Saudi Arabia is without question the weirdest country I have ever visited. It gave me the creeps from the moment I set foot on the ground, and was handed a copy of the Protocols of Zion a virulently anti-semitic 19th century propaganda screed. Going to an opulent mall that would have been at home in Beverly Hills and seeing groups of women looking like floating black bags — indeed that was how my guide referred to them, “black bags” — was unnerving, and they appeared in my dreams for months afterwards. Enormous wealth grossly inequitably distributed wedded to fanatical absolutist Medieval theology has produced something unlike any other country on Earth. Recently I have been seeing more and more articles about the growing instability in the country, which does not surprise me, but which could spell massive upheaval in the region. The closest analogy I can think of is the fall of the Shah in Iran. Based on what I am reading it would not surprise me if the House of Saud fell in 2015-2016. Here is an example of what I have been reading.
Al Saud’s Repressive Monarchy Creates Traction For Saudi Revolution
Though Saudi Arabia hasn’t yet fallen victim to the Arab Spring, it may only be a matter of time, especially as the parallels between Iran under the Shah and present-day Saudi Arabia become alarmingly more apparent.
Catherine Shakdam, MinsPressNews, 31 October, 2014
Phi Beta Iota: It is not helpful that the US Government, as a matter of state policy, continues to embrace and spend freely to support 40 of 42 dictators on the planet, spending liberally to prop up repressive regimes against their own publics and against the democratic principles embodied in the US Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
See Especially:
BOOK: Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
REVIEW: Single Most Important Work of the Century for American Moral Diplomacy
See Also:
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Corruption 2.0
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Democracy Lost & Found
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Positive Future-Oriented)
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Negative Status-Quo)
