http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/10/saudi.court.wife.slapping/index.html

my bad. not these guys. they're ok.

5/10/2009 2:44:41 PM

old =/

5/10/2009 2:54:38 PM

old news or old argument?

5/10/2009 4:57:09 PM

at first i thought they were talking about wives that were thrifty spenders and thought WTF! then i read more and realized it was for wives that spend a lot.. and it made more sense. also $240 for a burka thing?! sounds like they need some walmarts over there...

serious note: this seems like one of the least messed up things from saudi arabia. if the husband wants to hit his wife they can pick a million other rules to chose from.

5/10/2009 5:30:45 PM

why open a walmart when you can just beat your wife.

5/10/2009 5:37:59 PM

open a wal-mart AND beat your wife. it's the american way

5/10/2009 5:38:51 PM

Quote :

"Hey, don't we go after oppressive regimes?"

If we did then we would need to invade quite a few U.S. States.

5/10/2009 5:55:24 PM

^^^^^the latter

5/11/2009 3:41:26 AM

Quote :

"this seems like one of the least messed up things from saudi arabia. if the husband wants to hit his wife they can pick a million other rules to chose from."

On a similar note, if we want to go after oppressive regimes, there are much better/easier/more-oppressive/less-controversial regimes to go after... half of which are in Africa.

Though I wish we could just leave fixing Africa to the British (and other various European nations)... they're the ones that broke it in the first place, and they've still not cleaned it up.

5/11/2009 3:51:19 AM

You do realize it is quite a bit more complicated than that, right?

5/11/2009 9:19:55 AM

The oil wells are fully functioning in Saudi Arabia, and they provide as much oil as the West wants, so why should the Western governments care about what happens to women and children there?

And that story is quite tame by Saudi standards. Linked on that page, we have:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/30/saudi.child/index.html

The story has a good ending, but it was disgusting, and only after lots of internal and external pressure did the desired ending come about. Read the full story, if you care. It provides the happy update, as well as an overview of the whole sad and sick saga.

And even that story is quite tame compared to some of the stories that have come out of Saudi in the past 2 years, including forced court-ordered divorces (because of "tribal incompatibility" objections from the wives' jealous brothers), sentences of lashing of rape victims (dropped, but that's irrelevant), jailing of bloggers calling for democracy, religious police getting away with serious assault and murder, etc.

Anyway, the oil is flowing, isn't it?

5/11/2009 7:14:58 PM

^^If you're talking to me...

yes. obviously.

5/11/2009 7:19:38 PM

^^ It has to do with rights to nationhood.

For example, should Saudi Arabia consider invading Spain because of how it treats its women (allowing them to drive cars, going to beaches naked, etc)? Of course not, that is because Spain is a soverign country and has the right to decide for itself what social rules will be observed.

Of course, this only applies to the military. Saudi Arabian princes are free to denounce Spain's treatment of women all day long, just like American citizens and politicians are free to denounce Saudi Arabia all day. The 'wrong' comes from suggesting our military has the right to impose social rules outside our own borders against the wishes of said other nation.

5/11/2009 9:46:30 PM

^ i'm pretty sure it's because if we eff with Saudi, it's going to hurt oil prices around the world, for practical and tactical reasons, therefore we don't mess with Saudi.

5/11/2009 9:48:58 PM

We only go after Evil totalitarian dictators i.e ones that are not nice to American Big Business.

Totalitarian human rights oppressing regimes that otherwise play nice on the diplomatic scene, give us a good deal for oil, and/or are in bed with our favorite CEO buddies are OK

5/11/2009 9:56:08 PM