Saudi a land of extremes
By Ernest Herndon | Enterprise-Journal
Posted: 04/15/08 - 11:57:53 am CDT
LIBERTY — Members of the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce Monday heard about a land where gasoline costs 45 cents a gallon, palm trees sway in the breeze, and citizens are so wealthy they don’t have to work.
But Saudi Arabia is no paradise, Brookhaven insurance agent Mike Windham said during a slide presentation at the monthly luncheon in Liberty Library.
Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves are predicted to run dry in 75 to 100 years; the breeze reaches 125 degrees; and the wealthy Saudi culture produced extremists such as Osama bin Laden.
Ten years ago, Windham got a hankering for adventure and signed on with a company that pays him to teach management and leadership courses in other countries.
He’s made several trips to Saudi Arabia, and just returned this month from a three-week tour.
Saudi is a true kingdom where the king owns everything. Wealth from the oilfields is so great that citizens don’t have to work, relying instead on workers from other countries.
As for the climate, “We think it’s hot down here in Mississippi. At 6 in the morning it’s 100 degrees. In the middle of the day it warms up. It gets to be about 125 degrees,” Windham said.
Saudi Arabia is a strict Muslim country where women must be covered “from nose to toes” in public.
“If you get caught stealing something over there, they cut your right hand off, and they do it next Friday,” Windham said.
People in jail get bread and water only. Anything else must come from family. As a result, there is little crime.
In a nation that contains 25 percent of the world’s known oil reserves as well as the world’s largest oil company, no one is concerned about gas mileage.
“That’s where all the SUVs that don’t get sold in America get shipped,” Windham said.
In the strict Muslim culture, there is no alcohol, theaters or much else in the way of entertainment.
“They play a lot of soccer,” Windham noted.
Saudi Arabia is a hard place to do business, in part because of Ramadan, a month-long religious holiday in which Muslims fast during the day and businesses remain closed.“That’s why there’s no Wal-Marts over there,” Windham said.
Even on regular workdays, business stops five times a day for Muslims to pray.
Women have no rights, education or job skills. Their births or deaths aren’t even recorded.
Fathers contract to marry off their teenaged daughters, who typically never see their much-older husbands until the marriage contract is signed. One man may have four wives.
The wealth means Saudi men don’t work, which fosters a perpetual “immaturity,” Windham said. “They’ve never had any responsibility placed on them.”
“They were deemed a gift from Allah.”
Construction is rampant, but the long-term future is uncertain since the oil won’t last forever and there are few other resources.
“The big question is what’s going to happen when they do run out of oil,” Windham said.
Though Osama bin Laden came from Saudi Arabia, Windham hasn’t found any sympathy for terrorists there.
“They are ashamed of them, and they quickly say that Osama bin Laden was a radical group.”and they quickly say that Osama bin Laden was a radical group.”
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NEC wrote on Apr 15, 2008 10:02 PM: