US ally in the “War on Terror” Saudi-Arabia has arrested the country’s most popular blogger for “purposes of interrogation,” according to the NY Times and VOA.
Fouah al-Farhan writes at alfarhan.org and has been vocal in discussing corruption and advocating government reform. A Interior Ministry spokesman said al-Farhan was “being questioned about specific violations of nonsecurity laws.” No charges have yet been laid but family members have been denied visitation rights.
Saudi Arabia’s community of over 200 bloggers have been protesting the arrest and are calling for international support.
He got off lucky… I am sure they would have crucified me on the spot based on what I write about.
Jon
How do you say “enemy combatant” in arabic?
I just don’t understand how we can continue to support that government while we criticize others.
The link to his blog links to VOA instead.
By “interrogation” – all we have to do is look at Gitmo as an example of tactics.
And that is being highly optimistic.
sorry, link fixed.
Michael, we all support these redundant and worthless governments each time you fill up we fill up our gas tanks. Stop buying gas and you will put an end to their regimes. Consider that Iraq was fought over oil (both wars), Sudan over oil (in this case China) and who knows what is in the cards in the future like the sea of oil under Iran (it’s got nothing to do with nukes anymore then Iraq was).
Oil is absolutely worthless, yet our governments keep making decisions based on this commodity, either out of stupidity or habit… I can’t figure out which.
Jon
Silicon Valley – I doubt it. Jon – that’s just…ridiculous…on so many levels.
The future is nuclear, solar, hydrogen and wind… I look forward to living long enough to see each of these (corrupt is too nice a word) regimes fall. Can you believe they are petitioning the UN for subsidies because they fear their economies falling apart when oil no longer a valued commodity in the world? The geopolitical situation on this world is so screwed up it isn’t funny. Your sarcasm is refreshing Michael
The future is written on the wall, world governments can’t read it because their heads are too far up their own ass.
Jon
Michael –
2 words.
Oil and money.
There’s only 200 bloggers in SA? I could move there and dominate the entire market in one swoop.
Seriously though, let’s hope that this is the only political post of the New Year. I subscribe to this feed for technology and internet business-related news. I have Drudge Report and CNN Breaking News for my political informative blog subscriptions.
Jon … what about plastic? Plastic as a byproduct of oil production is more important than gas itself. How do you guys propose to replace plastic when it is used in 95% of the products we use. From cars … on the obvious side … to medical equipment … to computers. Etc., etc., etc., … etc. I do not mean to be a contrarian and start a holy war, but this topic gets me going. “There is more about oil production than powering our cars”.
Fabian, we are all “trapped” by the decisions of others into our daily lives but I am adding a bit of sarcasm to the debate. I believe in this as well, but I am smart enough to realize that I am powerless to do anything about it. I don’t have the influence nor contacts to make change happen at a meaningful scale.
My laptop has more plastic in it then a VCR, my power is probably coming from the burning of coal and heavy oils, the public transportation system may run off natural gas which we are also dependent on yet still is no better. Basically, we have collectively screwed our own species when we abandoned the electric car in the late 1800s for the internal combustion engine which has since snowballed into many other products other then gas which they use to throw out as being useless. NOBODY is taking leadership on this (we need somebody 1000x more powerful then Gore or a major catastrophe, global warming isn’t enough).
The bottom line is that people fear change and have too much invested in the status quo… until this changes, we will continue screwing ourselves at our own detriment.
Oddly enough, I believe leadership will happen in China or Russia, only a totalitarian regime can change the habits of enough people to make a difference at the speed we need to see this happen. I would nominate myself but I doubt people could handle my lack of fear towards embracing monumental change.
Jon
Funny, calling a country that supplied most of the 9/11 hijackers as an “ally in the war on terror.” What’s next, calling Microsoft “open-source’s staunchest supporter?” How about calling taxes “the engine of the US economy?”
Jon:
(This is a great topic, one that I am readily willing to engage on and one that I feel passionate about. Do not feel insulted by my passion for the subject. My words are not intended as a battle cry but as the debater “I think I am”)
There are plenty of opportunities to change the world by each one of us regardless of our status in life. I agree, it would be easier if we were people of influence, but I would argue that we are. In the end there are certain sacrifices we must be willing to make. But before we get there we need certain answers; for example how do we replace plastic (yes … transparent aluminum
) We have grown used to some benefits that come with progress, so unless we find suitable replacements we will need to give up our comforts and that I am afraid it will not happen.
Einstein said:
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
And yet, we continue on the same path and we are not willing to deviate. Is it about oil? Is it about global warming? Is it about technology? Is it about money? Is it about power? I do not have the answers, but I know that I like my boat, my truck, my laptop, my home network, my fishing vacations in Mexico, and solving business problems with technology. I like paying my bills online and buying my cameras on a website and have them shipped to me.
There was a post regarding online outages and my comment was that we have grown used to the web as a commerce medium and internet as a platform. Are you willing to give that up? or would you find a suitable alternative for those wheals to keep on turning? I know what my answer is.
There is plenty of leadership, we just need to be willing to follow.
Action by the Saudi government is not justified. It is high time for the Human Rights organizations to intervene.
(I love a good debate, just wish it was on my blog)
Fabian, remember back when we had GLASS bottles to hold your coke? Well, why not go back – you may say “hey, that uses up more fossil fuels (ei: oil)” but if you had them running off hydrogen that was derived from nuclear, solar and air… then net impact = 0 other then a little more humidity in the air.
You seem hung-up on plastics, there are alternatives such as synthetic plastics
http://tvo.org/.../baekeland.html
Like the old rubber trees, most of our rubber comes from synthetic sources today… plastic can become no different. Net impact = 0. (no oil used), as long as the plants producing it again, use nuclear, solar and wind.
Regarding leadership, I am not talking about change over a 50 or 100 year span, I am talking about fundamentally turning our world economy upside down within 20 years. Change doesn’t have to take centuries, it can happen rather quickly if there is a will (ei: desire). This is why I say we need something WORSE then global warming, as, so far, it just isn’t enough. People are still not feeling enough pain to desire fundamental change.
You like your boat, the internet, laptop etc… so do I! I visited your website and we seem to be like thinkers a generation apart
Your boat can be run off hydrogen, built out of plastic derived from compressed soya beans. Your laptop can be built and powered by hydrogen with carbon composite materials. Your power can be, nuclear, solar, wind… even people power if you wish.
I am not an expert as to what needs to be done, anybody who calls themselves an expert is a fool… but I do see the pieces of the puzzle rather logically aligned. There WILL be huge pain whether we do something or not, the only choice at this point is who controls it (US or MOTHER NATURE).
We have 3 generations invested into the oil economy which includes plastic, pharmaceutical, manufacturing… just about every industry you can think of uses oil in one way or another. We have probably over 50 trillion dollars of R&D invested into oil… what I am saying is nobody (an individual is nice but not enough) is willing to step up to the plate with the influence needed to actually create fundamental change across our world.
You might say “we got the UN”, but they are built out of consensus and we all know that consensus is not the way towards solving problems in the timespan I am proposing. I am not interested in “following” somebody who is a self-proclaimed savior of our world anymore then I am in going to church and praying for a miracle. People fundamentally fear change and that my friend, will be our downfall whether by this problem or another in the future.
We are in some deep shit and we need something more powerful then pink toilet paper to get ourselves out of it
Jon
Yikes! That must be scary. Good luck to him!
Relying on Governments to solve most of our problems creates all these problems.
Reminds of a certain writing on governance by “Thoreau” or some american gentleman from the 1900s.
Just play each of our part “quietly” and stick to our ideals and we have done our part.
comes back to the question:
Are Freedom and Stability always on a collision course ?
Ujw
exoticbuddha.com
Saudi = Wahabi = Jihadi
What more needs to be said about one of the most vile, corrupt and oppressive regimes in the world. Sadly, the US needs the House of Saud.
Jon:
I invite you to continue this on a different forum as not to bore the rest of the folks here.
Roman
January 1st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Michael –
2 words.
Oil and money.
Lol Thats cool
I agree with you Michael. How can the U.S. government go about supporting a country which has no regard for human rights is beyond my comprehension??
Here’s the link Fabian… I blogged about attaching value to worthless commodities right before Duncan wrote this article.
Jon
they arrested a blogger to interrogate him. And the US supports this? They must be moral pygmies.
ഇത്തരം ലജ്ജാകരമായ കാര്യങ്ങള് ചെയ്യുന്ന സൌദി സര്ക്കാരിനെ താങ്ങി നിര്ത്തുന്ന അമേരിക്കയുടെ നയം അപലനീയം തന്നെ. ഓയിലിന്റെ മുന്നിര്ത്തിയുള്ള വിദേശനയം അമേരിക്കയെ ഒരിക്കലും സഹായിക്കില്ല.