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Reforms in Saudistan ? King Abdullah's new clothes !

Reader comment on item: Is Saudi Arabia Opening Up?
in response to reader comment: Is Saudi Arabia Opening Up?

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Jan 5, 2011 at 16:30

The article strangely reminds me of what Dr. Pipes wrote on 'reforms' in Turkey two years ago with a similarly hopeful title "Is Turkey's Government Starting a Muslim Reformation?" But the article then ended on a different, much more realistic note from what we read now. "True reform - Dr. Pipes wrote - awaits true reformers – not Islamist functionaries but independent, modern individuals intent on aligning Islam with the best of modern mores." And in an update "Any government that purports to decide which religious interpretation is "correct" has established a theocracy. The first step in any genuine religious reform must be to sever the connections between political power and religion, and to affirm the rights of everyone to think and to speak as they wish."

If measured by his own sound standards then any talks about "reforms" in Saudistan can be freely and unconditionally relegated to a dustbin of politically correct futurology and/or state-sponsored media deception. Instead, what we can and should see is outlined in an older and much better article by Dr. Pipes "The Scandal of U.S. -Saudi relations" where the real issues at stake like virulent Saudi anti-Semitism, total lack of political freedoms and pluralism, disgusting human rights abuses, supporting terrorism, religious discrimination etc. etc. are explictly named and not hidden under the watered-down euphemistic quotes and optimistic generalities like "the general trend is in favor of the reformists, reform is piecemeal, hesitant, equivocal and strongly resisted."

Let's face it ! Any happy messages coming from a nasty Oriental medieval despotism like Saudistan must be treated with utmost distrust and suspicions by anyone in his senses. King Abdullah is a typical bloody Oriental tyrant.True, this bloody tyrant and obscurantist is so powerful and useful to the West that the latter prefers to seldom criticise his despotic regime. Quite the contrary, it does its best to lick his oil-stained boots and not to see what the tyrant doesn't want them to see.

But is that a sufficient reason to buy the royal Saudi lies and Western half-truths by the rest of us ? As long as the basic facts about Saudistan don't radically change (and they won't for a number of reasons ) nothing will improve there. And these basic facts are i.al. that no freedom of speech and the press is heard of or tolerated in Saudistan and any critcism of the royal family is suppressed and punished severely with amputated heads rolling on the sand after Friday prayers or dissidents decaying in Saudi dungeons. As Amnesty International writes in its 2009 report (.p.12) " Thousands of people languish in jail, some of whom have been held for years without trial. All are denied basic prisoners' rights. Among them are prisoners of conscience held solely for the peaceful expression of their views."

Trade unions and political organizations and parties are banned. Public demonstrations are forbidden. The Saudi Government actively censors Internet reception within its borders. Abroad it spends billions of dollars to spread militant wahhabism in such places as Chechnia, Western Europe and the US. Witch hunts are on the rise in the kingdom ... Sounds quite "modern", doesn't it ?

I doubt therefore if any happy news about great King Abdullah who "ushered in an easing of what critics call gender apartheid" and made a number of other irrelevant changes that don't have any bearing upon the Saudi system as such should be taken too seriously by us. These seem to be rather the emperor's new clothes about which Andersen wrote : "the king had decreed since the cloth had the ability to tell if people were worthy or intelligent, it became a necessary prerequisite to hold office, to view the cloth and describe it. So there was a fairly steady parade of cabinet members and court officials visiting and complimenting the weavers on their work." Whoever wants or hopes for Saudi money or support must praise the king's new "clothes", but the rest of us with no vested interest in lying and no liking for complimenting a perfidious Oriental despot should rather exclaim as the girl in the fairy tale with indignation : "Mommy, why is the King naked?"

Submitting....

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Title Commenter Date Thread
2NEVER [240 words]Cherif El-AyoutyFeb 22, 2011 03:10182872
1Is Saudi Arabia Opening Up? [33 words]firozJan 15, 2011 05:48181810
2Soon it will not matter [137 words]yuval Brandstetter MDJan 11, 2011 11:23181737
It really does matter [141 words]saraMar 30, 2012 15:39181737
4Optimist [34 words]gfmucciJan 10, 2011 13:56181707
1Just another false hope [122 words]Rebecca MouldsJan 6, 2011 04:43181595
1Saudi hegemony…No, Yes, NO! [136 words]NuritGJan 5, 2011 14:59181571
1Dear Dr. Pipes [68 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Debanjan BanerjeeJan 8, 2011 11:43181571
3Good review [27 words]John in Michigan, USAJan 4, 2011 18:28181549
Identifying a Society's Weaknesses to Keep Them Under Control [914 words]M. ToveyJan 4, 2011 16:20181546
3opening up [570 words]Sir Daniel M.J. TobinJan 4, 2011 11:35181536
6One more culprit [437 words]IanusJan 6, 2011 08:06181536
3Royal Oil and the Caliphate [443 words]Arlinda DeAngelisJan 6, 2011 18:53181536
2Turkey? [597 words]Sir Daniel M.J. TobinJan 7, 2011 11:39181536
3Great comment ! [155 words]IanusJan 7, 2011 13:19181536
3Democracy is not for Saudi Arabia - not yet [332 words]Frank LukeJan 4, 2011 10:18181533
1Cut the Snake's head [93 words]AngelJan 4, 2011 10:12181532
5Is Saudi Arabia Opening Up? [46 words]KamathJan 4, 2011 08:42181529
1Doing Nothing can be dangerous [42 words]Frank LukeJan 5, 2011 10:52181529
7Reforms in Saudistan ? King Abdullah's new clothes ! [696 words]IanusJan 5, 2011 16:30181529
1Time is NOT on our side [70 words]Joe Six-PackJan 5, 2011 18:28181529
2Time is not on our side? [253 words]RajeevJan 7, 2011 02:35181529
Powers of Analysis [52 words]Amin RiazFeb 1, 2011 21:24181529
6Islamic hypocrisy [64 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 3, 2011 07:07181529
To convert the lot of you... to Islam [92 words]Amin RiazFeb 3, 2011 20:23181529
1Hypocrisy 101!!! [54 words]JaladhiFeb 4, 2011 14:57181529
6Islamic da3wa and tabligh are against Allah's grand plan and these are not my words [460 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 5, 2011 07:22181529
Your concern is touching ... Dhims [107 words]Amin RiazFeb 5, 2011 21:54181529
7What is my concern? [308 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 8, 2011 06:14181529
Lack of an ability for a discourse [11 words]Amin RiazFeb 8, 2011 22:01181529
5Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and this is what the Qur'an says [35 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 11, 2011 07:18181529
Propaganda [62 words]Amin RiazFeb 11, 2011 23:38181529
4Islam is really the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only [229 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 13, 2011 09:20181529
With brains like that... [91 words]Amin RiazFeb 15, 2011 19:05181529
4Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and this is what the Qur'an says [197 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 17, 2011 06:29181529
Repetitions [117 words]Amin RiazFeb 19, 2011 14:00181529
5Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and this is what the Qur'an says part deux [435 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 21, 2011 18:28181529
quick query to dhimmi no more [28 words]maximillionMar 2, 2011 19:22181529
77Teaching Arabic to one tablighee at a time [256 words]dhimmi no moreMar 4, 2011 06:28181529
14to dhimmi no more ... [121 words]maximillionMar 4, 2011 22:04181529
6Teaching Arabic to one tablighee at a time part deux read and laugh [1086 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 07:00181529
7If it is a mistake then i must be in good company! [249 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 07:53181529
5I cannot wait for this one either [258 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 08:19181529
11our dear Max is asking me to look up the meaning of a perfect Arabic word in an English language dictionary! I call this ignorance [130 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 10:20181529
4Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and this is what the Qur'an says and al-wali wa al-mawali [237 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 10:30181529
5Arabic grammar [104 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 10:55181529
4Teaching Arabic to one tablighee at a time part Nth [183 words]dhimmi no moreMar 6, 2011 14:00181529
4The Qur'an says that Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and you ain't no Hijazi Arab [484 words]dhimmi no moreMar 7, 2011 08:52181529
2Islam is really the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only [592 words]dhimmi no moreMar 10, 2011 06:19181529
1Teaching by the wonderful Dr. Dhimmi.... [512 words]maximillionMar 10, 2011 19:24181529
4Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and this is what the Qur'an says part Nth [1357 words]dhimmi no moreMar 12, 2011 07:37181529
3al-komidya al-islamiyya one more time, Islam is the religion of the Arabs only and transliteration of Arabic by Arabs [1090 words]dhimmi no moreMar 12, 2011 13:53181529
4More Islamic ignorance [184 words]dhimmi no moreMar 12, 2011 14:09181529
2Our daer Max has no clue what is really Allah's rasm or what is really al-i3rab and i call this ignorance [920 words]dhimmi no moreMar 12, 2011 14:48181529
12Dr. Dhimmi all confused? [354 words]maximillionMar 12, 2011 20:45181529
4Our daer Max: we kuffar only tell you what your islamic sources tell us in Arabic something that you cannot do! [2000 words]dhimmi no moreMar 13, 2011 09:51181529
2More evidence from the Qur'an that islam is the religion of the Arabs only [148 words]dhimmi no moreMar 13, 2011 10:06181529
4Aristotle in the Sira read and laugh [282 words]dhimmi no moreMar 13, 2011 14:52181529
17Islam is the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and this is what the Qur'an says [86 words]dhimmi no moreMar 15, 2011 11:26181529
1More evidence from the Qur'an that islam is the religion of the Arabs only part deux [205 words]dhimmi no moreMar 19, 2011 07:32181529
2More evidence from the Qur'an that islam is the religion of the Arabs only part trois [170 words]dhimmi no moreMar 19, 2011 07:42181529
11Our dear Max revisited and al-qira'at al-sab3a [924 words]dhimmi no moreMar 27, 2011 15:37181529
Islam Will Have Its Moment to try Conversion - But In the Eternal Realm, it is Only a Moment [1068 words]M. ToveyApr 4, 2011 14:15181529
To you is yours and to me is mine [129 words]Liam DevlinDec 7, 2011 03:54181529
6Another victim of Arabian imperialism and of Islam [918 words]dhimmi no moreDec 8, 2011 07:07181529
Islam [142 words]AhmedMar 30, 2012 11:56181529

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