Saudi Arabia's history of hypocrisy we choose to ignore
From The Independent - Robert Fisk looks at a barbaric regime with a brutal record:
Sir William Hunter was a senior British civil servant and in 1871 published a book which warned of fanatic swarms of Sunni Muslims who had murdered our subjects, financed by men of ample fortune, while a majority of Muslims were being forced to decide once and for all, whether [they] should play the part of a devoted follower of Islam or a peaceable subject.
Hunter identified a hate preacher as the cause of this terror, a man inspired on a visit to Arabia by an ascetic Muslim called Abdul Wahab whose violent Wahabi followers had formed an alliance with you guessed it the House of Saud. Hunters 140-year-old volume The Indian Musalmans given a dusting of internet race hatred, murderous attacks by individual Sunni Muslims, cruel Wahabi-style punishments and all-too familiar proof of second-class citizenship for Muslims in a European-run state might have been written today.
Even before Hunters day, the Wahabis captured the holy cities of Arabia and Isis-style massacred their inhabitants. Like Isis, they even overran Syria. Their punishments, and those of their Saudi military supporters, make the public lashing of todays Saudi blogger Raif Badawi appear a minor misdemeanour. Hypocrisy was a theme of Arabian as well as European history.......
Full article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabias-history-of-hypocrisy-we-choose-to-ignore-9978493.html
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)What crime did he commit? He was critical of the clerics. That's correct. Spoke criticism of the clergy, so they are whipping him with a lash. The man who delivers the lash holds a Koran, to make clear why this act of brutality is being carried out so methodically and viciously.
Some posters on DU promote false images of Saudi Arabia as being very moderate. One poster here claims it is as gay friendly as San Francisco. How can that be the truth when the truth is that tomorrow, Raif Badawi will get his second set of 50 lashes for criticizing religious people?
SpearthrowerOwl
(71 posts)Saudi Arabia is an "Islamic state," a vicious autocracy, a major funder of terrorism, and executes for non-violent offenses -- even "sorcery." Last time I checked -- in October -- they had beheaded 59 people in the last year.
These are the exact reasons the U.S. claims when trying to intervene in the affairs of those countries in the region. When a principle is not actually principled one must look elsewhere to determine intent. U.S. intervention is about control and imperialism, not high-minded values.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Last edited Fri Jan 16, 2015, 10:16 AM - Edit history (1)