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Saudi woman arrested for challenging driving ban

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, May 22, 2011.

  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    What will be a long, slow civil rights fight has begun:

     
    YankeeFan, May 22, 2011
    #1
  2. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    And another country better get geared up for it's Arab Spring.

    Should be interesting to see if more women finally get fed up and start protesting.
     
    Baron Scicluna, May 22, 2011
    #2
  3. suburbia

    suburbia Active Member

    If that happens, it will be interesting to see how the U.S. reacts.

    For better or worse, the Saudi Royal Family is an ally of the U.S. Plus the Saudis are kind of a big supplier of oil. If Saudi Arabia joins the Arab Spring, will the U.S. stand by its principles of freedom and liberty at the risk of jeopardizing its access to that oil? It wouldn't be the first time we have propped up a brutal regime to satisfy some other foreign policy objective.
     
    suburbia, May 22, 2011
    #3
  4. MonsterLobster

    MonsterLobster Member

    Think of all the oil money they're losing out on if those women aren't driving.
     
    MonsterLobster, May 22, 2011
    #4
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    I had no idea "woman driver, no survivor" has its roots in sharia law. I thought it was just a funny way to tease the girls in driver's ed.
     
    LongTimeListener, May 22, 2011
    #5
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Good to see the Muslim Outrage Early Warning System is in full operation.

    [​IMG]
     
    Starman, May 22, 2011
    #6
  7. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Again, it has nothing to do with "Muslim outrage".

    I'm interested in the civil rights issues in the region.

    If you were against apartheid in South Africa, you wouldn't be accused of trying to scare people about Afrikaners.

    Improved civil rights in the Muslim word will go a long way towards making the world a better and safer place. Driving is just one, small step towards achieving that goal. It's certainly a development worth following.
     
    YankeeFan, May 22, 2011
    #7
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    The U.S. has more leverage than is generally acknowledged. Not that a dictator on the ropes is necessarily going to consider economic gain over short-term survival. But we are the world's second largest consumer of oil. The world's known oil reserves continue to decrease while demand increases, so that gives a producer like Saudi Arabia leverage. But if they freeze the U.S. out of the market, over us leaning on them over human rights issues, they will kill off a significant portion of the demand that fetches themselves the highest price possible. Not to mention that it will tear OPEC (to the extent they really can effectively collude anymore) apart. Someone else will increase production to meet our demand, to steal the business.

    We need oil from Saudi Arabia. But don't forget that Saudi Arabia needs our demand for oil to drive up the price as high as possible. Without us competing for that oil, China and Western Europe and the rest of the world can bid down the price. Our oil consumption is that significant.
     
    The Big Ragu, May 22, 2011
    #8
  9. suburbia

    suburbia Active Member

    True, but I'm also thinking about what were to happen if the Saudi Royal Family were to somehow fall. Would the new regime that emerged from the ensuing chaos want to jack up oil prices stratospherically? Would the U.S. move to defend the Saudi Royal Family - human rights concerns be damned - to protect that oil source?

    Remember that Reagan sent U.S. troops into friggin' Grenada to keep communism at bay. U.S. Presidents have also supported inhumane regimes in Chile, Iran, South Africa and elsewhere to satisfy some other political interest.
     
    suburbia, May 22, 2011
    #9
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