TIL That giving the thumbs up in Saudi Arabia means I want
Trump gave a thumbs-up in Saudi Arabia, which the U.S
7 Innocent Gestures That Can Get You Killed Overseas
Trump's Saudi trip: Thumbs up and other 'controversies
hey, is it true that a "thumbs up" sign means "up yours
Is Thumbs Up considered rude in Saudi Arabia? : saudiarabia
Trump Made A "Rude" Thumbs Up Sign In Saudi Arabia — But
Trump's Saudi trip: Thumbs up and other 'controversies
How to be respectful to the Arab Culture - Body Language
what does thumbs up mean in saudi arabia
what does thumbs up mean in saudi arabia - win
Representing South Arabia in Imperator
When I heard of Imperator and its scale, I was very excited due to the fact that it also included all of the Arabian Peninsula. Because of my own interest for the history of pre-Islamic Arabia – in fact, I'm writing my doctoral dissertation on South Arabia in Late Antiquity – I tried out a campaign as Saba. First of all, I really want to stress how cool it is to be able to play in a mostly accurate South Arabia. But playing along, there were a number of things that came to mind that I thought could warrant some more attention or exploration. https://preview.redd.it/85y0715t82751.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4410432d30eb619ea2159360a4efb3d20211354 1.The problem of Himyar So there are immediately a few concerns that I have about how South Arabian politics are represented at the end of the 4th century BCE. The most immediate of Ḥimyar. Now the Ḥimyarites would at one point rise to become the main and eventually sole political power in South Arabia, even projecting its power far to the north of the Arabian Peninsula, but in 304 BCE, the tribes that would at one point come together to form the Ḥimyarite confederacy were still subject to the Qatabanians. Ḥimyar as independent entity came into existence about two hundred years after the beginning of the game, towards the end of the second century BCE. This is confirmed by a contemporary of Alexander, Theophrastus of Eresus (372 – 287 BCE) and Eratosthenes of Cyrene (284 – 202 BCE), cited by Strabo. They describe the area as “dominated by four major peoples”, who are mentioned by Strabo as “the Minaeans (Maʿin), whose largest city is Karna (Qarnaw); the Sabaeans (Sabaʾ), whose metropolis is Mariaba (Marib) third, the Cattabanians (Qataban), whose territory stretches down to the straits and the passage across the Arabian Gulf, and whose royal seat is called Tamna (Timnaʿ); and farthest towards the east, the Chatramotitae (Ḥaḍramut), whose city is Sabata”. To me, it seems that the best thing to do here would be to remove Ḥimyar as an independent nation, but to allow for the confederacy to come into existence if certain conditions are met. Historically, the Ḥimyarite confederacy came into being after a series of wars between the Qatabanians and the Sabaeans left both kingdoms in a state of weakness. It would be possible to use the game mechanics to trigger the Himyarites forming a breakaway state in Southwest Yemen, maybe something like 1) low stability, 2) low loyalty and 3) an ongoing war between Qataban and another South Arabian state. 2.Sanʿā: the city that maybe wasn't? Now that we’re on the subject of South Arabian states, there’s another thing I’d like to see addresed. At the beginning of the game, the capital of Saba is given as Sanaa. Now although Sanaa does occur in South Arabian inscriptions as Ṣnʿw (probably pronounced as Ṣanʿaw), the capital of the Sabaeans was Marib. Ṣanʿā would grow in prominence only by the period of the Aksumite invasions from the 3rd century CE onwards, where it served as the capital of the Ethiopians in South Arabia. If choosing a more historically accurate representation, it might be better to replace Sanaa with Ghumdān, an ancient fortress whose traces are still visible in Ṣanʿā to this day. 3.The Marib dam Speaking of Marib, there’s another thing would be cool to implement, which is the Marib dam, originally constructed during the 8th century BCE. The importance of the dam to Sabaean society and politics cannot be overstated: it was a considered a religious duty for rulers to preserve the dam in good order and to effect repairs whenever necessary. On occasion, the dam did break (such as in 145 BCE during a war between the Sabaeans and the inhabitants of Rayda). It's pretty significant that throughout its history (up until the last time the dam broke, probably about a century before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad) the dam of Marib was maintained by a variety of rulers. After the Sabaeans were destroyed and their kingdom taken over by the Himyarites arond the 3rd century CE they kept up maintenance and repair whenever necessary, as did the Aksumites after them. I think it would be both historically accurate and interesting to implement the maintenance of the dam as a game mechanic, where at certain intervals and/or when conquering Marib, the player has the choice to maintain or effect repairs to the dam (at a significant cost) or to ignore it, risking catastrophic short- and long-term consequences. 4.Physical geography https://preview.redd.it/2304i85092751.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad02406ca612ee7e49e4f4fa1f92bbe8f82c2789 The dam of Marib serves as nice segue to the next topic, which is that of urbanization. One of the reasons why Southwest Arabia was able to sustain large populations was due to its climate: whereas the majority of the Arabian Peninsula consists of various kinds of desert (from the evocative sand dunes of the Empty Quarter to the more savannah-like Syrian desert), South Arabia saw enough rainfall and preserved enough freshwatter to allow for long-time and large-scale urban settlements. When we go back to Strabo’s comments on South Arabia, citing Erastothenes, we find the following observation: “All these cities are ruled by monarchs and are prosperous, being beautifully adorned with both temples and royal palaces.”. I believe that right now there are no cities in South Arabia, although one has the possibility of creating a city in Sanaa by completing a mission. In my ideal version of Imperator, I’d love to see at least some cities in the area, preferably Marib, Timnaʿ, Ẓafār, and Yaṯill as well as the ports of ʿAdan, Maḫā (Emporion), and Maddabān (Okelis). Right now I’m not sure how accurate the current representation of the geography of South Arabia is. A considerable part of the Arabian Peninsula is marked by various mountain ranges ranging from the Ḥiǧāz.jpg) mountains in western Saudi-Arabia to the Sarawāt in western and Central Yemen and the Dhofar mountain range in western Oman. Particularly the Haraz mountains in the vicinity of Ṣanʿā provide a spectacular view, with peaks reaching upwards of 3 000 meters. When looking at the map of Imperator, you don’t really get the feeling of these extremities, especially compared to the representation of the Apennines in Italy or the Zagros in western Iran. The mountain ranges of South Arabia were extremely important both economically as well as strategically. As mentioned above, these mountains were high enough to trap clouds and release rainfall, fertilizing the plateaus below them and leading to a considerably cooler climate (for example, the climate of Ṣanʿā is between 20 and 28 degrees Celsius year-round. One of the reasons (although certainly not the only one) why South Arabia is so difficult to control is due to these mountain ranges. Of all the South Arabian political entities, only the Himyarites were able to unify all of South Arabia, and that took them around half a millennium. My suggestion would be to increase the amount of mountains and make them higher, particularly directly to the east and along the coastline running towards what is now Oman. 5.Religion Right now, all of Arabia is represented as following the same pantheon. The deities are al-ʿUzza, Alilat, Ailiah (this should be al-ilāh, maybe?), Al-Kutbay, Al-Qawm, Manat, Orotalt, and Taʿlab. This is an interesting mixture of deities, some of which are mentioned in the Qurʾān, such as al-ʿUzza (who was worshipped in Petra), Allāt (called Alilat by Herodotus) and Manāt, some of which are other Arabian deities, such as Orotalt (probably Ruḍā) and al-Kutbay, a deity of scripture. The problem is that with the exception of Taʿlab none of these deities were ever worshipped in South Arabia. The religious environment of South Arabia is pretty complicated, with over a hundred different names of deities being mentioned in South Arabian inscriptions, however, there are a few important observations to be made: First of all, to some degree the different peoples of South Arabia recognized the primacy of a deity known as ʿAṯtar (interestingly, the male deity ʿAṯtar seems to originate from the same deity that became Ishtar in Mesopotamia). However, all of these people also had their own state god, so to say. In Saba this was Ilmuquh (or Almaqah, we don’t really know how to vocalize these names). In Maʿīn it was Wadd, for the Qatabanians it was ʿAmm, and in Ḥadramūt they worshipped Sayin. Each of these deities were worshipped at a cultic center in the respective capitals of the South Arabian states, and were often referred to as such, so in the case of the Sabaeans you’ll see things like Ilmuquh, lord of ʾAwwām, named after the main temple in Marib. According to Andrey Korotayev, who has published extensively on all kinds of matters South Arabia-related, each layer of South Arabian society had their own deity: from the state to the largest tribes, to smaller clans within that tribe, up to the level of individual families. Honestly, I’m not quite sure how one would represent this system using Imperator’s current game mechanics. One thing that might be interesting to add is how in several South Arabian kingdoms the rulers were considered to have been descended from certain deities (not unlike how the Romans considered Aeneas the descendant of Venus). Maybe there could be a way to have something like this within the framework of the current religion mechanics. At the very least it would be neat to see a difference in the representation of North Arabian religion and South Arabian religion, which were really vastly different. All of these comments notwithstanding, I just want to say that playing Imperator has been really enjoyable so far and I don’t intend these comments to mean anything but constructive criticism. If people don't hate this, I'd like to do another post soon in which I'll talk some more about replacing the current names of South Arabian territories with local ones.
I have a hatred so deep the common person that it feels like my head is gonna explode. I know all of the shit we say is being recorded by the NSA's utah data center( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center ) which has over 5 yottabytes (which is enough data to store the entire internet, dark web, and deep web all in 1 place), and that this kind of shit will be used against those who come into power and not the common man, but i really gotta say fuck all of this, fuck the government, fuck the american people, and fuck this planet with all my heart and soul. The human race is as valuable as their goods they throw away in the garbage which they spent their entire lives working on consuming and trashing what they put their life and soul into. You aren't worthy of living. Society hates you. The peasants hold peasants at a higher standard than politicians and the uber rich. And try to act more reasonable and responsible to people who mock them behind their back and condemn them to a bottomless endless pit. You are expandable resources! And NO AMOUNT OF "FEEL GOOD WORDS" or people saving fucking cats out of tree should restore your faith in humanity. Live like this is your only life and all the peasants and rich want you to drown in your own filth. No one deserves your kindness just like how humanity doesn't wanna look at out for you or your grandchildren even if your ancestors died in wars in hopes that there descendants may live a slightly more peaceful and easy life. You can give your life and soul to the military and you too can end up like a dirty homeless war veteran fighting to make other people more rich while you sacrifice your soul and damn your family tree. There is no winning. And there is no true kindness. You only be kind to buy people and use them. These people who would wanna talk to you and sympathize with you are nothing but a load of shit. Don't get caught up in their imagination or dillusional world. Look at this fucking planet, the peasants are just as responsible as the fucking rich. Get rich or be fine with rotting and decaying, waiting for your life and soul to be taken without your consent. You were born condemned and damned by the world of Jesus fucking christ. Hail satan as a symbol for being a hero for realizing that he lived and share space to an all mighty powerful being who had all the power, control, and say. He convinced the mighty being with nothing to lose. He gained took power, and wanted to live his own life out. I don't follow farm animal religion or farm animal mentality. I see satan as a symbol, not a real god. But a positive symbol nontheless. I know i probably offended religious neets, but you gotta realize people who are spouting off about god, choose to fuck you and be greedy little shits at every turn and corner. A politician talking about jesus and god while sending your children to die in wars WHICH they cannot explain, when not even the president knows! How fucking hilarious is that?! Killing tons of people through indiscriminate bombing to liberate and free the people because we care about them? AND PEOPLE WHO ARE AS POWERLESS AND POOR AS YOU AND I BELIEVE IN THAT SHIT???? We can waste 1 trillions on failed jets(google it), afford corporate bailout and corporate welfare, pay and give weapons to saudi arabia and israel, send a man to the fucking moon. But fuck the people amiright? Let poverty spread like crazy, talk about stock markets as if it's an induction of how well the American people are doing (basing our status off the wealth of investors who sit back and do shit, do cocaine and drugs on wallstreet and crashing the economy with the money you help generated, and you yourself give money it's inherit value by putting so much value and emphasis on it). Priest will go around raping little kids in the house of god, preachers will spend your millions on private jets and gucci clothes instead of doing what they are preaching. This world is a load of shit. And human communication is more self destructive than any individual nuclear weapon. Your mastery of words is your real power, and the elite dumbed down your education and made euphemism mainstream... to deaden the language and remove any nuances and details. To make you understand less and less, putting autistic and stupid child like cartoon and entertainment. They are conquering you through you with words, you stupid fucking peasants. Any major tool that reaches the masses assume that it is hijacked or soon will be hijacked to spy on you and then conquer you. I bet there are secret government ops that spend their time thumbing up and thumbing down content, spreading false information and using pretend profiles to help peasants believe whatever the rich want them to believe and think about. You expose your weakness and vulnerabilities without a single shit every time you reveal what makes you emotional. Choosing the remain ignorant and revealing your weakness by being these static unthinking farm animals/toolbags/sheeps/trash. Your emotions will be preyed upon those who inherently lack emotions(people with anti social personality disorders). Those who are intelligent enough to make money breaking laws and getting away scot free deserve all their wealth, thats what this system hints at. The less work you do, the more you get paid. Exploit others enough and bribe off politicians, hire lawyers. There is no such thing as "rules" or even morality/ethics. It's all made up to keep you complacent and for you to be a predictable good boy/girl, like some fucking dog. If you're dog stops being predictable with unconditional love and all, people wouldn't even buy them. It's why we call them "pets" and not family despite any dog having more compassion and LOVE FOR YOU THAN ANY FUCKING HUMAN ON THIS PLANET OR EVEN YOUR FUCKING PARENTS. A dog would run 100 miles after you if you beat it and fed it shit. Only a dog truly knows when you are down or having a panic attack and is so concerned for you that he runs up and cuddles between your legs because he/she senses something bad is happening or that his friend/family/pack member is hurting real bad. People who abuse animals deserve a fucking bullet in their chest, and dogs and cats should have way more protection than the fucking savage monkey like humans breeding and ripping apart nature and other living organisms lives to make a profit. Stop calling dogs and cats pets, they dont see the relationship that way. Only humans can be "pets." And many are so ungrateful for their cats and dogs that they abuse them and hurt them for fun. These fucking peasants. And worst of the worst politicians comes from within the masses. They aren't leaders they are faces to absorb the true ruling class hatred and take all the blame, they are basically politicial/hate sponges that absorb all the masses hate and disgusts. The real owner class is hidden and pulling all the fucking strings. No peasant or group of stupid peasant with guns can stop these people. Not even the most intelligent (because they will just assassinate him if he becomes too much and manipulate the evidence). All true leaders are either dead or have been assassinated. Only those willing to crush, manipulate and backstab will climb to the top. If you can't do that than you will let other people backstab and manipulate you TO GET TO THE TOP. It's walk on other people crushing their bones or let other peasants walk on you and crush your bones. Deep state can kill you in any possible way, make you die from a "heart attack" or got hit by a car or maybe a "botched robbery" like what happened to the man who leaked hillary clintons emails, he was murdered, and hillary clintons administration obstruction and destroyed evidence. You can't live in this life being nice, and for men, many women want an assertive and dominate man who knows what he wants, and isn't afraid of speaking his mind and hurting her feelings. This is human nature. Humans can't overcome the primitive part of their brain/mind, and choose to be enslaved to it. Even i am (as i watch porn). The primitive monkey like part of our brain and unwillingness to change makes forming a society unreasonable. Hunting gathering tribes and groups is more sustainable and life fulfilling. Not worrying about all this random bullshit, wealth, numbers, keeping up in trend, worrying about what others think, consume, consume, consume without question. Consume until you are 6ft under and can no longer consume. No one values consumers, not even consumers themselves. Look at the shit they buy and keep alive... Consumers fucking hate themselves to make advertising the NUMBER 1 BIGGEST MARKET. That's how fucking dumb the masses are. Respect the rich or hate them... they aren't afraid of abusing an animal that chooses to be abused and pulls back his pack back into the bucket without command. They are well trained pets who know to cage themselves away, and be good little peasants. Hail satan for having balls to stick up to some dickhead who thought it would be pretty cool to create lesser lifeforms to worship him and build a bunch of shit about him and write stories of him killing large swaths of people when he felt like it because of the actions of a few people. People worship that, and religious people are the most intolerant people i've seen coming from people who want follow a "holy spirit." While also preaching hate instead of trying to come together like reasonable people and create solutions. No instead we spend time and wasting this beautiful thing called the internet, to make each other more ignorant, selfish, greedy, and asshole like. To spread hatred towards your fellow human and to feel so much contempt that you wished other powerless people should suffer and die. I grew up in a religious family, but at the age of 12 something in the back of my head said "THIS IS A LOAD OF UTTER BULLSHIT" I had major conflict in my head. And a voice in the back of my head would go off and shit talk god as i sat in church, pointing out the obvious bullshit and illogical stories and poorly understood messages. It's was made to trick idiots into believing that they are constantly being watched so they better act nice or they will burn and suffer for all eternity. Now we don't need a god! With cameras and face scanning technology the government can now replace skydaddy as a sociopathic warlord god that actually does have incredible powers and military weapons that humans 1 thousand years ago would consider it gods power.... If they seen a supersonic jet they'd call it an angel at work... Give up there is no god or hope, no mercy or true kindness. And those who choose to be truly kind, show them what happens for letting their guard down by using their kindness as a weapon against them(i'm sure plenty of you had your kindness used against you, e.g you help someone and they come crawling back asking for more when you are just as broke and powerless as them). Show kindness to people and they will use you like a couch to sit on until their favorite TV stops playing, they don't truly appreciate you, your neighbors, your government, not even "your god" appreciates you. Because god doesn't exist and the vast majority of our 90% above 60 year old senile old boomer politicians are highly religious, and throw god and jesus in your face to wow you, and play to your emotions, then they go behind closed doors, make a Muppet that is you, and proceeds to fuck it until the muppet breaks. They probably laugh and think the peasants suffering is pure melody to their ears. I mean they are dying and getting paid extreme wealth. Why the fuck should they give a fuck? They lived their life! And they get to live in extreme luxury for lying all the time and never giving a fuck about the people, but the people voted that shit in, and will rebel over coronavirus lockdown and not the fact that we went to war for over 20 years for oil that is worth nothing, and sacrificed millions of civilian lives and thousands of soldiers whose dedication and loyalty is betrayed and damned! Like a unconditional loving dog, they fight and die for someone who never gave a fuck about them or their country. The rich have no loyalty to any country, they can move anywhere, they sure as hell don't live within 100 miles of any peasants. I bet they carry hand sanitizer every time they shake a peasants hand or touches a public door knob... "ewwww i got peasant stench on my hand"
Theory Revisited: Could the Last Safe City on Earth be in South America or somewhere else?
Revisiting the "Last City in South America" Theory
Some good conversation from last week on a separate post was brought up but there still seems to be some confusion on this topic, so I decided to do a deep-dive of both Destiny's lore and the in-game evidence against real life comparisons to see where all of the evidence seems to be leading. Here are some of the other Reddit posts I used to get myself acquainted with this topic (oldest to most recent):
I gathered some evidence the DestinyLore community has presented and looked into to, but there's something we all need to be on the same page about: this is only a theory as Bungie has not confirmed this in-game or via communication (TWAB, Tweet, Announcement/News, Comment on DTG, etc.). I invite you all to pick this apart: add any additional evidence (please source or reference) for or against this theory and tell us about any inconsistencies or flaws you noticed. Let me know what you think.
Evidence for Last City being in South America (Lore)
Hawthorne:Things must be worse than I thought. And that's our cue. Time to go, people! Ghost:Ah, but… Wait! Where… where are you all going? Hawthorne:As far away from here as possible. ... Hawthorne:All right people, spin 'em up! Got a long flight ahead of us!
@ 4:22 you can see snow-capped mountains in the background as the Guardian exits the wall of the Last City
Hawthorne:"For the City. But you all got attacked, I dropped everything and flew across the ocean to try and help. But the City sure doesn't need it anymore. We could use that stuff at the Farm."
The EDZ has signs reading Zervreilahorn and Graubünden (Grisons) which can found in an eastern region of Switzerland (more on this later)
"Where did you come from?" Orin asks, staring too hard, standing a little too close. It is impossible not to: every other blue-skinned person she has ever seen has either been dead or a distant figure hurrying for a gleaming ship. The young woman cringes away from her. "The Sinaloan ruins."
At this point, Orin had been traveling with the Pilgrim Guard
"The Sinalaon Ruins" seems to be referencing an area along the western coast of Mexico: Sinaloa
"The land down south is good: arable, temperate, and with too many indigenous parasites for the Fallen to wish it as a customary home. Even if there is no safe city there, it is a better place to guide civilians than the ravaged deserts and plains of the north."
"Deserts and plains of the north" would refer to northern Mexico (deserts) and southern US (deserts west and plains east)
Filthy children scream with laughter as they play tag around salvaged tanks. A civilian militia stands vigil over cassava farmers. Armored Risen bicker over where they should mark the city's borders and how best to defend them.
Gol explains that there is a settlement a few days' walk to the east, that there is no road, and that the wilderness is regularly patrolled by roving aliens who will try to kill them both. As he speaks, Orin looks around. They are surrounded by a young forest vivacious with birds and clouds of gnats.
The "wilderness" from Book: Ecdysis - Risen is established by the multiple and massive National Forests and Parks nearby Whulge IRL
Amanda Holliday:I was born outside the City walls, you know that? Yeah, it was rough on the refugee roads.My ma died crossing the Panama ravine.Pa died just a half-day's ride from the City gate. Folks back then thought, if you made it to the City, you were safe. Took me a long time to feel safe here. I guess that's why I like working in the Tower with y'all. Guardians don't die. 'Least, that's what I thought. But… Forward momentum, buddy. That's what Cayde would want. And, uh… what else can we do?
The Chaperone talks about the time Nora, Amanda's mother, left her parents to find the Last City
The Panama Ravine (one of Chaperone's Ornaments) references the place her mother died
Amanda Holliday:Still can't believe what they did to his robe. Treated it like a trophy. Even a puffed-up Cryptarch doesn't deserve to end up like that. Nobody does. I was out of ideas, so I showed Rahool what you found. His face when he found out... like it had happened to him. Couple hours later, I get some coordinates on my terminal - for a Fallen transmat pad in the EDZ. I can't read where it's pointin', but it's somewhere they don't want you to be. This is our chance.Head back across the pond, use that transmat, and get ready for trouble.
American/Canadian and European friends use "Across the pond" as slang for "across the Atlantic Ocean"
Have you ever watched a snake kill something? It's awful. It's so awful. I watched a man die of a terciopelo bite once. Out by the northern wall. I still have nightmares about it.
Also @ 1:00 you'll notice Pinophyta trees (conifers) which "seasonally alter their biochemistry to make them more resistant to freezing"
They are dominantly noticed in snow forests in the Northern Hemisphere, but can exist in cool climates in the Southern Hemisphere including,but not limited to, parts of South Africa and Southern Australia
Chile and Argentina are close to the same latitude as South Africa and Southern Australia
General Chen Lanshu banks out across the Wall. Look at all that beauty! Look at the highway rolling off across green hills and grey mountains. Imagine, now, imagine if she just landed and started walking, out away from everything, into the wilderness...
The Cosmodrome Wall was built during the Golden Age when the Colony Ships were being launched
This was before the City was The City. This is before the walls. Still in the shadow of the fragile giant above, but before. ... As the first walls formed — built of hard work and sacrifice — Rezyl and the Guardians stood against the alien plunderers time and again. More survivors arrived. More warriors. The Guardian ranks swelled. The City grew.
The Last City's First Walls were built at the end of the Dark Age while the Fallen attacked the City before coordinating
Zavala:"Power. And we've intercepted Red Legion transmissions about a new fragment of the Traveler that splintered off during Ghaul's assault. Xol won't be able to resist its Light."
During Chosen (Red War Campaign @ 6:11), we see the Traveler's Light explode and shards of the Traveler's exterior shell scatter at high velocities
The light pierces the darkness. Not like the sunrise, not like a wall or a flood, but a single crepuscular ray—a finger of radiance that reaches out through deepest night to touch her. It illuminates Mara, Uldwyn, and Yang Liwei. It is not quite enough. It cannot vanquish the shadow. ... She knows what's happening. Too much power has gathered here. The universe is appalled by the paradox. Nothing that has glimpsed this collision of infinitudes can be allowed to escape. The cosmos must censor its embarrassment. It must sequester the anomaly. The slope of warped space-time around them has become too steep, and now every path outward or forward bends back to the center where Light and Dark collide. ... A singularity is forming around her. A kugelblitz: a black hole created by the concentration of raw energy.
If a collision of the Darkness and the Traveler's power created a black hole, I don't think it is unreasonable that a Shard of the Traveler could have been flung into the EDZ
During this cutscene, we get a clear look from space at the Traveler and Earth's surface
However, more than half of the Earth's surface is either covered with clouds or cast in shadow, making it purposely impossible for us to deduce which land masses may aline below
I don't think there's enough information there to lead to any weighted conclusions
Could the Traveler have caused Pangaea to occur on Earth?
You mourn. The thought of all the other Mayas out there doesn't help. They weren't the Maya you'd puzzled with over living basalt flowers, a world with seventeen moons, a continent that Shim had sworn up and down was sixteenth-century Australia and that Duane-McNiadh couldn't be dissuaded from calling Pangaea. You'd found a simulation with a city where you discovered a jewelry store, picked out a necklace, brought it home to her, and wished her a happy pseudo anniversary.
Theories from the past speculated that the Traveler's influence on Earth could have caused Pangaea during our time
I could not find any in-game evidence to support this
The Ishtar Researchers are utilizing simulations of the future while in the Vex Network, which means that any reference to Pangaea is a possibility during a future timeline
This poster makes a claim using in-game screenshots from D1 (Posted on May 6, 2018)
You can clearly see the outline of Africa covered in clouds, Saudi Arabia, and what looks like India
This poster also outlines cultural references found in the Tower related to Middle-Eastern culture:
Hijabs and/or Shielas
Urns with middle-eastern artistry
Middle-eastern/asain designs for tiles and architecture
Evidence against India, Nepal, and Tibet
Hawthorne's reference to the Atlantic
"Across the pond" in pop-culture is mostly used by Americans and Europeans when traveling over the Atlantic or talking about friends across the Atlantic
Traveling from the Zervreilahorn to Lhasa could be considered a "long flight" of 7,089 km (4,349 miles or 8+ hours)
Traveling from the Zervreilahorn to Nepal could be considered a "long flight" of 6,662 km (4,101 miles or 8+ hours)
Traveling to Lhasa and Nepal would be quicker than Chile by 7 hours
This may be more about perspective, but EDZ to South America would be nearly double the travel time
The Concept of Arab Diaspora
This is new info for me, so here's a short summary of what Arab Diaspora is/means:
This source was last edited on December 18, 2019
Arab Diaspora refers to descendants of Arab immigrants who emigrated from their native lands to non-Arab places including South America, North America, The Carribeans, Europe, West Africa, and South/South-East Asia
Specifically, the lagest relevant-partial ancestry is in Brazil: 9-12 million
Other relative Arabic descendants and the larger Arab communities can be found in South American countries: Argentina, Venezuela, Columbia, and Chile
Humanity was being killed off left and right by the Fallen during the Collapse and Dark Ages, so much of any culture barely survived
Based on that link, somewhere between 9 and 20 million people would have been in South America
This would be larger than the actual amount of Arab descendants living in Arab countries today (~5.8 million)
This is not even considering the ~6.5 million Arab Descendants in Central and North America
Arab Diaspora creates a reasonable argument for Arab influences to exist beyond the Middle-Eastern and South Asain countires
Relevant Info for Confirmation by False Account from 4 Years Ago
I want to introduce everyone to Veegie otherwise known as Nate Hawbaker
Bungie Developer: Technical Art Lead (Rendering R&D) - check out his Twitter
Nate is still an active Bungie Developer and has been commenting on Reddit posts for a long time
Between Nate's comment and the OP of the post he was commenting on, it's clear that the skybox wasn't "wrong"
Surprisingly, a lot of people believed this back then and I wanted to make sure the air was cleared for good
Edit #1: Thank You for the Great Discussion
I really appreciate the discussion taking place on this, the questions being asked, the differing opinions, and the maturity of these commenting. Also, thanks for the Silver you Exo Strangers, you rock! I'm learning just as much as everyone else from this, but here's some more information we've gathered.
Amanda once told me that her mother, Nora, came from desert people, in a place far, far from here. Nora had been on the road since she was a girl, sometimes with nothing more than an old scribbled map and that shotgun of hers. She didn't need much, but she did need people. Nora met Amanda's father in some half-abandoned village, and when she told him about the Last Safe City, well, he followed her. They had no family but themselves. They picked up fellow refugees on the way. Lost others.Then they had their precious little girl. It must have been a slow, slow road—first with a little baby, then with a young child. But they believed. They had hope. They pushed on.
Ghost:A Shard of the Traveler. I can't find any record of why it's here, or how it got here. We're a long way from the City, you know. I want to believe it's here for a reason. For us.
Another reference to being far away from the Last City
Note: the Traveler hasn't moved since the Collapse and the Last City was built during the Dark Ages. u/Grimlock_205 and I discussed an idea: what if the Traveler was over the area now known as the EDZ during the its battle with the Darkness and the collision's blast which nearly killed the Traveler actually pushed it away from the EDZ? Could that explain why the giant Shard in the EDZ's forest is far rom the City and the Traveler?
Someone on raidsecrets did a comparison against an in-game map and found it to be of a location in Houston, Texas (US)
Most of raid secrets determined that their might have been a cache attached to that location
The question: what if Cayde was searching for something for Amanda Holliday? We know they were close, so I don't think it could be unreasonable of him to look into this for Amanda, especially knowing Cayde's natural curiosity and their general friendship.
This cutscene creates a vagueness in terms of the journey because of the amount of clouds being used
There are points where we can't see above or below images because of the obstruction caused by the clouds
There's also a transitioning point where we exit the storm clouds in another set of clouds and light: is may not necessarily mean we arrived immediately at the City
Basically, we can't determine one reason being greater than the other, so this evidence remains neutral
Crucible Arena: Twilight Gap (Electrical Boxes)
Most of the language seen on the structures in Twilight Gap are Fallen/Eliksni Language
It was Wen Jie who told me. At first I didn't believe her—I mean, it's Wen Jie; she believes in moon fairies and the continent of Antarctica—but she showed me the crystals.
u/Gone_Godlike proposed that Antarctica (landmass) may be underwater
Even if it was underwater, the distance would be
This wouldn't prevent us from being able to use Antarctica: Hardy's Orders shows us that underwater locations exist and were used during the Golden Age. However, underwater places were probably destroyed during the Collapse and natural disasters that arised
But even if Antarctica was underwater and that area of the World Map became a new ocean, it would be too far out of the way to justify traveling over in order to get to the main countries considered in the lore remainign on Earth
Clearing-Up Misinformation
We don't walk from the City Perimeters to the EDZ: Hawthorne flies us via her ship in Adieu
The Location of Twilight Gap in-game for D1 and D2 is "Last City Perimeter, Earth": it does not say anywhere specifically
Primer on the oil and gas industry, demand destruction and the price war
TL;DR Oil demand may fall by as much as 20 million barrels a day this year, which is insane. The price war is leading to oversupply and probably won’t end soon. So you have a demand shock and a supply shock creating a perfect shit storm. It is not impossible for oil to fall into the single digits. There will be blood. Just to get it out of the way: SPY $200p 4/24 and F $4p 4/17. I know, I’m a fucking idiot. Edit: I recommend reading clangdo3's comments below, he adds some great color as well. I’ve been getting questions about oil trickling in since fuzzyblankeet started writing his outstanding corporate debt threads and I wrote about it in one of them, so I figured I would give you guys a (short, but terribly long for you autists) primer on the oil and gas industry, demand destruction and the price war. TL;DR’s will be provided in sections for the lazy or can’t be bothered. I’m not giving you trades because 1) you need to do your own DD on specific companies (I briefly looked at finances for Oxy and Devon in fuzzy’s first thread if you want to go find that); fuzzy’s suggestions are a good place to start, particularly for US shale companies 2) I’m not an experienced options trader and you don’t need me giving you full-retard plays. As far as my background, my full-time job involves covering the news in the sector for an industry-specific data and analytics company. You have to pay more than pocket change to read my good stuff, but I'm several orders of magnitude less expensive than fuzzy. I mainly cover the Canadian and international upstream markets, but I have dabbled in the rest of it, including capital markets, and I understand the broad strokes of US shale. Definitions TL;DR If you know nothing of the oil and gas industry, you may need a bit of a down-and-dirty glossary to get started. I wrote this first, so I may not use all the terms listed (and I certainly didn’t list all the terms there are), but they are good to know anyways. Skip if you have at least a passing familiarity with the industry. · Upstream – Essentially exploration and production. These are the companies (or divisions of supermajors) that find the oil and gas and pull it out of the ground. · Midstream – Transportation and storage. Moving produced oil and gas by pipeline, truck, ship, railcar, etc. and when needed, storing them. · Downstream – Refineries and plants. These are the guys that turn unprocessed crude and gas into end-use or intermediate products. · Oilfield Services – These are the companies that help upstream companies get their shit. They may shoot seismic to help find prospects, run land or offshore rigs to drill wells, build infrastructure, provide drilling fluids or other chemicals, and a whole host of other shit. · Conventional – These wells are the traditional image of how oil and gas gets produced. You drill a well (mostly) straight down and you find a pocket of oil and/or gas or you don’t. Good rock with high permeability and porosity. Most offshore production is conventional. It also typically has lower decline rates. · Unconventional – This is essentially shale. Tight rock with low permeability and porosity. You drill down to the rock and then drill a lateral section, so you have as much pipe in the pay zone as possible. Then you use that evil fracking shit to break the rock up so oil and gas flow. These wells are often comparatively more expensive to drill, and the output declines quickly, so you have to constantly drill new wells if you want to maintain or grow production. Unconventional shale is what led to the US boom in production in recent years. · Oilsands – Canada. This can either be mined to produce bitumen or extracted through things like steam-assisted gravity drainage (pump steam into ground to heat up the bitumen and make it less viscous). It has to be blended with diluent (very light oil or condensates) to move in pipelines and is processed into synthetic crude. · Light vs Heavy oil – API gravity says how light or heavy oil is. High API is lighter, low API is heavier. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, they have different uses. For example, heavy oil makes better fuel oil for ships. Sometimes oil can have high sulfur content, which is expensive but necessary to remove. “Sweet” oil means low sulfur content. WTI and Brent are light crudes, a lot of Middle Eastern, Canadian and Venezuelan oil (as examples) is heavy. · Condensate and Natural Gas Liquids – C2-C5+ (ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, etc.) found in some gas fields. Exist as liquids at ambient temperatures and often more valuable than the gas itself. · Gas – Natural gas, not gasoline. Most oil fields have associated gas production, which may be flared (burned off) or reinjected into the reservoir to enhance recovery (keeps pressures higher so production doesn’t decline as fast). · LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas. If you’re exporting gas overseas and can't use a pipeline, you send it to a terminal that makes it really fucking cold to liquefy it and then send it to export markets by ship, where it is turned back into gas. · OPEC and OPEC+ - You all should have heard of the OPEC cartel, but OPEC+ was a group of non-member countries (Russia chief among them) that worked with OPEC to protect oil prices by reducing their output. That ended early in March and led to the price war. · NOCs – National Oil Companies. Most producing countries have a state-owned oil company that will typically control large portions of the country’s reserves or all of it; sometimes there are a few state-owned companies in one country. They’ll also partner in assets outside of their country. Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia, Rosneft and Gazprom in Russia, Petrobras in Brazil, ONGC in India, Equinor in Norway, etc. The US, obviously, does not have a NOC. Not all NOCs are created equal. Pemex, Mexico’s NOC, is a steaming pile of shit and the one of the most indebted companies in the world. · Supermajors – There are five: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total. Huge, valuable companies that have been around forever and will probably be around until the Sun swallows the Earth or we all kill each other. Even after we transition away from hydrocarbons as our energy source, these behemoths will adapt and endure. Industry Background TL;DR Very brief history, skip if you don’t care The oil and gas industry has always been more boom and bust than a lot of other sectors. The world wants exactly as much petroleum as it wants and not a drop more. When supply does not match demand, prices fluctuate widely. OPEC (essentially led by Saudi Arabia) was formed in 1960 and as of 2018, its 14 member countries control nearly half of global production and over three-quarters of proven reserves. Since the 1980s, the organization began setting production targets to protect oil prices and market share. This has led to a series of price wars, with the previous occurring in 2014-2016. US oil production peaked in the 1970s and had been in steady decline until about 2009, when the shale revolution began. The early days were the wild west, with small independents springing up like weeds and spending years and billions focused on growth over returns. Oil output climbed to 8-9 MMbo/d in 2014 and was over 12 MMbo last year, making the US the largest producer in the world. The price war in 2014 began when Saudi Arabia and OPEC moved to protect market share by allowing themselves to exceed their production quotas. The goal of the price war was to reign in US shale. US output fell from a peak of 9.5 MMbo/d to a low of 8.5 MMbo/d. However, companies were backstopped by an inflow of new capital from lenders, private equity and others under the promise of future returns. Oil prices dipped into the high $20/bbl range before the end of the war. The price war was ultimately abandoned by Saudi Arabia after King Salman was warned that the country would be bankrupt within three to four years if it continued and major economic reforms weren't implemented. In the years since the 2014-2016 price war, consolidation has begun in the US shale patch. New capital is harder to come by and investors have shifted focus from continued growth to positive cash flow and returns. Smaller or over-levered companies have started folding or been bought out by larger, stronger competitors, including supermajors. In order to curb oversupply issues and protect prices, OPEC+ (OPEC, Russia and ten other non-members) began curtailing production in 2017. Those original cuts have been extended and expanded multiple times, all the way through March 2020. The current cuts that expire Wednesday amount to 1.7 MMbo/d, or 2.1 MMbo/d when including voluntary reductions from Saudi Arabia. Demand Destruction: Who needs oil when you are knocking back a cold bottle of beer flu TL;DR Oil demand could fall by 20 MMbo/d YOY at the peak. Bad for prices. Covid-19 threw a wrench into oil markets, which should be painfully obvious. Industrial production in China—one of Russia and Saudi Arabia’s primary customers—fell off a cliff. China is the largest energy consumer in the world and accounted for over 80% of global oil demand growth last year. Demand for transport fuels has also been pummeled with 3 billion people on lockdown and fewer goods moving around. As an example of how important that is, 70% of US petroleum consumption, or 14 MMbo/d, is used for transportation. Petroleum is also used for hundreds of intermediate and end-use products such as plastics, polyurethane and solvents, which aren't being made. Power generation is also important, but a fairly small slice of the pie, and I don’t have time to get into electrical grids, baseload power and everything else it involves. In early March, the IEA estimated oil demand this year would fall by 90,000 bo/d from 2019 to a total of about 100 MMbo/d, compared to its previous estimate of 825,000 bo/d of growth. This forecast was based on an assumption of 2.5 MMbo/d less demand in Q1 with a gradual rebound the rest of the year. At the time, its best case scenario was that oil demand would grow by 480,000 bo/d. In the worst case, demand would fall by 730,000 bo/d. This was pretty bad, but far too rosy an outlook. Since then, numerous analysts have projected declines in demand ranging from 7 to 10 MMbo in Q2. Goldman Sachs and Vitol (world’s largest independent oil trader) estimate oil demand could fall by 15-20 MMbo/d YOY at its peak. The IEA has since said much the same thing. Even if the price war ended tomorrow, it would be too late to avoid an oversupply issue, which I’ll talk about later. Price War: “Fuck US Shale” -Putin probably, but in Russian TL;DR Saudi Arabia and Russia are fighting for market share, with the added benefit of knee-capping US Shale. Oversupply could be several million barrels per day. Both of them are equipped to draw this out. Even worse for prices. Saudi Arabia and OPEC knew how bad the pandemic was going to be for oil prices, so they sought to extend and expand production cuts again in late February and early March. The cuts would have taken another 1.5 MMbo/d off the markets through 2020, for a total of 3.6 MMbo/d. The proposal required the approval of OPEC+ (mainly Russia), as the non-members would have been responsible for 500,000 bo/d of the cuts. Russia, as we all know, did not agree to the cuts. Their argument was that any production cuts were quickly replaced by growth in US shale oil production. Which is true, we’ve added about 3 MMbo/d in the three years that OPEC+ has cut production by, at most, 2.1 MMbo/d. There have been reports that new sanctions against Rosneft regarding commercial relations with Venezuela were what ultimately caused Putin to tell his energy minister to reject the cuts. Saudi Arabia responded quickly. Russia rejected the deal on March 6, and by March 8 the Saudis cut their official selling prices and kicked off the war, leading to the March 9 oil route. In a bid to recover market share they lost in the previous war, Saudi Arabia cut prices for their flagship Arab Light crude by $8/bbl for northwest Europe in April—directly challenging Russia—setting a discount of $10.25/bbl under Brent, compared to a $2/bbl discount for Russia’s Urals blend. The Saudis also reduced their prices to Asia and the US by $6-7/bbl. Beyond prices, Saudi Arabia promised to increase production to 10 MMbo/d from their current 9.7 MMbo/d, once the existing OPEC+ production cuts fell off on April 1. Since then, they have doubled down and said they would increase production to 12.3 MMbo/d and begin increasing capacity to 13 MMbo/d. Now, it is estimated that 12 MMbo/d is the Saudi’s current production capacity, meaning they would have to dip into their stored reserves and couldn’t maintain 12.3 forever. The UAE, primarily Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC, said they would increase production by 1 MMbo/d. Russia promised to increase their production by 300,000 bo/d. The other 12 members of OPEC and 10 non-member countries of OPEC+ also have no reason to hold back anymore. This won’t happen overnight on April 1, but you still have promises to add something like 3.5-4 MMbo/d to a market that doesn’t need it, which is a nightmare in the best of times. Unlike previous price wars, which were started by Saudi Arabia to protect market share, Russia started this one for geopolitical and economic reasons. Putin pulled the trigger, and he is obviously not some replaceable energy minister, so this will go on as long as he wants or until everyone else capitulates. Russia is also far less reliant on oil revenue than Saudi Arabia. According to the IMF, Russia needs $42/bbl to balance its budget, compared to $82/bbl for the Saudis. Oil and gas revenue account for 1/3 of Russia’s budget and about half its exports, compared to 80% and 2/3 for Saudi Arabia. Russia has also said it could withstand $25-30/bbl for 6-10 years (remember SA ended the 2014-16 war because they were going to be bankrupt in 3-4). Saudi Arabia’s advantage is that they have the cheapest production costs in the world, at $2.80/bbl. Their budget requires $82/bbl because they are using the revenues to try to diversify their economy, which they can also put on the back burner. To quote analyst Vincent Lauerman, “If oil consumption was to decline by a conservative 2.5 million bbls/d this year, oil production by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Russia was to increase by 2.57 million bbls/d on an annualized basis, and given the initial 1.65 million bbls/d surplus forecasted by OPEC, global oil supply would exceed consumption by an insane 7.88 million bbls/d in 2020. In the heart of the previous three oil price wars, global oil supply exceeded consumption by no more than 1.76 million bbls/d, in 1998.” He went on to say that the surplus won’t be that high, for several reasons, which will be explained next. But it’s a good summation of how impactful a price war during a pandemic is. Impacts on Industry: We’re all fucked (by popular request) TL;DR WTI oil prices could fall to $10/bbl or even single digits. Shale companies are fucked, OFS companies are fucked, downstream companies may be fucked. Midstream companies may actually be ok. The most obvious impact are oil prices. WTI briefly hit its lowest price since 2002 once already since March 9 and again today, when it fell below $20/bbl. WCS (Canadian benchmark) costs less to buy—about $8-9/bbl—than it does to ship it. I won’t spend much time on Canada, they’ve been fucked since 2016 as they don’t have enough takeaway capacity and too much regulatory uncertainty, and now they’re just a gaping, bloody mess. But the prices aren’t stopping here. With the massive oversupply that is coming and limited storage, many analysts are forecasting prices as low as $10/bbl or even single digits if the price war and pandemic are drawn out. Several US shale basins were marginally economic to begin with (remember unconventional wells are expensive), and with prices falling so far they are entirely uneconomic. Almost every company, although not all of them, have cut capital expenditures (and sometimes dividends and executive/employee pay) to reduce their cash outflows. Remember, new capital saved shale in the last war, but it isn’t happening this time. Shale is no longer in the good graces of lenders it enjoyed in previous years. The companies will be able to prop up production for a while with DUC inventories, which are wells that were drilled but uncompleted, meaning they can be brought on stream for relatively small amounts of capex. But eventually those will run out, and uneconomic production will be shut in regardless. Russia (Putin) is actually likely to get what they want, at least for a while, as independent producers in the US who don’t have the state backing of a NOC will let production decline to try to survive. Many producers, including US shale companies, have been hedging their production in recent years to protect against low oil prices. Many of them also used three-way collars to do it. An example of a three-way collar would be buying a put at $45/bbl, then selling a call at $55/bbl and another put at $35/bbl to offset premiums. They’re fine between $45-$55—or whatever they expected oil's price range to be—and protected from $35-$45, but once it falls below that, the put they sold wipes out any gains from the one they bought and then some. Some, like Devon, used costless collars and swaps to hedge, so their positions will be fine (Devon’s position is worth about $800MM right now). And a few, like Continental, didn’t hedge at all, so they get to take $20 or $10/bbl right in the nuts. Storage is also finite and quickly running out, which is and will further depress prices. The Texas Railroad Commission (regulates O&G in Texas) said some pipeline operators have issued warnings to producers to reduce production because storage is filling up. Midstream companies, I think, will actually weather this storm fairly well. Pipelines are typically anchored by long-term firm service (take-or-pay) contracts, and as storage becomes more scarce it becomes more expensive. Enbridge, a Canadian midstream company that is North America’s largest, has already said it is in a strong position to get through this. Oilfield services companies are particularly vulnerable. Unlike producers and midstream companies, their product is their work. If they don’t have work, they don’t have cash flow, whereas the others can sit on their thumbs and the oil and gas provides cash flow. Halliburton has reduced hours for 3,500 employees in Houston, as an example. And Aker Solutions and some other OFS companies that operate in the North Sea have issued layoff warnings to all of their employees and sent foreign contractors home. Downstream companies are also being affected, as refineries are preparing for run cuts (falling demand, no one wants what they are selling) and slowing deliveries (they’re onsite storage is running out too). Once all this blows over, oil and gas will recover. Again, it won’t be overnight. Production will have to be cut across the industry until demand recovers (probably next year will be ok). They will have to wait for storage levels to fall too before prices will recover fully. There will be bankruptcies during and a wave of consolidation after. As an aside, the adminstration’s promise to buy 77 MMbo for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a crock of shit. The SPR is already 90% full, and 77 MMbo, if they can even buy that much, is a drop in the proverbial bucket. It would accomplish nothing and will not protect oil prices or US companies at all. So what do we do with this asshole? TL;DR I don’t know. I’m a dumbass and I only know about oil and gas, but I can’t directly participate in energy markets. Figure it out for yourself. Again, I’m not doing DD for you on specific companies, that’s on you. As I said before, fuzzyblankeet threads are a good place to start, and I did talk about Devon and Oxy a bit in his first thread. A lot of US shale companies have debt up to their eyeballs, much of it bad. I’m restricted by my company from participating directly in energy markets, so I haven’t looked as closely at companies as I have in other sectors, other than for those I’m writing about for work (and 75% of what I write is focused specifically on E&P operations). It should already be priced in, but I think there may be some more movement on April 1 when the OPEC+ cuts fall off and a deal hasn’t been reached (they aren’t even talking, it’s not going to happen). Saudi Arabia can turn on the taps quickly from 9.7 MMbo/d, as their current production capacity is estimated at 12 MMbo/d, but by and large the increases in output will take weeks or months to materialize. This will be offset to some extent by falling production among independent producers all over the world, but it won’t be enough. Upstream US company stocks are sure to go lower, especially if WTI goes to $10/bbl or below, and some of them will go bankrupt. Might be a good opportunity to buy in for them sweet dividends (when they come back), but also carries a risk. Some of my sources for the specifics (not all, some are paywalled, some are from work) https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/press_room/5797.htm https://www.iea.org/news/global-oil-demand-to-decline-in-2020-as-coronavirus-weighs-heavily-on-markets https://www.upstreamonline.com/production/brace-for-the-carnage-oil-hits-18-year-low-on-demand-collapse-and-flood-of-supplies/2-1-783812 https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/use-of-oil.php https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Goldman-Sachs-Prepare-For-A-Massive-Oil-Demand-Shock.html https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/IEA-Boss-Warns-Demand-Will-Plunge-By-20-Million-Barrels-Per-Day.html https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Pipeline-Operators-Un-Texas-Urge-Producers-To-Stop-Pumping.html Edit: News came out this morning reporting that Trump and Putin agreed to have their energy officials sit down and talk about stabilizing energy markets. Not bad news, but it's unclear what will come of it.
Coming Out Angry: Why Coming Out Should Be Less Glitter, More Radicalism
\ This is an article first posted on my* Medium blog. Given it's now behind the Medium paywall I thought I would share it here on the off chance it's of interest to a wider audience. It's my first time posting here, so I hope everything is within the thread rules! https://preview.redd.it/vbd9hexvfm041.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=046822bb416c742319cf3dd2084341a6e6767d09 I have lived my entire adult life under the false impression I was heterosexual. In recent weeks and months, I have come to the realisation I am in fact, bisexual. Only accepting and working toward full understanding of my sexuality at the ripe old age of 34 has been a somewhat disorienting experience. Suppressed adolescent memories of social, self and familial shaming have returned to me, combined with a greater understanding of patterns throughout my romantic life to date. As seems fairly common for bi people, there is also an overwhelming sense of impostor syndrome — am I really bi? Can I be so if I currently find myself mostly attracted to women? If I’m in a relationship with a woman? What does it mean if these factors and more cause me to appear straight to those around me? If I’m always assumed to be something I’m not? I have eased into the process of coming out by starting with my partner who, bi herself, has had a major influence in helping me accept this part of myself. Other than her, I have told a few friends and acquaintances, several of whom are also bi. Whilst I am yet to take the plunge and have ‘the talk’ with very close friends and family, I am confident pretty much everyone will receive the news with understanding and kindness. Yet, even though my circle of friends and relatives is homophobe-free, I am girding my loins for some inappropriate comments and questions. I have already been disappointed and somewhat angered by the reaction of an ex-girlfriend I decided to tell via, an admittedly ill-conceived, drunken WhatsApp message. The person in question responded to my coming out with a thumbs-up emoji and what can be paraphrased as ‘so what?’’. In an ideal world, this would be the perfect response to learning someone isn’t heterosexual. In a distant society free of heteronormativity, bisexuality will be as interesting and incidental as the colour of one’s hair, i.e not very. Yet we live in a capitalist society where racism, homophobia and patriarchy all help maintain the system’s division of and control over working-class people. Anything deemed outside the highly constrained bounds of ‘normality’ (heterosexuality, whiteness, male-dominated) as a potential threat to be purged. This is so deeply internalised that certain groups within the LGBTQ+ community can face disproportionate levels of animosity from other LGBTQ+ individuals. https://preview.redd.it/ktsh9olyfm041.jpg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11cad65684d5a489dbe7dd36578a7e66d571910d
Bisexuality — Neither One Nor The Other
As a white man in a relationship with a woman and therefore ‘passing as straight’ in public spaces together, we are far less likely to be on the receiving end of outright abuse than others. Yet bisexual people of all backgrounds do face a secondary level of prejudice. Unable to fit neatly within either the gay/lesbian — straight binary, many people experience a sense of ‘bi-erasure’. In the US, the Pew Research Center found a mere 12% of bisexual men have come out, compared to 77% of gay men, strongly implying there continues to be a stigma and prejudice attached to the term. Meg-Hohn Barker and Alex Iantaffi highlight how bisexual people not only face prejudice from the political right but often from within the LGBTQ+ community itself, “…Many people in lesbian and gay communities still say things like “bi now, gay later” which implies that bisexuality is a phase on the way to identifying as gay or lesbian. This means that bisexuality is often associated with immaturity and not knowing what you want. In addition, bi people are often seen as greedy or, as the common stereotype goes, “wanting to have their cake and eat it”. Worse still are the stereotypical portrayals of bisexual people in wider society. As Barker and Iantaffi explain, bisexual women are often portrayed as “out of control”, “greedy” “nymphomaniacs” who cannot be satiated. This is even more damaging in relation to black bisexual women who are already overly sexualised. Bisexual men have often been regarded as a threat because of their potential as ‘vectors of disease’, including transmitting HIV. Whilst promiscuity is not frowned upon amongst men as it is women, the stereotype of promiscuity combined with homophobia often results in bisexual men being deemed a “danger” to straight women, because of the perceived risk of HIV transmission. This despite there being no evidence of higher transmission rates of HIV for people in mixed-orientation relationships. Though entirely imagined, such stereotypes and prejudices have very real impacts on health outcomes for bisexual people. As Human Rights Campaign report, trans and bisexual people are consistently shown to have striking rates of poor health outcomes compared to their lesbian and gay counterparts. This means bisexual people, including young people, are more likely to both feel suicidal and to attempt suicide, as well as to live with depression and anxiety. They are also less likely to seek support or to disclose their sexuality to healthcare providers. Bisexual people continue to be treated with suspicion because of the threat they pose to the society’s normative view of sexual orientation. Yet such a binary conceptualisation of sexuality is challenged by our knowledge of sexual practices across historical and cultural settings. Research appearing in Lisa Diamond’s book Sexual Fluidity found that of one hundred women who had some same-gender attraction, two-thirds changed their sexual identity at least once over a decade. This went in all directions — lesbian to bisexual, bisexual to heterosexual, unlabelled to gay etc. The women’s sexual identities often matched the gender of their current sexual or romantic partners. In her book Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men, Jane Ward found it quite common for heterosexual men to have sexual encounters of various kinds with other men, including through the use of dating apps, personal ads, masturbating with other men in public toilets and engaging in rituals in university fraternities and the military. Taking a wider historical view of human sexuality, it is fair to say bisexuality was intrinsic to the cultures of the ancient world. In both Greece and Rome, sexual relationships between men were acknowledged, tolerated, and widely celebrated in literature and art. For the Greeks and Romans, homosexuality was not an exclusive choice, but alternative to and sometimes simultaneous with the love of a woman. Whilst sexuality continues to be viewed in largely binary terms despite all the historical, cultural and research-based evidence to the contrary, it is true to say that in important instances and contexts, what was once deemed ‘abnormal’ is increasingly categorised as ‘normal’ (homosexuality in some societies, for example). Yet as the rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people proves, this continues to be highly contested and often merely shifts the focus on who and what is a threat to the social good (i.e the stability of capitalist social relations). This rise in prejudicial attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people, as well as other aspects as essential to our humanity as ethnicity, religious/spiritual beliefs, and gender, is concomitant with the present rise of the far-right globally. A large part of the current ‘alt-right’ counter-revolution centres around antagonism toward the increased social freedoms experienced by those of hitherto socially prohibited sexual and gender identities. The history of capitalism is closely combined with a mutually reinforcing dependence on the monogamous, heterosexual relationship as a means of social reproduction. As Sophie Monk and Joni Pitt argue, “Capitalism needs to produce a labour force in order to survive; as it depends on the continued availability of cheap, abundant labour. This means several things: first, that it must provide some kind of wages to allow its workers to subsist, and secondly that it must guarantee inter-generational reproduction to secure the future of its labour force. A certain rate of procreation is, therefore, necessary for capitalism to flourish…compulsory heterosexuality is one of the techniques of bourgeois power deployed to secure this future, ensuring that the proletariat reproduces itself. Capitalism treats the heterosexual relationship located within a nuclear family as moral exemplar, if only for its role as a bulwark to private property relations. The present attack on LGBTQ+ rights is partly due to the internalised understanding that a breakdown in the nuclear family and forced heterosexuality may pose a risk to private property relations and the ability of capitalism to successfully reproduce itself in the long term. With capitalism facing a crisis of legitimacy in the wake of the financial crisis and stagnation, hate against those whose very existence challenges core tenets of the capitalist order has risen. Concretely this translates into the number of hate crimes reported to the police in the UK more than doubling since 2013, with a large increase in the number of offences against people based on sexual orientation. Transgender identity hate crimes, the least commonly recorded hate crime, have risen by 37%. Overall the Home Office figures recorded a 25% increase in hate crimes linked to sexual orientation. Such figures disprove the belief amongst many that the rights gained by the LGBTQ+ community to date are set in stone.
Acceptance or Co-opting?
In light of the current political climate, it is ironic that the mainstream, liberal approach to LGBTQ+ people involves a lot of self-congratulatory backslapping. To understand just how shallow the ‘acceptance’ of LGBTQ+ individuals, communities and rights in our society can be, one need only look to the treatment of trans people, for whom it is still acceptable to label predatory, mentally ill, or both amongst polite society (the World Health Organisation continues to list identifying as transgender as a mental illness). It shouldn’t be forgotten homosexual men and women faced the same treatment for decades as they fought for, and continue to fight for, full equality. This is a form of ‘acceptance’ by straight and LGBTQ+ bourgeois liberals which must be eschewed in favour of more radical queer political movements. It is acceptance of a certain form of queerness — a safe, sanitised version easily packaged and sold back to us, often through ‘pink-washing’. It masquerades as ally-ship, long after the key struggles for greater equality have been won. And in some cases, lost. This all comes in many forms, including banking conglomerates hijacking the rainbow flag for marketing purposes and the transformation of Pride from political event into fun family days out. The absurdity of pink-washing perhaps reached its zenith with the presence of arms manufacturer BAE Systems at Pride marches. This despite the very weapons the company produces being sold to and used by viscerally homophobic regimes. Whilst welcome, the liberal celebration of LGBTQ+ rights can, as in the examples just given, help suppress what might otherwise be a transformational anger against a system which subordinates the needs and desires of all people, LGBTQ+ or otherwise. Thinking beyond sexual orientation alone, it is true that when our needs and desires no longer align with the needs of capitalism, they at best continue to be ignored or replaced by desires more conducive (and profitable) to the system. At worst, they are repressed with varying degrees of violence. It is for this reason that I regard socialism, as a political project toward human flourishing, as the only true means by which we can free ourselves from the numerous forms of capitalist exploitation and alienation we all experience to varying degrees. Whether it be due to our religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, the present social system finds ways to divide us so it is better able to dominate us as a class. Socialism — The Key To Unleashing The Erotic?
“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings…The name of our beautiful reward is not profit. Its name is freedom.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin
How can socialism break us free from the division and alienation of capitalism? I would define socialism as those democratically enacted policies which offer individuals and communities space. A space ‘to’ and ‘from’ — to experiment, to understand, to share, to worship, to love, to be. This can only come with an end to scarcity —something which appears entirely ‘natural’ given the division of society into classes, but which only exists because some people have power and others do not. In a future socialist society where people are no longer fighting over a decreasing share of dwindling resources, ideologies which divide us will no longer hold attraction for ordinary people. Without the manufacturing of insecurities for elites to prey upon, daily life can be marked by curiosity and cooperation, rather than trauma and violence. It is in such a societal context that we will be free to explore our innermost desires, without fear or shame. It would allow us to release the power of the erotic. Audre Lorde argues the erotic is a vital source of power and information in our lives, but that it gets warped by the way our culture views sex. For Lourde, this gets in the way of being able to tune into how we’re feeling across many aspects of our lives, making it difficult for us to pursue the kinds of relationships that might be nourishing for us, or the kinds of work and play that we’d find fulfilling and stimulating. The erotic is regarded by capitalist society as dangerous, given it would mean, “…we demand from ourselves and our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of.” In practice, this would mean not settling “for the convenient, the shoddy, the conventionally expected, nor the merely safe”. Society, therefore, tends to limit the erotic to highly policed forms of sex and sexual relations. With our desires policed both internally and externally, it is clear we experience a diminished form of our own humanity. It is disconcerting looking back on my own romantic life with the newfound understanding of the alienation from my sexuality experienced since adolescence. Yet with this understanding, I have freed myself to hopefully better experience the full, erotic sensuality of human existence. I would like to see this as a small act of defiance in having discovered, or perhaps reclaimed, something closer to my true identity, of which I was previously robbed. In a society focused upon individual and communal flourishing, overcoming years of trauma, denial and shame will no longer be normal features in the journey toward accepting and experiencing our innermost needs and desires. ‘Coming out’ will no longer be a necessary act, either personally or politically. We may not have been born into such a society ourselves, but we can lay the foundations for future generations free to discover and experience their humanity, including their sexual orientations, to the fullest. This will require drawing on our anger in service of radical political action, itself driven by love for our fellow brothers, sisters and everyone in-between.
Hosts United Arab Emirates enter the tournament on a mission to improve on their best finish, which came in 1996 when they hosted the tournament for the first time. After a great performance in 2015, which yielded a surprise third place finish for the UAE, fans will have high expectations in what perhaps is the last chance for the golden generation. Faced with what could be considered as an easy group and an open path to the semi-final, the Sons of Zayed under the leadership of Alberto Zaccheroni must fade off the pressure and keep the trophy in the UAE.
Manager and Squad
Manager: Alberto Zaccheroni (Italy) Goalkeepers: Ali Khasif (Al-Jazira), Khalid Eisa (Al-Ain), Mohamed Al-Shamsi (Al-Wahda) Defenders: Fares Juma (Al-Ain), Bandar Al-Ahbabi (Al-Ain), Walid Abbas (Shabab Al-Ahli), Khalifa Mubarak (Al-Nasr), Ali Salmeen (Al-Wasl), Khalifa Al-Hammadi (Al-Jazira), Al Hassan Saleh (Al-Sharjah), Ismail Ahmed (Al-Ain), Mohamed Ahmed (Al-Ain) Midfielders: Saif Rashid (Al-Sharjah), Khalfan Mubarak (Al-Jazira), Amer Abdulrahman (Al-Ain), Majed Hassan (Shabab Al-Ahli), Khamis Esmaeel (Al-Wasl), Rayan Yaslam (Al-Ain), Ismail Al Hammadi (Shabab Al-Ahli), Mohamed Abdulrahman (Al-Ain) Forwards: Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al-Ahli), Ali Mabkhout (Al-Jazira), Ismail Matar (Al-Wahda)
Ahmed Khalil: Ahmed Khalil is the star striker of the golden generation trio that consists of him, Ali Mabkhout and the injured Omar Abdulrahman. Despite being capped 97 times, the 27-year old striker has been overshadowed a bit by his above mentioned compatriots. Khalil scored 4 goals in the last Asian Cup, where he led the UAE to a surprise third place finish after beating front-runners Japan in the quarter finals. The Al Ahli striker is expected to be instrumental for the UAE’s campaign this year, especially now when he finally hit good form again after a long period of injuries and unsuccessful transfers. Ali Mabkhout: He is perhaps the most influential player of the golden generation, scoring 44 goals in 65 caps for the UAE. The Al Jazira attacker can pretty much play in any attacking position, but he has mainly featured as a striker on club level where he has a very impressive 122 goals in only 161 matches. Mabkhout stole the spotlight from Ahmed Khalil and Omar Abdulrahman in the last Asian Cup, when he finished the tournament as top scorer with 5 goals. He isn’t as flashy as Abdulrahman, nor possesses an impressive physique like Khalil, but he compensates with incredible finishing and pace.
Points of Discussion
How significant Will the absence of star Omar Abdulrahman be? Alberto Zaccheroni has used a slow possession-based style while building a very strong defence. In the Gulf Cup in December 2017, the UAE played the most boring football imaginable even to Emirati fans. In 3 group stage matches, the semi-final and the final, 4 matches including the semi-final and the final ended 0-0, while the opening match against Kuwait ended with a 1-0 victory thanks to Ali Mabkhout’s penalty goal. Zaccheroni’s team was built around Omar’s skills, aiming to feed him the ball and let him create chances through his excellent dribbling and vision. His injury might be a blessing in disguise and become a catalyst for a quicker style that actually produces goals, instead of the current tactics that are strong in defence, but in attack they are more impotent than a eunuch.
Hosts + Easy Path = Champions (maybe)? The UAE will enter a fairly easy group against India, Thailand and Bahrain. Unless a big surprise happens, the UAE will comfortably top the group and march in to the round of 16. Then they will face one of the third placed teams, most likely one of Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan. That means that the UAE should realistically not face any big difficulty in reaching at least the quarter finals. That’s where the trickiest part starts, where the UAE will finally face the big teams. In 1996 when the UAE last hosted the Asian Cup, they were also lucky with the draw, where they played the relatively mediocre Iraq and Kuwait before losing to Saudi Arabia on penalties in the final. Emirati fans will hope to make use of the favourable condition and push the team beyond their normal capabilities and finally join the exclusive winner club with the likes of Japan, Iran and Iraq.
Thailand is in the center of the Southeast Asian peninsula. With a population of approximately 68 million people, “The Land of Smiles” has a proud footballing history. The War Elephants are historically the most successful football team in Southeast Asia, boasting five ASEAN Football Championship titles, nine senior-level Southeast Asian Games titles, a bronze finish in the 1972 AFC Asian Cup, and a fourth place finish on four occasions in the Asian Games. After being eliminated from the World Cup campaign, Thailand appointed Milovan Rajevac as head coach. Rajevac is most noted for his spell as manager of Ghana from 2008-2010, when they went unbeaten in qualification en route to a quarter-final loss to Uruguay via penalty shootout in the 2010 World Cup.
Chanathip Songkrasin: Perennial J-League star Chanathip Songkrasin will undoubtedly be the player to watch. As Thailand’s biggest star, and most decorated foreign-based talent, Chanathip can play both centrally or out wide, with pace and trickery to out think, standing at minuscule 5'3" stature. This Asian Cup will be the biggest of his quality yet. Adisak Kraisorn: Kraisorn has a lot of competition with the likes of experienced head Teerasil Dangda and young prospect Supachai Jaided also looking to take the starting spot, but Kraisorn is coming into the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in sinciliting form after a solid 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup, where he scored 8 goals in the tournament, of course with 6 of them coming in a 7-0 win against Timor-Leste
Points of Discussion
Rajevac on the Hot Seat There is a lot of pressure on manager Milovan Rajevac, as many fans are disappointed with the team’s performance in the Suzuki Cup. Rajevac is a results-oriented manager who thus far has not played to his squad’s strengths. Thai teams naturally gravitate toward expansive, attacking football, and Rajevac’s tenure has been dominated by pragmatic, defensive play. With a number of stars who were left out of the Suzuki cup now returning, the pressure will be on Rajevac to not only get results, but to play a more forward-thinking version of attacking football.
Impact of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha The tragic loss of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has left a large hole in Thai football. While his role in developing the sport in Thailand is not as noted as his success with Leicester, he played a tremendous role in developing young, Thai talent by donating over 1 million footballs to kids, building hundreds of public pitches, and giving local youth the chance to gain exposure and train at a level that was thought to be mostly unattainable until he came.
Returning to the AFC Asian Cup for only the 4th time ever, India will be looking to improve on their performance back in the 2011 edition of the competition. Back then, India were paired in a group consisting of favorites Australia and South Korea while Bahrain, a regular decent Asian side, also featured. India lost all three matches, with all three pretty much decided by halftime, but the fact that India participated was what mattered. This was India's first Asian Cup appearance in 27 years, since 1984. 1964 and 1984 India first participated in the AFC Asian Cup in 1964, the competitions 3rd edition. India qualified automatically after all other teams in the Western Zone of qualification withdrew. Despite that, India showed why they deserved to be in the competition by finishing as the tournament runners-up. They started with a 2-1 victory over South Korea, followed by 2-0 defeat by hosts Israel, and finally a 3-1 victory over Hong Kong. This would be India's best finish in the tournament. India would fail to qualify for the Asian Cup until 1984, when they finished 2nd in Group 3 during qualification. However, unlike 20 years earlier, India couldn't make it out of the group stage and ended last in Group B (consisting of China, Iran, United Arab Emirates, and Singapore). Path to 2019 India's path to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup began in 2015 with the qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Despite being in a group consisting of Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Guam, India finished in last place, with only 1 victory and 7 defeats. This meant that India didn't qualify for the World Cup and the Asian Cup automatically but instead had to go through another two rounds of qualification for the Asian Cup. India were drawn to play against Laos in the play-in round for Asian Cup qualification. Following a 1-0 victory in Leg 1, India managed to destroy their opposition in the second leg 6-1 (7-1 aggregate). India now had one more round of qualification to go through. They were placed in Group A consisting of Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Macau. India managed to comfortably qualify after winning 4 of their matches, drawing once as well.
All the players here play in the Indian Super League and have been used extensively by head coach Stephan Constantine.
Players to Watch
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu: The 26-year-old goalkeeper has 26 caps for India. A product of East Bengal, Sandhu moved to play in Europe in 2013 when he joined Norweigan side Staebek. He was the club's 2nd choice goalkeeper but played in the Europa League qualifiers with them before returning to India and joining Bengaluru. He played a massive part in Bengaluru finishing 1st in ISL last season and did well in the ISL Final. He is tall (6 ft, 4 inches), can stretch really well for saves,. and commands his defense well. Weakness is probably his agility but he makes up for it by making himself big in major moments. Sandesh Jhingan: 25-year-old centerback with Kerala Blasters. Came out of nowhere after okay performances in the I-League. Joined the Blasters in 2014 and has now become captain. 6 foot 2 inches, he is a good reader of plays, isnt afraid to get stuck in and tackle, and good at heading the ball away or in on corners for India. Weakness can be that he tends to be rash and is a walking yellow card. Sunil Chhetri: India's main man and arguably best player EVER. 34 years old but despite that, has 65 goals in 103 games, a lot of them coming in the last 4 years! Has played abroad in the United States and Portugal, he is India's posterboy and still does well in the Indian Super League for Bengaluru. This season he has 5 goals in 11 matches. Physically very strong but agile as well. Technical ability is great and his finishing is out of this world Jeje Lalpekhlua: Expected to be India's starting striker, the 27-year-old Mizo has done well since making his debut in 2011. Has 22 goals in 52 matches. Whether he will do well here is questioned right now as he isn't in the best form. This season for Chennaiyin in the Indian Super League, Lalpekhlua has not scored a single goal from 11 matches. Last season he managed 9 goals from 20 matches. Udanta Singh: The 22-year-old speedster is one of India's best young talents. Great dribbling skills, decent passer of the ball, and good off the ball, Udanta will be one to look out for at the Asian Cup. Will be relied upon for the counter. Weakness is his finishing. Notable Mention: Rowllin Borges and Anas Edathodika
Points of Discussion
The Coach: Stephen Constantine: India's coach for the Asian Cup is Stephen Constantine. The Englishman will be coaching a side in the competition for the first time. He is credited with helping India improve drastically in the FIFA rankings. When he arrived, India were ranked 173. India is now 97. However, it can also be noted that he was India's coach during their horrendous World Cup qualification campaign, overseeing bad results such as a defeat to Guam. The players have also been reportedly vocal over their dislike of the coach, including Sunil Chhetri. Despite this, Constantine has helped India become a more cohesive unit and more organized than they were under the Dutchman, Wim Koevermans. He has also given opportunities to young players but has also be criticized for not selected all the best players and having favorites, many of which don't play for their club sides. Tactically, Constantine prefers either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2. He has been noted of using route 1 football.
Our Predictions
EnglishHooligan : Expected India to lose all 3 matches but hopefully not as badly as 2011. United Arab Emirates are tournament hosts and will be looking at this match as the match to go all out, at least in the first half. Thailand and Bahrain will also look for 3 points against us as the strategy will be whoever doesn't get 3 points against India would be knocked-out. Honestly, not upset if we lose all 3 games. Losing them would mean our coach would be sacked. Still won't be rooting for defeat.
konoha_ka_ladka : We are the weakest team in the group no doubt. So expecting us to finish last. But luck has been on our side recently and good sides haven't been able to finish inspite of creating plenty of chances against us, case in point 0-0 draw with China. Hence a hoping for a positive result vs Thailand or Bahrain.
nishitd : Feeling optimistic and expect India to pull off a draw against Bahrain and/or Thailand and somehow make it to that "best third-placed team"
Bahrain's national team is one of the most well known and respected west Asia teams. The team is known for competing in the world club qualifiers and in the regional Arabian gulf but never managing to make is as the winners. The team almost made it to the world cup twice in 2006 and 2010 when they played other continents for the half Asian ticket (2006: Trinidad and Tobago, 2010: New Zealand). The team's peak was from early 2000 to 2010 where they competed the most and placed 4th in the Asian cup in 2004. Most of the players currently participating were not part of the squad in the previous Asia Cup. Bahrain are hoping that Bahrain can have a good showing in the UAE after being drawn in a favorable group.
Manager and Squad
Manager: Miroslav Soukup (Czechia) Goalkeepers: Sayed Shubbar Alawi (Al-Najma), Yusuf Habib (Malkiya Club), Abdulkarim Fardan (Al-Riffa) Defenders: Sayed Baqer (Al-Nasr), Waleed Al Hayam (Al-Muharraq), Hamad Al-Shamsan (Al-Riffa), Ahmed Merza (Al-Hidd), Ahmed Juma (Al-Muharraq), Sayed Redha Isa (Al-Riffa), Ahmed Bughammar (Al-Hidd), Ahmed Abdulla (Al-Najma) Midfielders: Sayed Dhiya Saeed (Al-Nasr), Abdulwahab Al-Safi (Al-Muharraq), Mohamed Marhoon (Al-Riffa), Ali Madan (Al-Najma), Ali Haram (Al-Riffa), Jasim Al-Shaikh (Al-Ahli), Komail Al Aswad (Al-Riffa), Jamal Rashed (Al-Muharraq), Forwards: Mahdi Al-Humaidan (Al-Ahli), Abdulla Yusuf Helal (Bohemians), Mohamed Al Romaihi (Manama Club), Sami Al-Husaini (East Riffa),
Sayed Dheya Saeed: A good dribbling left wing and one of the more experienced player of the team. Occasionally loses the ball under pressure and his movement is somewhat slow. Jamal Rashid: (Left)The team's best player in Arabian Gulf cup last year. Can play as a playmaker (No. 10) or deeper in central midfield. His defending is suspect and can be caught out easily. Abdulla Yousif: Recently joined a European team in Czech republic and is reported to be doing well. Good attacker who may bring something new from his European experience. When playing in Bahrain and with the national team, his finishing was not the best. Mohammed Al Hardan: Was the captain of under 19 team two years ago and had good performances. Has been playing in Denmark for a year now and not much is known about his progress. Does not have much first team experience. Plays central/defensive midfield shielding the back 4
Points of Discussion
Experienced players who are still in good form not joining the squad: Sayed Mohammed Jaffar (GK and previous captain) and Ismael Abdullateef (FW)
The coach took this job some time ago. He is expected to show progress in his results at this tournament.
Bahrain is probably going to battle Thailand for the second position in the group stage.
Tune in tomorrow when u/flyingarab will be posting Group B! Australia, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan.
Don't forget to participate in the Predictions Game in the comments below!
Australia as a nation is a young one, having only federated in 1901. For 60,000 years the continent was inhabited by Aboriginal Australians, who developed complex hunter-gatherer systems and a spiritual system revolving around a relationship with nature. It is estimated that there were 250 languages spoken in Australia at the time of European contact. Today Australia is a highly developed country of 24.6 million. Australia’s Asian Cup history has been short but it has not been uneventful. Since joining the AFC in 2006 the Socceroos have been one of Asia’s strongest sides, earning themselves a place as equals to the likes of Japan, South Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia. 2007 was valiant debut, even if it did end earlier than expected considering the strength of the side. A 3-1 loss to the surprise champions Iraq in Bangkok would see Australia finish second in group A, setting up another episode in the growing rivalry between Australia and Japan. 12 months after the iconic win in Kaiserslautern, the Socceroos and Samurai Blue met once again, this time in Hanoi, where neither side could be separated in this tight, thrilling match. Even after going down to 10-men Australia held on and in the end it came down to a shoot-out, one that Japan would win 4-3, advancing them to the semi-final where they would lose to Saudi Arabia. While a quarter final finish was a disappointment, Australia played good football and showed signs of what was to come. In 2011 Australia confidently made their way through the tournament, with a quarter final win over reigning champions Iraq and then a 6-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan to book their place in the final, where they would once again meet Japan. From kick-off Australia was relentless, and dominated possession throughout the game, but a mix of waste chances, solid defending, and the heroics of keeper Eiji Kawashima stopped the Socceroos from taking the lead, while Japan could not capitalize on the chances they made in their numerous counter attacks. Once again Australia and Japan could not be separated in 90 minutes, but this time a single goal in extra time, a volley from Japanese substitute Tayanari Lee, in the 109th minute would settle things. Japan would go home with a record 4th title, while Australia would go home with nothing, having come so close to a first Asian title. It would be the last Asian Cup for Socceroos legends such as Harry Kewell, Lucas Neil and Mark Schwarzer, who became the most capped player for Australia with this match. Contrasting the sadness of 2011, 2015 is one of the greatest achievements in Australian football. With the home advantage, Ange Postecoglou took charge and brought in a new generation to finally win the cup. After a disastrous World Cup campaign and a descent to 100 in the Fifa World Rankings confidence there was some doubt surrounding the Socceroos, which and was only worsened with a defeat to South Korea on the final matchday of the group stage. In the quarter finals a brace by Tim Cahill sent Australia to a second consecutive semi final, and a 2-0 win against the United Arab Emirates in Newcastle took the Socceroos back to the final, where they met South Korea for the second time in the tournament. Determined not to see a repeat of the first match, Australia took the lead with a goal from Massimo Luongo and up until injury time it looked like this would be what separated the teams as Australia held on. But once again it came to extra time, as a goal from Son-Heung Min in the 91st minute brought back old fears of Australia falling at the last hurdle. This time, however, it would not be the case. The relentless attack finally gave Australia it’s second goal, South Korea could not respond and for the first time, Australia were Asian Champions.
Manager and Squad
Manager: Graham Arnold (Australia) Goalkeepers: Matthew Ryan (Brighton and Hove Albion) , Mitchell Langerak (Nagoya Grampus) , Danny Vukovic (KRC Genk) Defenders: Josh Risdon (Western Sydney Wanderers) , Trent Sainsbury (PSV) , Mark Milligan (Hibernian) , Aziz Behich (PSV) , Rhyan Grant (Sydney FC) , Milos Degenek (Red Star Belgrade) , Matthew Jurman (Al-Ittihad) , Alex Gersbach (Rosenborg BK) Midfielders: Massimo Luongo (Queen's Park Rangers) , Jackson Irvine (Hull City) , Tom Rogic (Celtic) , Mustafa Amini (AGF) , James Jeggo (Austria Wien) Forwards: Mathew Leckie (Hertha BSC) , Robbie Kruse (VFL Bochum) , Jamie MacLaren (Hibernian) , Martin Boyle (Hibernian), Awer Mabil (F.C. Midtjylland) , Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds) , Chris Ikonomidis (Perth Glory)
Matt Ryan: Winner of Keeper of the Tournament 4 years ago, Ryan has only improved since 2015. Carrying on from a strong 2017-18 season with Brighton, Ryan continues to impress with his shot-stopping abilities. As of writing, Ryan currently has the fourth most saves this season in the Premier League at 55 saves. Martin Boyle: Despite never having stepped on Australian soil before, Boyle has been welcomed with open arms as he made his first appearances in the Gold and Green against South Korea and Lebanon, making 2 goals and an assist in the game against Lebanon. The quick and mobile Hibernian winger isn’t guaranteed to start, but the Asian Cup will be the perfect chance for Boyle to become a breakout star. Massimo Luongo: A key player in Australia’s Asian cup victory and world cup qualification, it was quite the surprise to see the QPR midfielder not play a single second in Russia under Bert Van Marwijk. Now with Arnold in charge, Luongo will be keen to remind everyone why he was a regular starter under Postecoglou. Luongo’s creativity could be vital for the Socceroos, especially with Aaron Mooy now injured.
Points of Discussion
What can Arnold do in his short time as manager? Graham Arnold replaces Bert Van Marwijk following the Dutchman’s short-term stint that ended with an early exit from the World Cup. Previously manager during Australia’s first Asian Cup which ended with the disappointing quarter final exit, Arnold’s 11 years of experience since 2007 have hopefully given him some of the expertise and wisdom as a coach that he was missing. Having won 3 Premierships and 2 Championships, as well as breaking numerous records including the best winning and unbeaten percentages, Arnold has made a name for himself as one the most successful managers in A-League history during his time at Central Coast Mariners and Sydney F.C. Even with this experience the fact is that he has only been in charge for three matches, a 4-0 win away to Kuwait, a 1-1 draw with South Korea, and a 3-0 win over Lebanon, with another friendly to go before the match against Jordan. Has Arnold had the time to even figure out his team, let alone implement his game plan?
Who can solve Australia’s goal scoring woes? If you watched the Socceroos at the World Cup, or at any time in the last few years, you will know that that one of the key problems facing the team is just simply toothlessness in front of goal. The days of Kewell, Viduka, Aloisi, Bresciano, and now Cahill are over, and the fact is that even when dominating possession or creating far more chances than opponents Australia struggles to make the difference count. See for instance a World Cup qualifier in 2017 against Thailand where, despite taking a ridiculous 45 shots to Thailand’s 8, Australia only managed to clinch a 2-1 victory in the final minutes of the match. A defensively strong side like Iran would not give the Socceroos so many chances, Australia needs to make it count when it gets to the stronger sides in the latter rounds of the tournament. The likes of Leckie, Kruse and Juric, who have been Australia’s main men upfront in recent years are now in competition for the opportunity to start, as newcomers such as Boyle, Mabil, MacLaren and Nabbout look to make a name for themselves. New or old, someone needs to step up and start getting the ball in the net.
Important players out with injuries Disastrous news, with less than a month before the tournament begins it looks one of Australia’s most important players, Huddersfield midfielder Aaron Mooy, will most likely miss the Asian Cup after damaging his knee ligament in a premier league match against Arsenal. Mooy joins Daniel Arzani, the young Australian talent who had showed promise at the World Cup after Arzani injured his ACL in his senior debut for Celtic. Fellow Celtic player Tom Rogic’s fitness is also in doubt with a knee injury. Matthew Leckie is also questionable after a recent hamstring injury. While Mooy’s absence will hurt the team’s chances, it also gives Arnold the chance to experiment with a names such as Mustafa Amini and Jackson Irvine in midfield.
It's October of last year, in the dying embers against Australia, Omar Al-Somah steps up to a free kick from some distance. If he scores, he books the war-torn country a spot in the intercontinental playoffs against Honduras for the 2018 World Cup...... But it wasn't meant to be as Al-Somah's shot agonizingly hit the post. Syria head into 2019 AFC Asian Cup after only what can be described as a tumultuous and tiresome 2018 World Cup cycle. Bouncing from Oman to Malaysia for a temporary home (some of which were just dreadful by the way) and unable to secure quality friendlies, Syria have genuinely made the best of the resources that they have. Over qualification they transitioned from a team of grafters and cliche hard workers who ground out results to now a side which also has a formidable attacking presence with Omar Al-Somah spearheading it all. Drawn into a group containing Asian giants Australia and their fellow Arab mates in Palestine and Jordan, Syria is expected to make progress on last year and made a solid run into the knockout stages of the tournament, which they haven’t done in their 6 appearances at the tournament.
Manager and Squad
Manager: Bernd Stange (Germany) Goalkeepers: Ibrahim Alma (Al-Wahda), Ahmad Madania (Al-Jaish), Mahmoud Al-Youssef (Al-Jabalain), Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih (Ahed), Jehad Al Baour (Al-Riffa), Hussein Jwayed (Al-Zawra'a), Zaher Midani (Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya), Abdulmalek Al Anizan (Al-Jaish), Amro Jenyat (Al-Shabab), Omar Midani (Pyramids), Moayad Ajan (Al-Jazeera), Nadim Sabagh (Tishreen), Midfielders: Ahmed Ashkar (Al-Jaish), Osama Omari (Qatar SC), Tamer Haj Mohamad (Ohod), Khaled Mobayed (Al-Wahda), Fahd Youssef (Al-Sailiya), Mohammed Osman (Heracles Almelo), Mahmoud Al-Mawas (Umm Salal SC), Youssef Kalfa (Al-Hazem), Forwards: Omar Kharbin (Al-Hilal), Omar Al Somah (Al-Ahli), Mardik Mardikian (Al-Jazeera),
Omar Al-Somah: Undoubtedly the star of the Syria national team and of the whole tournament. The indisputable best Asian player currently playing in Asia, Al-Somah who wasn't called back up to the national team until midway through the third round of WC Qualifying, has added a completely new dimension to Syria's attack. 85 goals in 85 games for Saudi club says it all. At 6'4", he's striker who can score by whatever means necessary: whether it be with his head, from direct free kicks, one-on-one, a potshot from distance, the list goes on and on. His ability to show up in the big moments is also what distinguishes from other stars at the tournament. Look no further than injury time equaliser against Iran on the final matchday to secure the playoff spot against the Aussies, and then one month later both of Syria's in the two legged playoff against the Socceroos. Don't be surprised if he ends as the top scorer as every attack will involve him in some facet Omar Khiribin: Okay first off I've seen multiple spellings of Omar's surname: Kharbin, Khrbin, and now Khirbin. Doesn't matter either way because he's a great player and the second attacking outlet that Syria will rely on. The first ever Syrian to win "Asian Footballer of the Year", when healthy, Kharbin plays up top for Saudi club Al-Hilal. Though due to the recall of Al-Somah to the national team, Khrbin is played out wide for the Qasioun Eagles, where he's still managed to be successful in drifting inwards to help out with Al-Somah. With all the focus likely going towards Al-Somah, it'll be up to Khirbin to take some of the responsibility off the big man's shoulders.
Points of Discussion
Revenge Opportunity against the Socceroos One of the matches of the group phase of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will take place on January 15th in Al Ain between Syria and Australia; a re-match of last year's confederation playoff for the World Cup. Australia prevailed over the two legs in the end, drawing the away leg 1-1 after an 85' penalty from Omar Al-Somah and reigning victorious in the return leg in Sydney 2-1 AET thanks to a brace from the good cunt Timmy Cahill after Al-Somah opened the scoring 6 minutes into the match. Expect Syria to play with a dogged approach against the Aussies again, sometimes maybe even resorting to the dark arts of football: last year, there was quite the amount of rolling on the ground, time wasting, poor challenges, etc. But hey-ho that's AFC and teams have got to deal with it. Syria will lend possession over the Aussies, bunkering up and looking for the outlet in Al-Somah, with Al-Muwas and Kharbin coming inside from wide to help him out. Over the two legs in 2017 they averaged 28% of the ball and completed only 63% of their passes. Since the game is on the last matchday of the group stages, Syria hope that by the time they face the Aussies, they would have already booked their spot into the knockout stages.
Turmoil as a Source of Motivation?: Honestly, qualifying for the Asian Cup in itself is quite the achievement for Syria considering the aforementioned things they've had to endure over the qualification period. Alright now let's address one of the more talked about subjects when speaking of Syria. Whether the national team does or doesn’t represent the Assad regime can be discussed and argued for weeks. Several players who had actively opposed the regime returned over the past several years, sparking more controversy from the country's higher-ups. Whatever the hierarchy believes, it's important to note that above all the Qasioun Eagles represent the citizens and people of Syria, not a political allegiance. The desire to make their people proud in a time of turmoil can help Stange's men if they continue to show their workmanlike attitude that got them to the UAE in the first place.
The Fedayeen are set to make their second ever Asian Cup appearance after recently undergoing a football revolution which saw the Palestine national team rise from being whipping boys to competing with the biggest nations in Asia. Palestine comfortably qualified to the tournament after finishing second in a relatively easy group. Palestine were placed in the third pot, which landed them a tough group with Australia, Syria and closest neighbours Jordan. The Palestinian national team will enter the Asian Cup carrying the hopes of a damaged nation, hoping to follow the Iraqi example of 2007 and temporarily heal the wounds of the nation by doing something extraordinary in football.
Manager and Squad
Manager: Noureddine Ould Ali (Algeria) Goalkeepers: Tawfiq Ali (Taraji Wadi Al-Nes), Amr Kaddoura (Landskrona BoIS), Rami Hamadeh (Hilal Al-Quds) Defenders: Daniel Mustafá (Sarmiento de Leones [es]), Mohammed Saleh (Floriana FC), Tamer Salah (Hilal Al-Quds), Musab Al-Battat (Ahli Al-Khaleel), Jaka Ihbeisheh (NK Bravo), Abdullah Jaber (Ahli Al-Khaleel), Abdelatif Bahdari (Shabab Al-Khalil), Alexis Norambuena (Deportes Melipilla), Midfielders: Mohammed Bassim (Shabab Al-Bireh), Shadi Shaban (Ahli Al-Khaleel), Jonathan Cantillana (Hilal Al-Quds), Tamer Seyam (Hassania Agadir), Sameh Maraaba (Thaqafi Tulkarem), Pablo Tamburrini (Shabab Al-Bireh), Oday Dabbagh (Hilal Al-Quds), Nazmi Albadawi (FC Cincinnati), Mohammed Darweesh (Hilal Al-Quds) Forwards: Yashir Islame (Coquimbo Unido), Khaled Salem (Markaz Balata), Mahmoud Wadi (Al-Masry)
Abdelatif Bahdari: He is the most capped player in this generation of Palestinian players and is also captain. The Gaza-born defender will most likely be playing the last Asian Cup of his illustrious career for the Palestinian national team, as perhaps the only player that has been a constant in both the terrible past and the bright present. The 34-year-old will be hoping to lead his nation to passing the group stages and fulfilling the dreams of more than 12 million Palestinians all over the world. Pablo Tamburrini: The Chile-born midfielder is the main source of creativity and the man responsible for linking the defence with the attack. Tamburrini played for a while in Palestino, a Chilean club that was founded by Palestinian immigrants, before the Palestinian FA discovered his Palestinian roots and called him up to the national team. Since his first call-up in 2015, Tamburrini has been a key player and can be considered as one of the untouchable players in the line up thanks to his energy and creativity.
Points of Discussion
Integration of diaspora Palestinians? All of you probably noticed the obvious Spanish surnames in the predicted line-up. Issues with the Israeli occupation denying exit visas to players with only Palestinian passports and the lacking quality of local players led the Palestinian FA to explore the diaspora option as an alternative. Inspired by the successes of similar projects in other nations, the Palestinians can today be proud of a project that has drastically improved the quality of the national team. The Palestinian diaspora integration is the most successful in the Middle East in my opinion, surpassing many nations like Iraq, Syria and Lebanon where the project either didn’t have a huge impact or the integration of the players failed.
Expectations? Palestine made their Asian Cup debut in 2015, where people didn’t hope for anything more than three respectable losses without any humiliation. This time it’s different with the huge progression that has occurred in Palestinian football since 2015. Australia and Syria are seen as huge favourites to clinch the top two spots for obvious reasons. Essentially, Palestine’s destiny will be defined in the last match against neighbours Jordan, where a win might land Palestine a place in the round of 16 as one of the best third placed teams. I personally think that Palestine also have a chance to nick a point from Syria, but the match against Jordan remains as the most important obstacle.
Jordan, a small country in the middle east with a relatively new footballing history, will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing results both in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and 2018 World cup qualifying campaign. Al-Nashama's best result was a quarter final finish in The Asian cup (2004,2011), in addition to a great 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign ending against Uruguay in the intercontinental play-off.
It's very hard to define a starting XI for the team, Borkelmans has been rotating a lot and still hasn't found the right formula, many players are going in and out so this formation is mostly just a prediction of what he might use.
Players to Watch
Musa Al-Tamari: Musa is the best Jordanian player currently and is on his way to stardom. A fast, agile winger with an eye for the goal, brilliant dribbling skills and great explosiveness. all the country's eyes will be on him as he looks to end a streak of bad-from that started almost since he was promoted to the first team, he is looking to replicate his club form and finally put all the criticism to rest. He is joining the national team camp after some brilliant performances with APOEL which put him on the watch list of some European clubs in the top 5 leagues such as Caligari, a brilliant feat for a footballer from a country with this footballing history. Yazan Thalji: A bit of unconventional choice to feature Yazan here, as his place in the starting 11 is not guaranteed(could say the same about all the other players), but he is just a natural born talent and was the best player in the Jordanian league last season, great technical skills with a beautiful touch on the ball and very good Athleticism(relatively), also some great shooting and scoring ability. Thalji suffered from an injury and is only just getting back to his form, a brilliant player if used correctly by Borkelmans. Yaseen Al-Bakhit :Often called the bullet by many of the fans, Al-Bakhit offers some insane pace and stamina up and down the wings, in addition to some great playmaking ability while also drifting into the middle of the pitch to play as a midfielder.
Points of Discussion
Stability: One of the biggest problem the team is facing right is the chaos that surrounds the starting XI, the tournament is only two weeks away and the players still haven't developed their chemistry to an acceptable level, while it's understandable that Borkelmans only became a manager recently, he has been an assistant since May, he is expected to have developed an idea now of what players will work and what will not so he get them play-time, that unfortunately hasn't happened and he is still rotating heavily with no clear gameplan only days before a tournament.
Possibility of an out-of-form players: This problem also lies mostly on Borkelmans and the FA, the preparatory matches schedule of the camps raised some questions on whether it will negatively affect the players mentally and physically, the team had a camp in Oman but to many's surprise, it had no matches and instead, the matches were all cluttered in the two weeks before the tournament, the matches against Qatar and China should've been the final 'test' before the tournament, where the final squad is announced and the starting XI players are playing to detect mistakes, abnormalities and put on the final touches. Instead, the players don't have a clear mind and many are still struggling mentally with the possibility of being excluded from the final 23-man squad which would surely hamper their training/preparations.
Tune in tomorrow when u/BuzzBuzz01 will be posting Group C! South Korea, China, Kyrgyz Republic, the Philippines. Don't forget to participate in the Predictions Game in the comments below!
That reminds me of a story... It has been said that once you become an Expat in the Middle East; upon arrival, you are given two identical buckets. One bucket is for money and the other is for shit. Whenever either is filled to overflowing, it’s time to pack up and leave. Now, I’ve been in the Middle East, on and off, for over two decades. Three years in that Q-country-that-shall-not-be-named, 1 year in Iraq’s extension (that K-country), 17 years (and counting) in the best little place in the whole ME; with side trips to Yemen, Bahrain, Dubai & Abu Dhabi (Emirates), and Saudi. Lately, though, there’s been many, many things happening hereabouts that are rapidly filling one bucket to the brim. Sure, the other continues to fill steadily, but let’s look at what’s causing my fertilizer surplus. To be totally fair, let’s break these down into categories:
Things I like about living in the Middle East
Things I hate about living in the Middle East
Things that I’m really rather ambivalent about living in the Middle East.
On with the show…
Things I like about living in the Middle East
a. Tax-free salary! I don’t mind filling that bucket at all. b. Free, company supplied housing: 3-story, 7 bedroom, 6 bathroom monstrosity of a villa. c. Free utilities: gas, water, electricity, sewer. Cost: bupkiss. d. Free schooling for my daughters. The American School is one helluva school. e. Company-subsidized booze. My allotment is 300 rials/month. A case of Guinness is 20 rials, a bottle of Laphroaig is 12 rials, and a bottle of Stoli vodka is 4 rials. At US$2.60/rial, you do the math. f. Tax-free everything. If it costs 10 rials, you pay 10 rials (or not, see ‘h’). g. No tipping. Well, I actually do tip.
i. They don’t expect it,
b. They love you for it, and
3. You’ll get the best service not just now, but also in the future.
h. Haggling. I do so love to barter. You can do this everywhere, not just in the souqs, but also in the malls, jewelry stores, electronics shops, etc. Besides being fun, like Houston’s Mattress Mac, it’ll save you money! i. The current boss of the country. Erudite, worldly and progressive. He has done much for the country, from providing for the poor to developing infrastructure. To his grand credit, he allows fairly relaxed (by Middle Eastern standards) laws, and is by and large a good and benevolent dictator. That being said, remember, we still live in a dictatorship. j. Cheap gas. We pay 120 baizas/liter. Let’s see: 1000 baiza per rial, 3.785 liters/gallon, 2.60 dollars/rial…Turn the crank…roundabout US$1.20/gallon. And they even pump it for you and clean the bugs, sand, and locally-accumulated gunk off the windshield for you. k. The souqs (i.e., markets). You’ll find some of the damnedest things in the souqs here. Fake copies of fake Hitler coins? Check. Lapis carvings? Check. Chinese knock-offs of Gucci (spelled Gukki), Versache (Versash) and Panasonic (Panosoanic)? Check. Gold, silver, and gems that are real and really cheap? Check. Great fun, if one is wary and informed. l. Getting holidays off with pay even though I’m not Muslim. I dig getting 2 Eids off (total between 8-15 days), National day, Al-Hijra, Mawlid al-Nabi, Ashura, Lailat al Miraj, Lailat al Bara’a, Quds Day, Waqf al Arafa, etc. Yippie-kye-aye!
2. Things I hate about living in the Middle East
a. The heat. I’m not built for heat (I loved living in Siberia…go figure), and it’s difficult to deal with 450 C+ and your skin bubbling for 8 months of the year if you venture outdoors. b. The drivers. See previous entry for great-n-glorious detail. c. The lack of a First Amendment. I can’t be an Ugly American; I’m over-qualified. I tend to be large, loud and opinionated. I don’t call ‘a spade a spade’; I call it ‘a fucking shovel’. But, if someone here cuts you off and nearly causes you to roadmap the windshield, you’re not allowed to flip him off, yell at him or even mutter dark oaths under your breath. You can be prosecuted if you do any of these if the person who receives your wrath is a local (you can flip off the Jinglys (umm, err…Eastern Expats, i.e., Sub-continentals) anytime) and complains to the local police. Extra bonus hint: If someone deserves your wrath, don’t flip him the bird; instead stuck your thumb between your index finger and middle finger, and give it a good shake. It’s a Russian gesture very closely related to the flipping of the bird, but I was once told that this strongly resembles an Arabic sign of luck. There, you can tell them what you think of their driving abilities (or, more to the point, lack thereof) with complete impunity. And it is cathartic. d. The lack of a First Amendment, Part Deux: You have to be careful of what you speak around here. No negative comments about the country boss fella, Islam, Sharia Law, Ramadan, or myriad other subjects. It’s like walking on eggshells sometimes, especially for some strident, raucous, brash American who has lived all over the world and doesn’t readily practice self-censorship. e. Split-unit air conditioners. Pure evil. They freeze up, drip like a flaccid geyser and need constant attention. A simple dust storm sends them into paroxysms of sputtering, coughing and early death. A pox upon these and their inventor. You listening Samsung? f. Lousy mail service. Mail a letter to the States? Wait 3 months for delivery. Get mail from the States? Hell, I just got a Christmas card in June. From last year. g. Getting packages here. First, you get a slip of paper. Then you have to go to the distant Post Office, present your ticket, pay 300 baiza for stamps (Why? How the hell do I know?) and wait. And wait. And wait. Then they bring out your parcel and proceed to rip it apart, looking for contraband, drugs, porn, or who knows what. Then, after arguing that your wife ordered 15 model Breyer horses for your daughters for Christmas, and you’re not going to sell them on the High Street, you pony up your “Expat Tax”; otherwise known as duty. It’s not that much but varies day-to-day and item to item. The horses? 5%. Ink cartridges you buy in bulk (because they’re mondo expensive here)? 15%. Cigars? Forget it. They will try to appropriate them (“They’re not allowed”. Right. That’s why I can buy all the Cubanos I want in town…). Around 100%. I really don’t mind the Duty so much, just keep your mitts off my shit. That really annoys the living hell out of me. h. Censorship. Let me decide what I see/read/hear and don’t see/read/hear. I’m an adult (well, chronologically, at least) and have been known to make such decisions. i. The Internet/GSM/phone monopoly. You have little choice (Oh, sure, there’s one or two others now, but the major government-sponsored ISP does represent a near-total communications monopoly here) but to have to deal with these idiots. Heavily censored internet, lackluster support, and customer service? Come for the dreaded local ISP “NOTICE” page, stay for Internet outages every time the wind whooshes. Sheesh. j. Lack of eBay, etc. Sure, you can look and see, but don’t bother bidding. 99.99% of the rest of the world won’t ship to the Middle East. Why? It’s expensive and there’s such a high degree of fraud. Thanks, guys. k. Illiteracy. It’s rampant. And I don’t just mean people who can’t speak English (which is, of course, the international language that everyone understands, if you speak it LOUD ENOUGH), but Arabic folk ignorant of Arabic, Indians ignorant of Hindi (or Pashto, or Urdu, or whatever their native tongue is supposed to be), and the Dutch. Try and get some customer service in English from someone to whom English is not just a closed book, but one closed burned and buried. True, not entirely their fault, but why do international companies insist on putting these cretins in ordering and customer service? Good luck with that pizza. l. Cells phones (a.k.a. “GSM’s”). I hate, hate, and hate these damn things. People cannot walk, drive, or even take a shit without having one of these abominations in their face. In fact, there is a national posture: grab your left ear with your left hand and leave it there all day, no matter what you’re doing. Add to this the idiocy of Bluetooth hands-free ear-stickers. Normally, people wandering alone yakking a blue streak were considered odd, even certifiable. Now, just look and see if Mr. ‘I’m-having-a-conversation-with-thin-air’ has an Uhura-style Star Trek-like device sticking out of his head. Is it possible for one to look any more stupid? m. Ramadan. I don’t really want to get off on a rant here, but the idea that people should not eat or drink in 45+ C weather during hours of daylight strikes me a bit, well, mad. If they really want to do that (Yeah. I know. It’s one of the 5 pillars of Islam.) who am I to cast aspersions? But why does that mean that I, an extreme non-Muslim, cannot enjoy a cup of coffee or even a glass of water? I have to sneak off and consume in seclusion. C’mon. The fast is supposed to be a tough time, to share in the feeling of pain and deprivation. Why does everyone (including international companies and the government) go out of their way to make it easier on them? Then the crowning turd in the proverbial punchbowl: come the iftar (breaking of the fast) when these characters are all nicely dehydrated, exhausted, hypoglycaemic and drive like maniacs on a good day; they hop in their Prados and Land Rovers and race to the restaurants or villages. I’m sure their spiritual progenitors did likewise in the latter half of the 11th century. n. Galfar. Construction company. Gonna name names with this one. Arguably the absolute worst when it comes to HSE infractions. Not only in the field, but on the road. If it’s a roll-over of a 15 m3 dump truck, it’ll have “Galfar” painted on the side. Their crew busses are involved in more accidents (hell, just a few years ago, they had 1 accident that put 35 of them in the hospital and killed 8) than all other contractors combined. Yet, they continue to be one of the largest contractors here. The mind reels. o. Dishdashas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know: “National dress”. Yet, I don’t see these characters out pestering camels, driving goats nor doing anything even remotely related to surviving in desert climes. Hell, I’m of German extraction. Should I wear my lederhosen to work (now there’s a mental picture…)? And you youngsters that think it’s cool to wear a baseball cap sideways with your dishdasha… you’re so unhip, I’m surprised your bums don’t fall off. And sandals. Do you have to pick your fucking toes during a meeting? For goat’s sake, put your damn shoes on and leave your toe-jam sessions to your private time. p. Attention-whore kids with ‘hot’ cars. Ricers. Shitty little Japanese cars with bolt-on accessories. Need I say more? Mass euthanasia is warranted. Think of it as a chlorine treatment for the gene-pool. q. Pharmacies. Just try and get some decent pharmaceuticals in this place, and no, I don’t mean recreational pharmaceuticals. Most everything beyond Panadol is banned. I needed some morphine for a chronic injury, and, of course, only one pharmacy in the entire place has it. Get the ‘yellow’ prescription, battle out-of-town traffic, park 1.5 miles away and hump it to the pharmacy. Then, be told by the smirking little shit behind the counter that you need “the white prescription”. Came very, very close to homicide this day. Pity stayed my hand. It’s a pity I left my tire iron back in my truck… r. Jet skis. Melt these fuckers into tie-clips. They’re useless except for annoying fishermen and killing wildlife. I’m no fan of the local fisherfolk (they tend to go all Japanese and vacuum the sea) nor am I an environmentalist (just the opposite: I’m a cigar-chomping, land- raping, booze-swilling, small furry mammal-abusing oilman), but I really fucking hate jet skis. Nuke them. Nuke them all.
3. Things that I’m really rather ambivalent about living in the Middle East.
a. The local constabulary. Known variably as the Royal Ostrich Pluckers, or Royally Officious Pricks, depending on what they’re hassling you about.
i. Getting called out because you need to get your car washed? Pluckers.
ii. Wasting a day getting new plates because they issued you the wrong plates 4 years ago? Pricks.
b. Arabic food. Shwarmas, samosas, chicken tikka on a stick, hummus, baba ganoush, pickled vegetables that for some odd reason have turned red, olives of every hue and description, roast goat, fish, sheep, camel, etc. ‘Eh. It’s OK. But to have that same menu each and every time you have an over-lunch meeting or a breakfast buffet at one of the hotels…Color me unimpressed. Then again, I do like the availability of Ugandan Scotch bonnet peppers. c. The Old Airport. Except during Ramadan, the bar’s always open, the folks behind the counter are moderately efficient, the customs crowd are so dazed by their jobs you could probably pass an ICBM through the X-ray and they wouldn’t notice. Somewhat shabby, somewhat new, somewhat OK. Besides, if you want out, it’s the only game in town. UPDATE: There is a new airport in town, and it’s a stunner. This one is placed firmly in the liked category, but why do all International arrivals park at the furthest gate of the furthest terminal? d. The Wahiba Sands. Close enough for a weekend getaway, far enough away to get that Lawrence of Arabia feel. For folks unfamiliar with the desert, I suppose this is the epitome of high adventure. For me (a jaded world traveler), it’s merely another place to get sand in one’s boots. Decent views and nice sorts of dunes. Go dune-bashing. Go nuts. Extremely moderately OK. e. Majlis al Djinn. One of the world’s largest caves. It’s quite dead (i.e., no running water, hence no growing speleothems), but it’s a fucking huge underground room. That’s it. A great big, mostly barren hole in the ground into which one has to abseil if one wants to visit. I’m whelmed. f. The Semail Ophiolite. This was really on my “I like” list before I had to deal with the officiousness of the national oil company and the local fuzz (my geology book will just have to wait to be published outside the country). It’s a world-class example of an obduction (oceanic crust thrust up onto continental crust) complex, with the Moho discontinuity actually at the surface. Great mineralogy, oddball petrology, weird erosional forms…but still, it’s here, it’s there, and once you figure it out, it becomes just another pile of green-brown rocks. Splendidly somewhat neat-o. g. The Hawasina Complex and Cenozoic Limestone Mountains. Again, another of the “Ohhh, Ahh” things when one first gets here. But after years of construction, demolition of some mountains, and building everywhere, the view just pales. Sandstorms that last for weeks, coupled with late summer doldrums, little moving air and you’re lucky even to see the mountains. A real shame, as tourism and sightseeing here, could be such a cash cow for the country. Oh, well. h. Arabic folk. Ah, the biggie. Arabs, by and large, are great people (and those who make sweeping overweening generalizations about diverse groups of people are generally whacked). A little weird (at least by my standards, i.e., “those by whom all others should be compared”) in dress, deportment, and divinity; but typically affable, friendly and never intimidating. Until you place them behind the wheel of an automobile. There is some sort of genetic Jekyll and Hyde syndrome that must lurk in the DNA of all Arabic types. Once mobile, they transmogrify into the most insane, reckless, brazen, irresponsible, out-of-control whackjobs ever to roll a kilometer. I know, I covered most all this in a previous screed, but it is a most fascinating phenomenon: how one group can occupy, simultaneously, both ends of the bell curve. So, carefully measured and evaluated, it yields a great big “Meh”. So there you have it. A non-definitive list of all things Middle Eastern: the good, the bad, the bogus, the irritating. Summation? Hell, I don’t know. It still beats paying 45% of one’s salary to Uncle Sam (even though I still file an annual 1040 and pay Uncle Sam a non-trivial portion of my hard-earned moolah for the privilege of not being present in the US), but you still can’t call an asshole an asshole without fear of jail, termination, and deportation. Gas is really cheap, but you have to put up with overtly maniacal drivers. There are actually things to see and do here, but you have to put up with illiterate ignorance in customer service and in the complaint department. Guess I’ll just continue along and keep an eye on the shit bucket. Who knows? A simple thing like a change of venue (or company) when it comes to employment would mean even bigger buckets. The more full bucket #1 becomes means you can deal with more of the stuff that wants to overflow bucket #2.
As Donald Trump has ended the Saudi leg of his first foreign visit, here's a look back at some of the contentious moments in the Gulf kingdom. 1. Thumbs down for a thumbs up? The thumbs-up sign has been confusing people for thousands of years. Contrary to Hollywood legend, Roman gladiators were not spared by a thumbs-up, but by a hidden thumb. If the origins of both gestures are linked, we can only assume this meant, "Do not kill the prisoner, he seems the perfect solution to the emperor's arthritic finger." Is Thumbs Up considered rude in Saudi Arabia? I came across a pamphlet of taboos apparently handed over to the staff that accompanied President Trump to Saudi Arabia today. One of the points on it was that don't do thumbs up in front of the locals. And a few more from Reddit: I am a Saudi and live Saudi Arabia, and this post is a bunch of crap. Thumbs up means thumbs up, no other meaning to it. i live is Saudi Arabia too and i say bullshit to OP, Thumbs up means thumbs up man using a thumbs up in Saudi Arabia, or any muslim middle eastern country does mean "F--K YOU!!" using a middle finger in Saudi Arabia means nothing to them. If you flick your teeth with your... Thumbs-Up. The thumbs-up signals approval in the U.S. and on Facebook, but in Afghanistan, Iran, parts of Italy, and Greece, it means “up yours.” So next time you’re trying to hitchhike in with the tips pointing up at about waist level and moving the hand slightly up and down signals "wait a little bit" or "be careful. " This gesture can be observed extensively when driving in the crowded streets of the Arab cities. In such a locale, it may be accompanied by curses from an anxious taxi driver or a pedestrian trying to cross the street. But on Saturday journalists following Trump to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip as president shared photos of this "cultural guide" which said the thumbs up gesture was considered rude or taboo there. Politico reporter Annie Karni said the document was handed out by the US embassy in Riyadh. At 12:37 a.m., Eastern time, Politico's Annie Karni noted that President Trump may need to rein in his favorite gesture — the thumbs-up — during his trip to Saudi Arabia. Briefing materials from... A look back at some of the contentious moments during the US president's trip to Saudi Arabia.
What does Saudi Arabia want for Yemen and Syria? UpFront
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