Reuters: US ambassador to Libya dead

[garbon]

In my opinion, the Dark Ages lasted until the Reformation. The Catholic Church casts a long shadow.

Good thing you've moved on from teaching.

Considering that the beginning of protestantism is one of the four dates considered by scholars to be the border point between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, I don't really see what is so controversial in what he said. 

garbon just enjoys nitpicking. He knows what I said was meant to be somewhat whimsical.

But apparently Marti did not.

[grumbler]

You may have been there, but the US government admitted that it did it. So, no, the US participated in "helping create ... the Shah's [regime] in Iran".

Link?

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/

Nice attempt at a sidetrack, but I was asking if you had a link that shows the US government "admitt[ing] that it help[ed] create ... the Shah's [regime] in Iran."  There was already a Shah's regime in 1953, and the US efforts in the 1953 dismissal of Mossadeq were  failures.  The plotters the CIA used had to flee to US protection, and the Shah fled to Baghdad.  See your link, which isn't from "the US government" anyway.

Mossadeq fell because his mistook the nature of his victory in the attempt to dismiss him, and overplayed his hand.  The British and the CIA had abandoned hope for success by that point.

[PDH]

Considering that the beginning of protestantism is one of the four dates considered by scholars to be the border point between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, I don't really see what is so controversial in what he said. 

What the heck are you talking about?  The Renaissance is most often linked firmly with the growth of humanism in the  Middle Ages (quite a few put the Renaissance firmly in the Medieval tradition).

The Reformation was simply the Medieval heretical movements that stuck, in part because of a growing more literate society making it more difficult to squash.  In many ways Luther is more the heir of the firmly Medieval Wycliffe and Hus than some break with tradition.

Jaron said "Dark Ages" not "Medieval" which is a huge difference.  I understand you don't understand subtlety sometimes, but to equate the though of the 15th century to the thought of the 8th century is ridiculous unless someone is trolling.

[garbon]

Considering that the beginning of protestantism is one of the four dates considered by scholars to be the border point between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, I don't really see what is so controversial in what he said. 

What the heck are you talking about?  The Renaissance is most often linked firmly with the growth of humanism in the  Middle Ages (quite a few put the Renaissance firmly in the Medieval tradition).

The Reformation was simply the Medieval heretical movements that stuck, in part because of a growing more literate society making it more difficult to squash.  In many ways Luther is more the heir of the firmly Medieval Wycliffe and Hus than some break with tradition.

Jaron said "Dark Ages" not "Medieval" which is a huge difference.  I understand you don't understand subtlety sometimes, but to equate the though of the 15th century to the thought of the 8th century is ridiculous unless someone is trolling.

[The Minsky Moment]

There is one oil company in Saudi, that is Saudi Aramco, there are no others. 

Aramco owns the oil fields, but there are still large numbers of foreign companies, engineers, technicians and advisors active in Saudi Arabia.

[grumbler]

There is one oil company in Saudi, that is Saudi Aramco, there are no others. 

Aramco owns the oil fields, but there are still large numbers of foreign companies, engineers, technicians and advisors active in Saudi Arabia.

Don't confuse Viking with facts.

[Viking]

There is one oil company in Saudi, that is Saudi Aramco, there are no others. 

Aramco owns the oil fields, but there are still large numbers of foreign companies, engineers, technicians and advisors active in Saudi Arabia.

That's what oil companies do, they own oil or the rights to the oil and they hire contractors to get the oil out. Not even the largest oil companies are big enough to have all the skills and experience to do it on their own. There is only one oil company in Saudi, there are many oilfield service companies. Halliburton, Baker, Schlumberger and Weatherford are in Saudi while Shell, Esso and BP are not.

[garbon]

http://news.yahoo.com/actress-sue-anti-islam-filmmaker-federal-court-lawyer-133856277.html

An actress suing the producer of an anti-Islam movie that has spawned violent protests across the Muslim world plans to drop her suit and file a new case in federal court over copyright claims, her lawyer said on Monday.

Cindy Lee Garcia, who appeared in the "Innocence of Muslims," filed a lawsuit last week in a state court in Los Angeles against Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the California man thought to be behind the movie, claiming she was duped into playing a role and her life has been put at risk as a result.

Her case also named YouTube and its parent company, Google Inc., as defendants for their role in distributing the short, crudely made film on the Internet. A California state court judge on Thursday rejected her motion for an order for YouTube to pull the film off its site.

"Today we will dismiss the state court lawsuit, but we're going to file again today in federal court," Garcia's lawyer, Cris Armenta, said on NBC's "Today" show.

"My client has a copyright claim," she said. "We intend to enforce it."

Garcia's is the first-known civil lawsuit connected to the video that depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer and a fool.

Armenta asserted that third-party content distributors hold some responsibility for the content on their platforms.

"I think we should be very clear that Google and YouTube are doing the wrong thing, that they say in their own terms and guidelines that hate speech is not allowed," Armenta said. "How can this not be hate speech? How can this not be wrong, morally intellectually, legally?"

Google previously rejected a request by the White House to reconsider its decision to keep the clips on YouTube, but the company has blocked the trailer in certain Muslim countries such as Egypt and Libya. The White House had asked Google to evaluate whether the video violated YouTube's terms of service.

In her lawsuit, Garcia, of Bakersfield, California, accused a producer of the movie, whom she identified as Nakoula using the alias Sam Bacile, of duping her into appearing in a "hateful" film that she had been led to believe was a simple desert adventure movie.

The film helped generate a torrent of violence across the Muslim world during the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and in the following days.

The violence included an attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi in which the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed. U.S. and other foreign embassies were also stormed by furious Muslims in cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

On Friday, 15 people were killed during protests in Pakistan, and over the weekend a Pakistan government minister offered $100,000 to anyone who kills the movie's maker.

For many Muslims, any depiction of the prophet is blasphemous. Caricatures deemed insulting have provoked protests and drawn condemnation from officials, preachers, ordinary Muslims and many Christians.

[grumbler]

There is one oil company in Saudi, that is Saudi Aramco, there are no others. 

Aramco owns the oil fields, but there are still large numbers of foreign companies, engineers, technicians and advisors active in Saudi Arabia.

That's what oil companies do, they own oil or the rights to the oil and they hire contractors to get the oil out. Not even the largest oil companies are big enough to have all the skills and experience to do it on their own. There is only one oil company in Saudi, there are many oilfield service companies. Halliburton, Baker, Schlumberger and Weatherford are in Saudi while Shell, Esso and BP are not.

Better tell Shell that.  It thinkis it has a presence in "Saudi."

Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company

P.O. Box 10025

Madinat Al-Jubail

Al-Sinaiyah 31961

Phone: +966 3 357 2000

Fax: +966 3 357 3142

Shell Overseas Services Ltd- Riyadh Branch

P.O. Box 16996

Riyadh 11474

Phone: +966 1 477 4402

Fax: +966 1 478 9255

http://www.shell.com/home/content/footer/about_this_site/contact/contact_saudiaarabia.html

I could probably find the same about Esso and BP, but one example puts the lie to your statement, so won't bother.

[Valmy]

He was troubled by the gangs and street of violence of Los Angeles, he said, and dismayed by the West's looser sexual mores, mentioning couples living together out of wedlock and what he called "naked restaurants," like Hooters.

Well it is not like we like the gangs and street violence.  Do they have no criminals in the Muslim world?

I find it amusing half the world thinks Americans are prudes and the other half thinks we are have no sexual mores at all.  I wonder what the Muslims think of the people who call us prudes.

[garbon]

I'm really glad Egypt has decided to get stupid.

[Neil]

Halliburton, Baker, Schlumberger and Weatherford are in Saudi while Shell, Esso and BP are not.

Don't they have some partnerships with Aramco or something?

[Neil]

A copyright claim?  I'm pretty sure that the actors sign releases for their image when they take the job.  That's how being an actor works.

[Viking]

Better tell Shell that.  It thinkis it has a presence in "Saudi."

Yes and?

Whatever they are doing in Saudi is NOT owning and operating oil wells; that is what makes you an oil company. Refinery and Expat pensions? That makes you a chemical or financial services company. 

[Viking]

Halliburton, Baker, Schlumberger and Weatherford are in Saudi while Shell, Esso and BP are not.

Don't they have some partnerships with Aramco or something?

Esso used to own it all. One of the motivating factors for Mossadeq back in the day was when Esso agreed to a 50/50 profit sharing with the saudis while BP (who ran Iran) (Shell owned Iraq while Royal Dutch owned Indonesia) refused to budge at 25%, which prompted mossadeq to nationalize and the CIA to topple him. Over time the Dar al Saud has owned more and more of it. It bought out the last foreign finanacial stake in saudi oil back in 1980. Since then no foreign oil companies have been in saudi.

All the companies in Saudi today provide services to Aramco. Halliburton cements, Schlumberger logs, Baker plugs and weatherford drills.

If foreign oil companies (that is to say foreign companies which operate oil wells in other countries) are in saudi it is to sell services to Aramco (the most valuable being "How to be an oil company")