The cost of high Oil prices on the average resident of Saudi Arabia
While the cost of a barrel of oil has increased to high levels, benefitting no doubt the economies of countries that produce it, and the people who live in those countries in somewhat direct and indirect ways, it has a negative effect in a more direct way.
In a country like Saudi where everything is imported, high oil prices mean higher energy prices in countries we import from, it also means higher transport prices, two things which drive the price of goods and everything else with it, up up and away.
The depreciating US dollar which most gulf countries are pegged at a fixed exchange rate also helped increase prices of anything imported from a country which has not pegged its exchange rate against the green back.
So now, after I came back, almost everything (if not everything) has become expensive, from the prices of cars to rental properties to food, which even in American restaurants like Chilli’s also increased.
I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
P.S I am not complaining, I am just actively observing my surroundings.
Checkout the embedded video from BBC
Video: Saudi Revolution? What Saudi Revolution?
Saudi Revolution my a#$
I did not expect this at all, I wanted to take a little drive on Jeddah’s Corniche yesterday, I saw all these guys with flags and loud music… well, I took out my camera, which is always with me 
and took a few shots that I wanted to share with you.
Enough said, I hope you enjoy the video (Youtube)
Jeddah’s youth celebrating the return on King Abdullah from his medical trip.
Saudi Revolution on the 20th of March
A facebook group has been created, titled “Saudi Revolution 20 March”
The demands as I first saw them on SaudiWoman’s blog are the same, you would think this is the same political party that tried to get recognised as the first political party in Saudi Arabia, and maybe it is, but unlike the first one which had a date of revolt on the 11th of March, this one has a revolt date ont he 20th, maybe it is a hijri-gregorian conversion problem.
I bet this is what will happen, but then again the fever was not full blown as it is now.
Rappers In Jeddah Saudi Arabia Freestyling
My friend Hassan (aka @big_hass) asked me if I was interested in helping him video an interview he was planning on doing with a couple of young rappers in Jeddah.
The interview took place near a basketball court in alrawda district, I thought no one would be there playing ball, but to my surprise it was full and loud.
We met the guys, all were extremely cool to be around, we did the interview and they freestyled.
Here is a teaser (YouTube or Vimeo 
Tim Granite, MohFlow, and Magic, three rappers living in Saudi Arabia doing their thing for ReVoltRadio.
Full Interview coming soon, so stay tuned
The War on Terror and The Rise of Revolutions
I’m going to go a little Freakonomics on this post, and try to connect the rise of revolutions with the war on terror, I could be wrong, I have no scientific evidence on all of this, but then again, this is just a blog, and these are my thoughts on a subject.
The war on terror, Islamic terror only that is, every other form can still go on unnoticed, began after September 11th, funding to organizations as well as charities dried up, funding to Islamic schools (aka madrases) dried up, and so, the opium of the masses began to have less effects on the people drugged up on religion.
The less effect religion had on the masses, and the more, according to wikileaks desperate housewives had (I’m sure they are wrong, Hanna Montana had a more devastating effect) on them, woke the Facebook generation up, ask any parent how different this generation is to the past one, we were happy with Atari, they get mad that the XBox subscription has been canceled.
So take away constant reminders of having patience until we get to heaven and enjoy paradise, give them images of people living to somewhere that looks a lot like paradise (Hollywood is all smoke and mirrors, but still, it is there, and it looks like it is attainable in this life, after all we all have the potential to be richer) and you have a somewhat volatile combination, especially now that you’ve educated them, and then not given them the opportunities to get out there and get it, and they hear through the grapevine Guardian, CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox, etc, about the extravagances of Slick Rick The Ruler, and you only give to your kids from a certain wife but the step kids get none, and they never get a fairy god mother like cinderella… Well, somethings are about to change, ask the Menendez Brothers.
No, it is not the signs of the times, at least I don’t believe so, revolutions have been happening throughout history, we are just experiencing this one at lightening speed, we even get most of the info straight from regular people on the scene, not filtered news reports, which makes it all the more personal, I wonder what the Griots will sing about this time in history, after all is said and done.
Islam and HipHop
Return Of The Mecca: Islam and Hip-Hop from Rumi to Rakim
An interesting video, I need to find the original video not just the promotional clip
The love of a Country
Now that the shock of the Egyptian revolution and Mubarak stepping down has worn off, I began to recall many events of my past.
Egyptians are part of our life in Saudi, to some Saudis more so than others, whether they are our in-laws, our teachers, our doctors, our colleagues, construction workers, drivers etc, and Egypt has been a part of the lives of many, I’ve never been there, but some of our relatives basically live in Egypt, so the culture is very much ingrained (at least to many of us living in Jeddah).
I remember in high school, while the Saudi national anthem was playing in the morning, my friend and I were talking, one of the Egyptian teachers screamed at us for not having enough nationalism to stop talking and respect our national anthem, of course as teenagers it did not matter to us… What is nationalism anyway to teenagers?
As the years passed, and the more I realized what nationalism was, I realized how they as Egyptians loved their country, and how we, as Saudis, had very little sense of nationalism, which I think I was not alone in, because a subject was introduced called “patriotic education” in schools to instill a sense of that magic into our young ones.
Having economic stability is the major reason why we won’t catch the revolution fever now, however, the reasons are many. Another reason why we will not have a revolution (at least now), there is a passiveness about national matters, enlarged by opportunities to make money, or dwarfed due to the lack of opportunities to make any, depending on which side of the fence one is on.
The other factor we won’t have a revolution is because the region only saw this miraculous advancement in the past 70+ years which people in the gulf have associated with the ruling families, Egypt on the other hand has been a land with a glorious past and also revolutions, almost all of the past rulers in recent history have been deposed, from King Farouk who was exiled, Jamal Abdulnasser who resigned but was later poisoned, Anwar Alsadat who was assassinated, and now Mubarak who was facebooked and twittered out.
The Egyptian revolutionaries are my age and younger, mostly educated, who saw their potential stifled by the regime, and having the education and national sense to see that the only reason that their ambition are not fulfilled is an archaic regime which does not encourage the channeling of their energies into synergies that take the country they love from where it is to where they want it to be, took matters into their own hands… I just hope they do it right, because due to its role and weight in the Arab world, Tunis has been forgotten, but all eyes are on Egypt now.