Formed in 1932 by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, Saudi Arabia has been an absolute monarchy for its entire existence. King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, the current ruler of this oil-rich country, is the sixth member of the house of Saud to lord over the peasantry of his desert nation. The Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam that makes up the religious backbone (and backstop) of the ruling class was the major influence behind the Taliban’s political and social makeup.
King Abdullah and some moron from the U.S. bowing to him.
Under some ludicrous definition of the word, King Abdullah has been branded as a reformer. I can only figure that some groups of ultra, ultra nationalist members of his family gave him that title. They probably want to go back to the good old days when slavery was still legal. The world needs to keep in mind that King Abdullah is not a good man. A good man would give freedom to his people. Acknowledging the legitimacy of this sort of tyrant is the sort of thing the United States and the rest of the free world should vigorously deny.
There is no freedom of the press or guarantee of civil rights or due process in Saudi Arabia. Political parties and unions are illegal. Saudi Arabia does not even bother to have a puppet legislature. There has been, to date, only one election ever held in the country. It was a set of municipal elections held in 2005 where all males over 21 were allowed to vote on candidates to fill half of each municipal board. Even for the most hardcore dictatorial regimes, that’s pretty pathetic.
2 Comments
Nice article – although i cannot think of a muslim democracy ever existing aside from iraq and in future afganistan. democracy is in direct conflict to the koran.
my concern is the muslim brotherhood – aka the community organizers of the middle east!
At least in Iran Transsexual are protected by a fatwa, In Canada it is legal to molest transsexuals as Canada is based on case law not on the Criminal code. I was molested in 2009 and the local courts said that grabbing my breast is not a criminal offence, because I am not a real woman. This decsion was based on an earlier decsion in Ontario’s supreme court. Since I was not the victim in the original case I cannot contest the that decsion which is what the decsion in my case was based on. I would love to live in Iran I am tired of being molested. Recently a man grabbed my breast so hard he left bruises. I pushed him away and he fell down I did not report this because I am afraid. Then about two weeks ago I was approached in a mall parking lot by a police officer who told me if I pushed someone down again that they the Waterloo Regional Police Service will arrest me for assault. I told him what happened and he told me that the court said it was legal and I should act like a man.