Displaying items by tag: Saudi Arabia

Friday, 09 June 2017 12:24

Qatar: ‘no surrender’

Qatar has vowed it will not surrender its foreign policy in an escalating row with other Arab states over its alleged connections to extremism, which it denies. Its foreign minister has said he favours diplomacy to resolve the crisis, and that there is no military solution. Meanwhile, Qatar's Al Jazeera network said it was suffering a cyber-attack; it has been in the crosshairs in the current dispute, and other Gulf countries blocked it in May. There were also reports of hacking attempts on Qatar’s state-run TV station. Saudi Arabia and other states cut travel and diplomatic links with the country on 5 June. The emir of Kuwait is trying to mediate the row, carrying out shuttle diplomacy between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 09 June 2017 12:14

Iran / Middle East tensions

Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Iranian parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran on 7 June, killing at least 13 people. IS claimed responsibility, and threatened more attacks against Iran’s majority Shi'ite population. Iran's Revolutionary Guards blame their regional rival Saudi Arabia. Sunni Saudi Arabia denied any involvement in the attacks, but the assault further fuels tensions between Riyadh and Tehran as they vie for control of the Gulf and influence in the wider Islamic world. The attack happened one week after the meeting between Donald Trump and the Saudi leaders (who support terrorists). Trump said that he prayed for the attack victims but added, ‘States that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.’

Published in Worldwide

The United Nations voted late last week to place Saudi Arabia on the Commission on the Status of Women for a four-year term beginning in 2018, despite that country’s appalling record on the treatment of women. The director of the Geneva-based UN Watch expressed his outrage: ‘Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief.’ Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf. Men control a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia even bans women from driving cars. The most recent human rights report notes that despite being allowed to participate in municipal elections in 2015, the state of women’s rights in the kingdom remains generally abysmal. In 2015, Saudi Arabia reduced a Sri Lankan woman’s sentence for adultery from execution by stoning to three years in prison.

Published in Worldwide
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