Germans - unprincipled profiteers?

[Neil]

Well they are going to buy them somewhere.  Might as well be from the Germans.

It is a smart purchase. You know the Germans always make good stuff.

Their cars are pretty crap.

Is this because in Alberta if it isn't an F150 or a Silverado it is crap?

Not really.  Myself, I prefer cars to trucks, although the extremes in temperature often result in some rough roads in the cities.  The problem is that German cars simply aren't as good as Fords or Nissans and you pay a premium for them, as well as for maintenance.

[DGuller]

Virulently anti-semitic and homophobic supremacists equipped with the best german made panzers. How can that possibly go wrong.

Well, it's likely the tanks sold are export versions and not the best.  If the Saudi Army is anything like other Arab armies, their crews won't be fully trained on the equipment either.

Yeah, Arabs never get a premium account.

[Martim Silva]

Saudi Arabia is still in talks with Russia about the T-90S, and previously they were dealing with the US.

It seems that their purchases are dictated by political interests (rewarding countries who cooperate with them), and not by military concerns.

[Razgovory]

If you are an arms importer you want to diversify the weapons you get.  You don't want to go to war and find your main supplier doesn't approve and has decided to stop selling spare parts.  The Iranians had this problem in the 1980's.

[dps]

They are simple people, they don't know how to take care of refined equipment.  German cars need to be maintained, you need to periodically change their oil, engine, and transmission, if you want them to keep runnig.

The Saudis hire Philipinos or Bengalis  or the like to do stuff like that for them.

Which doesn't mean that the people they hire necessarily really know what they're doing either.