I don't know why I keep my television tuned to CNN for background 'music,' I really don't. I must be a masochist. One of my doctors certainly thinks I enjoy pain, so maybe this is par for the course.
I've been listening for half an hour while Wolf Shitzer/Blitzer/talking robot goes on and on and on with the other regular talking heads about the death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. When one child dies of starvation, the whole world should be talking about it, yet the world remains silent. When a Saudi King dies, Western 'allies' give it the time and energy that should be reserved for said starved kid or for someone truly deserving of respect and admiration.
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| Saudi King |
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| Starving Child |
Here are a few facts about Saudi Arabia:
1. The authoritarian regime ruling Saudi Arabia has one of the worst human rights records in the world, consistently ranking among the "worst of the worst" in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights. [Wikipedia]
2. Saudi Arabia is one of approximately thirty countries in the world with judicial corporal punishment. In Saudi Arabia's case this includes amputations of hands and feet for robbery, and flogging for lesser crimes such as "sexual deviance" and drunkenness. In the 2000s, it was reported that women were sentenced to lashes for adultery; the women were actually victims of rape, but because they could not prove who the perpetrators were, they were deemed guilty of committing adultery.[4] The number of lashes is not clearly prescribed by law and is varied according to the discretion of judges, and ranges from dozens of lashes to several hundreds, usually applied over a period of weeks or months. In 2004, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under Sharia. The Saudi delegation responded defending "legal traditions" held since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago and rejected interference in its legal system. [Wikipedia]
3. Leaked video gives glimpse into Saudi beheadings:
4. Saudi judged sentences democratic activist Omar al-Saeed to 4 years in prison and 300 lashes. His crime: calling for a constitutional monarchy (a government that would likely outlaw such cruel and unusual punishment).
5. Slamming Syrian reform, but backing Saudi Arabia regime, US unmasks own hypocrisy. Close ties with “autocratic” Gulf States reveal the “hypocrisy” of US foreign policy, Guardian paper contributor, Neil Clark, told RT, adding that Washington raises the democracy banner only when it wants to topple an unwanted government. After his two-day trip to Egypt where opposition leaders refused to sit to the negotiation table with him, John Kerry, received a much more hospitable reception as he met up with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The US Secretary of the State held talks with the region's leaders in Saudi Arabia, before flying to the UAE and Qatar.
Journalist Neil Clark, who's written extensively on the Middle East, believes the protest movement in Bahrain or Qatar will never receive backing from the US, like it did in Syria. Clark says true American interests lie in the field of oil and arms trade, but not promoting democracy and human rights. [RT.com]
6. U.S. goods and services trade with Saudi Arabia totalled $81 billion in 2012 (latest data available). Exports totalled $25 billion; Imports totalled $56 billion (all of which was oil by the way). The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Saudi Arabia was $31 billion in 2012. [Office of the United States Trade Representative]
7. U.S. sells $29.5 billion in F-15 aircraft to Saudi Arabia in 2010.
8. Ahh, so nice, so nice...
Like one of my favorite childhood TV shows, I think 'Eight is Enough' for this piece. I'm too nauseated to continue any further. Why does this happened? You guessed it. Because your world cares more about oil and money than anything else on earth, literally.
-peace/love,
Jude
