Despite criticism and complaints, MIT won't cut ties to Saudi Arabia
MIT won't sever its financial and research ties to Saudi Arabian government groups over the brutal killing of a journalist, despite the urging of many faculty and students, and complaints by some of the university's female researchers that they face more restrictions than their male colleagues when working in the Saudi kingdom.
On Wednesday, MIT president, L. Rafael Reif, denounced the behavior of the Saudi regime for violating human rights but rejected calls to unilaterally pull out of engagements in the Middle Eastern country.
MIT needs to provide faculty autonomy to decide whether they want to remain on the current projects and can't abandon those in Saudi Arabia, including alumni, who are trying to modernize the kingdom, Reif said.
"MIT utterly condemns such brutal human rights violations, discrimination and suppression of dissent, including the murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Reif said in a message to the MIT community. "Nevertheless, I hope we can respond to present circumstances in a way that does not suddenly reject, abandon, or isolate worthy Saudi people who share our principles and are doing good work."
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Thursday February 07 2019, @08:31PM
No they're not: https://www.innocenceproject.org/dna-exonerations-in-the-united-states/ [innocenceproject.org]
And as the other anon said, if you just google "drug war nixon blacks" this will explain the underlying issue: http://www.aei.org/publication/the-shocking-and-sickening-story-behind-nixons-war-on-drugs-that-targeted-blacks-and-anti-war-activists/ [aei.org]
And when you add up the fact almost no one bothered covering this [wikipedia.org] you start realizing the US choice of allies befits its moral character much like how people make friends whether it's Britain, Saudi Arabia or Israel.
And btw, this is coming from a guy who happens to support Israel and the US in most cases since I acknowledge the other side of the equation is Russia and China and they're just more of the same.
compiling...