
Woz on Snowden: "Total hero to me; total hero" - staunch
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/steve-wozniak-us-would-look-like-dubai-if-it-didn-t-spend-all-its-money-on-military--593703.html#.VWQXZ89VhBe
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ck2
What I do not understand is why the US is the military for wealthy countries
like Saudi Arabia.

ISIS is literally at their doorstep, Iran on the other side and their solution
is to simply purchase a nuclear weapon instead of drafting an army.

And now we are somehow enslaved to re-invading Iraq for a fourth time when it
falls again.

Meanwhile our entire infrastructure of roads and bridges will fail in the next
generation because we dump all our money into the war machine black hole so
that the contractors can extract profit from taxpayers.

~~~
mr337
"What I do not understand is why the US is the military for wealthy countries
like Saudi Arabia."

Could it be as simple as we are basically protecting OPEC in exchange so they
can sell oil to us? I can't find any other reason.

~~~
tim333
I think there's a worry about some Al Queda / ISIS types taking over and
causing havoc with the Saudi trillions. The Saudis may be undemocratic but at
least they don't cause too much trouble.

~~~
patrickk
But Saudi Arabia funded/funds Al-Qaeda and ISIS, they are Sunni terror groups,
despite the fact that in theory, Saudi Arabia is a US ally. These groups
attack Shias and other minority groups, not other Sunnis like the Saudis.
Remember, a lot of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and a lot of the funding
came from Saudi Arabia. The US is funding its enemies by its strong links to
Saudi Arabia.

You can read this article, or google around for better ones:

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-yousaf-butt-/saudi-
wahhabis...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-yousaf-butt-/saudi-wahhabism-
islam-terrorism_b_6501916.html)

It's a very complicated relationship, I think the best long term outcome for
the region and the world is a massive reduction in the importance of oil and
the Middle East ceases to be important strategically.

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leephillips
I certainly admire Wozniak as an engineer and a person, but there is something
obscene about gushing over the cleanliness and opulent veneer of a repressive
dictatorship. Americans have been jailed there for taking pictures of public
buildings, making comments on Facebook (while in the US), and other normal
activity. This oppression makes the news here because it involves westerners;
the constraints on the lives of their own citizens must be far worse.

------
newman8r
Does woz make stuff anymore or is it just speaking engagements?

~~~
zz1
I don't think he still builds anything, I have read him tell that his know how
is completely obsolete today.

~~~
newman8r
I figured this might be the case.. scary... at the same time, I've recently
been revisiting a ton of "abandoned tech" and finding really interesting
connections - things that maybe are worth re exploring now. he's got a unique
perspective - would be awesome to do a hackathon with him for sure.

~~~
agumonkey
I'm under the impression that the fundamentals of engineering didn't change a
lot. Creativity under constraints.

~~~
newman8r
true - I bet he had a ton of ideas back in the day that are finally becoming
practical.

