MSM coverage of the death of the King of Saudi Arabia

14 posts / 0 new

Fri, 2015-01-23 10:08

ikosmos

I find it just appalling that the late King of Saudi Arabia is somehow depicted as a proponent of women's equality (CBC radio, for example) when anyone remotely familliar with this brutal regime knows that the Saudi regime may well be the most misogynist country in the world.

The Harper regime is currently arranging for massive selling of arms to Saudi Arabia. Is the CBC now simply a transmission belt for the government's point of view? Blechh.

I don't know how these reporters can function. They must be suffering from cognitive dissonance.

Fri, 2015-01-23 10:16

ikosmos

Supplemental: i can't find the same fawning nonsense on the CBC website (well, not as bad as CBC radio whose idiotic quotes aren't in print) but it's still awful:

CBC wrote:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Abdullah was "recognized as a strong proponent of peace in the Middle East." Harper, who met the king when Toronto hosted the G20, said he "found him to be passionate about his country, development and the global economy."...

... although the article about the King's successor hints at the truth ...

Quote:
Salman is among the so-called "Sudeiri Seven" — seven sons born to one of Abdul-Aziz's most favoured wives, Hussa bint Ahmad Sudeiri ...

a new King in the most misogynist country in the world

Fri, 2015-01-23 10:44

Slumberjack

The CBC in its entirety deserves to be gutted, cleaned out, and left to rot. It's nothing more than another voice of the imperium.

Fri, 2015-01-23 10:50

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

Hey,he allowed women to drive. He was a great progressive.

Maybe a statue in Ottawa to commemorate him is in the works.

Fri, 2015-01-23 10:59

NDPP

From Davos, the IMF's Christine Legarde described King Abdullah as a 'strong advocate of women.'

http://www.channel4.com/news/saudi-arabia-king-abdullah-dies-aged-90

Fri, 2015-01-23 11:37

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

Meet the new misogynist neo-colonialist stooge of western governments and oil corporations, same as the old misogynist neo-colonialist stooge of western governments and oil corporations.

Fri, 2015-01-23 11:48

ikosmos

That's the sort of crap that CBC radio had on this morning, NDPP.

Fri, 2015-01-23 12:38

NDPP

The awful nonsense is everywhere. After USA, he was the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world.

Fri, 2015-01-23 12:40

ikosmos

Some remarks from a recent HRW report:

The Saudi regime refuses to allow political or human rights organizations to be established, and arrests all those belonging to "illegal" organizations. The legal reasoning the regime uses is instructive:

HRW wrote:
Saudi officials continue to refuse to register political or human rights groups, leaving members subject to prosecution for “setting up an unregistered organization.” In August, an appeals court upheld the Social Affairs Ministry’s denial of registration to the Eastern Province-based Adala Center for Human Rights. The ministry said it can only license charitable organizations, and that Adala’s activities are not covered under the ministry’s definition of a charity.

Sound familliar? It should. This is exactly what the jackboot Harper regime in Canada does. Only, instead of arresting and imprisoning and torturing its opponents, the Harper regime "only" financially strangles such organizations.

See how neo-liberalism and dictatorships go together? Why, they're two peas in a pod. Maybe we will see Harper and the new King of Saudi Arabia holding hands.

There is also a disturbing similarity to the "temporary worker" program. In Saudi Arabia, however, employers also confiscate passports and their permission is required for workers to change employers or leave the country.

Oh, and it's not just women and dissidents that are targeted ...

Quote:
Saudi Arabia is one of just four countries worldwide that continues to execute child offenders.

Meanwhile, the Saudis are good enough for Canada and the US (for the latter it is the recent sale of $650 million in cluster bombs) to sell truckloads of weapons to. Hey, if the Saudis don't use them, there are plenty of Wahhabists and related extremists who will buy ...

HRW wrote:
The Rights of Women and Girls

Under the guardianship system, girls and women are forbidden from traveling, conducting official business, or undergoing certain medical procedures without permission from their male guardians. Likewise, under un-codified rules on personal status, women are not allowed to marry without the permission of their guardian; unlike men, they do not have unilateral right to divorce and often face discrimination in relation to custody of children.

On October 26, at least 50 Saudi women got behind the wheel throughout the kingdom in defiance of the ban on women driving. Police officials said that officers had pulled over at least 18 women driving in various areas of the country, though it is unclear whether any faced fines or other penalties. On October 27, police arrested Tariq al-Mubarak, a secondary school teacher and columnist for the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, who had expressed support for an end to the driving ban. Authorities released al-Mubarak on November 3.

The Ministry of Education announced in May that girls enrolled in private schools could take part in supervised sports if they wear “decent clothing,” but failed to announce a promised national strategy to promote sports for girls in government-funded schools.

In January, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to the Shura Council and amended the council statute to guarantee representation of women. The Ministry of Justice granted the first lawyer-trainee license to a woman, Arwa al-Hujaili, in April.

Punishment for domestic violence remained lax, but in August the Council of Ministers issued a new law criminalizing domestic abuse for the first time. The law does not detail enforcement mechanisms to ensure prompt investigations of abuse allegations or prosecution of those who commit abuses and does not explicitly criminalize marital rape.

Fri, 2015-01-23 13:50

#10

ikosmos

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Twitter wrote:
King Abdullah was a man of wisdom & vision. US has lost a friend & Kingdom of #SaudiArabia, Middle East, and world has lost a revered leader.

The Stupid! It burns!

Fri, 2015-01-23 14:00

#11

ikosmos

Ah, but wait! There's a silver lining! Or is that gold?

HRH, Queen Elizabeth II is now the oldest Monarch in the world. HRH is also the second longest reigning Monarch in the world, and Her Majesty this fall will surpass Queen Victoria's record of the longest reigning Monarch in UK history.

God Save the Queen!

Sat, 2015-01-24 00:21

#12

6079_Smith_W

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/23/7877243/king-abdullah-queen-drive

What, she's an alien lizard? I've never heard that one before.

Sat, 2015-01-24 06:03

#13

lagatta

That's a great story. I see someone beat me to Christine Lagarde.

Yes, Saudi Arabia is MUCH worse than Iran in terms of women's rights. Afghanistan is probably even worse, but after so much war, it is a terrible place for any human being. Saudi Arabia has no such excuse, and it is a terrible exploiter of immigrant labour. Many Palestinians who worked there were "let go" for political reasons. The Palestinian workers there tended to be highly-educated professionals; while of course they had better working and living conditions than the manual and domestic workers, they were just treated like disposable objects. In Italy, I had a Palestinian friend who had worked in Saudi. He was a medical doctor, but made far more money designing rides for amusement parks there, with "Arabic" themes. He hated the Saudis, and held them in deep contempt. The Palestinians and other Levantines I met who had worked there saw the Saudis as a bunch of backward, uneducated yokels whose wealth was the result of the huge oil deposits on their land, not of diligent study and hard work.

Sat, 2015-01-24 07:21

#14

NDPP

Apparently his 'divine right' included locking up his daughters. Hopefully his passing sees their release.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/04/21/daughters-of-saudi-kin...

Here's something on the political ramifications of his death:

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/24/saud-j24.html