Wednesday, May 11, 2016

When did Saudi Arabia become more progressive than the U.S.?

 
Giant Coal Lump, Jim Thorpe, PA.

   Saudi Arabia, despite great wealth, is one of the most socially backward countries in the world. Women can't drive, or open a bank account without permission of a male relative. They only got the right to vote, in municipal elections, in 2015, a year that saw Saudi Arabia conduct 151 beheadings.
     Despite being mired in the 12th century, Saudi Arabia still manages to be forward looking when it comes to important business matters.
     Such as oil. Oil is what brought Saudi Arabia from being a sandy nowhere of nomadic tribes to a wealthy global power. So it might be surprising, to those paying attention, to see a dramatic shift this week. I will spare you which ministers are ousted and which are in, and give you the first three paragraphs a May 10 story on Gulf News Saudi Arabia headlined, "Shake Up Moves Saudi Arabia Down New Path":

     RIYADH: In a series of sweeping royal decrees on Saturday, King Salman of Saudi Arabia replaced a number of top ministers and restructured government bodies in the first moves of an ambitious plan to chart a new direction for the kingdom.      The decrees were among the first concrete steps in the plan, which was announced late last month to great domestic fanfare by the king’s son and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is about 30, oversees economic policy and runs the Defence Ministry....
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10 comments:

  1. At times like these, you have to wish that President Obama were the despot depicted by the right-wingers. If he could only make things right by fiat.

    By the way, great timing by the Filipinos, electing a Trump sound-alike. We'll see, I hope, what wonders he can create over the next few months with his 38% mandate.

    john

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  2. Trump may be misogynist, xenophobic, racist, narcissistic, and a spectacular bully, but he is a genius at opportunism.

    Mocking Clinton for being honest and forthright while promoting brazen nonsense. This is what we will be faced with for rest of the year. Sigh ....

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  3. I notice that John "The K is Silent" Kass spun Hillary's second sentence as another of what he incessantly calls her lying or backtracking or something. Does that guy ever tell the truth about anything except how to barbecue lamb?

    Bitter Scribe

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  4. Neil, I wish you'd go back to running your whole column on your blog. I know you want to send clicks to your paper's website, but the damn thing keeps freezing my computer.

    Bitter Scribe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It isn't my call. I was dragged into the woodshed and informed on what side my bread is buttered. I don't run the place, I only work there.

      Delete
    2. What browser are you using? Chrome doesn't have this problem on computers I use, which are mostly Apple's.

      Delete
  5. I think we should keep some of the coal mining and other fossil fuel industries while we also work on alternative energy sources. It seems we always think it's all or nothing, why can't it be a little bit of both (at least temporarily)? I guess I agree with Bernie Sanders on that.

    Linda B

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    Replies
    1. It not like they plan on stop using coal or other fossil fuels tomorrow. There is not enough alternative energy being used to do that. I was in Hawaii recently and a lot of energy being used now is solar.

      Delete
  6. Subscribing to the paper, solves the problem of difficult websites, in this case.

    ReplyDelete

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