Watch what you say in Saudi Arabia
Why do we support the Saud dynasty?
The context of the article is that Saudi Arabia is slowly advancing toward modern freedoms, but still:
...a Jajran judge sentenced a 16-year-old Ismaili schoolboy to death for blasphemy. This was commuted on appeal to 14 years in prison and 4,000 lashes, to be administered publicly in 80 weekly sessions of 50 blows…
-The Economist, 07-13 Jan, p. 8 of special report on Saudi Arabia, Glacier in the desert.
Or this charming tidbit:
A school fire in 2002 that killed 15 girls whom religious police were reported to have stopped from fleeing the building unveiled, led to the sacking of the Wahhabist head of girls’ education and the department’s absorption into the education ministry…“
IBID
These little examples will stick in my mind the next time I gas up the car.
When I tank up, the thought of the new indoor ski resort in Dubai comes to mind.
Here are some photos of the boondoggle. While other countries have pursued indoor skiing, Dubai over-the-top approach is mind-numbing. Add this to their island reclamation project and it baffles the mind how a society can exist in two different centuries.
Posted by deadscot on 01/25/06 at 12:28 AM
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