11 thoughts on “Who Needs Saudi Arabia? – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Excellent piece, Richard. Just two small changes to be accurate. 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi. And the US has never needed Saudi oil. We get most of our oil from Canada and Mexico. We just want to CONTROL the oil flow and we made a deal with Saudi and Kuwait to see their oil to us as cheaply as possible in order to run our military juggernaut.

  2. The Saudis kill dissidents in Turkey, and Iran just attempted to bomb a dissident group in France.
    The Saudis support terror groups in Syria, and Iran supports terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon.
    The Saudis bomb civilians in Yemen, and Iran’s friend, Assad, gases civilians in Syria.
    The Saudis and Iran both vigorously repress their citizens.
    The Saudis have satellites in UAE and to a lesser extent, Qatar, and Iran has satellites in Lebanon, and to a lesser extent, Iraq.

    “The future of the Middle East lies with countries like Iran.”

    For the sake of the Middle East, I hope not.

    1. @ Fast Lane: The Iranians elect their leaders, the Saudis do not
      Iranians permit women to play important roles in society, the Saudis do not
      The Saudis are starving and bombing Yemenis, the Iranians are supporting the tribe that is being starved and bombed.
      The Iranians have a cultural and artistic heritage going back thousands of years, the Saudis do not.
      The Saudis foment terror attacks against Iranian targets and fund the MeK, the Iranians do not support or fund terrorism within Saudi Arabia

      Though neither country is perfect, I’d prefer Iran over Saudi Arabia any day of the week.

  3. Excellent article with new insights we simply can’t forget. I have one little quibble, when you said the West couldn’t abide by an Islamist government like Turkey’s, I think you should have written “democratically elected Islamist government”. That’s the key. The West doesn’t support democracy in the Middle East. However, your subtle approach to this extremely important info you’ve given, really shouldn’t be amended. My bad. Thank you so much for its delivery – literally and figuratively!

  4. “While it paternalistically provides immense luxury for its citizens”
    Maybe the memberss of the Royal family, but there’s a middle class in Saudi Arabia too, and a growing number of Saudi citizens living under the poverty line (some sources say as much as a quarter of the population).
    There’s a very interesting – and horryfying – documentary produced by PBS Frontline: Saudi Arabia Uncovered, largely filmed secretly by a Saudi militant, we also see the slum in Mecca, and people begging in the streets, interviews with Ali Nimr’s parents, the 17 years old nephew of shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who has a death sentence hanging above his head, female activists, the Raid Badawi case.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSejl-ERZEw

    1. Correction: Raif Badawi of course, and it’s Ali al-Nimr who has a death sentence hanging over his head for treason (his dad is saying in the doc that his son asked him “Dad, what is treason ?’), his uncle has already been executed.

  5. This post really exposes your true colors Richard. You are not a “progressive zionist’ and have no interest in peace in the region. You hold on to the fact Iran elects its leaders but i’m sure you know that only the non-elected ayatollah holds power, and yet you claim Israel is an autocratic state. How can you claim to be a supporter of a peaceful resolution while supporting a country which is openly calling for the non peaceful solution of the destruction of Israel, and has consistently acted to promote this agenda. A country that is a literal terrorist state (or do you deny buenos aires?). With Iran setting the agenda things will deteriorate for all sides as they are true war mongers in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and are very open about it.
    But I’m sure I’m not telling you anything new, so what is your agenda Richard?

    1. @ Jovi Ramirez: First, you don’t get to tell me what I am or am not. I get to do that. Second, you don’t understand a thing about Iran. Yes, the Grand Ayatollah determines foreign policy. But he does not hold absolute power. He does not determine domestic policy. As for Israel, yeah it’s pretty autocratic. Democracy is either dead or dying (or never was).

      As for whether I “support” Iran. Again, you’ve got it wrong. I don’t support individual governments generally and certainly don’t “support” the current Iranian regime any more than I support the current Israeli regime. I support justice, tolerance, and morality. I support them when I see these values in the actions of people and policies of governments. And when two governments are at war with each other I’ll criticize the one which has the worst record or causes the most damage. In this case, Israel. That doesn’t mean I’m not critical of Iran. Of course, I do not support its approach to LGBT or women in general. I don’t support foreign adventures, except when the other side is causing more damage with its own adventures.

      a country which is openly calling for the non peaceful solution of the destruction of Israel,

      A lie disproven here and many other places. A lie you’ve repeated for the millionth time. But still a lie.

      As for a country that is a “terrorist state.” I’d suggest you look in your zio-mirror. If you can actually see anything, you’ll see a zio-warrior for a terrorist state.

      And as for “warmongers,” that would be your pals, those Israeli pols itching to drop their payloads on Tehran.

      As for “agendas,” mine is transparent, as is yours. I can feel a hasbaroid coming on. But who knew they employed your ilk in Spain. That’s a new one on me.

      Read the comment rules and don’t violate them. I will be monitoring you.

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