too liberate their fellow countrymen + fellow Hindus and make it an overseas Indian state. Their oil income might as well add to development in India.

There's a saying in India that "half of India lies in Dubai."

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

The U.S. has no choice because of all the oil they have.

Or, just a thought, we could tap into our own oil reserves.

[Beet]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

The U.S. has no choice because of all the oil they have.

Or, just a thought, we could tap into our own oil reserves.

Not as cheap to dig up. Besides, having oil reserves domestically is a good strategic move in the off chance that overseas reserves become forcibly unavailable, so we don't want to deplete them if we don't have to. Plus, environmental concerns.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

The U.S. has no choice because of all the oil they have.

Or, just a thought, we could tap into our own oil reserves.

Not as cheap to dig up. Besides, having oil reserves domestically is a good strategic move in the off chance that overseas reserves become forcibly unavailable, so we don't want to deplete them if we don't have to. Plus, environmental concerns.

Ah. So the trees are more important than actual people. Good to know what you truly think, Beet.

[politicus]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

They're immune to cognitive dissonance?

The U.S. has no choice because of all the oil they have.

Or, just a thought, we could tap into our own oil reserves.

Not as cheap to dig up. Besides, having oil reserves domestically is a good strategic move in the off chance that overseas reserves become forcibly unavailable, so we don't want to deplete them if we don't have to. Plus, environmental concerns.

Ah. So the trees are more important than actual people. Good to know what you truly think, Beet.

Envríronmental concerns affect people - even more so long run.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

At this point it's less about oil and more about geostrategy and pivoting, whatever that really means.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

How do liberals explain their president claiming to support women's and LGBT rights while being allied to the Gulf Arab states?

The U.S. intervening in Libya and almost doing the same in Syria, while ignoring a brutal suppression of protests in Bahrain, even worse.

[politicus]

At this point it's less about oil and more about geostrategy and pivoting, whatever that really means.

China, Japan and Western Europe still need that oil. You could make a case that the Americans should stop securing our oil supply, but it would still be bad for the world economy if they cut us off (+ Japan and Western Europe are US allies).

[Famous Mortimer]

When deciding to support a rebellion, the US has to take into consideration both the government and the rebels. We supported the rebellion in Libya because at least some of the rebels were moderate, non-Islamists. We didn't support the rebellion in Bahrain because the rebels were almost all Shiite Islamists.


Seriously, DUH.

[ingemann]

I really thought, that nothing Qatar could do could surprise me more or make me more disgusted with the country. But they succeed in taking it one step further.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I really thought, that nothing Qatar could do could surprise me more or make me more disgusted with the country. But they succeed in taking it one step further.

[Indy Texas]

Not generally a fan of small countries being colonized, but their system is too horrible and unlikely to change, so:

Indians and Nepalis make up half the population, so India should just invade it too liberate their fellow countrymen + fellow Hindus and make it an overseas Indian state. Their oil income might as well add to development in India.

Most of the Gulf States were colonized by Britain in the sense that they were protectorates whose rulers had truces with Britain (which is why they were collectively referred to as the Trucial States). It arguably would have been better ITLR if the British had just eliminated the heads of the ruling tribal clans and replaced them with modern "civilized" monarchies from scratch as they did in Transjordan and Iraq.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Qatar is not about oil, it's about natural gas.

Bahrain wasn't about Shiahs 1st, but more likely about the fact that a big Gulf US base could have eventually fallen in the hands of some eventual Iran allies, yes. Same island, same shiahs, but no base, maybe that would have been different.

Western Europe is diverse and is not condemned to be US allies, for my sake I live in a country that proved it (which might be one of the last advantages of this country).

Pleading ecology and economy to legitimate laissez-faire and buisness as usual with Qatar over what they do to some human beings, brown ones, but still, they seem human, is, well, 'odd'.

Right after the revolution in Tunisia, I monitored a lot what happened in other Arab countries, and what I found quite interesting is that the 1 protest movement that I saw in the Gulf was migrant workers in Kuwait.

Before, still a lot of migrant workers in the Gulf were still Pakistani (apparently they have been step by step replaced by the Indian subcontinent, yes, dunno in which proportions though), but then I often thought that one of the things that could make fall those little beloved monarchies coud be all those Muslim exploited workers fighting their Muslim oppressors, on the Muslim holy land. Seizing the land then. Something like that.

This plus all the mess pretty well started with that brilliant 'Mission Accomplished', which latter took the still more brilliant turn that we all now know thanks to a 'Mission Abandoned', which I always saw as possibly contaminating the peninsula as a whole. And now you can even add what's happening in Yemen.

And then you can see how supporting brilliant regimes for 'the world economy' or whatever, such as all supported in the Gulf and arround, always lead to brilliant consequences on the longer run.

I never really believed Qatar could hold his cup by 2022 (which would reward FIFA for having...who knows why?...exceptionally given it to a country that early), and well, I tend to less and less believe in it...

[politicus]

Qatar is not about oil, it's about natural gas.

Bahrain wasn't about Shiahs 1st, but more likely about the fact that a big Gulf US base could have eventually fallen in the hands of some eventual Iran allies, yes. Same island, same shiahs, but no base, maybe that would have been different.

Western Europe is diverse and is not condemned to be US allies, for my sake I live in a country that proved it (which might be one of the last advantages of this country).

Quatar is primarily about natural gas, but they do have significant oil reserves.

Saudi-Arabia and UAE did not intervene to safe a US base from the Iranians, but to 1) prevent Iranian expansion across the Gulf and 2) safe the Bahraini monarchy. A popular uprising dethroning a Gulf State monarch would have set a dangerous example. You should not understate the second motive. Regarding the first motive the base was not crucial. Bahrain is at the doorstep of Saudi-Arabia and you can drive across.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Fahd_Causeway

Most of Western Europe is still dependent on Middle Eastern oil, if we didn't have the Americans to secure these places we (and Japan and China) would have to do it ourselves. I find it unlikely China would be willing to do the dirty work, so Europe would have to get involved.