I didn’t know whether this should be in Travel or IP…anyway…I haven’t heard of this often happening to travelers near Vatican City recently.
And my thread’s title adds a little sting to the story, doncha think?
[quote] 3 French travelers slain in Saudi desert
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Three French travelers were killed by gunmen Monday in the Saudi Arabian desert when they stopped their car to rest on the side of a road leading to the holy city of Medina in an area restricted to Muslims only.
The travelers were resting on the side of a road about 10 miles north of Medina when gunmen fired at their car, instantly killing two of the men. The third man died later after he was taken to a hospital, and the fourth Frenchman was in serious condition at an area hospital, al-Turki said.
The area the group was traveling in is restricted for Muslims only. Non-Muslims are barred from the area around Medina and neighboring Mecca, the holiest cities in Islam. The Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca, where he began spreading the message of Islam, until he fled to Medina. From Medina, he spread Islam until he died and was buried in the city. Muslims perform the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and usually visit Medina as well.*[/quote]
Yup, Saudi Arabia -the heartland of Islam- is a barbaric shithole. A friend of mine is a devout Catholic and lived in Saudi Arabia for years. They call the route around Mecca “the Christian road” in English, though I doubt that’s what it says in Arabic. He didn’t dare show a cross or Bible, as either is punishable by death and the Saudis, as the above case proves, have no problem killing infidels. One time he was wearing a necklace with a star pendant, a five pointed he star he got from a friend for Christmas. He was stopped one day by the mutaween (religious police), and they demanded to know how many points were on his pendant. Their rifles were aimed at his chest. He kept saying “Five! See? It’s five!” Finally they saw there was five points and let him go. Had he been wearing a Star of David, he probably would have been killed. Another regular feature of his life in Saudi Arabia was being treated to the sight of numerous executions and mutilations. It’s well-known among expats in Saudi Arabia to avoid public gatherings, because if there is ever an execution or mutilation, the mutaween love nothing better than to find any and all infidels they can and force them observe Islamic “justice”.
And they called Jack Straw intolerant and bigoted when he asked a Muslim woman to remove her face veil when speaking to him.
Doctor Evil wrote [quote]you anal academic types.[/quote]
Hey, some of these guys are top intellectuals. Some of their work has appeared in various student newspapers, and a few elite posters have been published in the Taipei Times.
Google it, oh culturally deprived one. It zipped completely over your head. It must sting a bit.[/quote]phhttt. I did Google it. Didn’t tell me much.
Hey, some of these guys are top intellectuals. Some of their work has appeared in various student newspapers, and a few elite posters have been published in the Taipei Times.[/quote]
Yeah, some even have phds. Not that you’d ever know it.
Good grief, folks. Tea in the sahara, from The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. Couldn’t remember the name of the book but the quip is a pretty standard cultural reference. The Police used it as the title of a song back in the 80s. And no I didn’t need to google this, except the name of the book.
Google it, oh culturally deprived one. It zipped completely over your head. It must sting a bit.[/quote]phhttt. I did Google it. Didn’t tell me much.[/quote]
Funny you should mention this. The Sri Lankans are highly pissed off right now. I guess they just don’t understand that Islam is The Religion of Peace ™.
[quote] Saudi Arabia displays Sri Lankan bodies
Saudi Arabia has put the bodies of four Sri Lankans beheaded in Riyadh on display in public in an effort to deter a rising crime wave by foreigners, Saudi media reported.
Al-Riyadh newspaper said the men were “crucified” - tied to wooden beams after beheading - as part of moves to deter other expatriates from crime.
“There is a pressing need to review many of the negative practices of foreigners in the kingdom,” al-Riyadh quoted Abdel-Rahman al-Luweiheq, who teaches at the Imam bin Saud University, as saying.
A Sri Lankan embassy spokesman expressed shock that the sentence was implemented despite appeals to spare them.
“We are shocked, we never expected any of this,” the spokesman said. “We made an appeal asking for clemency.”[/quote]
LOL. I’ve never taught kindy. And I’ve never been an ass, so I miss out on many meeting all sorts of lovely people.
Anyways, I found the lyrics all on my own, but since you’ve made your unwillingness to sit down for a friendly drink clear, the reference didn’t make much sense. After all, it’s clear that the young man in the song isn’t a close friend or relation, he’s a stranger, a “strange obsession.” And you’re one of the least friendly characters around, so that’s stranger still. So what’s the scoop?
Funny you should mention this. The Sri Lankans are highly pissed off right now. I guess they just don’t understand that Islam is The Religion of Peace ™.[/quote]
Funnier still that the Saudis are taken by some as a “moderate” regime and an ally in the war on terror.
Funny you should mention this. The Sri Lankans are highly pissed off right now. I guess they just don’t understand that Islam is The Religion of Peace ™.[/quote]
Funnier still that the Saudis are taken by some as a “moderate” regime and an ally in the war on terror.[/quote]
Not by me. Hell…I view the Saudis as being in the same box as most Canadians.
Jaboney wrote [quote]Funnier still that the Saudis are taken by some as a “moderate” regime and an ally in the war on terror.[/quote]
Funnier still is the that the present regime are less conservative, fundamentalist, and all-round whackjob as the rulers that would most likely come to power if the Kingdom were to become democratic.
To lighten the tone a bit let me just say that I just took a shower and could not stop thinking about The Sheltering Sky. But all I could think about was the scene where John Malkovich went to see the prostitute. She had the biggest, brownest, most beautious breasts I had ever seen. So big, brown and beautious even my PC-addled girlfriend agreed to rewind the video to see them again.
[quote=“Muzha Man”]To lighten the tone a bit let me just say that I just took a shower and could not stop thinking about The Sheltering Sky. But all I could think about was the scene where John Malkovich went to see the prostitute. She had the biggest, brownest, most beautious breasts I had ever seen. So big, brown and beautious even my PC-addled girlfriend agreed to rewind the video to see them again.
Ahhh…that was a nice shower! [/quote]Guess I know what I’m renting tonight
