A new, Saudi group blog was brought to my attention, Saudi Life. It appears to address a wide range of issues, both Saudi and foreign, from a Saudi perspective. You might want to take a look.
Craziness descends. This fool (and his cameraman) seem even more clueless about Saudi society’s norms than did the ‘Sex Braggart’ who went on TV to talk of his sexual exploits. Arab News reports:
Man in police uniform arrested for ‘homosexuality’
RIMA AL-MUKHTAR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Police here confirmed on Tuesday a man was arrested in January for dressing up in a police uniform, engaging in “inappropriate acts” and posting the video online.
Police First Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq told Arab News that the 27-year-old man had been previously charged “with a homosexual case but was bailed out.”
“This time he is facing three charges: One is for homosexuality; the other for general security; and the third is for impersonating a police officer,” said Al-Bouq.
The video depicts a young Saudi man dressed in a police uniform inside a vehicle flirting with the man holding the camera. He asks the cameraman for his driver’s license and offers “comfort.”
At one point, he waves around what appears to be a real handgun. Later in the approximately two-and-a-half-minute video on YouTube, he lifts up his shirt and rubs his chest. The video quickly spread online and through SMS until police detained both men involved in the act. Attempts have been made to block the video from being viewed in Saudi Arabia.
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The YouTube video is here, if you can access it.
For a perfect example of why ethnic profiling for terrorists—by itself—is not a terribly useful tool, we have the story of ‘Jihad Jane’, a blonde American woman who converted to Islam. Colleen/Fatima LaRose is alleged to have been involved in several plots involving terrorism, from directly going to Sweden to assassinate one of the artists whose work made up part of the ‘Danish cartoons’ to misappropriating a US passport.
Ms LaRose is not of Middle Easter extraction; she’s not dark complected; she’s female. None of these factors is among those typically identified with Islamic terrorism. If anti-terror profiling were restricted to only ethnic characteristics, Ms LaRose would have been invisible.
From The Washington Post:
JihadJane, an American woman, faces terrorism charges
Carrie JohnsonA petite, blond-haired, blue-eyed high school dropout who allegedly used the nickname JihadJane was identified Tuesday as an alleged terrorist intent on recruiting others to her cause, as federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges that could send her to prison for life.
Colleen Renee LaRose, 46, has been quietly held in U.S. custody since October on suspicions that she provided material support to terrorists and traveled to Sweden to launch an attack, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is continuing to unfold.
LaRose, who lived in suburban Philadelphia, allegedly recruited men and women in the United States, Europe and South Asia to “wage violent jihad,” according to an indictment issued in Pennsylvania. She fueled her interests on the Internet over the past few years and used Web sites such as YouTube to post increasingly agitated messages, the court papers said.
As an American citizen whose appearance and passport allowed her to blend into Western society, LaRose represents one of the worst fears of intelligence and FBI analysts focused on identifying terrorist threats. She is one of only a handful of women to be charged with terrorism offenses in the United States, national security experts said.
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Saudi Gazette runs an interesting piece on date production. Date trees, it appears, come in both male and female forms. To produce dates, you need both, though one male tree can pollinate up to 50 female trees. But male trees produce their flowers, in huge pods, several weeks before the female trees open. This means that to get a good crop, pollination must be done by hand. Luckily, the flower pods of male trees seem to be transportable and open to being stored for a while.
The result is a market for male palm flowers. That’s a pretty specialized, niche market as the world goes, but it’s clearly critical for date production. And date production is not only traditional to Saudi Arabia, it’s also a major (if not the major) agricultural export crop.
High demand in EP for male date palm flowers
Faisal Aboobacker PonnaniDAMMAM – Farmers from Al-Ahsa and Saihat are capitalizing on the considerable increase in the demand for male date palm flowers in the Eastern Province.
In March and April, date palm flowers start to blossom with each palm forming about 10-15 large golden-brown flower pods.
The demand for male date palm is high during this season as farmers use them for pollination with their female date palm.
The male date palm flower pod is called “Nabath” in Arabic which is selling in Damman now at SR150. However, the demand would gradually decrease remarkably cutting the prices as well.
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Arab News reports that Saudi media are being given a longer leash. In his remarks at the opening of the current session of the Shoura Council, King Abdullah said that constructive criticism of government operations is a legitimate subject for local media. This might sadden some ministers and other bureaucrats who believed they (and their ministries) were immune.
Of course, the King called for ‘responsible’ criticism. I don’t fault him there. While the Saudi media has improved over the years, many elements still lack a high level of professionalism. Too, they can be subject to pressures from publishers to take on the publishers’ personal agendas. It’s not as bad as in some Arab countries, but it still needs to be corrected.
King: Constructive criticism on govt’s performance is welcome
RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given a boost to local media by allowing them to constructively criticize the government’s performance.
However, he warned against using the media as a tool to settle internal disputes and personal accounts and making false accusations.
“I ask all people to fear God in their words and deeds, to shoulder their responsibilities consciously and not to be a burden on their religion and homeland,” he said on Sunday.
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Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery. — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
Arab News runs a story on a Kuwaiti economist’s pointing out that Saudi families are spending too much money; more money than they earn, in fact. It’s not just Saudis, he says. Gulf Arabs are a consumer society and they need to get over it.
Part of the reason is indeed extravagance, but some of it is necessity, too. I find the typical Saudi income to be rather low (though nowhere nearly as low as that of foreign workers). Things tend to be expensive in the Kingdom, too, if they’re not being subsidized by the government. The inverse of the typical pattern of locally-produced goods costing less than imports is very much the case. Local lamb, for instance, can cost multiples of the cost of Australian or New Zealand lamb.
Still, over spending is a problem that needs to be addressed. It’s part of the ‘attitude adjustment’ that Saudis need to make as they move toward a ‘post-petroleum’ world.
Saudi families spend twice what they earn
MUHAMMAD HUMAIDAN | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Saudi families spend nearly twice what they earn, according to Kuwaiti economist Jassem Al-Mutwwa.
“Education, amusement and eating out account for more than 181 percent of a family income in Saudi Arabia,” said Al-Mutwwa who delivered a lecture on personal finance in Jeddah on Saturday.
According to his research, Saudi families overspend on personal articles and services by an average of 8 percent.
However, he noted the money spent on housing and health care was considerably less than in other parts of the world. “While only 44 percent of the family budget is spent on housing, health care represents 39 percent,” the speaker said.
He also noted that Saudi families spend ever more each month on hotels and cafes, beverages, personal articles and services.
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The Saudi health care system is due for a major reworking, Arab News reports. From expanded home care to standardization of practices in hospitals, the Ministry of Health is seeking to implement a 60-point program to raise the level of health care in the Kingdom…
Al-Rabeeah announces 60-point program
P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah announced Saturday a 60-point program to strengthen the Kingdom’s health service. He made the announcement during a consultative meeting of leading Health Ministry officials in Laith.
Dr. Khaled Mirghalani, spokesman for the ministry, said the program is aimed at improving the efficiency of public health institutions, raising monitoring levels, increasing the quality of health services, developing manpower capabilities and strengthening infrastructure.
“We have already started implementing some points of this program and results have been good,” said Mirghalani.
The consultative meeting has decided to focus on the management of beds at hospitals in all parts of the Kingdom to achieve optimum operational efficiency.
He disclosed plans to expand daylong surgery programs at public hospitals. At present, 33 percent of hospitals provide this service. “Some 3,632 surgical operations have been carried out during the last three months under this program,” he said.
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Eugene Volokh, principal character at the eponymous Volokh Conspiracy, is a professor of Law at UCLA. Among the subjects he teaches an writes about is Constitutional Law, with particular emphasis on the 1st Amendmendment, which governs free speech and religious liberty. He points to an interesting court case that comes out of the State of Washington.
The case involves not only qat, but religious sensibilities concerning dress as well as police conduct while conducting searches under warrant. In the case, a Muslim woman was taken from her home in a state of undress (by almost any standard, not just Muslim standards) while police carried out a search of her home. She requested that she be permitted to cover herself modestly, as required by her understanding of her religious duty. The police did not so permit. She sued for deprivation of her religious liberties. The court did not agree, at least to the point of accepting that the police misbehaved or deprived her of her rights.
Interesting Religious Accommodation Case
Eugene Volokh
It’s Jama v. United States (W.D. Wash. Mar. 2, 2010):
This controversy stems from a July 2006 raid of Plaintiff’s residence by federal and local law enforcement authorities. Officials were searching for evidence relating to the importation and distribution of khat, a leafy herb indigenous to the Horn of Africa and the lower Arabian Peninsula, where residents have long chewed the plant’s leaves for its stimulative effects. Khat itself is legal in the United States, but the plant’s stimulative effects come from cathonine and cathine, which are classified as Schedule I and IV drugs, respectively. Khat is typically consumed fresh, because the cathinone breaks down into cathine within two to three days after harvesting. When a person ingests cathonine by consuming fresh khat, he is therefore violating American drug laws….
Plaintiff was not a suspect, and was not indicted by the grand jury. Because one of the suspects shared her apartment, however, her residence was among those be searched: Plaintiff’s uncle Abdigafar Ali Hassan had picked up one package believed to contain khat at a local FedEx facility on May 18, 2006, and a second package on July 13, 2006….
The search was conducted in the early-morning hours of July 26, 2006…. Plaintiff was in her bedroom when police entered her home. She “heard a crash and they barged into my home.” Dressed in a night gown without a bra or underwear beneath, she walked out of her bedroom, and saw men in black running up the stairs toward her with their guns drawn. Plaintiff states that she “did not hear the people say they were police officers or why they were there.” Officers forced her to the ground and tied her hands behind her back. At some point, it was made clear to Plaintiff that her home had been entered by law-enforcement officers.
Officers detained a total of five individuals, including Plaintiff, while they searched Plaintiff’s apartment for evidence relating to khat distribution. The other four detained individuals were men, and two of them were not members of Plaintiff’s family. This caused Plaintiff distress because her Muslim faith prohibits her from appearing in a state of undress or from appearing without a head scarf before unrelated males. Plaintiff is not a fluent English speaker, so she asked her uncle Mr. Hassan, who was also detained, to request a cover for her hair and body from police officers. Defendant Smith refused Plaintiff’s requests for modest clothing, and photographed her in the nightgown and without a head scarf. After taking the photographs, Defendant Smith placed a loose piece of cloth over Plaintiff’s head. Approximately one hour after the officers entered Plaintiff’s apartment, they moved the detainees outside. Plaintiff was still wearing nothing more than her nightgown. Because Defendant Smith had failed to secure the piece of cloth, it fell off Plaintiff’s head as she was walking outside. Plaintiff, whose hands were still tied behind her back, was unable to grab the cloth and cover herself.
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Arab News reports that an increasing number of Saudi youths (male) are finding that it doesn’t kill them to work in other than top-management positions. Being a ‘barista’ has its appeal, including a salary, it appears. I’m a bit surprised that this is being reported now. Back in 2005, the last time I went to a Starbucks in the Kingdom, a young Saudi took and prepared my order. Perhaps large numbers of Saudis are finding the job attractive and pushing out the foreign workers from the job slot…
Working in coffee shops proving attractive to young Saudis
MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Coffee kiosks around the streets of Jeddah have attracted a number of Saudi youths who have started joining a field of work previously dominated by foreigners. They even excel in preparing coffee and serving customers.
The new phenomenon, which is fast spreading, has brought happiness to citizens who are keen to see Saudi youths shouldering responsibility and beginning work at an early age.
Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, a young Saudi who joined one of these coffee shops, said he did not want to depend on his father for his daily expenses, so he approached one of the coffee shop companies and asked to be employed.
“The company welcomed me warmly and trained me on methods of making various types of coffee,” he told Arab News.
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Perhaps it’s just in time, too. Arab News also reports:
Arab News reports that King Abdullah has received the official report on the floods that wracked Jeddah late last year. The report carries recommendations for changes in infrastructure and relocating the residential district of Umm Al-Khair. More recommendations on drainage and dam projects are expected soon.
The report is not a criminal report, however, assaying the responsibility for inadequate drainage and improper real estate permits. That is still to come.
RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah received Friday a detailed report from Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal about the Nov. 25 floods that devastated many Jeddah districts.
Prince Khaled, who is chairman of the committee investigating the reasons behind the catastrophe, presented the report to the king during a function at his ranch in Janadriya.
The governor and his team briefed King Abdullah on the deaths and destruction caused by the floods, with the help of maps. The king also watched a documentary on the floods.
The floods caused the death of 123 people and destroyed 10,785 homes and 10,850 vehicles. Thirty people are still unaccounted for.
“Everybody listened to the directives of King Abdullah and his opinions about the catastrophe,” the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting an official statement.
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New technology brings new challenges. Saudi Arabia, with a society that is close and closed, has been grappling with how social media—texting, sites like Facebook, peer-to-peer communications and the like—are disrupting traditions that kept most things in life private.
Arab News reports that BlackBerry’s ‘Messenger’ service, which permits the transfer of various media directly from phone to phone, may be curtailed in the Kingdom due, apparently, to misuse. The closure seems to be the alternative to permitting government to access all such transfers.
BlackBerry Messenger ‘faces closure’
RIMA AL-MUKHTAR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Subscribers might soon be saying bye-bye to the BlackBerry — at least if they use the phone because of its unique messaging service.
“If I lose this service I would sell my BlackBerry,” said Jawaher Abbar, a college student in Jeddah. “Why would I keep it? I bought it especially for this service.”
Local media reports say the Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has asked Canada-based Research In Motion, the company that owns the popular mobile device, to allow the telecommunications regulator access to monitor messages sent by BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM. BBM is a special messaging service for BlackBerry phone users. For a monthly flat fee, BlackBerry owners can share messages, IM and multimedia with other BlackBerry owners.
Rumors have been spreading that the BBM service will stop on Saturday. The CITC was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz, meanwhile, reports that a District court verdict that condemned a man to prison and lashings has been overturned. The Appeals Court ruled that a print-out of a Facebook page was not sufficient evidence to show that the individual had actually done that of which he was accused. Courts should be wary, the Appeals Court said, of trying to deal with technologies that lay outside their expertise and need to call in experts to explain what is (or is not) going on.
The senior Saudi courts seem to be recognizing that traditional law interpretation and methods of resolving issues are wanting and need to be revised as part of the ongoing legal reform.
Facebook prison and lashings overturned
Talal LabanMAKKAH – The Appeals Court in Makkah has overturned the conviction of a man accused by his mother-in-law of “harassing” two of her daughters and “damaging their reputations” by publishing photographs of them on the internet site Facebook.
The 32-year-old man had been sentenced to three months in prison and 45 lashes of the whip by the District Court in Makkah following a 75-day investigation conducted by the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution based on the mother-in-law’s complaint, but the Appeals Court overruled the sentence based on evidence brought by the defendant’s lawyer, Ibrahim Zamzami.
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The case of arson at the Al-Jouf Literary Club comes in for more condemnation in the Saudi media, here Saudi Gazette/Okaz. Societies in transition are always fraught with frictions. When those frictions result in violence—as this arson and accompanying death threats—police measures need to be taken.
Al-Jouf Literary Club attacks a ‘return to the dark ages’
Ahmad Al-MuhaisanAL-JOUF – The recent arson attack on Al-Jouf Literary Club and the text message death threat received by its chairman have received rotund condemnation from various figures from the region’s literary scene.
Former president of the literary club Eid Al-Sahu described the relations between the club and society at large as “excellent”, saying that the club provides for a variety of services required by the public and serves to encourage a “cultural and literary spirit”.
“The arson attack was an odious act of hateful behavior which has a bad effect on the cultural movement, and whoever did it is misrepresenting the region and its level of culture,” Al-Sahu said.
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The Riyadh International Book Fair, now underway, has been the target for religious conservatives/extremists in the past. So far this year, the event seems to be going off without interruption. The unavailability of a novel, ‘She Throws Sparks’, by an award-winning Saudi author raised concerns that it had been pulled from the exhibition. Officials there say that in fact, it’s unavailable because all copies had been sold.