'Egypt’s military, calculating that it was no longer worth defending an 82-year-old, out-of-touch pharaoh with no palatable successor and no convincing plan for Egypt’s future, ultimately sided with the protesters on the street, at least for Act 1.
In so doing, they ignored the advice of the Saudis, who, in calls to Washington, said that President Hosni Mubarak should open fire if that’s what it took, and that Americans should just stop talking about “universal rights” and back him.'
WOW. I guess we know what to expect if there are massive protests in KSA.
Hat tip to Angry Arab for posting.
4 comments :
I can't imagine Saudi Arabia avoiding these protests. Of course, women will need permission from a male relative to attend. And a baby sitter willing to escort them. But, with unemployment of 25%, and much of the population living in dire poverty, it's hard to make the case that the ruling royals have governed fairly.
Dozens of palaces are under construction here. Even the average businessman is likely to have a huge home with silk draperies, secluded fountains and crystal chandeliers. Malls are stocked with imported designer fashions. When ailing King Fahd vacationed in Spain last year, he took 50 black Mercedeses, 350 attendants and a 234-foot yacht, and had $2,000 worth of flowers and 50 cakes delivered each day.
But for an increasing number of citizens, that Saudi Arabia is a land of fable and memory. This country with pockets once so deep that it bought billions of dollars of U.S. weapons and helped finance U.S.-led military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, is now deep in debt. Its younger generation is at pains to find jobs and houses in the suburbs, let alone palaces.
The dozen years since the Persian Gulf War have seen slums grow up on the outskirts of Jidda and Riyadh, the capital. Beggars hawk bottles of water at intersections. Penniless women huddle in strips of shade outside their crumbling mud-brick houses, begging for money. Many families in the capital are so poor they can't afford electricity. Raw sewage runs through parts of Jidda.
The suicide attacks against foreign residential compounds in the Saudi capital this week point up one of the most potent concerns U.S. officials have in a country seen as one of the United States' most reliable allies in the Arab world: The increasingly perilous economic situation that all in Saudi Arabia but the royalty face today may be a big factor in recruiting young Saudis to terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
Chronic joblessness, diminished incomes and difficulty in collecting enough money to marry and start families are all issues that can evoke anger — whether directed at the Saudi royal family, seen by many in the kingdom as spendthrift and corrupt, or at the millions of foreigners who hold high-paying jobs not available to young Saudi men.
http://tinyurl.com/6z5cr2u
"Of course, women will need permission from a male relative to attend."
LOL, women not only need the permission of a male relative, the male relative needs to be there with them!
I can't imagine the humiliation these women feel being treated like children. Think what it would feel like for a widow to need permission from her son every time she went shopping. What can she do if he says no?
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