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Dr. Ali Alrubai

A Saudi writer was arrested in the city of Baha in Saudi Arabia where he was questioned, finger printed and photographed after the president of the baha literary club charged him with calling for the liberation of women. The writer Dr. Ali Alrubai was attending a lecture by a female intellectual, the lecture, as lectures involving men and women usually are, done in two separate lecture halls to separate the men and women and an audio broadcast is provided from the women’s section and a video broadcast is provided from the men’s section to the other section. During the discussion after the lecture Dr. Ali suggested that future lectures done by females be accompanied by a visual presentation to make the lecture more lively. This angered the head of the club as blasphemy and reported the matter to the police claiming that Dr. Ali is demanding that a video be broadcast from the women’s section to the men’s section which is a call for the corruption of Saudi culture, traditions and Islamic law. Dr. Ali denied the accusations as he only asked for visual presentation accompanying the lecture and not a live feed feed from the women’s section.

Source Alarabiya.net

Commentary

Now this is clearly crap and only an example of how far Saudi Arabia needs to move to pass the middle ages. When the head of an intellectual club uses the police to impose his dark ages ideas and the police supports him.

I’ll keep my eye out for any developments if they are reported on the matter although I think this is the end of it.

The Children of Mansour & Fatima

It took four years for logic and justice to prevail in the case of Fatima and Mansour but no less it prevailed. For those who don’t know the case here is a brief summer:

Fatima and Mansour got married with the approval of Fatima’s father and were happy together with 2 kids. After the death of Fatima’s father her half brother went to court asking that the marriage of his sister be abolished under the claims that Mansour lied about his heritage and that he is not worthy of his sister. Keeping in mind that the couple were happy and refuse to separate the judge granted the divorce. Ever since Fatima has been in jail ever since with her youngest child refusing to leave jail except with her husband who has been raising their eldest child alone. An appeals court held the divorce valid but the supreme court just voided the divorce and reunited the couple. This officially ends the case.

This is only one case of many in Saudi Arabia of such stupidty, hopfully this is the begining of a trend to stop families from forcefully and lawfully divorce a happy couple.

A link to a news item in a local English newspaper: http://bit.ly/dCQDP2

Mr. Idiot him self

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LONDON, England (AP) — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that the oil-rich Middle East has a key role to play in tackling the world economic downturn.

Brown left Saturday for a four-day visit of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE for talks to try to bolster the international funding pot available to countries struggling amid the global credit crisis.

The British leader wants China and Middle Eastern countries to be among the biggest donors to an expanded International Monetary Fund, but analysts warn money will only be forthcoming if regional leaders get more power in any new world economic order.

Source CNN.com

Commentary

Ok so let me get this right. The USA and Europe crash the world economy and it is the job of the GCC to pay for it? are you kidding me? The USA the EU should fix it themselves, it is not our job to pay for their mistakes. So they blow up Iraq we have to pay to fix it and now they destroy the economy and we have to pay to fix it? I’m to annoyed at the moment after reading this piece that I think i should stop writing before I end up saying something i would regret later.

Gulf Cooperation Council financial officials met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

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The Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange began the week Saturday with its largest decline in four years, a reaction to the world’s tumbling markets and oil prices, an economist said.

The index for all stocks finished the day down 536 points, or 8.7 percent, and several sectors dropped almost 10 percent, according to the Web site for the exchange, known as Tadawul. Saturday is the first day of the week according to the Saudi Arabian calendar.

But there’s little reason to worry about the drop, according to John Sfakianakis, chief economist for the Saudi British Bank. The precipitous drop in stock values is probably related to the tumbling U.S., European and Asian markets, as well as the falling price of oil, the economist said.

“It shouldn’t be a benchmark for the well-being of the economy,” Sfakianakis said.

After the markets closed, the state-run news service reported that King Abdullah announced that he would deposit 10 billion riyals ($2.67 billion) into the Saudi Bank of Credit and Saving. The “royal gift” will be used for loans to citizens, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Source CNN.com

Commentary

Maybe its time I became an economic analysis and fix this mess. So why is the stock in Saudi down? Its simple as it has nothing to do with economics. The Saudi stock market should be moved to Las Vegas as it is the best gambling system in the world. I estimate that more than 50% of Saudi adults are in the stock market playing it in hopes of quick riches. Almost no body in the Saudi stock market is in it for the long haul they are in it for now and only now to sell and buy and of course gamble with their money. In my entire life I’ve never seen a company during good economic times issuing profits that exceeded analysis expectations with a positive look to the future and end up with their stock going down except in Saudi Arabia! This is a game and not a stock market. Oh and the Saudi stock market lives on rumors and not facts who cares about facts the taxi driver should know better than the expert. I think they should just close the market and be done with it. Oh and not to forget all the loans people got from banks to enter the stock market, who gets a loan to enter the stock market? Saudis of course who else!

On another note am glad to see that the Saudi Bank of Credit and Savings is getting some much needed cash to keep operating during the current fiscal year as it has helped a lot of people. Now if we would only unlink our currency from the dollar we would be great.

Shaik Said AlMadluh

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A Saudi judge in AlQatif region of Saudi Arabia annulled the marriage of a 14 year old girl from her 70 year old husband. Apparently the girl who is living with her father after her parents divorce was forced by her father to marry the old man who is about 56 years older then her. After the weeding the girl ran away to her mother who later took her to court demanding an annulment which the judge Sheik Said AlMadluh accepted her request under the reason that she was forced into this marriage out of fear.

Commentary

Now this is great news finally a judge with brains and the courage to do something about these stupid and disgusting marriages. However, I do need to wounder if this is an exception because what isn’t said in the news article and I had to research my self is that the judge is a Shiite judge and not a Sunni judge as AlQatief is a Shiite region. Will the Ministry of Justice interfere and over turn the judgment or would they accept it and adopt it to the rest of the country as an example? Only time will tell.

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Commentary

So I’m not  big fan of how women are treated in the Arab world overall. However, I do have a problem with this report. My first problem is the images from TV shows they are using as examples. I never followed any of those show but have seen an episode or two of each as well as i got my fill from my mom talking about them. Two of the shows are historical fiction and even though they are fiction they are based on history and women should only be petrayed in that historical content. Should these series turn into a fantasy and show the women as they would have never been at the time? If you need an example bring something from modern time and I’m sure you can find a few. Now there are another two series shown, one I have no idea about the other I do a bit. What they don’t show in the one I do know about is the fact that there are women that work and have a great life with thier men and the man beating is an example of a man that has been manipilated and turned into an evil person and has nothing to do with viloance against women. Simply put the samples they used are a bunch of ****.

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Saudi Arabia does not have written criminal law to deal with terrorism offenses, and many terror suspects are never tried in court, he said.

“Their best bet of coming out is to go through a religious re-education program,” he said. “The Saudis like this (program), but we’re more skeptical.

“Telling a detainee that he’s all wrong about religion can’t take the place of any judicial hearing.”

Source CNN.com

Commentary

I’m no fan of Human Rights activists as the majority of them are argent people that think they know whats rights and wrong and everybody else is wrong. However I have to agree with them here that these prosecutions are way over due and religious re-education is not the correct path.

Heroic Soldier with her Dog

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An animal rescue group on Sunday picked up a U.S. soldier’s adopted dog from Iraq, ending the soldier’s weeks-long struggle to send the animal to her Minnesota home.

Sgt. Gwen Beberg adopted Ratchet after soldiers rescued him from a burning pile of trash in May.

Operation Baghdad Pups, which said the U.S. military prevented its first attempt to take Ratchet the dog on October 1, picked up the animal in Baghdad with military clearance and flew it to Kuwait on Sunday.

The dog is expected to be flown to Washington on Monday, and if a veterinarian determines it is healthy, sent to Sgt. Gwen Beberg’s home state on Wednesday, Baghdad Pups publicist Larry Garrison said.

Source CNN.com

Commentary

Ok seriously people how do you think this looks to all the Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims around the world? Thousands of people suffer and die every day in Iraq and instead of working on helping them after destroying their country Americans are more concerned about saving a DOG! I don’t think I need to say much about this as it is apparent that saving a dog is more important than human life.

Ali AlKhudair

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An update to an earlier story about Saudi Arabia turning the cases of terrorists to the Judaical system shows that the official count of terrorists being prosecuted is 991 and the number of judges presiding on these cases 6 judges. These number could increase according to official sources. These terrorists were responsible for over 160 failed terrorist acts, over 30 successful terrorist act. The death of 74 Saudi officers and wounding of 657 others, the death of 90 civilians and the wounding of 439 others. The Saudi authorities have also confiscated from the terrorists tons of explosives and thousands of weapons and ammunition. To note Saudi Arabia has been struggling with a rise in terrorist attacks starting in 2003 and with the efforts of Saudi law enforcements such attacks have decreased dramatically during the last couple of years. To note a news sources mentions the names of a few religious leaders who have provided the terrorists with religious approval for their acts. Some of the names mentioned are Naser AlFahad, Ali AlKhudair, and Ahmad AlKhalidy.

Commentary

Now that’s a large number, its about time they got these criminals to court to face justice and their victims. I hope these prosecutions go without any trouble.