Posted on 06/18/2011 3:30:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...what can be done to maintain and advance Saudi Arabia's unity and stability while it exists in such an explosive region that is experiencing extraordinary and unprecedented turmoil? It seems that there are only three possible options.
First Option: Count fully on the United States to support Saudi Arabia in the event of any crisis that may erupt in the country regardless of its cause or nature. This option may have merit if the danger were external, but let's be clear: America will not intervene to protect our country or any other nation if the threat is internal. The proof of this is how quickly America abandoned its closest allies such as Iran under the Shah, the Philippines during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, and now Mubarak in Egypt...
Second Option: Try to enhance the power of the religious establishment and depend upon its support and influence on all aspects of the life of the Saudi people to protect the country from all challenges... although this option may be appropriate in the near future, it will pose a major danger to Saudi Arabia in the long run...
Third Option: Rely on openness, transparency, democracy, human rights, and personal freedom in building the civil and political institutions for Saudi Arabia and speak to the new generation in truth about what is facing them today and not sometime in the past.
(Excerpt) Read more at arabnews.com ...
Full title: "Saudi Arabia: Difficult choices -- We must keep our country safe and united at a time of regional upheaval"
Have a great afternoon and evening, all.
I’d take door #3 but I’m just an American citizen.
SA needs to defund Jihad.
De-recognise theocratic autocracies. These duplicitous animals need to be civilised before befriending them.
Well, removing Shiaa Bin Obama from office immediately would be a big help!
Above all else, the Saudis are intensely conservative, in the classical sense of the word. They are truly terrified of change, and will only accept it grudgingly.
By far, the biggest threat to their country is the Wahhabi sect of Islam that divides control of the nation with the Saud royal family.
The Wahhabi are a Philistine sect that hates art, history, music, and culture. When the Wahhabi take over a mosque from another sect, they immediately destroy any artistic designs or aesthetics and whitewash the walls. In Saudi Arabia, they have gone so far as to destroy any historical remnants of Mohammed or his times.
Likewise, the Wahhabi are very clear that they wish to overthrow the Saud, and set up a theocratic state even more repressive than that of Iran. Even by Saudi standards, mind you, so this would be a hideous place of death. They are not unlike the Taliban, who are of the Deobandi sect, in their capacity for vandalism and destruction, and the rule of whimsical murder.
So the best bet for the Saud would be to gradually replace the Wahhabi positions of power with a much less cancerous sect, like the Sufi.
To have an idea how political change happens in Saudi Arabia, and what I mean by “classical conservative”, there is a good, recent example.
The Saudi king decided to make the slightest of experiments in popular democracy. To do this, he selected a rather unimportant appointed body, much like a municipal planning and zoning board, and made just a few of its seats available for election.
So apprehensive about permitting real democracy, the election was very low key, yet the national police, and even the military were discreetly on alert, in case the country would suddenly and violently descend into chaotic revolution.
The election went off without a hitch. Participation was tepid. The public actually selected candidates that were just slightly *more* conservative than had been previously appointed by the king. Nothing wrong happened at all.
The king was thrilled. Flush with the excitement of having done something so daring, he resolved that this democracy stuff wasn’t entirely dangerous, and in future he might, again very carefully, try to have a just little bit more of it.
And this is how thing change in Saudi Arabia.
However, so much pressure has built up over so many years that even the Saudi people have had enough. Many of their issues are ordinary, such as high unemployment, the difficulty of finding a spouse and getting married without becoming impoverished, and the ever tantalizing prospect of leaving the country, even for a while, just so that you can live in a less repressive and paranoid environment.
Only 3 options?
Sheesh!
Thanks yefragetuwrabrumuy.
/2ndthemotion
before beheading them? Oh, befriending...
That reminds me of Yehudi Blum, who was Israel’s ambassador to the UN during the early 1980s, must have been under Begin. When asked about the PLO, if it repudiated its drive to destroy Israel, and alter its charter accordingly, would it change things? His answer was to the point — if that happened, it would no longer be the PLO.
I thought the third one was the only one worth discussing, maybe the author did too — and he’s taken a big chance even mentioning it.
:’)
Something rings a bell here, I'm not sure what. A Christian sect wouldn't do such things, would it?
Your Post #8 was spot-on.
One of the most eye-opening books I’ve ever read about the Saudis was “Hatred’s Kingdom” by Dore Gold. The book was written back in 2003, I think. I’m sure you’ve read it.
It forever changed my opinion of the Saudis.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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