When it comes to Saudi Arabia "the rights of women always come last."

[earthside]

The truth about Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism.

The United States still buys millions of barrels of oil from Saudi and sells them billions of dollars of military equipment.

For the U.S. it is clearly about money for the one percent and the political elite ... Democrats and Repuglicans.

Things won't get better in the Middle East or the west's relationship with Islam until we do politically what Sweden's foreign minister has done.

Sweden’s feminist foreign minister has dared to tell the truth about Saudi Arabia. What happens now concerns us all
Nick Cohen - The Spectator

A few weeks ago Margot Wallström, the Swedish foreign minister, denounced the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia. As the theocratic kingdom prevents women from travelling, conducting official business or marrying without the permission of male guardians, and as girls can be forced into child marriages where they are effectively raped by old men, she was telling no more than the truth. Wallström went on to condemn the Saudi courts for ordering that Raif Badawi receive ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website that championed secularism and free speech. These were ‘mediaeval methods’, she said, and a ‘cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression’. And once again, who can argue with that?

The backlash followed the pattern set by Rushdie, the Danish cartoons and Hebdo. Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador and stopped issuing visas to Swedish businessmen. The United Arab Emirates joined it. The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, which represents 56 Muslim-majority states, accused Sweden of failing to respect the world’s ‘rich and varied ethical standards’ — standards so rich and varied, apparently, they include the flogging of bloggers and encouragement of paedophiles. Meanwhile, the Gulf Co-operation Council condemned her ‘unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, and I wouldn’t bet against anti-Swedish riots following soon. ...

It is a sign of how upside-down modern politics has become that one assumes that a politician who defends freedom of speech and women’s rights in the Arab world must be some kind of muscular liberal, or neocon, or perhaps a supporter of one of Scandinavia’s new populist right-wing parties whose commitment to human rights is merely a cover for anti-Muslim hatred. But Margot Wallström is that modern rarity: a left-wing politician who goes where her principles take her.

[PyaarRevolution]

1. Thank you Margot Wallstrom!

If I met you I would shake your hand. Finally someone actually in politics calls them on being backwards and misogynists. They do this to women because they fear them, the power of a strong and intelligent woman.
I hope the Swedish government stands behind her.