This is the emblem of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some people might find it intimidating... especially an older generation of Italians, Greeks and Spaniards with nightmares about marauders with swords. Didn't bother me when I worked in Saudi Arabia, though. If you followed the rules and were a respectful guest, you were treated with respect. It never occurred to me to complain about sword intimidation... although it might have given pause if I'd been rounded up like a friend of mine was to witness a public beheading, staged to make a statement: "This is how we handle foreign rapists." If I had decided to speak up about the swords, theocratic oppression, Gideon's Quran in the hotel rooms or the means by which the Al Saud had come to power, I'd have been put on a plane headed for someplace else "quicker than you can say Jack Robinson." I stayed a respectful guest.
