My following article appears in today’s ABC Unleashed: The recent rigged election in Zimbabwe has highlighted the impotence of the international community. Bloggers and activists continue to emphasise the need for President Robert Mugabe to relinquish his hold on power, a position shared by Washington. But not unlike the Burmese uprising in 2007 that saw…
Showing all posts tagged Saudi Arabia
The Saudi godfather is back
Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan has been released from prison after more than four months away from family and friends. He is a friend and colleague (more on Fouad here.) The father of Saudi blogging is back, but I wonder how willing he will be to continue writing critically in his repressive regime.
Thanks for the oil
Welcome to Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East (thanks to a rare report on the country by Human Rights Watch): The authorities essentially treat adult women like legal minors who are not entitled to authority over their lives and well-being. Saudi women are similarly denied the legal right to make even…
What good friends do
One of the Arab world’s most widely respected non-governmental organizations is charging that at least 14 Middle East and North African governments are systematically violating the civil liberties of their citizens — and most of them are close U.S. allies in the war on terror.
Freedom without men
Welcome to gender apartheid, Saudi-style: For a country that goes to such great lengths to segregate unrelated men and women, it took Saudi Arabia a long time to hit on the idea of women-only hotels. The kingdom’s first hotel exclusively for females opened yesterday, offering plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities…
www.censorship.com
My following article appears in today’s ABC Unleashed: Fidel Castro controlled Cuba for nearly half a century. His rule was defined by defiance and dictatorship, brutal repression against dissidents and the management of an immoral American embargo. Free speech has always been the Achilles’ heel of the regime. During my visit to the island last…
Just another reliable US ally
Imprisoned Saudi blogger and democracy activist Fouad Al Farhan – an inspiring person with whom I spent time in his country last year – has been allowed to make contact with the outside world. Saudi Jeans explains: Detained Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan has been allowed to make a phone call to his wife yesterday, FreeFouad.com…
A close and dear Western friend
The Angry Arab and an exclusive: A Saudi scandal…in London. One of the divorcees of King `Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Princess Al-`Unud Al-Fayiz, fled Saudi Arabia to London. She was willing to speak about her bitter experience, and an Arab journalist taped hours of interviews with her, to publish as her memoirs. The princess feared…
The American begging bowl
Bush’s recent visit to the Middle East was an exercise in futility, resulting in little more than an escalation of violence in the occupied territories. But what about the two days spent in Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most brutal regimes? Leading investigative reporter Greg Palast offers some thoughts: Let’s begin by stating why…
Democracy is poison to Arabs
My latest New Matilda column is about the recent Bush visit to the Middle East: George W Bush’s current visit to the Middle East, in the final year of his Presidency, is an attempt to solidify Washington’s position towards its client states – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestine…