Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, Washington DC

September 23, 2015

Royals’ Vulnerability, Impact of Regime’s Policies, Women and Municipal Elections

CDHR’s Analysis and Commentaries

The Saudi Overriding Motive to Replace Assad.

CDHR’s Commentary: Contrary to their public pontifications against President Assad’s crimes, the Saudi regime, the new “Ottoman Sultan” of Turkey, Erdogan, the Muslim Brotherhood and their friends want to overthrow the brutal secular Syrian dictator not to save Syria, its thousands of years-old antiquities and its severely and inhumanely battered population, but to replace him with their own deadly brutal cronies. The anti-Assad autocratic movement’s burning desire is to install a fundamentalist tyranny, like the Alnusra terrorist group, which t hey have and can continue to arm, finance, control and use against each other, their regional enemies and the international community when deemed useful to blackmail their Western supporters.

The Saudis, specifically, may succeed in realizing their objective. It has been reported that Western powers consider the Saudi oligarchs as the only remaining Arab autocrats that can tame and control the Arab World by any and all means available, including money, ideology and the sword, as they have demonstrated in Bahrain and Yemen. For full analysis, please go to: www.cdhr.info

Saudi King and Obama’s Legacy

CDHR’s Commentary: About a month prior to inheriting the Saudi throne in January 2015, Crown Prince Salman (now King) told his counterparts in the Gulf Cooperation Council at a meeting in Qatar that, ‘The Gulf Cooperation Council {GCC} is passing through the most delicate situation in its history as a result of highly dangerous challenges.’ Since then, things have become much more dangerous for the GCC, and more so for Saudi Arabia, domestically, regionally and globally.

Domestically, since King Salman inherited the throne about 8 months ago, he has plunged his country into a costly, ill-advised and devastating war in Yemen. The country has been ravaged by terrorists’ attacks against 3 mosques in different areas of the country, including in a fortified Saudi security compound. The attackers were mostly Saudi nationals, products of Wahhabi religious indoctrination, but their murdered and maimed victims were Sunni and Shi’a worshippers.

Apparently, part of King Salman’s response has been an intensifying of beheadings (175), increasing domestic surveillance and more authority granted to the judicial system to hand down swift severe punishments. Saudi Arabia has also been severely hit by an unexpected plummeting of oil revenues, which account for more than 90% of Saudi national income. This poses a major threat to a regime that has been able to use its massive oil proceeds to silence its opponents, buy loyalties, hire foreign protection and maintain total control over its population. For full analysis, please go to: www.cdhr.info

“Saudis” Pay for Their Rulers’ Iniquitous Policies    

CDHR’s Commentary: This report asserts that the skyrocketing number of Saudi pleasure seekers in Europe are met with suspecting, rude and unwelcoming Europeans. If it’s any consolation, Europe has not been known for its reverence for Arabs and Muslims. Historically, Europeans have demonstrated disdain for Arab cultures, religions and lifestyles, long before the birth and effective use of modern terrorism by Arab and other Muslim groups and states against each other and against the West.

Notwithstanding the Saudi tourists’ peculiar dress code, disrespect for host countries’ way of orderly lives and other Saudi cultural peculiarities, the question is: should the Saudis be surprised by the way they are being perceived by the international community, especially Western societies? Most Saudis are well-informed and cognizant of the fact that their country’s name has become globally synonymous with arbitrary judicial system, flogging, beheadings, extremism, religious intolerance, chauvinism and terrorism.  For full analysis, please go to: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Women Voting: A Pyrrhic Victory?  

CDHR’s Commentary: The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, has been inundated with inquiries regarding the highly politicized municipal elections due to take place at the end of this year in Saudi Arabia. Many people are curious to know about the impact of the elections on Saudi society since women will be permitted to vote and run for office, for the first time. Many individuals, analysts, experts and reporters are also asking why it took the Saudi government so long to permit women to participate in the cosmetic elections and whether allowing women to participate will change reality on the ground.

When the first elections took place in 2005, women were barred from participating because the Saudi rulers claimed that the elections’ committee did not have time to prepare segregated polling locations for women to vote. When the second municipal elections took place 9 years later, the King declared that women’s participation will be allowed in 2015. The King did not explain why and no one dared question the Saudi kings’ capricious decisions. However, feeble and illogical excuses are the Saudi rulers’ way of keeping their repressed population dependent on their whims and in suspense. This is mostly due to the fact that the Saudi rulers have to be sure that whatever decision they make will serve their own best interest first and foremost.  For full analysis, please go to: www.cdhr.info

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