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Signs of Change In Saudi Arabia
John Burgess, a former US Foreign Service Officer who also blogs at Crossroads Arabia, has written a fascinating piece about the prospects for reform in Saudi Arabia. (His conclusion? There are, in fact, some positive signs.) For those interested in the Middle East, it’s definitely worth a read.
6 Responses to “Signs of Change In Saudi Arabia”
And the moderates are taking over in Iran. Whatever. I’ll believe it when I see it.
I wouldn’t bet on it.
some signs of change are a whole lot better than no signs, and they’re welcome news to boot.
I’m too culturally disgusted with Saudi Arabia to give them credit for what appears in the article to be nothing more than bowing to economic forces and not actual social change. Their treatment of women, religous police and secret courts, slavery of migrant workers, all with the tacit and sometimes outright approval of the gov’t jsut turns my stomach.
On John Burgess’ site, Crossroads Arabia, I came across the following quote from him, presumably born of his Foreign Service experience. It describes his objectives in dealing with countries, like Saudia Arabia:
“By an odd quirk of human nature, people tend not to listen when they’re busy ducking rocks being thrown at them. Yelling is counter-productive when discourse works better. But if we have no idea of another’s values and how he came to those values, the yelling never works”.
The Bush Administration should pay attention to these words of wisdom in dealing with the Mideast.
This story really has nothing to do with the Bush administration
Since we spend so much time dealing wih ME issues, however, it is important to know how societies there funcion and what new developments there are in these societies.
The story of this trial is almost laughaable, in Western terms. But it shows a crack opening in the wall of the old ways.