Saudi Arabia bans Facebook?

Slashdot:

gandhi_2 sends in a brief Associated Press piece on Saudi Arabia's blocking of Facebook. "An official with Saudi Arabia's communications authority says it has blocked Facebook because the popular social networking website doesn't conform with the kingdom's conservative values. ... He says Facebook's content had 'crossed a line' with the kingdom's conservative morals, but that blocking the site is a temporary measure." Some reports indicate that at least some individual Facebook pages can be reached from inside the kingdom. There hasn't been an official announcement; the source noted above requested anonymity. Earlier this year when Pakistan and Bangladesh banned Facebook, it was over particular content — cartoons of Mohammed — and the Saudi ban may prove similar once more details emerge.

Meanwhile, Turkey is more excited...



I chatted with a few Turks about this. It narrates the singer meeting his love on Facebook. He's one of those idiot celebrities who's disdained by most people in the country.

Bush is not bowing

Little Green Footballs claims this is an instance of Bush bowing like Obama did, and the post made memeorandum.

But this is not a bow, Bush is actually receiving a medallion in the source video.

"Smart diplomacy" ? I'd say questionable...

Bowing to a Saudi king?

Gifting the Queen of England an iPod?

Gifting the Prime Minister a set of 25 classic American movies that won't play in European DVD players?

C'mon Obama -- you're a Harvard-educated lawyer, not Sarah "you can see Russia" Palin -- or George "looked into his soul" Bush.

Why, even the Bush administration could give decent gifts:

President and Mrs. Bush gave Her Majesty a bronze statuette “High Desert Princess” with a personal inscription on the bottom of the base. It is a replica of the original life size statue that is located in front of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas.

President and Mrs. Bush gave The Prince Philip an exclusive sterling silver eagle box by Tiffany & Co. with personal inscription on the inside lid.

President and Mrs. Bush gave Their Majesties a leather presentation box filled with a collection of documents from the National Archives. One of the items was a copy of an original letter from President Roosevelt to her father, King George, written in 1938. There were also photos from previous royal visits and a DVD of the footage from the Queen’s visit to the United States when she was Princess Elizabeth in 1951.

As for bowing to a Saudi, I'm not sure it's more perturbing...


Personally, I'd rather bow and get it over with.

ThinkProgress offers another flashback:

President Obama — in a departure from President Bush — has made a point during his G20 visit to emphasize that the economic crisis demands a collective global response. Indeed, in a phone call with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last October about the financial collapse, Rudd told Bush that the best response should involve the broader G20, including China — while Bush wanted response to be handled within the G7. Bush, however, reportedly didn’t have a clue what the G20 was:

Informed sources have confirmed the discussion took place on a speaker telephone with a Rudd staffer taking notes.
After the President explained the pressure from Europe for a G7-brokered action on supporting the credit sector and reforming regulation, Rudd immediately insisted the G20 was the solution.

Rudd was then stunned to hear Bush say: “What’s the G20?” 

Um, yeah.  I think we traded up. And not just a little...

I also think this helps explain why Clinton makes a decent Secretary of State. She's surely better at protocol-droidness than the Obamas, though hardly without her own gaffes.

Quagmire in southwest Asia

How did we get there? Realist Stephen Walt has a five-step summary.

But there is also some recent good news.

Man, 47 "marries" girl, 8

CNN:

A Saudi judge recently refused to annul a marriage between an 8-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man -- a union apparently arranged by the girl's father to settle his debts -- a lawyer in the case told CNN.

On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother because she "is not the legal guardian of the girl," the woman's lawyer Abdullah al-Jutaili said.

"Therefore, she cannot represent her daughter in these proceedings," al-Jutaili said.

Her parents are separated, he said.

According to the lawyer, the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, who is "a close friend" of his.

The judge did ask for a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili.

The judge ruled that when the girl reaches puberty, she will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.

ToTheCenter:

Too young to be a mother, but old enough to be a wife, the refusal of Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man has triggered intense debate this week inside the very conservative kingdom.

"It is incorrect to say that it's not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger," Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, said Wednesday, Jan. 14, in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. "A girl aged ten or twelve can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her."

But Rick Warren thinks we mustn't change the "5,000 year-old definition of marriage".