Hey Jack,
As an interested observer in all things middle east, it seems to me that the "dirty laundry" as you so elequently referred to on your post, is more to do with certain EK interest groups attempting to have an impact on the terms and conditions they are working under.
This I understand, is because the majority of the posters are expatriot pilots that work in a country where (as opposed to most western countries) there is no real ability for either representation or arbitration.
The feel I get for these guys is that they have exhausted all legitimate avenues for appeal, still feel loyalty to the company they work for, are frustrated by the direction management are taking over certain issues and are venting their collective fury to the world.