David Warren's excellent article -- PING!
Let me know if you want in or out
Posted on 04/27/2005 9:25:31 AM PDT by quidnunc
We could summarize the less obtuse journalistic comments on President Bush's meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah at his (Bush's) Crawford, Texas ranch in this way: The United States wants cheap oil and democracy; the Sauds want dear oil and despotism; the Arabians (as opposed to their rulers) want dear oil and, maybe, democracy. On the oil, the problem is not one the Sauds can solve for us, until we (the consumers, in U.S. and elsewhere) succeed in breaking the OPEC cartel through which prices are manipulated within extreme limits of market reality. Destroying OPEC would force them, the extended Saud family and Arabians alike, to "get an economy", or starve. Unfortunately, our side has not formulated tactics to the proper practical end. Instead we accept the cartel, and ask that the price be manipulated for our benefit. A non-starter if any argument ever was.
But our key goal in Saudi Arabia should instead be, the propagation of religious freedom. It is at the heart of a problem which, ultimately, oil merely exacerbates. And it requires a direct confrontation with the Saudi state and its fanatic, Wahabi ideologists.
As Freedom House in Washington pointed out, 40 Pakistani Christians were being arrested in Riyadh, at the moment Crown Prince Abdullah was flying out. They had been caught praying in a private house, and will now be enjoying the ministrations of the country's psychopathic religious police. But this was only a headline case. Millions of Shia, and non-Wahabi Sunni Muslims, suffer daily oppression just like the Christians, under the constant watch of these state-employed Wahabi thugs.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at davidwarrenonline.com ...
FYI
This is a very informative essay, quidnunc. Thanks for posting it.
Let me know if you want in or out
Thanks for the ping!
A dumbfounding image, indeed.
The enemy of my enemy....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.