Thank you Genesis; another sensible post. The intention of my OP is to express my surprise at how a country that is not enthusiastic about cycling, is not climatologically suited for outdoor cycling in the summer, lacks the infrastructure for the tour, and would likely object to the immodesty of speedo cycling shorts :-) would want to host something like this. Tennis, golf, soccer, athletics and other stadium sports I get. Even hosting one of the American football or baseball exhibition games would be interesting. Cricket could be pleasant in the winter. But the tour in the summer baffles me. I honestly thought it was a joke when I first saw it. I certainly would not take offense of an Arab expressed similar sentiment if Dijon announced plans for a camel racing track.
Cheated--welcome to the microscope of world media. Qatar invited it in by bidding for world political and sporting events, and there is no way of controlling. Think of all the times in your life that you or other around you have freely criticized the political, social or cultural decisions of another country. This was only possible because that country received media attention, and thus you knew about it. Thanks to Qatar's push to be on the world stage, people around the world are learning about Qatar. It was a conscious choice (i.e. how often do you see Luxembourgh or Liechtenstein in the press) It's only going to get worse, and QL is tame in comparison to what is being said on other forums around the world.
As for your comment: "You guys keep on forgetting that Qatar is allowing you to make money and raise your kids and save and spend."
You clearly do not understand capitalism. Insufficient Qataris are incapable, in my case, or unwilling, in the case of manual labor, to build and manage their own country. Therefore they use some of their wealth to hirer foreigners. Every developed country does this to some degree (although Qatar more than others). This is not charity, and I am fairly certain that no one's contract includes a "loyalty" clause. Expats should be no more grateful to those MINORITY of Qataris for providing employment than Qataris should be grateful to expats for providing their services. You seem to think that payment of a salary gives the employer (and collectively his countrymen) some sort of ownership; I would argue that in many cases it highlights the weakness of the employer and his inability to fend for himself.
PS Cabbage I'm shocked that you would agree 100%. 80%, maybe, but not 100.
Thank you Genesis; another sensible post. The intention of my OP is to express my surprise at how a country that is not enthusiastic about cycling, is not climatologically suited for outdoor cycling in the summer, lacks the infrastructure for the tour, and would likely object to the immodesty of speedo cycling shorts :-) would want to host something like this. Tennis, golf, soccer, athletics and other stadium sports I get. Even hosting one of the American football or baseball exhibition games would be interesting. Cricket could be pleasant in the winter. But the tour in the summer baffles me. I honestly thought it was a joke when I first saw it. I certainly would not take offense of an Arab expressed similar sentiment if Dijon announced plans for a camel racing track.
Cheated--welcome to the microscope of world media. Qatar invited it in by bidding for world political and sporting events, and there is no way of controlling. Think of all the times in your life that you or other around you have freely criticized the political, social or cultural decisions of another country. This was only possible because that country received media attention, and thus you knew about it. Thanks to Qatar's push to be on the world stage, people around the world are learning about Qatar. It was a conscious choice (i.e. how often do you see Luxembourgh or Liechtenstein in the press) It's only going to get worse, and QL is tame in comparison to what is being said on other forums around the world.
As for your comment: "You guys keep on forgetting that Qatar is allowing you to make money and raise your kids and save and spend."
You clearly do not understand capitalism. Insufficient Qataris are incapable, in my case, or unwilling, in the case of manual labor, to build and manage their own country. Therefore they use some of their wealth to hirer foreigners. Every developed country does this to some degree (although Qatar more than others). This is not charity, and I am fairly certain that no one's contract includes a "loyalty" clause. Expats should be no more grateful to those MINORITY of Qataris for providing employment than Qataris should be grateful to expats for providing their services. You seem to think that payment of a salary gives the employer (and collectively his countrymen) some sort of ownership; I would argue that in many cases it highlights the weakness of the employer and his inability to fend for himself.
PS Cabbage I'm shocked that you would agree 100%. 80%, maybe, but not 100.