The chief thing is still natural resources, this is more so than any form of governance. Saudi Arabia is in its position because they have the worlds largest oil reserves. Congo was colonized and most of their natural resources were taken by Belgium, why are you ignoring this? The world is run on national resources, particularly oil. It's the most important thing.*Nobleman* wrote:Yes Exactly bro your proving my argument. I said that prosperity comes down to more than resources, your argument was resources is the single and only factor contributing to economic success. I acknowledge that both natural resources and good governance plays it part. Again I believe that the governance in Saudi is good because they are able to extract and manage their resources to benefit their population, who mostly have a very comfortable standard of living. Ignore the western definition of good governance, where human rights of foreign nationals plays a big part.Shirib wrote:
Nobleman, come on you're far smarter than this, you can't ignore 80 years of colonialism in Congo, that explains why Congo is worst off than Luxembourg. Sure leadership is part of it, but the main reason is colonialism.
It's illegal and punishable by death to speak out against the King of Saudi Arabia, so yea put your happy smiley face on, it's not as if you have much choice. In terms of freedoms, the House of Saud makes people Mubarak, Assad, and co, look like saints. Only difference is Allah blessed Saudi Arabia with the worlds largest reserve of the worlds most traded commodity, so they can go around build some extra cool sky scrapers.
Also you are unable to provide any concrete evidence to suggest that the house saud inhibit the freedom of their population, much of your argument is based on your opinion. Finally I do acknowledge that the saudi govt is far from perfect.
Why should we ignore the human rights of foreign nationals? Does the government not have a responsibility of ensuring the rights of all people who live in it's borders? Dude, what evidence do I need to provide, when it is all well known. There is no freedom of speech, freedom of press, there are no worker rights. You have to get government approval to do some of the most basic of things.