Saudi Arabia sentences blogger to 7 years in jail, 600 lashes for encouraging religious debate

Why don't you create a thread called "Islam Extremism Watch" and just post all your articles in that thread - one running stream, instead of creating a freaking new one 3x a day.

 

Oh for the love of &*^Q$^&* some of these countries are idiotic (ofcourse we already knew that in the way they treat woman).

It is never good when countries are radical religious, there is a reason why some more developed countries try to keep religion out of politics.

 

Thank you, arno_ed, but unless every single member of clutchfans posts in the thread condemning the stupidity of an Arab government or group, we will, in effect, be convicted of hypocrisy and supporting the stupidity of an Arab government or group.

for the record: I am not surprised that an oppressive regime is acting to oppress dialogue. I think it is very sad and I "condemn" it -- I know you're watching, Saudi Arabia! Take THAT!

 

Yeah, when I saw the first few words in this thread's title, I knew who'd posted it.

Not that these things don't merit attention, discussion, or debate, but this is definitely AroundTheWorld's pet outrage.

 

Or it can be called "Wahabi gon Wahabi."

 

Everyone is outraged about such behavior. But the pattern of posts shows that this is masked xenophobia, rather than genuine concern.

I've said it time and time again, every generation's xenophobes and racists plant a further mask on top of their obsession. It's good that it's getting buried, but be sure to train your eye to see through the masks as well.

 

Seriously this should be brought up in the world court, if judges are going to issue barbaric sentences, they should be subject to sentences themselves.

Fricken backwards assed countries.

DD

 

What if democratically elected government does this? Say in countries like Egypt, what if the vast majority of the people in the country agrees with this? Should we invade them for being so backward?

 

Sounds good !, maybe it is time for the rest of the world to bring everyone freedom, even if it is kicking and screaming along the way.



DD

 

I enjoyed my time spent in Saudi.......but it's so backwards....

 

i expect that you are not talking about me. On many isues I agree with you and not sjc. But you have to agree that SA has a lot of idiotic laws.

I do not blame Islam for that, but it is a backwards country

 

On purpose so the royal family can go booze it up in the UK while holding John Q public down.

It is 100% a do as I say country....

Hypocritical to the core.

DD

 

No. you do not invade a country because they have stupid laws. If this is what the majority wants, we have to respect it. But we can think they are idiots.

 

yeah, this has worked well, and will work well

 

Nope, not talking about you. I don't disagree about the laws. I just question whether the issue is being framed properly. If this blogger was anti-colonial, I doubt this thread would exist, even though the issue would still be one of suppression of free speech.

There is also an added but ignored dimension - as always in the Middle East - that these barbaric laws exist because much more powerful global leaders insist that these (as you put it) barbaric legislators remain in power to ensure commercial and political stability... regardless of the inequality and regression which is jointly being stabilized.

To put it simply, Angela Merkel and Barack Obama would prefer to have these commercial/social/political circumstances remain stable rather than to have better socio-political circumstances+poorer commercial circumstances.

I am certain that they would prefer a better socio-political circumstance with equal or better commercial circumstances. It is not a stance of supporting barbaric laws, rather it is a stance of being indifferent to the domestic circumstances while simultaneously being aggressive about favorable cross-border commercial/political opportunities.

The problem is that these things can't be separated. As with all the more developed countries in the world, development of human rights and privileges automatically means fewer opportunities for foreign countries to economically or commercially exploit the citizens and assets of that country. In other words, for every inch that Saudi Arabians and Saudi Arabia wants to improve the situation which we all agree is bad, the more powerful countries in the world will have to accept a situation of having less power and control in the world.

No need to explain further as you have seen how the rich and powerful people and media in the powerful countries react when this type of situation comes up.

I will be ecstatic for the day when Americans start not only saying that the situation needs to improve in Saudi, but also accompany that by saying they are willing to give up the benefits associated with that structure remaining stable. Saying one without the other is ridiculous, and even somewhat offensive. They make it seem as though in a vacuum, this is what Saudi Arabians want and have come up with to govern their society - which is a load of BS obviously.

 

It's a tough thing. We can't drag everyone into the 21st century way of thought; and we'll always turn a blind eye to the Saudis because they own so much of our economy.

 

Just checking in to express my outrage and condemnation. Thanks.

 

How do we know if you're sincere though? Hmmmm.

Something fishy...