Saudi diplomat speaks of U.S. "intellectual arrogance"

[Judi Lynn]

Saudi diplomat speaks of U.S. "intellectual arrogance"
2 hours, 48 minutes ago

By Andrea Orr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States said on Friday that his country was staunchly opposed to terrorism and had moved to discipline the clerics who had helped spread an anti-Western message before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

(snip) But in remarks that were carefully balanced, Bin Sultan, a former fighter pilot, also said that America's dominance in world affairs brought risks of its own.


"I personally feel it's not in America's interest to be the only game in town. It costs money and no one says thank you," he said during an address to the World Affairs Council.


Bin Sultan also said he saw "a little bit of intellectual arrogance," in the popular American notion that democracy was a "cure all" for all the world's problems. (snip/...)

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[DeathvadeR]

1. holy crap they have caught on to our evil plan.

Bin Sultan also said he saw "a little bit of intellectual arrogance," in the popular American notion that democracy was a "cure all" for all the world's problems.

Church

[Carmerian]

2. Yeah

Too bad we can't have democracy here :(

[Maple]

3. I loved the line

"If you watch the media you think everybody and their mother is an (Osama) bin Laden supporter, and that's not true."

[truthisfreedom]

4. Democracy? that thing where they count your vote?

don't the saudi's realize that the whole concept is just a coffeehouse hipster intelligentsia theory? they have nothing to fear. we have no proof that Democracy exists.

[Demboy04]

5. why saudis need to stop talking

saudis should be the last people criticizing us, and if anything, their brutal regime should learn to just keep its mouth shut and just stick to what they knew best, selling oil, because that is all they are useful for, if only we knew what was blacked out in those 28 pages......then I'd really rail on them

I dont see whats so bad about democracy, maybe those bastards oughta give it a try....o wait they wont because they're too busy oppressing their people and trying to be pro-western at the same time......IDIOTS, yea yea it sure sucks to be a superpower....leave the whining to us, we just got a 87 billion dollar tab to pick up.....

[Erika]

7. House of Saud and House of Bush

The Bush family and the Saudis have been business friends for decades. Bush is a corporate globalist that has zero interest in raising the standard of living for America. Zero interest.

[FlemingsGhost]

9. If it pleases the court, I give you exhibit "A"...

Thanks, dude.

I think I see what Bin Sultan is talking about.

[Webster Green]

6. Arrogance...yes

Intellectual?....not much of that in *'s foreign policies.

[E_Zapata]

8. A monarchy is issuing an opinion about democracy?

next panelist, please.

[emad]

11. Saudi is a theocratic dictatorship

with an absolute monarch as its head but is not a typical monarchy -eg Jordan has a king, democratic elections (including universal suffrage) and democratic institutions. Bahrain is moving in that general direction and there is a similar movement in the UAE. Flawed and imperfect but moving in the right direction and a million miles away from the totalitarian oppression that Poppy's chum Bandar calls monarchy.

This leads to an important point: in a mature democracy, all the ministers of state should be elected by secret ballot and the executive powers of the elected head of government should tow the line according to the country's constitution, and widely accepted international standards such as the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Look at what is wrong with the US: only Bush and Cheney were actually 'elected' by means of universal suffrage/secret ballot. No one actually cast a vote for any of the Bush/Cheney ministerial team. And yet this is deemed 'democracy'. In the UK, apart from constitutionally anomalous roles like Lord Chancellor (who gets a cabinet seat without standing for office), all major ministerial roles at cabinet level are fulfilled by democratically elected members of parliament - ie.accountable to parliament and accountale to the electorate.

And another thing: under the present US so called democratic system, Bush has been able to openly flaunt the Geneva Convention and the UDHR. Detention without trial is the last resort of the shit scared who cannot justify their own status quo. The prisoners in Guantanamo are as deserving of full legal rights to a fair and open trial as anyone else - regardless of the heinous nature of their alleged crimes. Denial of these is a fundamental denial of their rights under the UDHR.

This state of affairs is the direct result of having a system of government whereby financial patronage by faceles corporations bankrolls scoundrels, idiots, liars and freaks into office, without a single democratically cast vote actually being cast for any members of the supporting team that sustains and promotes the highest office in the land.

[lanlady]

10. good quote:

Bin Sultan, who has served as Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. since 1983, even joked about the two Bush presidencies: "It shows you guys are going in the direction toward monarchy. So don't knock it."

He ought to know, isn't he a big friend and enabler of the Bush crime syndicate?