norsk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15169769

they tried protesting a little earlier in the year and were met with huge force by the police/security forces, but it seems they haven't quite given up...

anyone have any inside information on what's happening in Qatif?

iamthestig

Press TV/Tehran Times been reporting fighting for a few days now.

YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Revolution4East

flares

this would be sectarian based on religion wouldn't it, therefore unlike other 'springs'

Norm_uk

Indeed, but then again the so called Arab spring has been hijacked in Egypt by the parties of god as it were...

In any case Saudi will have a brutal crackdown if anything is tried with backing from most of the world - the oil must flow. That's why I hope Canada and Israel are able to start getting to their massive shale oil deposits and end OPEC's terror/dictator cartel tolerance in the world.

N.

norsk

Yeah, let's give Israel more power. That seems like a good idea...

norsk

Not so sure about that. Bahrain is definitely sectarian, and I suspect that Syria is as well. Egypt, well they started out with good intentions but unfortunately I don't see how it could possibly end well.

Norm_uk

I think Saudi is sectarian - the whole sunni and shia thing is a pot always ready to boil over.

Syria is mostly sectarian. Tragically there is a mostly secular dictatorship being challenged by a mostly religious street voice, which is being cut down brutally. It goes to show dictatorships are the same whatever the flavour.

Eygpt's spring began as a secular protest against a secular government that favours one religion. Now it has taken on a religious element which is turning increasingly nasty.

Time will tell what happens in Libya...

I saw today the farce we call the UN had a motion to condemn the Syrian government vetoed by Russia and China...it's clear the UN doesn't work and is a puppet organisation where dictators and crackpots have a voice.

N.

weasel decentral

which religion do you think it is?

Bahtatboy

Well, since 80%(?) of the population is of one religion, is that not unsurprising?

And Norm: did Mubarak really religiously discriminate, or was it merely suppression of anything that threatened him?

weasel decentral

my point was he disproportionately protected the Copts, signed agreements with Israel etc.. so I don't think he was favouring the Muslims at all.

Norm_uk

Terrible idea to support the only democracy in the middle east and the only non-Arab non-Muslim majority state in the region too, the only regional state which doesn't put homosexuals in prison (unless there's been a Damascus Gay Pride festival and I'm missing something?...we cannot threaten the continued myth that Arabs are the only people, language and culture in the middle east and ruin 1400 years of cultural and demographic annihilation.

Worse than that it would be terrible to buy oil from a country that wouldn't use the money to build mosques and schools in our own back yard which promote a vile and hateful Islamist ideology which is shocking to many people...Muslims included.

More power to the country with one of the highest numbers of women in business, and one of the highest degrees per capita and a disproportionally high number of nobel prize winners for useless stuff like science.

Yup, let's continue to support our buddies the Saudis and Russia instead

N.

Fahd

"finally" !! like you want & wait it . I think i wasn't wrong in some thoughts

Norm_uk

If the Copts were not protected they would wiped out as is evidenced by recent atrocities against them. A tragic state of affairs when the people who are actually related to the people who built the pyramids both ethnically and linguistically are a tiny minority surviving on a knife edge today.

Not much different in what is now Turkey and Syria with the Assyrian and Armenian population either. Or the Kurds, the Jews (who will be back to the dhimmi status if Israel falls) and other minorities who don't like the idea of one ethnic group dominating the region they also have ancestry in.

Mubarak was obviously in the "keep them as dhimmis" camp rather than the "kill the lot of them" camp. And by keeping peace with Israel he did far more good than sabre rattling ever did. It would be a pity to see the path of peace reversed just because some nutter theological types get in. The region needs more dialogue and calmer, secular voices than the frothing at the mouth finger pointers.

N.

norsk

I am not disputing any of the things you say, however I am concerned that the radical elements in Israel have a lot of influence (not that they don't in Saudi of course) and when you combine this influence with the massive chip they have on their shoulders it makes me very concerned as to how it could end. Better the devil you know and all that..

In an ideal world we would find a replacement for fossil fuels that wouldn't put anyone in a position of immense power..

weasel decentral

The clashes between copts and muslims were widely reported in Egypt as local issues over family clashes rather than any sort of movement against them. Its a total misreading/or media spin of the situation to believe there is any sort of purge. It was generated to make it seem like they needed Mubarak or the army still in power to protect them, not true in any fashion.
I see in our office a complete integration between them all, no tension as described. The salafist bogeyman idea is to scare moderates from all sides, (which is the majority of Egyptians) into believing they need to be protected. The elections when they go ahead will be the proof of the majority thinking.

The major bone of contention has always been the deals with Israel which were universally hated and commercially suicidal.