King Fahd Dies

[Emsworth]

Saudi King Fahd dead

[J. J.]

He was ill, and effectively out of power, for a while.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

ah, time to celebrate. I need a drink. Good riddance.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

"I summon my blue-eyed slaves anytime it pleases me. I command the Americans to send me their bravest soldiers to die for me. Anytime I clap my hands a stupid genie called the American ambassador appears to do my bidding. When the Americans die in my service their bodies are frozen in metal boxes by the US Embassy and American airplanes carry them away, as if they never existed. Truly, America is my favorite slave."

-King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz, Jeddeh 1993

Now here's hoping someone blows Abdullah up too, and murders the entire royal family, like when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown.

[MasterJedi]

Good now he's dead.

Hopefully the monarchy is destroyed and a nice capitolist, democratic government grows up.

[Jake]

The world didn't loose much with his death. Hopefully, stability will continue under Abdullah's rule.

[minionofmidas]

See? Jfern was right all along.

[Joe Republic]

There goes one of the few Arab dictators that the Bush family will actually mourn.

I say good riddance to him - he had a horrible mustache anyway.

[Jake]

See? Jfern was right all along.

lol

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There goes one of the few Arab dictators that the Bush family will actually mourn.

So true, terrorist lover Bush will probably actually go to the funeral.

[Jake]

Um, no, they've already announced he will not be attending. That terrorist/dictator loving Chirac will be though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That's hardly a suprise, Chirac is hardly any better than Bush in this aspect. After the dictator of Togo died, Chirac's statement said "I have lost a friend, and the people of France have lost a friend." He's a conservative too, shouldn't be a suprise.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Good now he's dead.

Hopefully the monarchy is destroyed and a nice capitolist, democratic government grows up.

Ummm, hopefully.

[Jake]

Hopefully the monarchy is destroyed...

That "really" wouldn't be a good thing for so many reasons. Do you want another Iran?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Iran under the Shah was a very secular albeit repressive state. Saudi Arabia is hardly secular, and really no different from Iran. As far as I know at least women in Iran can drive, which would make it slightly less horrible than Saudi Arabia is now.

[Jake]

No, Saudi Arabia has a monarchy as their head of state, Iran actually puts religious leaders in control of the country. Iran is a theocracy, Saudi Arabia is the UK with the religion's laws enforced.

[Emsworth]

No, Saudi Arabia has a monarchy as their head of state, Iran actually puts religious leaders in control of the country.

In fact, it is said that a monarchy is contrary to the Quran and Islamic law.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Except in the UK the monarch has no real power and has a strong elected government, any form of elected government was just placed in Saudi Arabia only last year, and even it has very very little power. And it really does not matter if religious leaders are head of state or not, the result is the same, a theocratic police state in both, might I also point out the new President of Iran is not a religious figure in any way.

[Emsworth]

Except in the UK the monarch has no real power and has a strong elected government, any form of elected government was just placed in Saudi Arabia only last year, and even it has very very little power. And it really does not matter if religious leaders are head of state or not, the result is the same, a theocratic police state in both, might I also point out the new President of Iran is not a religious figure in any way.

I agree with the substance of your post. However, your point about the President of Iran is not convincing; the President in that country is inferior to the Supreme Leader.

[Joe Republic]

Hopefully the monarchy is destroyed...

That "really" wouldn't be a good thing for so many reasons. Do you want another Iran?

No, I'd prefer it became a democracy.  I should think we all do.

[Jake]

Except in the UK the monarch has no real power and has a strong elected government, any form of elected government was just placed in Saudi Arabia only last year, and even it has very very little power. And it really does not matter if religious leaders are head of state or not, the result is the same, a theocratic police state in both, might I also point out the new President of Iran is not a religious figure in any way.

Except, Saudi Arabia is not a theocracy. Their leaders do not claim divine right to rule or acknowledge a diety as the head of state. Saudi Arabia is a nation with an established state religion that draws its laws based on that religion. Iran is an actual theocracy that has a head of state that claims to be guided by Allah and rules as such. You like to use theocracy to mean anything related to religion that you don't like.

Theocracy from Websters
1 : government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided
2 : a state governed by a theocracy

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Does it really matter? The end result is the same, Saudi Arabia is even more repressive than Iran.

Also the wikipedia article on Theocracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy includes it, it is of the Caesarpapism variety: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesaro-papism

[Jake]

[

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Yet, the monarch of Saudi Arabia is not regarded as the highest religious authority in the nation making the whole declaration of Saudi Arabia as a theocracy invalid.

[Joe Republic]

Does any of that matter?  Saudi Arabia and Iran may have different systems of government, but both are kinds that ought to eventually be destroyed.

[Emsworth]

I think that this is just a dispute over semantics. Substantively, both are oppressive regimes when it comes to religion.