|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NEVERReader comment on item: Is Saudi Arabia Opening Up? Submitted by Cherif El-Ayouty (Denmark), Feb 22, 2011 at 03:10 KAUST is a dreamlike compound seriously protected from outsiders and separated from the mainstream Saudis and their religious establishment. King Abdullah's project was made to placate Western pressures on him personally to open up his country to modernism. However, the religious powers in the Kingdom are a completely autonomous entity that even the King has no influence on its activities. He is compelled to give that entity a fixed percentage of his oil income in order to keep his throne. That money is used by the religious leaders without any control of the Saudi state and is the source of our misery in the West: Financing Al Qaeda, the Taleban, Hizbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, all conflicting sides in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Yemen as well as any terror plot aimed against the West. Saudi Arabia will NEVER open up to modernity unless the oppressed women of the country go out en-masse in the streets as the Egyptians did and hold their position despite the expected massacres against them until the Western powers feel obliged to intervene to save millions of lives. As several have mentioned before, the light will be turned off in Saudi Arabia once the West finds an alternative to oil. I am personally ready to pay double as much for my energy needs using others sources than oil just to close down all those countries that are the source of all ills on earth. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (66) on this item
|
Latest Articles |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |