Another great quote, from an Englishman currently trapped in Saudia Arabia:
"There is a general malaise in the Saudi Air Force, they want a real air force but are not prepared to put in anywhere near enough money. And the calibre of the 'technicians' is, to say the least, zero. At best it is a circus, at worst a scathing indictment of the Arabs' failure to be a part of the modern world. The many Mohammeds and Abdullahs I have worked with are in essence really nice people but, unfortunately, most will never be technicians as long as they have a 1500-year-old ideology as their life support system. They are really not technical people. I have tried to impress on them that the prime purpose of our job is the generation of aeroplanes to meet the flying task, but breakfast comes first, even if there is an aeroplane waiting for a part with engines running. Saudis have no concept of urgency; Insh'allah, which means 'if God wills it', is used by them to say 'If I can be bothered'. If you ask them to do something that is quite within their limits and they fail to complete, it is not their fault, Allah did not will it."
"A 1500-year-old ideology as their life support system."
No worse, time-wise, than the 2000-year-old ideology the Christian nations espouse, or the 3000-year-old ideology of the Jews. Wonder what the difference is? "God doesn't help those who don't help themselves"?
Unfortunately God does help them so they say.
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