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AcidBurn · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 28

I�ve never been to Saudi, but I�m reading this book called Saudi Arabia Exposed by John R. Bradley. It�s proved to be very interesting so far.

For some background, John R. Bradley is the former editor of the ArabNews, which is an English-language Saudi news agency based in Jeddah. He worked there for two and a half years. Last year, he was fired from his post. The Saudis accused him of pedophilia and he denies it.

I had heard of Bradley before when he was the editor at the ArabNews. He was really, really pro-Saudi at the time. Since his departure, his tone has changed dramatically, which is why he wrote this book.

So far it�s good. I wonder if it will be available in Saudi.

QatarChic · Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 445 Location: Qatar

Cleopatra · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:35 pm Post subject:

True Dreamer · Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Land of the Sand

Is there a catch here??!

True Dreamer · Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Land of the Sand

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

He was also a frequent poster on this forum.

QatarChic · Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 445 Location: Qatar

True Dreamer · Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Land of the Sand

Since life is too short... no offence Qatachic.... I'm sure you'd better off read something more interesting than this weirdly voluminous account of Saudi Arabia from a bigot who used to work IN Saudi Arabia and earn Saudi Riyals where at one stage he used to praise Saudi Arabia as the most GENEROUS country in the world prior to this book Evil or Very Mad

Thought you may want to do better things in your spare time Chic Exclamation

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:22 pm Post subject:

I'm beginning to think that some of us - including myself - might be being just a wee bit hard on Bradley? True, his sycophancy during his Arab Snooze days was a bit hard to stomach, but having looked through his website:

http://www.johnrbradley.com/

it does seem that he's fairly well-informed and seeks to give a balanced view. So the notion that he's jumped on the knee-jerk Saw-dee bashing bandwagon may be a tad unfounded. Given the incredible amount of misinformation that has circulated about Saudi Arabia over the past few years, it's just possible that Bradley may have more to contribuite than most.

QatarChic · Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 445 Location: Qatar

True Dreamer · Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Land of the Sand

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 1:49 pm Post subject:

I'm not at all sure why you are asking me so many "questions" or why you feel that I am particularly qualified to answer them. Presumably, your implication is that Bradley has said some very negative, even outlandish, things about the Kingdom since his departure. Maybe he has, I don't know, I'm no expert on his work and am not interested enough in said work to want to become one. My point was simply that, having read a few of Bradley's articles from the website above, it appeared to me that he was reasonably well-informed and balanced, and perhaps not deserving of the opprobrium hurled at him by people who admit to not having read his book (and no, I haven't either). Yes, I agree that his transformation from court scribe to critical analyst is a little distasteful and does call his credibility into question, but I don't believe that constitutes grounds for automatically dismissing everything he writes.

True Dreamer · Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Land of the Sand

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

QatarChic · Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 445 Location: Qatar

VS- Well when you eventually read it, please give us ur thoughts Very Happy