Arabia Saudí (Continuación)

MundoAméricaMundoOriente Próximo, ,

Just after the first anniversary of the onset of the Arab Spring, the Obama administration announced in December an enormous arms sale to Saudi Arabia, with a price tag greater than the annual gross domestic product of more than half the countries in the world. The administration hailed the sale as a “historic achievement” that “reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.” The close juxtaposition of the anniversary and the apparent repair of the temporary rough patch in U.S.-Saudi relations highlights crucial overlooked realities about the Arab Spring and the U.S. response.

Although accounts of the Arab Spring often refer to a wave of political change washing across the Middle East, the reality is otherwise.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

A social revolution began in Saudi Arabia this month, and it has little if anything to do with the Arab Spring. Women are going to work in lingerie shops.

The Ministry of Labor is enforcing a royal decree issued last summer ordering that sales personnel in shops selling garments and other goods, like cosmetics, that are only for women must be female. More than 28,000 women applied for the jobs, the ministry said. Anywhere else in the world, it would not be news that sales assistants in shops selling panties and bras were female. In Saudi Arabia, where women have always been excluded from the public work force, it is a critical breakthrough.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, , , ,

Afghanistan expects U.S. aid to flow without interruption for six more years following the final U.S. troop withdrawal at the end of 2014 - three years hence. By itself, the U.S.-trained and U.S.-fielded Afghan army will require $5 billion to $7 billion a year in U.S. support to field an army of 350,000 in a country the size of France. Nothing is less certain.

With major defense cuts now in the works, the Pentagon will have insufficient funds to maintain current force levels in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. It certainly won't have the wherewithal to fight a two-front war as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

El contraste entre las muertes, con dos días de separación, del Coronel Muamar el Gadafi en Libia y del príncipe heredero de la corona saudita, Sultán bin Abdelaziz, es un contraste entre bufonería terminal y gerontocracia decadente. Es probable que el deceso de ambos lleve a resultados muy diferentes: liberación para los libios y estancamiento para los sauditas.

Pero la muerte de Sultán, a los 86 años, marca el comienzo de un período crítico de incertidumbre para el reino, tanto dentro como fuera del país. Después de todo, el medio hermano de Sultán, el rey Abdalá [Abdullah], de 87 años, sigue hospitalizado en Riad, después de una cirugía mayor que le practicaron el mes pasado.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Whether the Iranian government actually sought to hire Mexican gangsters to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asserted at a dramatic press conference last week, remains uncertain. Conspiracy theories are swirling, but as evidence emerges it may become possible to decipher this bizarre-sounding plot.

Whatever the truth, it unfolded against a riveting background. Escalating tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are part of a new “great game,” one of the farthest-reaching geopolitical conflicts in the world. The prize could be hegemony over the Middle East.

Today the region looks strikingly similar to the way it looked after World War II.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo ÁrabeMundoOriente Próximo,

Arabia Saudita se percibe ampliamente como el país que encabeza la contrarrevolución frente a los levantamientos de la primavera árabe. En realidad, la respuesta del Reino se centra, como su política exterior e interior lo ha hecho durante mucho tiempo, en la "estabilidad". Los saudíes no quieren que las fuerzas antisaudíes, como sus enemigos de Irán y Al Qaeda, aumenten su influencia en Oriente Próximo.

Algunos de los viejos líderes saudíes han vivido antes esta situación. Las revoluciones nacionalistas de los años 50 y 60, inspiradas y representadas por el egipcio Gamal Nasser de Egipto, casi derribaron la Casa de Saud.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

El rey Abdullah de Arabia Saudita está cada vez más solo. No nada más ha visto como han caído sus aliados cercanos, el presidente Hosni Mubarak en Egipto y Ali Abdullah Saleh en Yemen, sino también cómo se han tambaleado los tronos de reyes como él en Bahrein, Marruecos y Jordania debido a las protestas públicas.

Ahora el viejo protector del reino, los Estados Unidos, que defraudaron a Abdullah al aceptar (a regañadientes) la primavera árabe, está a punto de retirar sus tropas del vecino Iraq. Abdullah se pregunta ahora ¿quién mantendrá al lobo iraní lejos del reino?

Según un acuerdo de seguridad con el gobierno iraquí, los Estados Unidos deben retirar sus fuerzas armadas para finales de este año.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Parece que Arabia Saudí ha podido evitar de momento el contagio de las revueltas que recorren el mundo árabe, sobre todo las protestas a gran escala salvo alguna agitación política después de las manifestaciones en la provincia oriental de mayoría chií, Puede que sea solo cuestión de tiempo, a pesar de haber impulsado muchas medidas positivas para mejorar la educación, la promoción de nuevos sectores económicos y la gestión de sus finanzas, y de disponer de una balanza de pagos sólida. La reforma debe ser adoptada para satisfacer sobre todo a los impacientes jóvenes.

En términos de política, de cultura y de poder económico es de lejos el país más influyente de la región.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

On 11 March, when Saudi protesters' "day of rage" did not materialise, Fouad al-Farhan, a human rights activist, tweeted:

"My fear is that the ceiling of our reformist demands will be lowered to women driving for some and combating westernisation for others."

Two months later, his fears became a reality. A campaign to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia was started on Facebook. Currently this issue has overtaken all others online, in the press and on the ground.

The movement particularly caught fire when a face for it emerged. A Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, came forward and posted a Youtube video advising how to go about the campaign.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

La inesperada visibilidad y determinación de las mujeres en las revoluciones que se desarrollan en todo el mundo árabe –en Túnez, Egipto, Libia, Yemen, Bahrain, Siria y otras partes- ayudaron a impulsar lo que se dio a conocer de diferentes maneras como el “despertar árabe” o la “primavera árabe”. Se produjeron cambios importantes en las mentes y en las vidas de las mujeres, lo que las ayudó a romper con los grilletes del pasado, y a exigir su libertad y dignidad.

Desde enero de 2011, imágenes de millones de mujeres manifestando junto a los hombres fueron transmitidas en todo el mundo por periodistas televisivos, publicadas en YouTube y reproducidas en las tapas de los periódicos.  …  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

The Arab Spring is inching its way into Saudi Arabia — in the cars of fully veiled drivers.

On the surface, when a group of Saudi women used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to organize a mass mobile protest defying the kingdom’s ban on women driving, it may have seemed less dramatic than demonstrators facing bullets and batons while demanding regime change in nearby countries. But underneath, the same core principles — self-determination and freedom of movement — have motivated both groups. The Saudi regime understands the gravity of the situation, and it is moving decisively to contain it by stopping the protest scheduled for June 17.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Arabia Saudí no ha permanecido impasible ante las revueltas árabes. Al contrario, su respuesta ha sido inmediata y rotunda, reflejando su determinación de que los regímenes del Golfo permanezcan ajenos a este tipo de levantamiento revolucionario. El reino se ha alzado como líder de un nuevo frente reaccionario que está resuelto a abatir las demandas populares de reforma. Las herramientas son bien conocidas, ya que han sido empleadas con anterioridad en momentos de crisis política. La inestabilidad política se afronta con palos y zanahorias: dinero por un lado y restricciones del espacio político y social por otro.

El desembolso saudí para paliar cualquier esbozo de queja por parte de la población ha sido desorbitado.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

A tectonic shift has occurred in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Despite significant pressure from the Obama administration to remain on the sidelines, Saudi leaders sent troops into Manama in March to defend Bahrain’s monarchy and quell the unrest that has shaken that country since February. For more than 60 years, Saudi Arabia has been bound by an unwritten bargain: oil for security. Riyadh has often protested but ultimately acquiesced to what it saw as misguided U.S. policies. But American missteps in the region since Sept. 11, an ill-conceived response to the Arab protest movements and an unconscionable refusal to hold Israel accountable for its illegal settlement building have brought this arrangement to an end.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

Avec l'envoi de plus de 1 000 hommes à Bahreïn et la répression brutale qui s'en est suivie, l'Arabie saoudite vient de signifier que l'épicentre de la révolution arabe s'est déplacé du Maghreb au Machrek, de Tunis à Manama. Nul doute que le soulèvement des Tunisiens et des Egyptiens demeurera, aux yeux de l'histoire, l'événement fondateur de ce que d'aucuns appellent la "renaissance arabe". Malgré tout, la contestation qui secoue le petit royaume de Bahreïn (à peine 600 000 habitants, hors expatriés) revêt une tout autre importance. Ce petit Etat occupe une place particulièrement importante qu'il doit à sa position géopolitique, à sa composition sociologique et, accessoirement, à sa structure confessionnelle.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Friday was Saudi Arabia's "day of rage", planned for and anticipated for weeks. But, in the event, there wasn't even a grumble – unless you count the ongoing protests in the eastern province which had been going on for a week.

The protests in the east, where the Saudi Shia minority is concentrated, were mostly to call for the release of political prisoners. However, across the country there was silence. Many were expecting it to be so, but some wonder why.

Two main factors played a role in this silence. The first was the government's preparation, with the interior ministry's warning and the senior clerics' religious decree prohibiting demonstrations and petitions.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have toppled their regimes. Unrest continues in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Algeria and Oman. Yet the host of the world's largest energy reserves and the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia, remains conspicuously quiet.

Saudi Arabia shares some characteristics that have been causes for unrest - such as high unemployment among its youth and public-sector corruption - but the kingdom has strengths its neighbors lack. Its strong economy and weak opposition are clear. Less understood in the West is another critical element: a nationalism that has been fostered by and is strongly linked to the monarchy.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Tunisia. Egypt. Yemen. Bahrain. And now the uprising and brutality in Libya. Could Saudi Arabia be next?

The notion of a revolution in the Saudi kingdom seems unthinkable. Yet, a Facebook page is calling for a "day of rage" protest on March 11. Prominent Saudis are urging political and social reforms. And the aging monarch, King Abdullah, has announced new economic assistance to the population, possibly to preempt any unrest.

Is the immovable Saudi regime, a linchpin of U.S. security interests in the region, actually movable?

Revolutions are contagious in the Middle East - and not just in the past few weeks.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo ÁrabeMundoOriente Próximo,

En Oriente Medio tiene lugar una revolución. Los jóvenes se envalentonan y cobran confianza como nunca lo habían hecho. Lo que hemos visto en Túnez, Egipto, Yemen, Bahréin y por supuesto Libia podría todavía prender en otros países de la región.

Sin embargo, si la revolución se ha de detener en algún lugar, resulta probable que lo haga a las mismas puertas de la casa de Saud.

En Arabia Saudí, los jóvenes comparten las mismas aspiraciones y deseos que han impulsado los otros acontecimientos registrados en el mundo árabe. Quieren, también, mayores libertades, transparencia política y nivel similar de capacidad de consumo al de los tunecinos, los egipcios y los libios.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Of all the places affected by the WikiLeaks cables, few drew as much attention as Saudi Arabia, thanks to its strategic location, controversial image and global economic position. And this is a country that, according to many outsiders, is about to boil over with fundamentalist, anti-Western rage, and here were documents that showed Riyadh in collusion with Washington.

But that’s not what Saudi society is like at all, and the public and government reaction to the cables proves it.

The documents were certainly revealing. One reported on a Saudi proposal to invade Lebanon and root out Hezbollah; another told of a party where liquor was abundant and some guests were prostitutes.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente PróximoEuropaUnión Europea, ,

This week, BBC1's Panorama reported on the Saudi school textbooks used in over 40 Saudi schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The investigation found that the books contained messages of hatred, incitement of violence and other reprehensible teachings that are commonly found in the Saudi official religious discourse. I had the pleasure of participating in the programme, providing commentary on the findings.

In my years of work dedicated to promoting modernity and reform in my homeland, I have always given special attention to education as it is the foundation of social values and a major predictor of the direction in which a country is headed.…  Seguir leyendo »