Foreign Politics or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the parliamentary democracy

[Day]

well it says right there archi shock move what you want me to do believe you over express.co.uk

[NynJa]

Archi voted Killary, express.co.uk didnt vote Killary...I'm siding with express.co.uk

[dasva]

well it says right there archi shock move what you want me to do believe you over express.co.uk

The headline says it but nothing in the article suggest it's shocking. Dude has already jailed most of his opposition including other princes

[Salodin]

I think it's sweet how daddy is cleaning house before giving the keys to the son.

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[tyven]

I think it's sweet how daddy is cleaning house before giving the keys to the son.

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what a callous way to describe the people of Yemen

[Andalusian girls]

solid article from The Guardian on what this means for the Kingdom, and MBS's role both as ambitious reformer and as ambitious authoritarian.

Outside a Riyadh shopping centre last month, Zeina Farhan was walking with her headscarf around her shoulders when the religious police pulled up. She froze in fear as a man in the driver’s seat lowered his window. “Please madam, can you just cover your hair during prayer time,” he asked. “I said OK, he said thank you, and he drove off. That was it. It was stunning.”
For all of her adult life, a run-in with the feared enforcers of Saudi Arabia’s societal norms would have led to a much harsher outcome. A woman who dared uncover her hair in public at any time, let alone during prayer, probably would have faced a fine and maybe jail. “Insults, prisons, whippings, shame,” said Farhan, 32. “To see them like that showed how much things have changed.”

“He is shredding a moribund system that had favoured the royals above all else,” said a senior Saudi businessman. “He is shattering the accommodation that had existed between the elite and the state. They were one and the same. This is at least partly about creating citizens from subjects.”

“Yes, you can say that people are too afraid to talk, because power is so centralised now. But he is doing what he has to do. He is consolidating his power as anyone must in this situation. There will always be casualties.”

Prince Mohammed’s critics say his headlong rush to revolutionize is driven by a push for unprecedented power, which the 32-year-old can leverage over many decades as monarch. Among those arrested are family rivals who are opposed to many aspects of the reforms. “How can you get away with something like this?” asked a relative of one of the arrested princes. “Don’t mistake people’s silence for consent.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...rush-to-reform

[Andalusian girls]

oh and i'm with Archi the potential abdication, while unusual, and symbolic, wouldn't mean all that much practically. for well over a year now the societal reforms + Saudi's more aggressive foreign policy were clearly stemming from bin-Salmin and his father at times seemed little more than a rubber stamp for his son's desires. it would simply make the de facto power in the Kingdom the de jure ruler.

[archibaldcrane]

Are we convinced his societal reforms are real, and not just a feint to appease the West while he ramps up his very aggressive regional influence slaughterfest?

I mean, we don't care as much in the US, but he's turned Yemen into a failed state in even worse shape than Syria.

(and it looks like he's eyeing Lebanon hard for his next proxy war with Iran)

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[Zealot]

Oh hey Saudi Arabia just ordered all of its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately.

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[Day]

Sounds promising

[Andalusian girls]

Are we convinced his societal reforms are real, and not just a feint to appease the West while he ramps up his very aggressive regional influence slaughterfest?

I mean, we don't care as much in the US, but he's turned Yemen into a failed state in even worse shape than Syria.

(and it looks like he's eyeing Lebanon hard for his next proxy war with Iran)

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his motivations may stem from a number of things but the reforms are real. the religious police have had their powers to arrest and detain revoked and now carry ipads and megaphones rather than whips and truncheons, in 2015 suffrage was extended to women (municipal elections naturally given the monarchy) and they were also allowed to stand as candidates for the first time in Saudi history, the much-detested driving ban is soon to be lifted, they have radically reformed their education system away from Wahhabist-tinged indoctrination towards, you know, education, public concerts have been OK'd (though that tragically backfired on them with the appearance of Toby Keith), and they are easing restrictions on tourism in the nation for non-Muslims. Saudi society is more liberal today than it has been in decades and signs are that trend will continue.

his foreign policy is another kind of cookie, as you say. he is presently brutalizing Yemen for the Houthis having the audacity to fire a missile at Riyadh, he economically and diplomatically isolated Qatar from the other Gulf states for being overly friendly with Tehran, and while his intentions are unclear in Lebanon he may well be looking to challenge Hezbollah's preeminent role in that fractured country. the man clearly fears an Iranian-backed Shia envelopment and seeks to actively combat it both directly and by rallying the Sunni Arab states into a broad anti-Iranian coalition.

if our diplomatic services had a shred of diplomatic sense they would be encouraging the reforms while urging Prince Mohammed to restrain his more reckless impulses. challenging Iran and fighting a Houthi insurgency is one thing, but destabilizing a precariously balanced place like Lebanon or preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Yemen is not acceptable, and while his domestic purges may grant him power in the short-term in Middle Eastern history strongmen who rely on a state apparatus of repression, even socially moderate ones, have always produced violent backlashes as their bases of support proved too narrow to buoy them in time of upheaval.

[6souls]

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41983599
https://freedomhouse.org/article/new...mine-democracy

18 nations' elections in 2016 were affected in a similar fashion to the US election by Russia. At least 30 governmets involved in the actions taken.

[Cail]

Zimbabwe: Army tanks seen heading towards capital Harare amid rising tensions between Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and military

Armoured vehicles have been spotted heading towards Zimbabwe's capital Harare a day after the army commander threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over President Robert Mugabe's sacking of his deputy.

Eyewitnesses said military vehicles were also blocking major roads outside the city, with the ruling ZANU-PF party, led by Mr Mugabe, accusing the head of the army, General Constantino Chiwenga, of "treasonable conduct".

Mr Mugabe - the only leader Zimbabwe has known in 37 years of independence - sparked a rift with the military by sacking his Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa, 75, last week. The long-serving veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation wars, had been viewed as a likely successor to the president. However, his downfall appeared to pave the way for Mr Mugabe's wife Grace to succeed her 93-year-old husband.

[mallister]

thatescalatedquickly.jpg

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1...061457199.html

[Zealot]

I don't think it's a coup, the military specifically said so after they took control of State media.

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[Roranora]

the coup is not a coup because in Africa coups are now taboo, so the coup is a "constitutional change of power"

[Day]

I don't think it's a coup, the military specifically said so after they took control of State media.

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[dasva]

I can't tell if that's an actual military uniform or a camo colored Hawaiian shirt

[chazzyphizzle]

where did his neck go

[Zealot]

He was not approved by the new Minister of Necks.