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Mohammad bin Salman

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  • #16
    The first cinemas in Saudi Arabia since the 1970s are due to open this week. The first film shown is going to be the Black Panther.
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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    • #17
      MBS clearly didn't have this in mind when he got the idea to liberalize entertainment in Saudi, and somebody didn't hit the off switch for the feed soon enough.

      Saudi Arabia 'sorry' for promotional footage of women wrestlers

      Saudi Arabia's sport authority has apologised for the appearance of scantily clad women during a wrestling broadcast.

      World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) held matches in Jeddah, billed as its Greatest Royal Rumble.

      Men and women attended, although no female wrestlers were allowed to take part in the fights.

      But state television cut off its broadcast of the event when promotional footage showing female wrestlers aired.

      The footage rolled on giant television screens around the arena during the fight.

      Saudi General Sports Authority apologised for what it described as "indecent scenes".
      Full article: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43934934
      "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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      • #18
        Saudis reacted quick and disproportionate to Canadian criticism of arrests of HR activists in KSA

        ‘We don’t have a single friend’: Canada’s Saudi spat reveals country is alone | Guardian | Aug 11 2018


        The spat appeared to have been sparked last week when Canada’s foreign ministry expressed its concern over the arrest of Saudi civil society and women’s rights activists, in a tweet that echoed concerns previously voiced by the United Nations.

        Saudi Arabia swiftly shot back, expelling Canada's ambassador and suspending new trade and investment with Ottawa, making plans to remove thousands of Saudi students and medical patients from Canada, and suspending the state airline’s flights to and from Canada, among other actions.
        The real reason ? Saudis don't like diplomacy via tweet which is public

        A Canadian tweet in a Saudi king's court crosses a red line | Reuters | Aug 11 2018

        Two Gulf sources said it was the tweet from the embassy that upset Saudi officials the most.

        “Matters were being handled through usual channels but the tweet was a break with diplomatic norms and protocol,” said one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

        The sources did not clarify exactly how the tweet broke with diplomacy, but regional experts said it was the step of sending it to a domestic audience that would have angered Saudi officials.

        “The Saudi retaliation took some time to allow for political talks in closed doors,” Salman al-Ansari, founder of the Washington-based Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee, said.

        “They thought the Canadians would take steps to back off, but all of a sudden they tweeted it in Arabic. This was a very provocative action by the Canadians to try to embarrass the Saudis in front of their people. The Saudis did not take this lightly at all.”

        Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir raised the issue of the Arabic tweet in a call with Freeland on Tuesday, and complained about interference, a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named said.
        The outsized reaction to the tweet underscores how the kingdom is taking a much harsher stance against what it perceives as Western interference in its internal affairs on issues like human rights, perhaps emboldened by Washington’s willingness under Donald Trump to de-emphasize rights issues when it comes to its allies.

        “Canada is collateral damage,” said Thomas Juneau, an assistant professor and Middle East expert at the University of Ottawa. “This fundamentally is not about Canada. This is about Saudi Arabia wanting to send a broader message to its neighbors, to other democracies.”

        Canadian foreign affairs officials including Freeland, who were gathered at a Vancouver hotel for a conference on Sunday, were taken aback by the Saudi reaction and left scrambling. Canada, government insiders said, was still unclear on what steps it can take to “fix its big mistake”, as a Saudi official called it.

        “I don’t think we have a conclusive understanding as of right now,” said a Canadian government source. “There may be the need for another call (between Freeland and Jubeir). We’re also obviously talking to our partners about it. We do not wish to have bad relations with them (the Saudis).”
        Last edited by Double Edge; 13 Aug 18,, 19:36.

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        • #19
          Apparently every Saudi ruler since the 50s has been portrayed as moderate and a reformer.

          The truth is an absolute monarchy gives a a crap about reform or human rights

          Seventy Years of the New York Times Describing Saudi Royals as Reformers | Jadaliya | Nov 27 2017

          MBS spent close to 27 million to lobby in Washington. That facade is wearing off rather quickly.

          But nothing substantial will happen. As security interests remain strong.

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          • #20
            Another runaway. This time there is a happy ending. Unbelievable. Rahaf al Qunun, on a trip with her family in Kuwait, slips away and catches a flight to Bangkok. She then barricades herself in a hotel and refuses to be deported. Gets on twitter and cries for help. In the end the Thai's didn't deport her back. Instead she flew to Canada where she was granted asylum. Australia did as well. Difference is the Canadians were quicker to okay her asylum. She's just 18.

            'Rahaf al-Qunun is going to start a revolution': Teen's plight highlights Saudi male guardianship | SBS | Jan 12 2019

            The plight of Ms Qunun, who slipped away from her family last weekend during a holiday in Kuwait, recalls the cases of other Saudi women who fled mistreatment only to be forcibly returned to the kingdom and never heard from again.
            So what was the mad rush to let her into Canada. She decided to renounce her religion ie Islam and apostasy carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

            The impressive thing about this story is the timeline.

            First tweet for help on Jan 5 in Bangkok airport

            by Jan 8 she is under UNHCR protection and the Aussies express interest.

            Click image for larger version

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            Follow her posts and you will find on Jan 11 she got granted asylum by Canada

            Jan 12 arrives in Toronto via Seoul

            Click image for larger version

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            Less than a week from cry for help to rescue.

            All that with just a phone (!)
            Last edited by Double Edge; 14 Jan 19,, 17:32.

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            • #21
              She seems remarkably composed for an 18yr old. Playing it cool. Her family have disowned her. Now she's on her own in her new adoptive country. I think she's going to be just fine. I mean how many asylum seekers get welcomed at the airport by the foreign minister. Any in recent memory ? : )



              Keeping her safe will be an interesting challenge now that she's world famous.

              Family repression is something new. All this time we're used to state repression. Just cannot compare to what goes on in the home.
              Last edited by Double Edge; 19 Jan 19,, 01:21.

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              • #22
                Experts, images suggest a Saudi ballistic missile programme

                If Paks nuke arsenal was funded for and is for rent, why build another. KSA having the bomb is like Taliban (Pak) and ISIS (KSA) having one custom made for them. Doomsday clock has started to sprint. Israel won't be happy, and I find it hard to believe Mossad wasn't in the know-how of this particular security threat to them. If so, what justifies Israel's silence. Stance taken by the sunnis against the shias in the middle-east? Sunnis and shias are all against the infidels, innit?
                Last edited by Oracle; 27 Jan 19,, 12:37.
                Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
                  She seems remarkably composed for an 18yr old. Playing it cool. Her family have disowned her. Now she's on her own in her new adoptive country. I think she's going to be just fine. I mean how many asylum seekers get welcomed at the airport by the foreign minister. Any in recent memory ? : )



                  Keeping her safe will be an interesting challenge now that she's world famous.

                  Family repression is something new. All this time we're used to state repression. Just cannot compare to what goes on in the home.
                  There are some (who escaped from KSA, or failed to do so), whose stories have been reported by the BBC. Makes me puke thinking of the crap that goes on in Islamic countries. Monarchs/mullahs are all the same. Beneath the robe, those are shit-stained satans in the garb of human beings. Then, their record of funding madrassas (that churn out jihadis in 1000s) and terorrist groups.
                  Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
                    She seems remarkably composed for an 18yr old. Playing it cool. Her family have disowned her. Now she's on her own in her new adoptive country. I think she's going to be just fine. I mean how many asylum seekers get welcomed at the airport by the foreign minister. Any in recent memory ? : )



                    Keeping her safe will be an interesting challenge now that she's world famous.

                    Family repression is something new. All this time we're used to state repression. Just cannot compare to what goes on in the home.
                    Inspiring. Family...state...It feels like all the one in societies like Saudi Arabia. It's hard to wrap one's mind around the difference between a women's life in Saudi Arabia versus the west.

                    Is there a bigger and more important social change left to happen than the extension of women's rights from the suffragette movement to the remaining parts of the globe...It's hard to think of one to compete.
                    Last edited by tantalus; 29 Jan 19,, 13:07.

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by Oracle View Post
                      There are some (who escaped from KSA, or failed to do so), whose stories have been reported by the BBC. Makes me puke thinking of the crap that goes on in Islamic countries. Monarchs/mullahs are all the same. Beneath the robe, those are shit-stained satans in the garb of human beings. Then, their record of funding madrassas (that churn out jihadis in 1000s) and terorrist groups.
                      Right, there are two key points here

                      - she was allowed to keep her phone. Her Saudi sim worked in Thailand or she managed to get a local one.

                      - the Thais have been awesome. They could easily have forced their way in or allowed Saudi agents to do so. Course once she got her story out that window closed. There was another Saudi runaway who fled to the Phillipines a couple of years ago who was not so lucky. She ended being deported back despite desperately pleading to be allowed to stay. Latifah looks all sedated now. The previous president of Ireland. Mary Robinson even met her in Abu Dhabi.

                      Last edited by Double Edge; 29 Jan 19,, 22:13.

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