"No nation can stand still," Straw said. "The challenge for Saudi Arabia ... is to adapt to this changing world reality while preserving all that is good and admirable in its society.
"Without reform, frustrated aspirations for change may fuel resentment and strengthen those forces who wish to destroy all that the society holds dear."
Hmmm...wonder if Bush's State of the Union speech had anything to with this.
Saudi women given the right to vote?!?!? What is this, Bizarro world?
Yeah !
Next they'll be wanting to do that here !! [:@]
OMG !!! They already do !!!!! Doh !!!
LOL! I'm fixing to catch a plane. I've got to go over there and put a stop to this nonsense. They don't know how good they have it. If their not happy with a wife, they can just go out and marry some more. They don't have to put up with women drivers. And they don't have to worry about the Hillary Clintons of the world running their country.
Seriously, this just blows my mind. I thought women over there had no rights, and then Aught posts this out of nowhere on me. I would have figured something like this wouldn't have a snowball's chance in El Paso of even being mentioned, much less considered.
__________________
You may beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride!
The thing that gets me is the quote from the article.
Quote:
"Without reform, frustrated aspirations for change may fuel resentment and strengthen those forces who wish to destroy all that the society holds dear."
The "forces" currently doing battle against the Saudi royal family are extremist Wahabis. They are Islamic fundamentalists and certainly don't want to offer any rights to women. In other words, by allowing universal suffrage, the House of Saud is only going to inflame them even more than they are now.
So, in other words, if Saudi Arabia doesn't change with the times, who are they afraid of frustrating? I mentioned the '05 State of the Union Address because of the following excerpt.
Quote:
In the long-term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America and other free nations for decades. The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom. (Applause.) Our enemies know this, and that is why the terrorist Zarqawi recently declared war on what he called the "evil principle" of democracy. And we've declared our own intention: America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. (Applause.)
The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else. That is one of the main differences between us and our enemies. They seek to impose and expand an empire of oppression, in which a tiny group of brutal, self-appointed rulers control every aspect of every life. Our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect their own cultures. And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace. (Applause.)
...
Quote:
To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to fight the common threat of terror, while we encourage a higher standard of freedom. Hopeful reform is already taking hold in an arc from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain. The government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the region by expanding the role of its people in determining their future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East. (Applause.)
I don't fully understand the legislative system of Saudi Arabia, but they do have some kind of governing council that is chosen by the king.
I just copied this from the CIA World Factbook:
Quote:
elections: note - in October 2003, Council of Ministers announced its intent to introduce elections for half of the members of local and provincial assemblies and a third of the members of the national Consultative Council or Majlis al-Shura, incrementally over a period of four to five years; in November 2004, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs initiated voter registration for partial municipal council elections scheduled nationwide for February through April 2005
Saudi Women To Vote?
OMG !!! They already do !!!!! Doh !!! 
