Reuters: US ambassador to Libya dead

[Viking]

To make an analogy

Viking: There is only one dentist in Ft. Worth and that is Dr Brush DrMedDent

grumbler: You are lying, there are two dentists in Ft. Worth, here is a link to Dr Floss DrMedDet and his address is in Ft. Worth

Viking: But Dr Floss doesn't have his practice in Ft. Worth, his practice is in Dallas.

A Dentist is both the man and the practice. Dr Brush and Dr Floss are both dentists in Ft. Worth, but if I go to the dentist in Ft. Worth my only option is Dr Brush' dental practice.

I see no contradiction here.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm inclined to side with Viking on this meaningless, endless, tiresome semantic argument.  Halibruton, Baker-Hughes et al are never referred to as "oil companies."

On the other hand, the fact that Shell, which is most definitely an oil company, has some unit or another operating in Saudi undercuts the claim a bit.

[merithyn]

Good point, grumbler. I'm out

You tried. I, for one, appreciate the effort.

[Malthus]

We need to kill another US ambassador just to put a stop to this argument. 

[mongers]

A search for "semantics oil corporation of saudi arabia" turned up nothing:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=semantics+oil+corporation+of+saudi+arabia&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest

Go figure.

[mongers]

We need to kill another US ambassador just to put a stop to this argument. 

Pfft, who are you? ; the guy who makes the trains run on time in Pakistan ?

[Tamas]

Congrats for murdering this thread people. I couldn't be bothered properly reading the last 5 pages. What a bore.

[grumbler]

I don't think I am weasling. Shell are not in saudi as an oil company. The don't own or operate oil wells. That is what I meant when I said they were not "in saudi". I could have used Shell E&P to specify Shell the oil company rather than Shell the refinery or Shell the gas station. But none of you know what E&P is.

You said that Halliburton was "in Saudi."  You said that Shell was not.  If your argument is that "in Saudi" means "in Saudi Arabia as an oil company," then how do you explain the fact that Halliburton was "in Saudi" but not as "an oil company?"

You can't have it both ways.  You drew a contrast between Haliburton et al and Shell et al that was false.  All the weaseling in the world won't get you out of that.  If Haliburton is "in Saudi," then so is Shell.

Shell is not an oil company in Saudi, it may be doing other things, but it is not an oil company in that country.

Nor is Haliburton, which you claimed was "in Saudi."

Baker, SLB, Halliburton and Weatherford are oilfield service companies in saudi.

That is correct. And Shell, BP, and "Esso" (ExxonMobil) are "in saudi" as well.

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=484&contentId=2000678

http://www.exxonmobil.com/MENA-English/PA/about_what.aspx

[garbon]

Congrats for murdering this thread people. I couldn't be bothered properly reading the last 5 pages. What a bore.

Shame as there were actually some items posted relevant to the incident that happened and not that side discussion.

[grumbler]

To make an analogy

Viking: There is only one dentist in Ft. Worth and that is Dr Brush DrMedDent

grumbler: You are lying, there are two dentists in Ft. Worth, here is a link to Dr Floss DrMedDet and his address is in Ft. Worth

Viking: But Dr Floss doesn't have his practice in Ft. Worth, his practice is in Dallas.

A Dentist is both the man and the practice. Dr Brush and Dr Floss are both dentists in Ft. Worth, but if I go to the dentist in Ft. Worth my only option is Dr Brush' dental practice.

I see no contradiction here.

No need to make analogies, we can trace the discussion:

Seedy: "it's not like oil companies had compounds of Americans living separate, distinct lives in Saddam's Baghdad like we've had in Saudi Arabia for decades"

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

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

Viking: "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."

grumbler: "Shell at al are, in fact, in Saudi Arabia, and here's proof."

Viking:  [vague weaseling about how Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil aren't oil companies because they don't own oilfields in Saudi Arabia, or something]

The analogy, if you insist on one, is that you would argue that no oil companies have offices in Irving, Texas because no oil is drilled within the city limits, and so ExxonMobil isn't an oil company within the city limits of Irving.

[grumbler]

Congrats for murdering this thread people. I couldn't be bothered properly reading the last 5 pages. What a bore.

Thanks for the congrats.  Now you know what it is like to read threads where you bring in your views on politics.

[Razgovory]

Congrats for murdering this thread people. I couldn't be bothered properly reading the last 5 pages. What a bore.

Grumbler got involved.  What do you expect?

[DGuller]

For some reason, every time I opened this thread the last day or two, I just scrolled through right to the end of new posts.  I thought at first that it was a sign that I was dead tired, but now I realize that it was just a protective reflex.

[garbon]

Congrats for murdering this thread people. I couldn't be bothered properly reading the last 5 pages. What a bore.

Thanks for the congrats.  Now you know what it is like to read threads where you bring in your views on politics.

I don't really see how that's comparable. At least his are usually entertaining (though not in the way he anticipated).

[mongers]

I'm going to suggest the group that carried out the murder of the US ambassador was in part funded from contributions received from Saudi Arabia.