Day 148: Saudi Arabia

[minionofmidas]

Still even Iran has people calling for the overturning of the theocratic laws. There isn't any major movement of the sort to overturn Saudi Arabia's even worse laws.

There isn't a way to network. Saudi Arabia is a much worse dictatorship. But certainly there is popular support - not necessarily majority support, I don't know about that; probably noone in the world does - for allowing women to drive, for some form of alcohol legalization, if strictly controlled, probably for less barbaric execution practices as well.

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No. Forget it. Maybe in 1995. (Now - if the only alternatives were the continuation of the status quo and direct US takeover... you might be right.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Still even Iran has people calling for the overturning of the theocratic laws. There isn't any major movement of the sort to overturn Saudi Arabia's even worse laws.

There isn't a way to network. Saudi Arabia is a much worse dictatorship. But certainly there is popular support - not necessarily majority support, I don't know about that; probably noone in the world does - for allowing women to drive, for some form of alcohol legalization, if strictly controlled, probably for less barbaric execution practices as well.

Well even if so, that just basically proves the point, if allowing women to drive, legalizing alchohol and making executions just a little less barbaric are the "liberal" stances, that just tells you about the place. And even you admit that may not have majority support.

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No. Forget it. Maybe in 1995. (Now - if the only alternatives were the continuation of the status quo and direct US takeover... you might be right.)

What's changed since then? I suppose the media does overstate his support there though.

[minionofmidas]

Still even Iran has people calling for the overturning of the theocratic laws. There isn't any major movement of the sort to overturn Saudi Arabia's even worse laws.

There isn't a way to network. Saudi Arabia is a much worse dictatorship. But certainly there is popular support - not necessarily majority support, I don't know about that; probably noone in the world does - for allowing women to drive, for some form of alcohol legalization, if strictly controlled, probably for less barbaric execution practices as well.

Well even if so, that just basically proves the point, if allowing women to drive, legalizing alchohol and making executions just a little less barbaric are the "liberal" stances, that just tells you about the place. And even you admit that may not have majority support.

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No. Forget it. Maybe in 1995. (Now - if the only alternatives were the continuation of the status quo and direct US takeover... you might be right.)

What's changed since then? I suppose the media does overstate his support there though.

Bin Laden's reputation.

[Rob]

Take a look at Iran, where being Islamist and anti-Western and being pro-Democracy and anti-establishment are not exclusive positions at all. Given the fairly strongly egalitarian nature of Islamic doctrine, and the West's track record in the region, this shouldn't really surprise. I would expect that a similar concept would probably sweep at free fair elections in Saudi Arabia as well.

Interesting.