Let's not talk about Saudi Arabia Posted by Shadi Hamid

It's been 7 years since 9/11 and, yet, it's really quite remarkable how we have done very little to recast our relationship with Saudi Arabia. I bring this up because a couple days ago, one of Saudi Arabia's most senior judges declared that the owners of "immoral" Satellite channels could essentially be murdered for their sins. The thing is all of us know that Saudi Arabia is a pernicious force in the Muslim world, continuing to propagate extreme interpretations of Islam. It is also one of the most authoritarian countries in the world, right up there with Burma, Libya, Syria, and North Korea.

Yet we just signed a multi-billion arms deal with the Saudis earlier this year. It is really quite remarkable when you think about it how little this has been talked about by the presidential campaigns. But then again, there hasn't really been much discussion this election season about much on the Middle East besides Iraq/Iran, even though those two countries are two parts of a much bigger problem. Saudi Arabia would be an obvious place to start, since most reasonable people can agree that our relationship with the Saudis is problematic not just from a moral standpoint, but also from the perspective of U.S. national security interests. 

Comments

[Mazen K.]

Yes he is a senior judge but it's not like he's a decision maker or part of the government, just because someone expressed an opinion that may seem extreme, that doesn't necessary mean that the whole country is extreme. Americans express extreme opinions all the time. How come it's not a big deal then.

"Saudi Arabia would be an obvious place to start" start what exactly? It's obvious that you don't know that Saudi Arabia is the land of The Two Holy Mosques, and that 1.2 Billion persons pray to its direction five times a day. or you just don't care.

You obviously don't know how much work the Saudi government is doing to fight terror idealism inside the kingdom. There is big improvement inside the kingdom since 9/11 in the matter of exposing terrorism mentality.

I find it strange that Arab journalists believe that the Saudi regime is extreme more than the Americans themselves.

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