If Saudi Arabian citizens became involved on DU re US national and state politics

[reddread]

how would you feel about it?

[Fumesucker]

1. How do you know they aren't?

[reddread]

2. I think they are

could be posing as Canadians.
Accents are similar on the net.

[Fumesucker]

4. Eh?

[WhiteTara]

16. You betcha!

[H2O Man]

5. Check their heights.

Many are surprisingly tall for people of their height.

[msanthrope]

9. Who is the stealth Canadian? Should we call John Candy????

[el_bryanto]

3. Posting in individual state forums?

Or posting in GD? In the former i wouldn't be super in favor of it; but I don't participate in the Oklahoma state forum. I don't live there; I've never lived there so I can't really contribute much besides my preconceived biases (I assume that everybody in Oklahoma sings all the time, for example, about what a beautiful day it is).

On the other hand in GD or even Politics 2015, I don't have as big a problem with it. This forum is open to members of other nations, and we have seen participants from all over the place (although mostly Europe and Canada I believe). And I find that people of other nations are often far more informed about our politics than we are about them. If they have something sensible to say than I want to hear it, and if not, well I don't agree with many United States citizens either.

Bryant

[uppityperson]

6. I would be very interested in reading their perspective. Why do you ask?

[reddread]

8. me too

after all, my closest relative was killed over there.
sadly, the culprit has been alternately blamed, excused, covered for and
killed without interrogation.
the VERY BEST information I could possibly get would come from a Saudi,
and NOT from my own government, or Louis Freeh, as they would rather paintball Iran
than serve the cause of justice.

[Rex]

12. Me too...I would say their insight here might be invaluable.

[JonLP24]

7. They would be beheaded for making the wrong post

plus internet is heavily censored in Saudi Arabia I doubt they'd be able to find this place, even Wikipedia is blocked.

[Rex]

11. So SA is a closed government/nation like China?

Did not know that, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[JonLP24]

13. Saudi Arabia bans blogging without a licence

Freedom of speech organizations are condemning a decision by the Saudi Arabian government to force all online ewspapers and bloggers to register with the Ministry of Culture and Information.


Under the new rules, to be introduced next month, all online writers - and this appears to include forums and even short messaging - will need a licence, valid for up to three years.

The Saudi government says the move is simply designed to protect society - and points out that it was already censoring content anyway. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest numbers of bloggers in the Arabic world.

Applicants for a licence need to be Saudi, at least 20 years old and to have graduated from high school. They will also need 'documents testifying to their good behaviour'. Editors of online newspapers will need to be approved by the Ministry of Information and Culture.

Anyone caught blogging without a licence will be subject to a fine of up to 100,000 Riyal ($26,665), and/or a ban - possibly forever.

At the same time, the Saudi government has blocked the Arabic Wikileaks page.

Read more at http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-law-features/53403-saudi-arabia-bans-blogging-without-a-licence#hXQQY5KUybBoo3Lf.99

[Rex]

14. Wow, I did not think they could crawl backwards any faster boy was I wrong!

A licence to speak your mind...why do we support this country again?

[workinclasszero]

17. One word...oil

If you filled up your car with gas today, you put money in the pockets of the Saudi government, most likely.

[reddread]

15. omg I hadnt thought of that

not the kind of folks we should support with out tax dollars and out of pockets, right?
HOLY SHIT! Real Canadians are even more frightening.

[Rex]

10. What if they are and you just don't know it yet?

They could be in this very thread...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

20. No, not yet.

But this should help:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

18. I'd love it

I'd love to get their take on things. I think we can be very insular here and sometimes just repeat what are supposed to be the correct ideas. It's always good to get a variety of views, even if we disagree with them. This is not supposed to be lock step Freeperland.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

19. I would welcome their views on geopolitics

but I'd tell them to get fucking bent if they wanted to discuss party politics or strictly internal matters.

[Bluenorthwest]

21. I think international participation is great. However...

Saudi Arabia is the world's only absolute monarchy and punishes people with the whip for blogging opinion so my feelings about their posts would be the least of their worries I'd think.

[avebury]

22. I would have no problems with it.

When I was fortunate enough to be able to travel overseas a lot when I was younger I used to love to talk to the locals where ever I was about their views on their local and national politics, world politics and even what they thought of the US.

Actually one of the most unusual conversations was when I was in Hawaii on Maui and went to a dinner show. I ended up with a table of Canadian and all they wanted to talk to me about was US politics. I was used to similar talks overseas where I was the one initiating the conversation. It was like the shoe was on the other foot but it was an interesting conversation.

Another time when I was going to school in Vermont I met an Iranian student attending Norwich Academy (a military school). This was not too long before the Iranians were asked to leave the US around the time of the Iranian hostage situation. There were several Iranians at Norwich, some pro-Shah and some pro-Khomeini. This guy was not a fan of Khomeini and was interesting to talk to.

I absolutely love to talk to people from other countries and/or cultures.