Sandinmyshoes
A place is (can be) what you make it, and Riyadh, in my opinion falls into that category. Sure the lack of a beer, cinema, women in anything but the black abaya etc. takes a bit of getting used to, but if I could go back to when I was younger, I would certainly give it a couple of years there to earn the tax free dollars then bail out. Life on one of the better compunds isn't so hard to take and Bahrain for a break isn't that far away. But it isn't for everybody I agree.
On Sama, I do have inside knowledge and most (but not all) of the ex-pats who are leaving or who have left, were there as contractors to get the business up and running and their time is finished. A low cost airlines doesn't keep high cost consultants or contract staff if they don't have to. Not least of which, the objective of any Saudi business is to have it run by Saudi's not Brit's or Yanks- so as they Saudi -ize (if that's a word) there will be people leaving.
Sama is a new airline going with great potential, and of course with every new airline there are growing pains and you'll hear the talk about that no doubt.