Saudi Arabia's Shi'ites fear they are at mercy of region's tumult

Saudi Arabia's Shi'ites fear they are at mercy of region's tumult Fri, Oct 24 02:03 AM EDT By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - The Shi’ite Muslim minority in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province have long felt marginalized by the Sunni ruling dynasty, and protests for greater rights as part of the 2011 Arab Spring brought a crackdown on both protesters and demands for reform. But now, death sentences for three Shi'ite Muslims including a prominent dissident cleric suggest that the region’s wider turmoil is further hardening attitudes toward the sect at home. The news has not triggered the sort of clashes that left three people dead after the arrest of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, in 2012, but it did lead to consecutive nights of protests for the first time in months. It also prompted a warning from Iran, the regional Shi'ite power that Riyadh accuses of fomenting unrest among its Shi'ites, and that is vying with Saudi Arabia's Sunni rulers for influence in conflicts raging from Lebanon to Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain and, most acutely, Syria. "There is nothing formal, but when they are angry about Iran, their doubts over Shi'ites increase, and sectarian sentiments rise as well. It certainly affects policy making and behavior," said Tawfiq al-Seif, a Shi'ite community leader in Qatif, one of the two main centers of the sect in Saudi Arabia, along with al-Ahsa. Saudi Shi'ites, long regarded by the kingdom's official Wahhabi Sunni school as heretics, have for decades been tarred by many compatriots as more loyal to their coreligionists across the Gulf than to the Saudi ruling dynasty. Protests in Qatif in 2011 and 2012 were dismissed by the government as instigated by a ‘foreign power’, code for Iran, and Nimr was accused of serving Iranian interests. The demonstrators and Iran both denied the accusation. But the encouragement of such protests by Iranian media, and comments such as one last week by a general in Iran’s Basij militia that Nimr’s execution would make the world into "a hell" for the dynasty, do nothing to allay Saudi fears that Iran is fomenting Shi’ite unrest not only in Saudi Arabia but also in Yemen and Bahrain. CRACKDOWN ON ISLAMISTS It is notable that during the years from 1993-2006, when Saudi Shi'ites felt the government in Riyadh was most amenable to addressing what they see as entrenched discrimination, Iran appeared less determined to square up to the Al Saud dynasty. Saudi authorities say they do not discriminate against Shi'ites and that their security and judicial treatment is the same as for Sunnis. It is also true that the crackdown on dissent since the Arab Spring has also targeted Sunni groups committed to the cause of Islamist rule. But that, too, has Shi'ites worried. Some argue that the Al Saud are taking a tougher position against Shi'ite activists as a message to the Sunni majority that its crackdown against Islamists is not aimed exclusively at Sunnis. "The government is appearing as if it's heavy-handed against Sunni Islamists. There are a lot of sections of Saudi society who find that very puzzling and unacceptable," said Madawi al-Rasheed, visiting professor at the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics, and a critic of the Saudi dynasty. The Al Saud have always depended on conservative Sunnis as the foundation of their support in a country where tribal and regional divisions still linger, and where there are no elections to provide democratic legitimacy. But while Riyadh has backed relatively moderate Sunni rebel groups fighting Iranian-backed governments in Iraq and Syria, it has also joined air strikes against the fundamentalist Islamic State and aided Egypt's military in its crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood. Unlike four Shi'ites sentenced to death so far for throwing petrol bombs at police during the 2011 protests, Nimr was not accused of active violence, except for allegedly ordering his driver to ram a police car while fleeing. Instead, he was convicted of a range of political crimes such as inciting people to disobey the ruler, calling for the overthrow of the government, inciting riots in the neighboring Sunni-ruled monarchy of Bahrain, and denouncing the judiciary. Other offences were bound up with Shi’ite beliefs, such as inciting sectarian sedition by defaming early Muslim figures who are revered by Sunnis but reviled by Shi'ites. "The death sentence for Nimr is very important at this point because it shows Saudis that they are not letting the Shia get away with protests," said Rasheed. (Editing by William Maclean and Kevin Liffey)

Analysis: Saudi feud too bitter for new Iran president to fix

Tue, Aug 13 02:03 AM EDT By Angus McDowall and Yeganeh Torbati RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah's disdain for Iran leaps from U.S. embassy cables. "May God prevent us from falling victim to their evil," he told U.S. officials, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks. According to another, he told his own diplomats he wanted Washington to "cut off the head of the snake". On the other side of the Gulf, Iran's contempt for Saudi Arabia crackles through a report on its hardline Mashregh website. The kingdom's ruling family, it said, was "drowning in corruption and prostitutes". Into this toxic environment steps Iran's newly inaugurated President Hassan Rouhani, promising to improve what may well be the single most venomous and destructive relationship in the entire Middle East. It is almost impossible to overstate the hatred between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran, which has fuelled a decade of violence across the region. In Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, the two sides back sectarian proxy forces that are either at daggers drawn or openly at war in conflicts killing thousands each month. In Syria, each accuses the other of responsibility for a bloodbath, with Iran supporting President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi Arabia funding the rebels trying to overthrow him. In Iraq, sectarian violence is at its worst since 2008. Riyadh accuses Tehran of fomenting trouble in Bahrain and even Saudi Arabia itself. Tehran accuses Riyadh of plotting its destruction with Washington.

Nevertheless, Rouhani, a comparative moderate after the firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, says he wants to make friends with Saudi Arabia. Encouragingly, he brings personal experience negotiating with Riyadh. "God willing, I hope that we will have very good relations with neighbors, particularly with Saudi Arabia during the next government," Rouhani said at a June press conference.

Still, few believe he can draw the poison out of the Cold War-style rivalry at the heart of the Middle East. COCA-COLA VS. PEPSI Both countries have vested interests in talking to each other: Saudi Arabia wants Iran to end what it sees as meddling in Arab countries - supporting Shi'ites or their allies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia itself. Tehran wants Riyadh to stop urging military action against its atomic sites and helping Western sanctions by increasing oil supplies to make up for embargoed Iranian crude. Both Rouhani and King Abdullah have shown willingness to make peace in the past. As head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in 1998, Rouhani sat up all night with Abdullah's late brother, the former interior minister Prince Nayef, to negotiate a security agreement with the kingdom after years of friction. In signing that deal, King Abdullah chose to overlook Saudi and U.S. suspicions that Tehran was behind the 1996 bombing of an American barracks in the Saudi city of al-Khobar. Iran put aside memories of the 1987 Muslim pilgrimage, when hundreds of its pilgrims were killed in clashes with Saudi security forces. "King Abdullah has known Rouhani for some time. I think they have a decent relationship. Much better than his relationship with Ahmadinejad. They will have some ability to communicate with a degree of respect," said Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh from 2001-03. But while that history may indicate more of an openness on both sides to cooperation, analysts and regional officials and diplomats see little chance of rapprochement. The circumstances are far uglier now than they were when the security deal was agreed 15 years ago, with the region embroiled in civil wars and uprisings. In March 2009, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited Riyadh in a bid to cool tensions between the rival states, but his meeting with King Abdullah did not go well. Abdullah told U.S. counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan a few days later that he had told the Iranian foreign minister: "You as Persians have no business meddling in Arab matters". "Iran's goal is to cause problems... there is no doubt something unstable about them... may God prevent us from falling victim to their evil," Brennan said he was told by the king, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks. On Iran's side, foreign policy is determined less by the president than by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which means that the election of Rouhani is unlikely to fundamentally alter Tehran's positions. "Is it possible for anyone to do anything or say anything without the opinion of the supreme leader?" said outgoing Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in an interview with the Mehr agency, adding he had been blocked from visiting Riyadh. Riyadh does not sound hopeful. Abdullah al-Askar, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Saudi Arabia's Shoura Council quasi-parliament, compared the difference between Rouhani and Ahmadinejad to that between "Coca-Cola and Pepsi". "I don't think he'll do the same as Ahmadinejad, speaking out harshly," he told Reuters. "But when it comes to the main files I think he has to work within a framework that's drawn by Khamenei." The daily Saudi Gazette editorialized last week: "Tehran is up to the same old tricks, but with a different conjurer." TRIBUTE TO THE ENEMIES For Saudi Arabia, any improvement in relations would depend on Iran cutting its support for Syria's Assad, whose assault on rebel-held areas has been likened by Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Abdullah's nephew, to genocide. Such a move would likely be a red line for Iran's leaders, who appear to see Syria as a key link in their ability to project influence across the Middle East as far as Lebanon and the borders of Israel. What irritates Iran more than Saudi Arabia's policy in Syria is Riyadh's decision last year to boost energy exports to replace oil taken out of the market by embargoed Iranian crude, effectively colluding with Western sanctions. "Instead of serving Muslims, they pay tribute to the enemies of Muslims and stand next to them," said Nasser Soudani, deputy head of the Iranian parliament's energy committee in January 2012, commenting on higher Saudi oil supply. Closer to home, Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of trying to foment trouble among its own Shi'ite minority, of planting a spying ring in the country and of attempting to assassinate its ambassador in Washington. Tehran has denied all those charges. The antagonism dates to 1979, when Iran tried to export its Islamic revolution to Shi'ites across the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, threatening the old balance of regional power. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states then made what Tehran saw as a pact with the devil by siding with Saddam Hussein after he invaded Iran in 1980, financing his war for eight years while he used chemical weapons on Iranian troops and civilians. After a gradual thaw, the U.S.-led ousting of Saddam in 2003 ignited a new struggle for mastery between Sunni and Shi'ite Iraqis, with Riyadh and Tehran backing opposing sides. The sectarian edge to their struggle has sharpened in recent years. Both countries define themselves according to Islam and clerics in both regard the other with open disdain. Today, Iran's Persian-speaking rulers back Shi'ites across the Arab world, including the government and militia in Iraq, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Bahraini protesters against that country's Sunni ruling family and Yemen's Houthi rebels. Syrian President Assad is from the Alawi sect, a Shi'ite offshoot. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and proponent of its most conservative Sunni school, Wahhabism, backs the other side in each of those regional struggles. The Wahhabi school denigrates Shi'ism as heretical. Its first Bedouin adherents rampaged through 18th century Iraq, smashing the sect's shrines. King Abdullah has tried to moderate that view. Last year he said he would set up a Riyadh center to study differences between sects. But he himself was recorded criticizing Shi'ites for "worshipping domes, statues and individuals" in a 2006 WikiLeaks cable. For their part, Shi'ites regard Wahhabism as a dangerous, radical creed that fuels militant sectarianism. The war against Assad has given a new foothold to Sunni al Qaeda fighters who use theology to justify attacks on Alawite and Shi'ite civilians in both Syria and Iraq. "Saudi Arabia has created the new al Qaeda," said analyst Mohammad Sadeq al-Hosseini in a July interview with Iran's conservative Fars News Agency, referring to Riyadh's support for Syria's opposition. Gulf diplomats say Riyadh has worked to avoid letting its arms or money go to militant Islamist groups within Syria's rebel coalition. PHENOMENAL DAMAGE With Rouhani unlikely to switch the Iranian policies that Saudi Arabia most bitterly opposes, there appears little scope for progress beyond a less aggressive public tone. "The level of damage done in the past eight to 10 years is phenomenal. It begs the question as to whether the Iranians think they can get away with window dressing or are willing to make real changes," said Ali Ansari, professor of Iranian history at Britain's St Andrews University. However, Iranian moves such as using more conciliatory language in media broadcasts about Bahrain and other Gulf states and ending support for Yemeni groups might cool the situation. "Syria may be a bridge too far, but it's certainly possible they could reach some sort of tentative understanding on the Shi'ite situation in Bahrain. The crown prince there is in a better position to negotiate and may be inclined to assist in a resolution," said Jordan, the former U.S. ambassador in Riyadh. Diplomats in the Gulf still say they expect little movement on even the more peripheral issues and little chance of Riyadh bending to Iranian overtures without big policy changes. But even such entrenched skepticism has not stopped Iranian reformists pushing for Rouhani to extend an olive branch to Saudi Arabia, a policy pursued by former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammed Khatami. "The situation in Syria has become so complex that the Islamic world has practically been split in half, to the point that a proxy war is taking place," said Iranian reformist Saeed Hajarian in a newspaper interview this month. "We have to show them that this is not a Shi'ite-Sunni war. With all of our power we must stop the parties from religious incitement," he said. (Reporting by Angus McDowall and Yeganeh Torbati; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Jon Hemming and Peter Graff)

‘Nuclear Riyadh as dangerous as Israel’

‘Nuclear Riyadh as dangerous as Israel’ Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:05:36 GMT Following reports about Saudi Arabia’s attempts to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan, a political analyst says an “archaic, kleptomaniac and totalitarian” Riyadh armed with nukes is as much a danger as Israel. “Saudi Arabia is as much a danger as Israel. Its stunted development means that it will always have aggressive feelings towards more successful societies and, in particular, it is terrified of any expression of democracy. It has already occupied Bahrain and Wikileaks revealed the Saudi desire to attack Iran,” Rodney Shakespeare wrote in an article published on Press TV website. Shakespeare emphasized that Saudi Arabia, “which has no depth of culture, no political legitimacy, [and] no technological success,” feels threatened by the political, cultural and technological progress of Iran. Describing the Saudi regime as “archaic, kleptomaniac and totalitarian” which has no place in the Modern world, Shakespeare added that, “Despite vicious suppression, democratic forces are stirring and have even reached the capital, Riyadh, where protesters [are] shouting slogans against the Saudi regime.” “Saudi Arabia, of course, is also a player of the sectarian card considering Shias as inferior, even non-Muslim. Playing the sectarian card is mad arrogance which will rebound on Saudi Arabia some day.” Citing German intelligence reports about Wahhabis committing Houla Massacre of over one hundred people in May 2012 in Syria, Shakespeare said Saudi Arabia is exporting bigotry and viciousness and sending terrorists to Syria. “We must hope that the Americans - who indulge the Saudis in their every whim and cruelty - will have the sense to stop Saudi Arabia from getting the atom bomb,” he concluded. === The House of Al Saud: In Over Its Head? In stories and books about the establishment of the Nation State of Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is romantically portrayed as the noble leader who "united" the tribes of Arabia. "Unite" seems an odd word to teach the masses, as history has shown most who establish control of a region do it through scheming, betrayal, politics, and lots of blood. The man was a great conquerer, he should be recognized as such. I do not wish to praise or condemn his character - however I cannot argue with the fact that he was a man willing to sweat and get his hands very very dirty to get the job done. His time was a much different generation, living within the harsh desert climate of Arabia – pre-oil boom and pre-convienience; a time that many Saudis argue were much harder times; but times that they say where one could found more quality, morale, drive and ethics within the community. The Sudairi seven, his seven sons from wife Hassa Al-Sudairi have managed leadership of the Kingdom between themselves, however, many have passed on, and more are elderly and sickly, and their time on Earth is surely very limited. Their generation saw a different Saudi Arabia than the one we know today, and was still very much in contact with the previous generation (the one of their father) who was used to living in the harsher times in Saudi Arabia. The late King Faisal responded to American oil threats during the 1973 oil embargo with: “We can go back to the desert and live off of dates and camel milk, but what will you do without oil?” This response worked at the time, because King Faisal’s was also a generation who needed to know how to survive, how to get their hands dirty, and how to "control" a nation, much different than the ones to follow. The “house of al Saud” has grown, and its youth are now very disconnected from the harsh Arabia of King Abdul Aziz. They are used to a hefty allowance, lavish lifestyles, with so many people around them sucking up that few have to deal with real conflict outside of their family circles and most don’t know how to deal with it; some murder, some get crazy drunk, some sniff cocaine, some get prostitutes, some get arrested, some give "good blow jobs"…but all no longer remember a Saudi Arabia without McDonalds, cars, money, Air Conditioning, and airplanes; and none of them had to get sweaty to have any of it. Theirs is a generation who may not be able to handle running the population of whom - I would argue - has greatly surpassed them. It used to be only the royals and major elites that could travel overseas to study. Only these elite few – already in control and to some extent free of many of the strict restrictions of Saudi society - got to taste the “freedom” taught in western schools and universities. Now a massive portion of Saudi students have been exposed to a world where leadership is not recognized by family name, and where ordinary people are encouraged to constantly question everything and think critically. This was once a message only the elites were exposed to, and with the King Abdullah scholarship, this door has been opened for a massive number of young Saudi men and women. The Ottoman Empire, Mohamed Ali’s Egypt, and the Qajar and Shahs of Iran all went through extensive reforms in their nations as they began to notice discontent– all plans included sending large number of students overseas to study – many of these students ended up being the very same students who would return to their countries to contribute to the fall of these regimes. Saudis are being educated within the Kingdom and outside the kingdom. Even Saudis within the Kingdom have been exposed to large number of foreigners who have have been invited in to work. They have seen the difference in lifestyle, they have been exposed to different ideas through books, movies, TV, internet (Saudi Arabia in the last year was by a landslide the country that experienced the most growth on Twitter). All these technologies opening the outside world to Saudi (to some extent) are at each individuals access, allowing for each Saudi citizen to have a window to a different way of thinking and to form their own personal experience with the outside world, something that wasn’t possible for the majority of even the most previous generation. The last generation tried for change, women tried to take to the streets in a driving protest in order to demand their rights and were met with brutality, Qatifis took to the streets around 30 years ago to demand rights and were met with brutality, prisoners piled into jails and were tortured for wanting simple reforms. They may have failed to reach their exact goals – but they definitley ignited a spark – and many of these people have had children. Their children live in a different time, and their children are trying once again for the change in Saudi Arabia. Protests are happening in the Kingdom now – from Qatif the Shiite center to Qassim the center of Wahhabism. The two most opposite cities in Saudi Arabia are both experiencing a common discontent with the way things are. The generation who could perhaps say “we will go back to living on dates in the desert and camel milk” is in its last days in leadership, and the power is to be eventually passed down to the next generation of royals. The majority of whom have been pampered and remain severly disconnected from reality…yet they are the ones who are to rule those educated and globally-connected Saudi youth? Between rampant poverty in a nation rich with wealth, to backward bureaucracy that forces everyone to run in circles before they can get anything accomplished, corrupt clerics who have deviated so far from Islam that many Muslims refuse to recognize it, to serious social issues (rape, sexual harassment, workers rights, etc) that are not spoken of, a Shiite and female population who have been mistreated and misunderstood for generations, to large amounts of people who have been thrown in prison for speaking out or wanting simple freedoms, and an educated youth who are beginning to challenge themselves to dream for the impossible…. The House of Al Saud has all the symptoms to an inevitable fall. When? I don’t know, but I think I’ll be alive to see it. Posted by Bint Battuta at 2:06 PM No comments: ================================ Sunday, July 29, 2012Sheikh Mohammed Al Arefe: For the Sake of the Syrian People…Or for the Demise of Shiites? The Saudi Arabian Sheikh Mohammed Al Arefe, often known to many in the West as the Sheikh who teaches Muslim men how to “properly beat their Wives” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhAYU_XN6DE), and to many Bahrainis and Saudis of the Eastern province as the Shia hater (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONd1oXIiZqA) now has a new identity among many Muslims, as the defender of the Syrian people. The Sheikh gave a rather moving speech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE6En9e7dew) after his visits to the Syrian border to work with refugees. In the speech he called on the wealthy to put their money towards the Syrian people, called on Syrians to rebel against Bashar Al Assad, called on the Army to leave the regimes side and not to shed innocent blood, called on the men present in the Saudi Arabian mosque to join the Free Syrian Army, and called on Muslims to join and support the Syrian Believers in their Jihad against Assad, whom he loudly added “gets his support from the Persians, the Shia, the Villians and Hezbollah” Al Arefe was never much of a supporter of the people of the Arab Spring, keeping much in line with the Saudi governments political positions. He kept mostly quiet during the Tunisian, Egyptian, Yemeni and Libyan uprisings, and was clearly quick to denounce the Bahrain uprising (Bahrain having a Shia majority with a Sunni regime). Yet the Sheikh seemed to suddenly develop a “revolutionary” spirit in light of the Syrian situation. All the while, people in his own country, in the Eastern province of Qatif were being shot down by Saudi forces. The major question is how could a man with such a hateful discourse towards the oppressed Shia minority in his own nation, suddenly turn into a humanitarian? Al Arefe assisted in raising a large sum of money for the Syrian people, estimated at around 66 million dollars. The Sheikh faced some problems, as Saudi regulations require a license for such types of donations. When Al Arefe was brought in for questioning in Riyadh, it is said he was called a “Kharajite”, a term in today’s context meaning one who rebels against the rulers. In response to this remark the Sheikh responded (In his own explanation): “Rafidites (a vulgar term used to refer to Shiites) send Khoms – millions of their assets into Qum (The Shia Religious center of Iran) and Najaf (Shia Religious Center of Iraq) to support Bashar and their training forces that are sent to them. And when we raise money we are called Kharajites?” Later he explains: “I told the investigator: if we do not support the Mujahideen in Syria so they can win…Bashar and Iranian Rafidites will attack us, and right now they are looking for your baby’s head, to tear it away.” Al Arefe reveals his own intentions and worry through his own account of his interaction with the interrogator. His major fear and goal in Syria seems not to be that innocent Syrian lives are being slaughtered and killed by the thousands, but he fears that Shia and Iran will attack in some way, and sees this as the perfect opportunity to fight the Shia of whom he so scornfully despises; a face much more fitting of the man with the hateful discourse, than that of the humanitarian. Take his money Syria, and do all you can to help your people. But dear people, don't be fooled once again by a little Saudi money, into praising this man and claiming he is a humanitarian. Posted by Bint Battuta at 12:12 AM No comments: ================ ‘Saudi succession crisis approaches’ Tue, 18 Sep 2012 23:35:35 GMT A US journalist believes that Saudi Arabia is nearing a crisis point since it will have to deal with a generational succession in a new Middle East and North Africa region forever changed by the pro-democracy uprisings that began in December 2010. In an article entitled Next up in the Middle East mess? Saudi Arabia’s succession fight, published in The Washington Post on Tuesday, Karen Elliott House writes that the elderly sons of Saudi Arabia’s founder, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, who have ruled sequentially since his death in 1953, are approaching the end of the line. The author notes that King Abdullah is nearly 90 years old and is in failing health and Crown Prince Salman is 76. The Saudi royal family can continue to pass the monarchy to the remaining brothers and half-brothers, but even the youngest of those is already in his late 60s, Ms. House pointed out. She noted that no Saudi prince is likely to have the insight and energy -- or even the time -- to steer the country in an era of reform or to solve the kingdom’s problems, such as poor education, high unemployment, a corrupt bureaucracy, and a crippled economy, or to deal with an increasingly young and frustrated society. External challenges, including the turmoil in the Middle East and a fraying alliance with the United States, must also be added to these domestic woes, Ms. House wrote. She stated that the three historic pillars of Saudi stability - oil, Wahhabi muftis, and the royal family -- are cracking. The massive revenue the country has obtained from oil for decades could be reduced by peak production and the sharp rise in domestic energy consumption. The extremist Wahhabi muftis, who have granted legitimacy to the House of Saud, are also increasingly divided and losing credibility in the eyes of the general public. In addition, the Saudi royal family is threatened by division as time has finally forced it to address the issue of generational succession. Ms. House added that sooner or later the Saudi crown will be passed to the new generation, which entails opportunity as well as risk. The opportunity in theory is that a new-generation royal -- educated, more open-minded and above all more energetic -- could begin to confront Saudi Arabia’s various problems by loosening up political and economic controls and increasing the competence of the government in order to assuage the people’s frustrations. However, the risk is that the divided Saudi royal family will splinter. The leadership in Saudi Arabia is unlike that of any other monarchy. It is a system where princes often marry multiple wives and thus produce dozens of progeny each -- now adding up to nearly 7,000 princes. Saudi Arabia these days is all too reminiscent of the dying decade of the Soviet Union, during which one weak leader succeeded another, she wrote. Ms. House said that given how large and divided the royal family has become over the decades, how a new-generation monarch will be selected is still an important question that remains unanswered. Many Saudis fear that the Allegiance Council, which King Abdullah established in 2006 in the hope of a smooth generational succession, will die with the monarch’s death. Saudi society now bears little similarity to the passive masses of a decade ago. Saudis now know about life inside their kingdom and in the wider world, and they dislike the inequalities they see. Sixty percent of Saudis are under 20 years old. Forty percent of Saudis live in poverty; 70 percent can’t afford to own a home; and 90 percent of workers in the private sector are foreigners Meanwhile, unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds is nearly 40 percent. Saudi men won’t take the lower-skilled jobs for which they are qualified, and even well-educated Saudi women are not allowed to take jobs for which they are qualified. MP/HGL ====================== 'US to soon dump Al Saud a la Mubarak' Tue, 25 Sep 2012 06:29:03 GMT Saudi Arabia will face a similar destiny of Washington’s “number one ally,” former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, after its intervention mission in Syria is carried out, an analyst says. “Saudi Arabia’s role when the United States is done with it, we will see the Saudi Arabian regime crumbling just like the number one ally to the US former president Mubarak crumbled and I see this happening very soon especially if Russia and China succeed in finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” political analyst, Roula Talj told Press TV in an exclusive interview on Monday. Talj touched upon Saudi regime’s effort to topple the Syrian government through dispatching armed militants, financing the militancy and fueling the fighting in Syria, saying Al Saud regime and Qatar are competing for implementing Washington’s policies in the region. “They (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) are protecting themselves and they are imposing themselves as amazing partners to the US, and a pillar to the US foreign politics in the Middle East where they are trying to play this role and hoping that this will make them very important to the Americans and will keep the Arab Spring between brackets, away from Saudi soil,” she maintained. The Syrian government has accused Saudi Riyadh and Doha of providing arms to “terrorists” inside Syria. Earlier in August, spokeswoman for the so-called Syrian National Council (SNC), Bassma Kodmani announced that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were among the countries providing insurgents with weapons to fight the Syrian army. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest, and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings. Western states have been calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. However, Russia and China are strongly opposed to the Western drive to oust Assad. The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. =================

‘Al Saud's archaic, kleptomaniac and totalitarian regime doomed to fall’

== ‘Nuclear Riyadh as dangerous as Israel’ Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:05:36 GMT Following reports about Saudi Arabia’s attempts to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan, a political analyst says an “archaic, kleptomaniac and totalitarian” Riyadh armed with nukes is as much a danger as Israel. “Saudi Arabia is as much a danger as Israel. Its stunted development means that it will always have aggressive feelings towards more successful societies and, in particular, it is terrified of any expression of democracy. It has already occupied Bahrain and Wikileaks revealed the Saudi desire to attack Iran,” Rodney Shakespeare wrote in an article published on Press TV website. Shakespeare emphasized that Saudi Arabia, “which has no depth of culture, no political legitimacy, [and] no technological success,” feels threatened by the political, cultural and technological progress of Iran. Describing the Saudi regime as “archaic, kleptomaniac and totalitarian” which has no place in the Modern world, Shakespeare added that, “Despite vicious suppression, democratic forces are stirring and have even reached the capital, Riyadh, where protesters [are] shouting slogans against the Saudi regime.” “Saudi Arabia, of course, is also a player of the sectarian card considering Shias as inferior, even non-Muslim. Playing the sectarian card is mad arrogance which will rebound on Saudi Arabia some day.” Citing German intelligence reports about Wahhabis committing Houla Massacre of over one hundred people in May 2012 in Syria, Shakespeare said Saudi Arabia is exporting bigotry and viciousness and sending terrorists to Syria. “We must hope that the Americans - who indulge the Saudis in their every whim and cruelty - will have the sense to stop Saudi Arabia from getting the atom bomb,” he concluded. == Sat, 28 Jul 2012 04:49:38 GMT A political analyst says the collapse of Al Saud regime is closer to reality now that internal frictions within Saudi officials and anti-regime protests are intensifying, Press TV reports. “I think we are seeing this end more realistic than before, the fact that they are now fighting within their ranks. Among the questions that the security forces have been asking certain activists that if they have any contact with members of their own families who have already departed and are working against the regime," said Ali Al Ahmed, the director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs (IGA), on Friday. “We have a princess who sought asylum or others who are now outside the country and trying to really unseat the current leadership and just put it to the right stability because of the in-fighting and the end of the Saudi state will be mostly rousted not because of this protest movement alone, but because of the division where it is within the ranks of their own family,” he said. Al Ahmed also noted that the arrest of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr will accelerate the ongoing protest movement in the oil-rich country. “I think so since the arrest of Sheikh Nemr, the protest frequency has accelerated and the protest movement in the country not only in the Eastern region has expanded. We saw that yesterday in Jeddah where a few people were gathering outside the ministry of the interior in Jeddah’s, you know, the branch there,” he said. “We are seeing more protests across the country and I have information that the end of Ramadan will have many protests in different cities and new cities in fact to take advantage of the King’s announcement of the conference, so-called Islamic solidarity conference at the end of Ramadan,” Al Ahmed added. On Friday, Saudi security forces opened fire on anti-regime demonstrations in the eastern city of Qatif, injuring several protesters. The attack came after thousands of Saudi protesters took to the streets in Qatif, demanding the release of political prisoners, including Sheikh Nemr. Chanting slogans in support of social justice in the oil-rich Eastern Province, protestors also asked the regime to stop killing civilians by the Saudi-backed forces in neighboring Bahrain. Tensions have been running high in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province in the past weeks following the detention of the Shia cleric. Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in the Kingdom's east, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah, calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination. However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in Eastern Province. ============== The Making of Kings in Saudi Arabia Print Email Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia welcomes the Gulf Arab leaders as they arrive in the Saudi capital Riyadh to take part in the opening of the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 10, 2011. Related Articles Arabia's Pre-Islamic Past Revealed TEXT SIZE Cecily Hilleary December 06, 2012 Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah recently underwent relatively minor back surgery and his hospitalization triggered a host of increasingly dire rumors about the state of his health. Though the 88-year-old monarch has since recovered and appeared in public, the episode has raised new questions about royal succession, an issue that has loomed over Saudi Arabia for years. As they advance in age, one Saudi leader after another faces the same tough decision: should the crown continue to be passed from brother to brother – the sons of the Kingdom’s founder, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud? Or has the time come for a new generation of leaders? Short-term Kings After the sudden death of Saudi Crown Prince Nayef last June, his brother Salman, 76, was named Crown Prince and is likely to become the next king in spite of his poor health. But who should succeed him? Only a handful of his brothers are still living and in reasonable health, and some even ask whether they would be up to the task of leading the Kingdom. Simon Henderson, Baker Fellow and Director of the Gulf and Energy Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, describes the Saudi monarchy as a series of “short-term kings.” “The problem is that the kings have been becoming kings later in their lives and therefore they haven’t had the energy to properly serve,” Henderson said. “As a result, things do not get done as they might with a younger, more energetic leader — and it raises the likelihood of political unrest.” Some in the West suggest that the obvious solution would be to pass the scepter on to the next generation – something the Kingdom has been reluctant to do for deeply entrenched reasons. “The Saudi system confers seniority by age, and age is respected,” Henderson said. “And when you have got such a value system, it is very difficult to break out of the current way of doing things.” More problematic, said Henderson, is deciding who to choose. “Any selection of a future Crown Prince means excluding some people who are the residual sons of the founder of the Kingdom, Ibn Saud,” Henderson said, “and also deciding which line of the next generation should inherit the throne.” And that could lead to rivalry, which is not without precedent in Saudi history. ​ ​​​Karen Elliott House is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — and Future. She has been travelling to the Saudi Kingdom for 30 years and has personally met many of the royals. She tells the story of a decade-long antagonism between former King Saud and his brother Faisal. “When Saudi Arabia’s founder, King Abdulaziz died,” House said, “he named his eldest son, Saud, as his successor and his second eldest son, Faisal, as Saud’s Crown Prince. And he told them over his deathbed, ‘Hold hands over my body and promise you will never quarrel in public.’” As it turned out, House said, the sons quarreled for nearly a decade -- until Faisal ousted Saud and made himself king. “And then he was murdered by his nephew,” House added. Observers say that perhaps the most obvious rivalry is between the so-called ‘Sudairi Seven,’ sons of Abdulaziz who share the same mother, Hassa al-Sudairi, said to have been a favorite among King Abdulaziz' wives. “The Sudairi Seven tried to dominate, did dominate, and they still do dominate,” Henderson said, “but to a lesser extent, because with the death of Kings Fahd, Sultan and Nayef, they are only a ‘Sudairi Four.’ And one of those, Turki, lives in exile, Salman is in poor health, Ahmed has just lost his job as Minister of the Interior, and Abdulrahman is annoyed for being passed over, so it’s really a ‘Sudairi Two-and-a-Half.’” ​​ Kingmaking House says there are no written laws governing the selection of future Saudi kings. “Traditionally, the king and a small inner circle of powerful princes have met in secret to decide on a crown prince,” House said. “Nobody is entirely sure how, and [what] the known qualifications are that he be, in essence, by age, but also be the most competent to rule.” In an attempt to pre-empt potentially bumpy transitions, King Abdullah established the Allegiance Council in 2006. The Council consists of 35 members representing each branch of the royal family. If any die or become incapacitated, they may be represented by their sons. Should the current king pass away, the Council is charged with naming the new king. He then has 10 days to inform the Council whom he wants as his crown prince. He is permitted to name as many as three candidates, and if none of them are to the Council’s liking, its members may propose an alternative. The trouble is that the Council has never been tested. “It’s the nature of the Saudi Kingdom that whoever is king can do whatever he wants,” Henderson said. That means Crown Prince Salman, if he ascends the throne, could give preference to his own family line. Royal Contenders Only two of the 16 surviving sons of Abdulaziz are considered to be suitable royal candidates: Former Interior Minister Prince Ahmed, Salman’s full brother. At 72, Prince Ahmed is the youngest of the so-called "Sudairi Seven. In November, Ahmed was removed from his post as interior minister and replaced by his nephew, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, 53. House doubts Ahmed will be picked. “It might be a problem in the family to have two full brothers serving as King and Crown Prince,” she said. The former director of Saudi intelligence, Prince Muqrin,the youngest surviving son of King Abdulaziz, is another possible candidate. However, Henderson says Muqrin is not likely to be selected because his mother is foreign-born. “This produces a pedigree issue, which is a big deal in Saudi,” Henderson said. Both House and Henderson do agree that there is one candidate in the third generation of princes who could emerge as Deputy Crown Prince: The new Minister of Interior, Mohamed bin Nayef. “He speaks English, he’s very engaging, and he has run this terrorist rehabilitation program, which apparently has been very successful,” House said. She calls Mohamed bin Nayef "very "impressive." That said, it may be some time before any significant change occurs within the ruling family. “It’s a very uncertain future for the next couple of years,” Henderson said, “and of course the problems in the Middle East and the problems in the world don’t stand still, so we will have concerns about the Iran nuclear program, about oil, about changes in the Arab world described as the ‘Arab Spring.’ We’ll also have concerns about Shi’ites in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and Shi’ites in neighboring Bahrain.” All of these issues will likely continue to “bubble,” said Henderson — if not constantly, at least occasionally, and this is bound to cause headaches for whoever occupies the Saudi throne.

Mufti warns of revolution in Saudi Arabia

Who says that the Americans wanted to topple ruthless autocrats while they serve USraeli interests? It is never too late for the Americans to introduce democracy to Bahrain,

Israel, Yemen, Kuwait or to Saudi Arabia. As you may know that the so-called Israeli democracy doesn't alow Arabs (making 20% of the population) proportionate representation in the Knesset. While Saudi Arabia has no parliament and the government of Bahrain, like that of Kuwait, is made of members from the same family, Al-Thani and Al-Sabah, respectively. It is a common practice for the American foreign policy to undermine democracies and to promote corrupt dictators and manipulated elections.

Adnan Darwash





Saudi Arabia: Dissident Writer Arrested

20 Apr 2011 20:55

Source: Content partner // Human Rights Watch


(Munich) - Saudi authorities have arrested over 160 peaceful dissidents in violation of international human rights law since February 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abd al-?Aziz Al Sa'ud, to order the immediate release of peaceful dissidents, including Nadhir al-Majid, a writer and teacher arrested on April 17.
Allies of Saudi Arabia have not publicly protested these serious and systematic violations. The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said on April 18 that she had been "very pleased" with her two-day visit to Riyadh and made no public comments about the political prisoners. Neither Tom Donilon, the US national security adviser who visited Riyadh on April 13, nor Robert Gates, US defense secretary who visited on April 6, publicly commented on the kingdom's human rights violations.



"The EU's silence on the brazen arrest of a peaceful dissident on the first day of its chief foreign policy representative's visit looks like a pat on the back for an authoritarian state," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Silence when more than 160 peaceful dissidents are locked up should not be an option for Brussels or Washington."

Officials of the General Investigations Department (al-mabahith al-?amma), the domestic intelligence service, arrested al-Majid at his school in Khobar, in the Eastern Province. At the same time, mabahith officers searched his house in the presence of his wife and children, who said that officers confiscated al-Majid's personal belongings. Al-Majid had written an article entitled "I Protest, Therefore I Am" on April 2, in which he said that with the Saudi government's "call to stop demonstrations, we see history bypassing us, and this speaks volumes to the ingrained blindness in political vision, analysis, and consciousness."



Several user groups on Facebook had called for protests on a Saudi Day of Anger on March 11, but a heavy security presence prevented demonstrations in all but the Eastern Province. In Riyadh, Khalid al-Juhani, a Saudi citizen, appeared to be the sole person to brave the security presence to speak to assembled journalists. In an interview with the BBC, al-Juhani described how he lost his fear and despite knowing he would be arrested wanted to experience the freedom of speaking his mind. Al-Juhani's brother, Abdullah, told Human Rights Watch that mabahith officers arrested al-Juhani at his home later that day and that Interior Ministry officials told his family that he is being detained incommunicado in Riyadh's ?Ulaisha intelligence prison.

Protests in the Eastern Province continued on April 14 and 15 in Qatif and ?Awwamiyya, two predominantly Shia towns. The protesters, many of them women, held a candlelight vigil to demand the release of Shia detainees who have been imprisoned without charge or trial for 12 years and longer on suspicion of involvement in a 1996 bombing. The demonstrators also called for the release of over 120 detainees still being held for peaceful protests in Qatif and al-Ahsa' provinces since February. Only several dozen have been released, and none of those arrested have been charged with violence.

The Sa'ud family rules Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy - there are no national elections and no effective means of popular participation in decision making. In early March, the Interior Ministry and the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, the highest law-interpreting body, reiterated a ban on demonstrations. In February, mabahith officers arrested eight people who announced they were founding what they intended to be the kingdom's first political party, the Islamic Nation Party.
In March, several dozen women and some men protested once a week for three weeks in front of Interior Ministry headquarters in Riyadh for the release, or the speedy and fair trial, of their male relatives who have been detained, most of them without charge, for years in the country's intelligence prisons. The mabahith arrested several of the peaceful protesters.


Saudi authorities have also held a human rights activist, Shaikh Mikhlif bin Dahham al-Shammari, in Dammam central prison since June 2010 on the charge of "annoying others" over articles he wrote criticizing religious extremists and incompetent officials.
In 2009, Saudi Arabia acceded to the Arab Charter for Human Rights, which guarantees in article 32 the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The kingdom is one of few countries that have not yet signed the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
"As the list of Saudi political prisoners grows longer, the silence of the US and the EU becomes more deafening," Wilcke said.



=============
Bahrain abducts two senior clerics
Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:44PM

Bahraini riot policeBahraini forces have abducted two senior clerics as the government is putting more pressure to suffocate anti-regime protests.


The Saudi-backed Bahraini forces arrested clerics Sayyed Mohammad al-Alawi and Sheikh Abdul Adim al-Mohtadi in the capital Manama on Monday.
It comes after the Bahraini government dismissed 30 doctors and 150 health ministry workers for supporting anti-government protests, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Meanwhile, police stormed schools on Monday and arrested teachers ahead of a planned strike.

Earlier, Bahraini authorities expelled 16 Lebanese nationals from the country. The move came after the leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, voiced support for the Bahraini protesters.
Bahraini people have been demanding an end to the two-century-long rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty since February 14.

Scores of protesters have been killed and many others gone missing since the beginning of the revolution.

Bahraini forces have reinforced a massive armed crackdown on the uprising with the help of Saudi, the UAE and Kuwaiti troops.



US to proceed with Mideast arms sales

Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:51AM
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Deputy Director of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Richard Genaille The Obama administration has decided to proceed with the sale of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in two of the largest-ever arms sales.


Deputy Director of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Richard Genaille said on Monday that Saudi Arabia's $60 billion purchase of 84 new F-15 fighter jets, 190 helicopters and a wide array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as accessories such as night-vision goggles and radar warning systems have been approved and is proceeding without delay, Bloomberg reported.

The Pentagon official added that the purchase by the United Arab Emirates of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile systems, worth nearly 7 billion dollars, has also been cleared to proceed. The US Defense Department expects fiscal year 2011 arms exports to exceed $46 billion compared with about $37.9 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The report comes as Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have assisted Bahrain's Al Khalifa regime to reinforce its brutal crackdown against anti-government demonstrators.

“The Saudis are using American equipment: American tanks, American soldier carriers and they are also using the Apache helicopters, which are American,” a Bahraini opposition leader, Saeed al-Shahabi has told Press TV.

On Monday, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces arrested clerics Sayyed Mohammad al-Alawi and Sheikh Abdul Adim al-Mohtadi in the capital Manama.
It comes after the Bahraini government dismissed 30 doctors and 150 health ministry workers for supporting anti-government protests.
Saudi Arabia dispatched thousands of troops to neighboring Bahrain in mid-March to help quell month-old protest rallies seeking to break al-Khalifa dynasty's monopoly on power.

Saudi and other Arab rulers fear that any concession by Bahrain's rulers could embolden more protests against their own despotic rulers.

This is while the US military, which has its Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, has avoided describing the foreign troop intervention in the country as an invasion.

Bahraini demonstrators maintain that they will hold their ground until their demands for freedom, constitutional monarchy as well as a proportional voice in the government are met.

Scores of protesters have been killed and many others gone missing since the beginning of the Bahrain revolution.


====
Top White House aide to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE
10 Apr 2011 17:10

Source: reuters // Reuters


WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top national security aide will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this week, the White House said on Sunday, as popular unrest continues to unsettle the region.

Obama's national security adviser Tom Donilon will meet with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz in Riyadh and in Abu Dhabi he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahayan in a visit from April 11 to April 13.

"The national security advisor's visit underscores the importance of our relationship with these two key partners," the White House said in a statement.

Arab leaders allied to the United States have questioned its backing of pro-democracy movements, which have swept rulers from power in Egypt and Tunisia and continue to challenge other governments, including Saudi Arabia's neighbor Bahrain.

The United States is also part of a United Nations and Arab League-backed military campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to protect Libyan civilians after a popular uprising to end his 41-year rule. (Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Eric Beech)



=====

Saudi unemployed graduates protest, demand jobs10 Apr 2011 12:00

Source: reuters // Reuters


* University graduates rally in Jeddah, Riyadh

* Protesters vow to return if no solution to unemployment


By Asma Alsharif and Jason Benham

JEDDAH/RIYADH, April 10 (Reuters) - Dozens of unemployed university graduates and teachers staged rare protests in two Saudi cities on Sunday to demand jobs and better wages in the biggest Arab economy, which is struggling to reduce joblessness.

Saudi Arabia, the world's No. 1 oil exporter and a U.S. ally, is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate public dissent. There is no elected parliament or political parties, and newspapers tend to carry the official line.

Over 20 protesters gathered outside the education ministry office in Jeddah while around 20 collected outside the ministry in the capital Riyadh, witnesses and participants said.

"God willing, I'll be here until Friday if I have to. We don't care anymore after seven years of unemployment. We have no other choice," said Omar Alharbi, a 34-year-old Arabic language teacher who took part in the Jeddah protest.

"I plan to stay here until we find a solution," he said.

The father of six now works as a teacher in a private school making only 1,800 riyals ($480) a month, below the country's unemployment handout of 2,000 riyals.

Despite its oil wealth, Saudi Arabia, which is rolling out its third straight record budget this year, is struggling to reduce unemployment which reached 10 percent in 2010.
In a move to stave off public dissent gripping much of the Arab world, King Abdullah ordered handouts exceeding $100 billion to be spent on housing, infrastructure, health care and security. It also included a 2,000 riyal unemployment benefit.

Saudis in private firms compete with foreigners who agree to work for lower wages. Teachers are offered 1,800 riyals a month in a private school for a job that pays around 9,000 riyals a month in government schools, protesters said.

Some of the protesters said they had been unemployed since 2003. They estimated the number of unemployed Saudi Arabic language teachers to exceed 10,000.

Saudi Arabia has not seen the kind of mass uprisings that have rocked the Arab world this year, but a number of protests have taken place in the Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom's oil fields are.

Almost no Saudis in major cities answered a Facebook call for protest on March 11, in the face of a massive security presence around the country.
Earlier this year, some 250 unemployed graduates gathered at the education ministry in Riyadh to demand employment and vowed to continue demonstrating until the government produces jobs.

The group later dispersed after hearing promises from ministry officials saying they will deal with their issue.

"We expect to hear promises to calm us down and disperse us but we will be back. We will be back until they find a solution," Alharbi said.

===
Poll: Saudi Kingdom will collapse
Sat Apr 2, 2011 9:45AM
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Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-AzizA Press TV survey reveals that almost half of the public think the brutal crackdown and tight security measures in Saudi Arabia will not safeguard the Kingdom against collapse.


According to the public opinion poll, some 51.6 percent of people think that crackdown will result in a massive bloodshed and the collapse of the Saudi kingdom.

The poll indicates that 13.04 percent of people believe that the issue will only result in massive bloodshed, while another 18 percent said the strict security measures will just not be enough to save the kingdom from falling.

An estimated 17.36 percent of the voters went for the choice that said the crackdown will eventually discourage the public in its revolutionary drive.

The survey also found that the voters from the United States topped the list of participants by 26.3 percent of the votes, while 11.4 percent were from the United Kingdom.

Voters from Canada made 6.3 percent, along with Australians and the Dutch, with 2.6 and 1.6 percent respectively.

Some 51.8 percent of the votes were also from other countries.

The poll was conducted while hundreds of people have recently protested peacefully in Saudi Arabia, calling on the country's military to end its incursion into Bahrain.

Moreover, hundreds of anti-government Saudi protesters took to the streets in Qatif and surrounding villages in eastern Saudi Arabia on March 25, demanding the immediate release of what they called forgotten political prisoners. The protesters said the prisoners were being held unjustly and without trial, some as long as 16 years.

Demonstrators also called for political freedoms and an end to sectarian discrimination by the Wahhabi monarchy.

==

Saudi prints 1.5 million copies of anti-demo edict29 Mar 2011 11:07

Source: reuters // Reuters


* Additional printing on top of 500,000 already ordered

* Fatwa calls for unity, cohesion


JEDDAH, March 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is printing 1.5 million copies of an edict by religious scholars outlawing protests in the conservative kingdom as un-Islamic, the state news agency said on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and major U.S. ally, is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any form of public dissent.

It managed to stifle an attempt to stage a mass protest on March 11 with a large security presence on the streets.

Religious scholars issued their fatwa, or religious edict, and senior princes issued warnings in advance.

"The Grand Mufti requested that a number of government and private firms print and distribute more than a million copies," SPA said, adding that 500,000 copies already had been printed.

SPA said the fatwa "called for strengthening cohesion and affinity" and called on the Saudi people to "have a united front... under its wise and legitimate leadership, warning (against) and forbidding demonstrations".
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh heads the clerics council and is the country's highest religious official.

The Saudi royal family dominates politics but accords the class of religious scholars wide powers of control over society in a historic pact. The vast desert nation has a population of over 18 million Saudi nationals.

Mass protests which toppled longstanding leaders in Egypt and Tunisia have spread to the Arabian Peninsula, affecting Bahrain and Yemen and to a lesser extent Oman and Kuwait.

Web activists had slated March 11 as the first day for mass protests in Saudi Arabia, calling for reforms, a fair distribution of wealth and a "constitutional monarchy".

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Michael Roddy)




====

Saudi king orders billions of dollars in handouts
18 Mar 2011 11:43

Source: reuters // Reuters


RIYADH, March 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Friday ordered the handout of billions of dollars in benefits to Saudi citizens and created more domestic security jobs in an attempt to insulate the top oil exporter from regional unrest.

The king made a brief statement congratulating Saudis for their loyalty, national unity and facing the enemies of religion before his decrees were read out live on Saudi television.

The benefits range from monthly payouts for the unemployed to building 500,000 new homes and spending on healthcare.

In addition, the king ordered the creation of 60,000 new security jobs within the interior ministry. As well, the king decreed that media must respect clerics or face penalties.



Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:44PM
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Beggars on Saudi Arabia's streets Saudi Arabian Mufti Sheikh Yusof al-Ahmad has warned that unless the government fights poverty and unemployment, it will face a revolution like those in Egypt and Tunisia.


In a video published on the internet, al-Ahmad says due to the poverty rate of 22 percent, the recent popular uprisings in the Arab world will permeate into Saudi Arabia.

Last year, the floods in Jeddah -- Saudi Arabia's second largest city -- resulted in the deaths of tens of people and homelessness of thousands and sparked public anger, al-Arab newspaper quoted the Mufti as saying on Monday.
The way people express their anger has changed in an unprecedented way, due to the injustice and the feeling of being oppressed, he added.

Al-Ahmad criticized the Saudi government for allocating 112 billion Saudi rials (USD 29.8 billion) to King Abdullah University and 72 billion Saudi rials to Princess Noura University in Riyadh, saying such budget was enough to build 72 universities and create 300,000 jobs for the citizens.
Al-Ahmad said supervision over public assets was necessary to prevent overspending.

In 2009, the Saudi Arabian members of parliament announced that in spite of the kingdom's three-year plan for fighting poverty, around 22 percent of the people live below the poverty line.

Saudi Arabia's official figures put the country's unemployment rate at 10.5 percent, while according to the unofficial figures, joblessness stands around 20 percent.


====


پاکستان میں آلِ سعود کا دفاع
ریاض سہیل

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچی


’مشرق وسطیٰ میں موجود سیاسی ہلچل اور سعودی عرب اور ایران میں کشیدگی سے پاکستان میں فرقہ واریت میں مزید اضافہ ہوگا‘
سعودی عرب میں سعود خاندان کے خلاف عوام کے احتجاج کے بعد پاکستان میں دیوبند مکتبِ فکر کی مذہبی جماعتیں اور علماء سعودی شاہی خاندان کے دفاع کے لیے میدان میں آگئے ہیں۔

ادھر کراچی شہر میں بعض مذہبی جماعتوں کی جانب سے بحرین اور سعودی عرب کے عوام کے حق میں وال چاکنگ بھی کی گئی ہے۔

کراچی کی مرکزی شاہراہ ایم اے جناح روڈ پر یہ وال چاکنگ نمایاں نظر آتی ہے جس میں سعود خاندان اور عرب افواج پر تنقید بھی کی گئی ہے اور لوگوں پر ’ظلم بند‘ کرنے کو کہا گیا ہے۔

اس سے قبل شیعہ علماء کونسل کی جانب سے بحرین، لیبیا، یمن اور مشرق وسطیٰ کی عوام سے یکہجتی کے اظہار کے لیے ریلی بھی نکالی گئی تھی۔

جمعہ کو مجلس وحدت مسلمین کے رہنما محمد مھدی نے ایک بیان میں کہا کہ مشرق وسطی انقلاب کا خواہشمند ہے اور وہ وہاں موجود ڈکٹیٹرشپ کے خلاف ہے اور موجودہ لہر اسلامی مشرق وسطی کی جانب ایک قدم ہے۔

ان کا کہنا تھا کہ مشرق وسطی میں سعودی عرب کا کردار مشکوک ہے۔ ’عوامی اسلامی بیداری اس بات کا ثبوت ہے کہ ساٹھ سال قبل امریکہ اور اسرائیل نے وہاں ڈکٹیٹروں کو اقتدار بخشا جو ان کے احکامات کے طابع ہیں۔‘

محمد مھدی کا کہنا تھا کہ اگر سعودی عرب حقیقی اسلامی ریاست ہے تو پھر بیت المقدس کی آزادی کے لیے اپنا کردار ادا کیوں نہیں کرتا۔

یاد رہے تین روز قبل شہر کے بڑے مدرسوں جامعہ بنوریہ، جامعہ فاروقیہ، جامعہ رشیدیہ، جمعیت علمائے اسلام فضل الرحمان، اور جمعیت علمائے اسلام سمیع الحق گروپ سمیت دیگر مذہبی جماعتوں کے ایک مشترکہ اجلاس میں سعودی حکمرانوں کے خلاف چاکنگ پر ناراضی کا اظہار کیا تھا اور سندھ کے گورنر ڈاکٹر عشرت العباد کو بھی اس سے آگاہ کیا گیا تھا۔

ایران اور سعودی عرب کی نظریاتی لڑائی پاکستان میں بھی پھیلی ہوئی ہے جس کے لیے دونوں ملکوں سے پیسہ آرہا ہے

صحافی خالد احمد
شہر کی بعض مساجد میں نمازِ جمعہ کے خطبوں میں سعودی عرب کے شاہی خاندان سے یکجہتی کا اظہار کیا گیا۔ جامعہ بنوریہ عالمیہ کے مفتی نعیم نے خطیبوں سے اپیل کی تھی کہ وہ خطبوں میں سعودی حکومت کی جانب سے دنیا بھر کے حجاج وعمرہ زائرین کی خدمات اوران کی سہولت کے لیے کی جانے والی کوششوں کو موضوع بنائیں اور تحفظ حرمین شریفین کےلیے خصوصی دعاؤں کا اہتمام کریں۔

مفتی نعیم کا کہنا تھا کہ پاکستان کے قیام سے لیکر آج تک سعودی حکمران ہی ہیں جنہوں نے ہرمشکل وقت میں پاکستانی عوام کاساتھ دیا لیکن اب تیونس، مصر، لیبیا، یمن، بحرین ودیگراسلامی ممالک کے حالات سے فائدہ اٹھاکر مغرب کے پیروکار اسلام کے روحانی مرکز کے خلاف بھی سازشوں میں مصروف ہوگئے ہیں۔

پاکستانی شہریوں کی ایک بڑی تعداد سعودی عرب میں ملازمت کرتی ہے اور ہر ماہ وہاں سے ایک خطیر رقم پاکستان منتقل ہوتی ہے۔ مفتی نعیم کا کہنا تھا کہ سعودی حکومت اس معاملے کو جواز بنا کر جو پاکستانی شہری وہاں کام کرتے ہیں انہیں بے دخل کرسکتی ہے۔

گزشتہ ماہ امریکی اہلکار ریمنڈ ڈیوس کی رہائی میں سعودی عرب کا کردار بھی زیر بحث آیا تھا۔ مسلم لیگ نون کا کہنا تھا کہ اس رہائی میں سعودی عرب نے کردار ادا کیا مگر مذہبی جماعتیں اس کو ماننے کے لیے تیار نہیں ہیں۔

جمعیت علمائے اسلام فضل الرحمان گروپ کے رہنما قاری عثمان کا کہنا تھا کہ سعودی عرب میں جو معاملات چل رہے ہیں وہ ان کا اندرونی معاملہ ہے۔ ’تمام جماعتوں کو جمع ہوکر یہ طے کرنا چاہیے کہ وہ بیرونی مداخلت کے بجائے اپنے شہر اور ملک کے مسائل پر بات کریں اور ایک دوسرے کے ساتھ دست وگریباں نہ ہوں۔’ اس عمل سے کسی اور کی خدمت ہوسکتی ہے مگر اسے اسلام کی خدمت نہیں کہا جاسکتا۔‘


’اگر یورپ اور امریکہ کے ایما پر سعودی عرب میں کوئی تحریک چلتی ہے تو اس کا خاتمہ ہونا چاہیے‘
کالعدم تنظیم جماعت الدعوۃ بھی سعودی حکمرانوں سے یکہجتی کے لیے ہر کردار ادا کرنے کو تیار ہے۔ ’تنظیم کے رہنما مولانا محمودالحسن کا کہنا تھا کہ سعودی حکومت دوسرے اسلامی ممالک سے مخلتف ہے۔ وہاں اسلامی نظام نافذ ہے اور اسی کے تحت فیصلے ہوتے ہیں۔‘

’سعوی عرب کے حکمرانوں کے خلاف اگر کوئی بینر اور وال چاکنگ کر ہے ہیں تو یہ وہ ہی عناصر ہیں جن کو سعودی عرب کے اندر سکون اور امن گوارہ نہیں۔ حکومت اور عوام سعودی عرب کا ہر اعتبار سے ساتھ دے۔ اگر یورپ اور امریکہ کے ایما پر وہاں کوئی تحریک کھڑی ہوتی ہے تو اس کا خاتمہ ہونا چاہیے۔‘

مولانا محمودالحسن کا کہنا ہے کہ یہ ان لوگوں کی سازش ہے جنہیں سعودی عرب میں پلنے بڑھنے کی اجازت نہیں دی گئی کیونکہ وہاں شرک کے اڈے اور مزار بنانے نہیں دیے جاتے ۔ صرف ان لوگوں کو ہی زیادہ تکلیف ہے ۔اب یہ چاہتے ہیں موقعہ آگیا ہے کہ وہ غصہ نکالیں مگر جماعت الدعوہ ہر لحاظ سے سعودی عرب کے ساتھ ہے اگر ضرورت پڑی تو ریلیاں اور جلوس بھی نکالیں گے۔

پاکستان میں مدارس کی ایک بڑی تعداد کو سعودی عرب حکومت کی جانب سے عطیات دیے جاتے ہیں، جن سے طلبہ کو مفت تعلیم اور کھانے پینے کی سہولت فراہم کی جاتی ہے۔

سعوی عرب کے حکمرانوں کے خلاف اگر کوئی بینر اور وال چاکنگ کر ہے ہیں تو یہ وہ ہی عناصر ہیں جن کو سعودی عرب کے اندر سکون اور امن گوارہ نہیں۔ حکومت اور عوام سعودی عرب کا ہر اعتبار سے ساتھ دے۔ اگر یورپ اور امریکہ کے ایما پر وہاں کوئی تحریک کھڑی ہوتی ہے تو اس کا خاتمہ ہونا چاہیے۔

جماعت الدعوۃ
تجزیہ نگار اور صحافی خالد احمد کا کہنا ہے کہ کراچی میں دو جماعتیں ہیں ایک دیوبندی حضرات جو عربوں سے کافی مدد لیتے ہیں اور تمام ہی مدرسوں کو وہاں سے پیسے بھی آتے رہے ہیں دوسرے شیعہ مسلمان جن کی سرگرمیاں مخفی ہیں۔

ان کے مطابق جب ایران میں خامنہ ای اقتدار میں آئے تو سعودی عرب خوفزدہ ہوا یہ سلسلہ وہاں سے شروع ہوا۔ انیس سو اسی میں جنرل ضیاالحق نے سعودی عرب کے کہنے پر زکوۃ و عشر کا نظام نافذ کیا جس پر شیعہ مسلمانوں نے بغاوت کی۔

خالد احمد کا کہنا ہے کہ ایران اور سعودی عرب کی نظریاتی لڑائی پاکستان میں بھی پھیلی ہوئی ہے جس کے لیے دونوں ملکوں سے پیسہ آرہا ہے۔

بعض مبصرین کا کہنا ہے کہ مشرق وسطیٰ میں موجود سیاسی ہلچل اور سعودی عرب اور ایران میں کشیدگی سے پاکستان میں فرقہ واریت میں مزید اضافہ ہوسکتا ہے۔

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Saudi women hold protestsSun Apr 24, 2011 2:9PM
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Saudi women gather outside the voter registration center in the western city of Jeddah on April 23, 2011.A group of Saudi Arabian women have reportedly attempted to register for the kingdom's upcoming municipal elections, despite Riyadh's prohibition on female participation in the event.

The females had showed up to register with a related office in the western city of Jeddah on Sunday, AFP reported.

Scheduled for September 22, the polls form the kingdom's only public electoral event.

The protesters said they wanted their voices to be heard and decried exclusion from the public life.

The women's applications, however, where swiftly turned down.

Police dispersed a similar protest in the Eastern Province and rounded up two women.

Saudi women are deprived of a choice in marriage, divorce and children's custody. They are also not allowed to drive.
The females are dictated to and guarded by male relatives and cannot travel without the consent of a male guardian.

The Sunday protest came amid demonstrations across the kingdom by the jobless, demanding their share of the country's oil-driven economy and protests against Saudi Arabia's move to deploy troops in Bahrain to crack down on anti-government protesters there.

The protests rage despite a ban by the Interior Ministry on all kinds of demonstrations and public gatherings.

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Sunday May 22, 201102:32 AM GMT


Saudi woman arrested for driving a car

Sun May 22, 2011 2:33AM


A photo of Saudi campaigner Manal al-Sherif posted on Saudiwoman's Weblog

The Saudi Arabian authorities have detained a woman for defying the country's ban on female drivers and making efforts to embolden other women to follow suit.



The kingdom's religious police arrested Manal al-Sherif on Saturday after she challenged the ban by posting a video on Facebook and YouTube showing her behind the wheel of a car in the eastern city of Khobar, the Associated Press reported.



On their Facebook page, called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,” Sherif and a group of other women have launched a volunteer campaign with the aim of convincing the authorities to lift the prohibition.



Sherif was released a few hours later, according to the campaign's Twitter account, but the terms of her release were not immediately known.



Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban women -- both Saudi and foreign -- from driving. Women are also barred from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years, while no woman can become a cabinet member.



Sherif and the other campaigners have focused on the importance of women driving in times of emergencies and the high expense of hiring a driver, especially for low-income families.



The women's Facebook campaign is calling for a mass women's drive on June 17, and more than 12,000 people who viewed the page have indicated they support the call.



On their page, the group says women joining the campaign should not challenge the authorities if they are stopped and questioned and should abide by the country's dress code.



“We want to live as complete citizens, without the humiliation that we are subjected to every day because we are tied to a driver,” the Facebook message reads. “We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities, we are here to claim one of our simplest rights.”

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FEATURE-Saudi women take to their cars hoping for change

09 Jun 2011 08:00

Source: reuters // Reuters

* No written ban on women driving in kingdom

* Manal Alsharif posted YouTube video of herself driving

By Asma Alsharif and Jason Benham

JEDDAH/RIYADH, June 9 (Reuters) - Fed up with having no driver to ferry her to hospital, Shaima Osama decided to take matters into her own hands and drive there herself, an act of defiance in a country where women are banned from sitting behind the wheel.

Emboldened by the winds of change sweeping the Arab world, which has toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, women in the conservative kingdom see no better time to seek greater freedoms by demanding the right to drive, something they would not have dreamed of doing a year ago.

"I learned that there is no law banning women driving. I took the keys, took a deep breath and started the car," Osama described how she drove in Jeddah last month.

Saudi Arabia has no written ban on women driving but Saudi law requires citizens to use a locally issued licence while in the country. Such licenses are not issued to women, making it effectively illegal for them to drive.

Thousands of Saudi men and women joined Facebook groups calling for women's right to drive and challenge the ban. But only a few, like Osama, turned those calls into action.

Osama, 33, who has a severe vitamin D deficiency, drove herself to the hospital, received her vitamin injection but was stopped and arrested by police on her way home. She was released just hours later.

She took to the wheel just days before Saudi authorities arrested another woman, Manal Alsharif, who posted a YouTube video of herself driving in the kingdom's Eastern Province and calling on other women to do the same. [ID:nLDE74N0ET]

Alsharif has been released but faces charges of "besmirching the kingdom's reputation abroad and stirring up public opinion."

Like Alsharif, Osama learned to drive in the United States.

"The issue of women not being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia has been in the public domain for more than 35 years," said Khaled al-Dakhil, a Saudi politics professor.

"This is not the first time women had driven cars but you could say that the revolutionary wave has added to momentum and added a new context."

Women also drove cars in 1990, but the government cracked down, arresting and firing from their jobs, an indication of what the authorities may do if more women follow in Osama and Alsharif's footsteps.

The issue has also been raised by King Abdullah, who in an interview in 2005 said it was only a matter of time before women drive in the kingdom but that people have to be ready for it.

Some women already drive in rural areas in the kingdom.

OPPOSITION

The two women and Facebook book groups are provoking a backlash from conservatives who oppose the idea of women seeking greater freedoms in a country where they must have written approval from a designated male guardian -- a father, husband, brother, or son -- to work, travel abroad and even undergo certain forms of surgery.

Conservatives have launched their own Facebook campaign calling on people to beat up any woman who tries to drive in the street. It has attracted more than 500 supporters.

Some 1,000 women have submitted a petition to King Abdullah supporting the ban against women driving, local media reported.

Saudi Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obaikan, an adviser to the Royal Court, voiced his opposition while clerics have said that women driving would result in them being harassed in the street.

But the reasons appear to have more to do with religion.

"The religious establishment are trying to wrap the issue in the "sharia cloth" but they know that if women are allowed to drive it is a big change and a change in a direction they hate," Dakhil said. "The religious establishment are scared that society is changing faster that it should and that the revolutionary wave is driving this."

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, has not seen the protests that have rocked much of the Arab world and Abdullah ordered handouts exceeding $100 billion earlier this year to discourage dissent.

"It was a good time for the regime to give concessions but they did not," said Mohammad al-Qahtani, head of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.

"They can either allow women to drive or there will be more public resentment and there could be public protests in the street if this continues."

But allowing women to drive would also ease the financial burden on households and on the kingdom and would help reduce the kingdom's dependence on millions of foreigners who work as drivers.

Many families in Saudi Arabia have at least one driver with an average salary of around 2,000 Saudi riyals ($533) per month. Those who cannot afford this have a male member of family to drive them, often making it a time-consuming burden.

"I do agree with women driving. It would ease costs but there need to be some rules," said student Talal al-Hussain.

"Women shouldn't drive from 18 years of age like we do, but from their early thirties when they can look after themselves better," he said.

Whether protesting in the street or not, Alsharif has launched a campaign to challenge the ban aimed at teaching women to drive and encouraging them to start driving from June 17, using foreign-issued licenses.

Some women activists say the government's tough stance on Alsharif will deter many women from acting that day.

"What I project to happen is that these terrorising tactics will minimize the bold activists to a manageable number so that the government is capable of dismantling any and all protests in the first 15 minutes," said female activist Lama Sadik.

Mohammad al-Zulfa, a former member of the advisory shuran council said he hoped the government would react "wisely" and make an announcement allowing women to drive.

"Maybe not now, but in one or two years time, allowing society to be ready for it," he said. ($1=3.750 Saudi Arabian Riyal) (Editing by Reed Stevenson)

==

Saudi alarmed by high domestic oil demand

Official report warns local supply may not be enough in 2030
Saudi Arabia is consuming up nearly a third of its crude oil output and supply could fail to meet domestic demand in 2030 if the high consumption trends are maintained, according to a government report.

The Gulf kingdom, the world's top oil exporter and largest Arab economy, currently produces nearly 8.5 million barrels per day of crude but local demand is as high as 2.5-3.4 million bpd, mostly used in power generation, said the report by the state-controlled Saudi Electricity CompanySaudi Electricity Company (SECSEC).

The report suggested banning work of major shopping outlets during the afternoon period until 7.00 pm and limiting work periods for government departments to between 6.00 am to 12.00 noon in summer to save energy.

"The current oil production levels of around 8.5 million bpd will not be enough to meet domestic demand in 2030 if the current growth in local consumption continues," said Abdul Salam Alyamani, SEC'sSEC's vice president for relations."These high growth rates constitute a major challenge to Saudi Arabia in the long term as it relies on oil exports to provide nearly 80 per cent of its income."

Alyamani, quoted by local newspapers, warned against "ignoring repeated government calls for cutting power and water consumption."

He said solar energy remains a key option for Saudi Arabia to meet the rapid and steady increase in its power needs and lessen dependence on oil. He noted that the government has already drawn up plans to expand its electricity production by 3,000-4,000 MW annually, adding that Saudi Arabia would get around 1,200 MW through a $1.5-billion common power grid linking it with nearby Gulf countries--UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Alyamani said the Saudi government is spending nearly SR50 billion ($13 billion) a year to subsidize power and water consumption for citizens. Saudi Arabia controls around 266 billion barrels of proven oil resources, more than a fifth of the world's total crude deposits.

It has just completed a major programme to expand its sustainable oil output capacity to over 12 million bpd and intends to push ahead with projects to lift capacity to 15 million bpd in the next years.But the government has also been locked in another major plan to boost its natural gas reserves to meet rising demand and offset oil consumption.

Besides oil and gas, Riyadh has plans to develop solar energy and build 16 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years at a cost of more than $300bn. According to Abdul Ghani bin Melaibari, coordinator of scientific collaboration at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, Saudi Arabia is in the stage of planning for the nuclear projects and coordination with specialised companies was currently under way. He said companies from any country could bid for the projects, the largest in the Middle East.


"After 10 years we will have the first two reactors. After that, every year we will establish two, until we have 16 of them by 2030," he said. Melaibari said the nuclear reactors would cover about 20 percent of the Kingdom's needs for electricity, adding that the kingdom would launch a 20-year plan this year to introduce renewable clean energy.

© Emirates 24|7 2011

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20110619032525/Saudi_alarmed_by_high_domestic_oil_demand

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Saudi women, allies accelerate driving campaign

01 Jul 2011 02:33

Source: Content partner // Marley Gibbons//Womensenews

Female driver Azza Al Shmasani displays a note, which according to her, was placed on her car by an unknown person, in Saudi Arabia June 22, 2011. Saudi Arabia has no formal ban on women driving. But as citizens must use only Saudi-issued licences in the country, and as these are issued only to men, women drivers are anathema.(One that is cursed or damned.) An outcry at the segregation, which contributes to the general cloistering of Saudi women, has been fuelled by social media interest in two would-be female motorists arrested in May. REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed

By Marley Gibbons

WeNews correspondent

(WOMENSENEWS) June 30, 2011--Five Saudi women who defied religious traditions by driving this week were detained by police in Jeddah on June 28, marking what may be a shift to harsher tactics by authorities who largely shrugged off the June 17 start of the driving campaign.

On June 29, it was not publicly known whether the women were still in police custody, according to news sources in Saudi Arabia.

News of all this was distributed via e-mail by Change.org, a politically progressive grassroots organization. Using social media to mobilize supporters, Change.org tabulates figures, issues press statements and rallies media attention for the Saudi women's right-to-drive campaign.

It works side by side with other efforts--such as the Boston-based Honk for Saudi Women Driving--to keep the issue in the media headlights.

Change.org--with offices in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City-- estimates that 50 Saudi women risked jail on June 17 by driving. The group claims that more than 100,000 people in 156 countries supported Women for Driving in Saudi Arabia, a coalition of Saudi women's rights activists, via social networks.

A big reason for Change.org's dedication to the Saudi women's driving push is Benjamin Joffe-Walt, the group's human rights editor. He made contacts with female activists in Saudi Arabia in 2009 when he was covering human rights as a journalist.

In a recent phone interview, Joffe-Walt said that when he caught wind of Saudi women organizing for the right to drive in May, he saw an opportunity for Change.org to help by harnessing international media attention.

For that, Eman Al-Nafjan, a pro-driving activist who authors Saudiwomen blog, expresses deep appreciation.

"The way I see it is that as a Saudi woman, if some one is going to support my human right . . . I'm going to say a big fat 'thank you,'" she said in a phone interview with Women's eNews. "Drawing attention to the campaign outside of Saudi Arabia . . . will keep it an issue inside of Saudi Arabia."

On the heels of the June 17 event, Joffe-Walt told Women's eNews his top concern was sustaining international attention and interest.

One sign of that came on June 22, when Change.org launched a petition campaign to pressure Subaru, the Japan based automaker, to stop selling cars in the kingdom until women are allowed to drive. The site claims that more than 50,000 people have signed on.

"I'm not sure who will be courageous enough to get behind the wheel and deliver the petition to Subaru," Sara al-Haidar, an activist and student in Saudi Arabia, said in a phone interview. The threat of arrest is still very real for women involved in the campaign, she added.

Clinton, Ashton Voice Support

Saudi Women for Driving has earned statements of support from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton, news sources reported.

The driving campaign is the leading edge of a wider push for autonomy and citizenship. Saudi women must be accompanied in public by a male relative, may not dine alone in restaurants and have fewer educational opportunities. They do not have the right to vote in all elections and they can't travel outside Saudi Arabia without a male relative as a companion. Many work outside the home, but a driver's weekly salary--of $300 or so--eats up their income.

Many Saudi activists see driving rights as an essential stepping stone towards future progress. "I can't say I want a woman minister, I can't say I want to see democracy . . . I can't say all of these things without being able to drive a car," Eman al-Nafjan, said in a phone interview.

No Saudi law explicitly bans Saudi women from driving. It is part of a religious edict issued by the Islamic council that advises King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

"This won't be resolved until the King says so," said al-Nafjan.

Abdullah al- Alami, a Saudi writer and economist, said in an e-mail that he is encouraging an advisory group to the king to consider women's right to drive. But he said any change must come from within. "I do not encourage getting outside groups involved in our internal affairs."

Facebook Friends

Boston free-lance journalist and activist Trisha Calvarese says she was drawn to the cause while covering the Middle East. "I literally just made some friends on Facebook," she said in a phone interview.

Calvarese launched a solidarity effort a few months ago -- Honk for Saudi Women Driving--that calls on women around the world to post YouTube videos of themselves honking car horns in support.

After she posted a few "Honk" videos, a supporter from France offered to help. He and his team at Kinomap, a video-sharing platform site based in Douai, France, developed a smartphone application that supporters could use to upload "honk" videos to the "Honk for Saudi Women Driving" YouTube channel.

The channel's roughly 50 videos so far include a dozen that Saudi women shot of themselves driving on June 17 and since then. Others come from supporters in Australia, Sweden and England.

Saudi women have conducted right-to-drive demonstrations before. Joffe-Walt recalled an occasion in 1990 when 47 women drove cars around Riyadh for a half hour. The drivers and their husbands were banned from leaving the country for a year and those with government jobs were suspended from working, NPR reported. In 2008, a now well-known Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al Huwaider posted a YouTube of herself driving in the suburbs of Riyadh, said the AFP.

May 22 Arrest

The latest effort began on May 22, when Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old single mother and computer technician working for an oil company, was arrested and detained in Riyadh, for posting videos of herself driving on YouTube.

These efforts got the most media attention globally, Joffe-Walt said, because campaigners turned to the Internet to spread information.

Given the distinctive restrictions on Saudi women, many activists decline to link women driving efforts to current revolutionary movements in the region. But no women were jailed for driving on June 17 and some activists say regional politics may help explain the government's initially tolerant response.

One Saudi woman who drove with her mother for about 15 minutes during a rush hour demonstration on June 22, told Women's eNews in a phone interview that police actually protected them from the hostility of some male drivers.

Until now, the mild official response could mean King Abdullah is biding his time and seeing how it plays out in the international community as well as in the Saudi religious establishment, said Joffe-Walt.

But the arrests of the five drivers this week heightens the suspense about how the kingdom will react.

After her release from jail on May 3, al-Sharif's lawyer Adan al-Salah, said she voluntarily signed a pledge to end her Women2Drive campaign, which designated June 17 as the women's day of driving. But Wajeha al-Huwaider, her close friend, told the Guardian she was "certain" silence was a condition of her release from nine days in prison.

Human Rights Watch reported May 22 that al-Sharif's YouTube videos of herself driving had been removed from the Web and her phone, according to several news sources, had been turned off.

Al-Sharif's video was preserved by anonymous supporters and can be found online

Read the original story here.

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Q&A on Saudi Shi'ites protests in oil province

04 Oct 2011 18:45
Source: Reuters // Reuters

Oct 4 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that clashes on Monday night that injured 14 people including 11 policemen in its oil-rich Eastern province, home to a large Shi'ite population, were the work of an unnamed foreign power, usually code for its rival Iran.

Saudi Arabia applies the Wahhabi austere version of Sunni Islam, and minority Shi'ites say that, while their situation has improved slightly under reforms launched by King Abdullah, they still face many restrictions and discrimination. The government denies these charges.

WHAT DO SAUDI SHI'ITES DEMAND?

Shi'ites have long complained of second class status in the absolute monarchy. They also want the release of Shi'ite prisoners, some of whom were arrested during previous protests.

Shi'ites, who make up to 15 percent of the 19 million Saudi population, say they are not represented in the cabinet, they struggle to land senior government and security jobs and are viewed as heretics or even agents of Iran by the Saudi authorities and hardline Sunni clerics.

Despite being home to most of Saudi Arabia's oil wealth, the Eastern Province is less affluent than the capital Riyadh or other Saudi cities. The government has announced investments in the Shi'ite main Gulf coast stronghold of Qatif, but Shi'ites say their villages are underdeveloped and neglected.

Under reforms started by King Abdullah, Shi'ites say they can now practice their faith relatively freely in Qatif but want recognition and equal benefits enjoyed by Sunni counterparts.

In petitions and meetings with top officials, Shi'ites have demanded for years to open mosques and worship places outside Qatif. The port city of Dammam has only one Shi'ite mosque and nearby Khobar none despite many Shi'ites living there.

Authorities have closed at least nine places of worship in Khobar and the Ahsa region, the U.S. government said in a report in November. Shi'ite activists say authorities have signalled since protests started that places of worship in Khobar might be allowed but caution that similar promises were made in the past.

CAN SHI'ITES PROTESTS GET LARGER?

It was not clear how many people were involved in the new clashes. Protests in March drew up to about 200 people each time.

Moderate Shi'ite leaders say they struggle to restrain frustrated young people emboldened by protests of their brethern against the Sunni Al Khalifa ruling family in nearby Bahrain.

But protests have been smaller and more peaceful than in 2009 when hundreds of Shi'ites clashed with police after firebrand preacher Nimr al-Nimr broke a taboo by suggesting that Shi'ites could one day seek their own state -- a call heard only rarely since the 1979 Iranian revolution, which stirred unrest among Saudi Shi'ites.

Shi'ite leaders who went into exile after the 1979 protests returned in the 1990s under a deal with the government.

But Iran's rising influence, especially since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which empowered that country's Shi'ite majority, has also revived official fears that Shi'ites could become a fifth column against the Saudi state.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF PROTESTS AFFECTING OIL FACILITIES?

Many Shi'ites in the eastern province work in the oil industry, especially at state giant Saudi Aramco so they have no interest in disrupting oil flows and their livelihood. Their conditions are better than Shi'ites in Bahrain or Iraq as they still benefit from a welfare state though complain they get less than Sunnis. An estimated 10,000 Shi'ites study abroad on government grants.

HOW MANY SHI'ITES LIVE IN SAUDI ARABIA?

There are no official figures. Government officials say less than 10 percent of Saudis are Shi'ites but human rights activists and diplomats put it between 12 and 15 percent.

Most Shi'ites live in the east near Bahrain, where Shi'ites challenge the Sunni government but there are also Shi'ites living in the holy city of Medina and some in Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia.

Shi'ites of the Ismaili sect are in the majority in Najran near the Yemen border, where no protests have been reported yet. Their community leaders say they face restrictions in getting senior state jobs but authorities have reached out more to them to win their loyalty in the volatile Yemen border region.

====

Saudi Prince Turki urges nuclear option after Iran

06 Dec 2011 15:58

Source: Reuters // Reuters

RIYADH, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, voicing alarm about Iran's nuclear programme, has said the leadership should consider acquiring nuclear weapons to counter threats from Tehran, and from Israel.

The prince, seen as influential though no longer holding public office, noted that Israel is widely assumed to have a nuclear arsenal and that Iran, Riyadh's arch-rival in the Middle East, is believed by many to be developing such weaponry.

"If our efforts, and the efforts of the world community, fail to convince Israel to shed its weapons of mass destruction and to prevent Iran from obtaining similar weapons, we must, as a duty to our country and people, look into all options we are given, including obtaining these weapons ourselves," he told a conference in Riyadh on Monday.

The remarks were covered in the Saudi press on Tuesday.

Prince Turki has argued for a nuclear-free Middle East in previous speeches, but is now also pushing the idea that the conservative Islamic kingdom might enter an atomic arms race if Iran, its bitterest regional rival, became a nuclear power.

Few analysts believe Riyadh, the world's top oil exporter and a key ally for the United States, is likely to embark upon a weapons programme in defiance of U.S. calls for restraint. But Turki's remarks signal the extent of concern over non-Arab Iran's military ambitions among Arab Gulf countries.

In his speeches, the prince has always repeated Saudi Arabia's official policy that the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme can only be solved through diplomacy and he has repeatedly warned against a military confrontation.

However, Turki has been more outspoken in public than other leading Saudis against what Riyadh sees as Iranian expansionism in the Middle East. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showed the kingdom's leaders discreetly urging Washington to take stronger measures, including military action, against Iran.

In June, a British newspaper quoted Turki as telling NATO officials that Saudi Arabia would have to develop nuclear weapons if Iran, its adversary in a confrontation that opposes Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim forces, succeeded in acquiring them.

Iran, like Saudi Arabia a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), insists its nuclear programme is exclusively for generating electricity. It has suffered heavy sanctions from international powers demanding it halt activities that they believe are intended for military purposes.

Israel, which has a policy of neither confirming nor denying that it has nuclear weapons, says it would not sign up to a ban until there were a comprehensive regional peace that included Iran, Saudi Arabia and others. That is a position effectively endorsed by Washington, Israel's most important ally.

Saudi Arabia is estimated to spend as much as 10 percent of national income on its armed forces. It is also exploring the possibility of setting up its own nuclear power programme to reduce its consumption of oil, freeing up more crude for export. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif in Riyadh and Angus McDowall in Dubai; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

================

FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Saudi Arabia =215 Dec 2011 20:35Source: Reuters // Reuterswhich lies next to Bahrain, have held a number of protests calling for prisoner releases.Saudi Shi'ites have long complained about marginalisation and have started small protests to demand the release of prisoners they say have been detained without trial. Riyadh denies any charges of discrimination.Riyadh also shares U.S. suspicions that Iran aims to develop nuclear weapons. The United States and Israel have not ruled out pre-emptive military action against Iran, which says it is developing nuclear energy only to generate electricity.Saudi Arabia has publicly tried to stay out of the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme but a series of U.S. diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website portrayed Riyadh as pressing for a U.S. attack.Abdullah was said to have "frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear programme", one cable said.WHAT TO WATCH:- Any signs of further protests and a deterioration in the Eastern Province- Any Saudi diplomatic moves to tighten sanctions on Iran and any signs of Saudi facilities offered for military actionAL QAEDA THREATSaudi Arabia, with the help of foreign experts, managed to quash an al Qaeda campaign from 2003 to 2006 that targeted expatriate housing compounds, embassies and oil facilities.Riyadh destroyed the main cells within its borders. But many militants slipped into neighbouring Yemen where al Qaeda regrouped to form a Yemen-based regional wing that seeks, among other things, the fall of the U.S.-allied Saudi royal family.The Yemen-based al Qaeda arm shot into the global spotlight after it claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound passenger plane in December 2009.Despite the U.S. killing of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden on May 1, and of Anwar al-Awlaki, a key member of al Qaeda in Yemen, in September, the militant Islamist group's Yemeni wing is expected to remain active and also exploit political instability in Yemen.WHAT TO WATCH:- Whether Islamist militants gain more ground in Yemen, where they have taken advantage of the chaos as the government faces off with opponents, and vow to turn their attentions to Saudi Arabia- Signs of more concrete action from Riyadh to build a fence it has long talked of to seal the mountainous 1,500 kilometre (930 mile) Yemen border to stop drug traffickers and militants from crossing (Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Sophie Hares)====================Qatar to overthrow Saudi regime: clipSun, 25 Dec 2011 12:32:22 GMTThe Saudi Arabian monarchy will be overthrown by Qatar very soon, a leaked confidential conversation by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani has revealed. According to an audio file which has gone viral on the Internet, the premier said Qatari troops would occupy Qatif in Eastern Province and the Al Saud regime will disintegrate. "The regime of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud is exhausted and powerless to control the country and the army cannot confront the future changes," he asserted. The remarks were made as people in Qatif have been staging protest rallies to demand freedom and equality over the past months. The Qatari premier also revealed that the United States and Britain wanted him to report back to them on the situation in Saudi Arabia. "They want to get rid of the Saudi regime while they are afraid of any new Islamic regime in the region," Sheikh Hamad said. "Therefore, Qatar has taken advantage to transfer US military bases to its country," he added. Sheikh Hamad said Qatar also has been able to gradually reduce the dominance of Saudi Arabia in the region and impose itself on Arab countries. Qatari state-run news channel Aljazeera has refused to comment on the audio clip. Qatari officials did not confirm the report when Press TV contacted the Qatari Embassy in Tehran. This is while several Arabic-language new agencies have covered the story. ================

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Saudi Arabia vows to end violence with "iron fist"

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By Angus McDowall

LONDON | Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:48pm EST

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said on Monday its security forces would use "an iron fist" to end violence in a Shi'ite Muslim area of the country and defended its tactics against what it called foreign-backed troublemakers.

Sunni Muslim kingdom Saudi Arabia has blamed an unnamed foreign power, widely understood to mean Shi'ite Iran, for backing attacks on its security forces in its Eastern Province.

But members of the Shi'ite minority in the area have accused the kingdom's own security force of using violence against protesters.

"It is the state's right to confront those that confront it first ... and the Saudi Arabian security forces will confront such situations ... with determination and force and with an iron first," the ministry said in a statement.

The statement came in response to a sermon preached in the Qatif area of the Eastern Province last week that criticized the government's handling of the situation, in which at least six people have been killed, a ministry spokesman said.

Shi'ite activists in Qatif said the clashes first began at the height of the Arab uprisings last year and were provoked by the detention without charge of political campaigners.

Four people were killed in November, one in January and one earlier this month, the interior ministry has said in past statements.

Members of the minority have long complained of discrimination, which they say makes it harder for them to find government jobs, attend university or worship in open than members of the Sunni majority.

Since the protests and clashes started last year, they have also complained of police checkpoints and patrols which they describe as heavy handed.

The government says it does not discriminate against Shi'ites and has said the increased security is intended to protect Qatif residents.

It has repeatedly blamed the clashes on people attacking security forces.

The statement said the security forces were using "the greatest restraint ... despite continuing provocations" and "will not act except in self defense and will not initiate confrontations."

"Some of those few (who attacked security forces) are manipulated by foreign hands because of the kingdom's honorable foreign policy positions towards Arab and Islamic countries," the ministry's spokesman said in the statement.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have fought for influence across the Middle East.

(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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Saudi women students boycott classes in rare protest

10 Mar 2012 18:50

Source: reuters // Reuters

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, March 10 (Reuters) - Thousands of students at an all-female university in Saudi Arabia boycotted classes on Saturday, protesting against poor services, witnesses said, in a rare display of dissent from women in the conservative Islamic kingdom.

It was the second protest at King Khalid university in the southern town of Abha in a week - security forces broke up a demonstration there on Wednesday, leaving dozens injured, students told Reuters.

The protests first erupted when the university cancelled cleaning services, saying students needed to take better care of their campus.

"The main trigger was the accumulation of trash for three days which started to smell. The other thing is the mistreatment of students," one of the students told Reuters on Saturday, asking not to be named.

"Today there was a high rate of absences ... There were security and religious police outside the university but no arrests were made," the student added

Video footage posted on YouTube on Saturday appeared to show about 200 students at Abha's affiliated all-male King Khalid University also holding a protest against poor services and calling for the removal of the university's president.

Abdel Karim al-Hunaini, deputy governor of the surrounding Aseer province, told Reuters he thought the students at both establishments had a right to protest and local authorities would set up a committee to address their demands.

Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in education to deal with high youth unemployment in a country where about 70 percent of the native population of 19 million is under 30. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif)