Saudi Arabia Mobilises Troops: Provinces in Revolt as the Empire Declines

[girl gone mad]

via http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2011/03/hunayn-revolution-awakening-comes-to.html">Jesse:

Saudis Mobilise Thousands of Troops to Quell Growing Revolt
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudis-mobilise-thousands-of-troops-to-quell-growing-revolt-2232928.html">The Independent
By Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent
Saturday, 5 March 2011

Saudi Arabia was yesterday drafting up to 10,000 security personnel into its north-eastern Shia Muslim provinces, clogging the highways into Dammam and other cities with busloads of troops in fear of next week's "day of rage" by what is now called the "Hunayn Revolution".

Saudi Arabia's worst nightmare – the arrival of the new Arab awakening of rebellion and insurrection in the kingdom – is now casting its long shadow over the House of Saud. Provoked by the Shia majority uprising in the neighbouring Sunni-dominated island of Bahrain, where protesters are calling for the overthrow of the ruling al-Khalifa family, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is widely reported to have told the Bahraini authorities that if they do not crush their Shia revolt, his own forces will.

The opposition is expecting at least 20,000 Saudis to gather in Riyadh and in the Shia Muslim provinces of the north-east of the country in six days, to demand an end to corruption and, if necessary, the overthrow of the House of Saud. Saudi security forces have deployed troops and armed police across the Qatif area – where most of Saudi Arabia's Shia Muslims live – and yesterday would-be protesters circulated photographs of armoured vehicles and buses of the state-security police on a highway near the port city of Dammam.

Although desperate to avoid any outside news of the extent of the protests spreading, Saudi security officials have known for more than a month that the revolt of Shia Muslims in the tiny island of Bahrain was expected to spread to Saudi Arabia. Within the Saudi kingdom, thousands of emails and Facebook messages have encouraged Saudi Sunni Muslims to join the planned demonstrations across the "conservative" and highly corrupt kingdom. They suggest – and this idea is clearly co-ordinated – that during confrontations with armed police or the army next Friday, Saudi women should be placed among the front ranks of the protesters to dissuade the Saudi security forces from opening fire.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudis-mobilise-thousands-of-troops-to-quell-growing-revolt-2232928.html">more...

[liberaltrucker]

1. Shouldn't this be in LBN?

:shrug:

[druidity33]

2. probably...

but i'll take it where i get it. Fisk is a good source too.

K&R.

:shrug:

[jtuck004]

3. Goodbye oil, hello Depression.

On the bright side, we can now begin to measure the work of the people who wrote books forecasting the cost of oil and what a driver it would be for innovation.

I personally think most of them are a day late and a dollar short, so to speak - that it will happen faster than most imagine, and more by specualation. But the scenarios are going to provide some real challenges, and heartbreak.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Oboy, a two-fer: oil crash AND a revolution.

Interesting times indeed.

[pscot]

4. The median age in S.A.

is about 15, IIRC; large numbers of young people witout much of a future. The potential for an explosion is probably high.

[jacquelope]

6. It's called a youth bulge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_bulge#Youth_bulge

When something like this happens you can guarantee that there'll be conflicts brewing.

[Selatius]

7. Soooo......if Saudi Arabia uses troops to kill its own civilian.........do we impose a No-Fly Zone??

Anyone?

[bemildred]

8. Bwaaa Haaa Haaa Haaa ....

Good one. That would probably be the one thing that could get our troops out of Afghanistan.
:hi:

[GliderGuider]

9. Snicker.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

[bemildred]

10. Speaking of which: Saudi king orders more handouts, security boost

(Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah offered on Friday billions of dollars in handouts and boosted his security and religious police forces, opting for a mixture of carrot and stick rather than political reform to shield the world's top oil exporter from unrest rocking the Arab world.

The rare televised address to the nation was devoid of any concessions on political rights in a country where the public square is dominated by the Saudi royal family, political parties are banned and there is no elected parliament.

There was no word either on a much-anticipated reshuffle of a cabinet where the main posts are held by senior Saudi princes, some of whom have been in the job for over four decades.

"I was seriously disappointed to be honest. The least we expect is to establish a constitutional monarchy and freeing (political) prisoners," said Mohammed al-Qahtani, a prominent reformist. "Is this going to be enough for the people? I don't think so."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/us-saudi-king-idUSTRE72H2UQ20110318