[anon007]

Do you all think Silicon Valley should make a public statement and distance themselves from MBS?

After all the photo-ops among executives at Apples, Google and FB it looks embarrassing to have a photo with a possible murderer out there. Or from the PR perspective, it's best to keep quiet and not remind the public at all and hope no one would bring it up?

[craftyguy]

> Do you all think Silicon Valley should make a public statement and distance themselves from MBS?

Silicon Valley should have made a public statement a long time ago about what MBS is doing to Yemen. It's quite ridiculous that being directly responsible for the deaths of thousands is A-OK, but ohhh kill one journalist and the western world loses their shit.

[antimora]

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic" - JS

[TaylorAlexander]

And a famine affecting millions.

[706f6f70]

> kill one journalist and the western world loses their shit.

I would argue that the Western world largely didn't care, but the journalistic class which controls a large chunk of what people think is happening had a tantrum. This was not a "look at what Trump did this week" tantrum, but rather a "these guys just killed one of us, YOU HAVE TO CARE" tantrum.

You can tell it's this because the journalists themselves don't really care that he died trying to expose what is happening in Yemen - they only care that a fellow journalist died a fairly gruesome death.

[thrower123]

Also witness the journos circling the wagons around a guy who, by most accounts, is an obnoxious fucknut, because the White House got tired of his shit and pulled his pass.

Expecting the press to be objective or reasonable where their own prerogatives and interests are concerned is foolish.

[nickthemagicman]

You don't want lapdog journalists it makes the whole exercise pointless.

[llampx]

That implies that they aren't lapdogs just not beholden to the administration.

[nickthemagicman]

Well in this case if you get murdered and dismembered you're pretty apparently NOT beholden to the administration.

[austincheney]

I am not excusing any belligerents in the Yemen conflict, however the cause of that conflict is a coup that resulted in a failed extremist state. Conditions for the people of Yemen would be dire no matter which way that military intervention went. This is, unfortunately, the reason why that conflict isn't getting more attention.

[PeterMikhailov]

The only reason Saudi Arabia is bombing their neighbor is MBS decided he needed a successful military victory to highlight and cement his power as the true ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Yemen is the poorest country in that part of the world and poses no threat to SA.

The only reason the US aides SA in bombing and starving Yemen is they asked.

[anoncoward111]

Spare me. Countries can figure their shit out pretty quickly when they aren't being attacked by rich foreign neighbors.

[austincheney]

Countries cannot figure anything out if they are internally conflicted or poorly organized regardless of the peacefulness or wealth of their neighbors.

As an example look at Botswana. They are moderately well-off only because of low corruption and strong internal organization even though their neighbors are incredibly corrupt and have frequent political/military turmoil.

[mayukh]

What?? Africa, Latin America, whole swathes of planet earth, time and over again that disagree vehemently with that. Who needs enemies (or hostile neighbors) when corrupt and greedy denizens breed within.

[Sag0Sag0]

What are you talking about? Latin America and Africa have had non stop foreign intervention since the 16th century. Rich angry neighbours / foreign interventions have always created huge amounts of corruption and instability and are the root cause of many of these countries problems.

You also seem to be implying that African and Latin American people are just naturally more corrupt than the inhabitants of other nations which is a kinda bizarre theory.

[nickthemagicman]

It doesn't matter it's not the USs business.

[austincheney]

As an American living in the Middle East the biggest problem is over simplification of complex external political issues, because then nothing and everything are simultaneously the US's business.

[nickthemagicman]

Do you think this region would be better off without the US involved?

[austincheney]

No. Absolutely not.

[objektif]

The most extremist state in the region is the house of Saud. To come here and try to legitimize a genocide? Wooooow just woow.

[austincheney]

Don’t be an ass. It’s really not cool to validate your extreme position with an unstated straw man.

[dang]

Breaking the site guidelines like this will get you banned on HN. We've had to warn you about this before, so please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use the site as intended from now on.

[objektif]

How do I prove that you are a completely useless idiot who tries to legitimize blowing children to pieces? I guess it doesn't need a proof, reading your comments I can tell that you are a ruthless low life.

[dang]

We've banned this account for repeatedly violating the site guidelines. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [e-mail] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[Edmond]

Only a servile culture would have led to all those SV head honchos prostrating themselves as they did for the prince...I took one look at the photos and wondered how is it that none of their handlers advised them against it...Wannabe reformed dictators using eager and naive westerners to burnish their reputation is an old and well known tactic.

[azernik]

The rules are always different for government leaders and officials.

[mayukh]

Awww. Do you mean publicly distance themselves? Of course they have ! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME)

Privately ($ with a B in the front of it), let's be real, would you ?

[notyourday]

> Do you all think Silicon Valley should make a public statement and distance themselves from MBS?

You so funny.

Did you see WeWork just raising money from Softbank a week or two ago?

When SV's virtue signaling meets demands in rent, SV virtue becomes dropping on its knees in front of anyone who would give it money.