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from the when-elephants-argue-it-is-hard-on-the-ants dept.
Protest in Tehran after Saudis execute Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr
Saudi Arabia said Saturday it had executed 47 people in a single day, including a dissident Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, who had repeatedly spoken out against the government and the Saudi royal family.
Nimr had been convicted of inciting sectarian strife, sedition and other charges following his 2012 arrest.
Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival, summoned the Saudi ambassador in Tehran to condemn the execution, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. The Shiite-majority nation issued a statement deploring the execution and warning that Saudi Arabia would pay a heavy price for its policies.
Iranian Protesters Ransack Saudi Embassy After Execution of Shiite Cleric
Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Saudi Arabia executed an outspoken Shiite cleric who had criticized the kingdom's treatment of its Shiite minority.
The executions coincided with increased attacks in Saudi Arabia by the jihadists of the Islamic State and an escalating rivalry between the Sunni monarchy and Shiite Iran that is playing out in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Sheikh Nimr was an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy and was adopted as a symbolic leader by Shiite protesters in several Persian Gulf countries during the Arab Spring uprisings.
[More after the break.]
Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran as row over cleric's death escalates
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday, responding to the storming of its embassy in Tehran in an escalating row between the rival Middle East powers over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.
Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the envoy of Shi'ite Iran had been asked to quit Saudi Arabia within 48 hours. The kingdom, he said, would not allow the Islamic republic to undermine its security.
Jubeir said the attack in Tehran was in line with what he said were earlier Iranian assaults on foreign embassies there and with Iranian policies of destabilizing the region by creating "terrorist cells" in Saudi Arabia.Speaking on Iranian state television, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Tehran's first response that by cutting diplomatic ties, Riyadh could not cover up "its major mistake of executing Sheikh Nimr".
The United States, Saudi Arabia's biggest backer in the West, responded by encouraging diplomatic engagement and calling for leaders in the region to take "affirmative steps" to reduce tensions
So what do you think; Is this another normal spat between regional leaders looking for their interest on the region, or a signal of worse things to come?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 05 2016, @11:05PM
Stay The Hell Out Of This (TM) and, as a nation, work on getting thorium fission, etc., going. The only reason the Saudis are anything but another tribe of murderous maniacs is Western involvement in the region. Washington WARNED us about this, dammit!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Snow on Tuesday January 05 2016, @11:09PM
The west is too short sighted to be investing money in things like 'Energy Research'.
Oh no, when it's time for Thorium Reactors, we will be buying our designs from China and India (as they have been actively funding this type of research for quite some time now). Ironic, no? It wasn't too long ago when we sold our reactor designs to them.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 05 2016, @11:16PM
But atomic energy is s-s-scary! I didn't do any research but I've played all the Fallout games! Invest in green energy today!
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday January 06 2016, @08:58AM
Atomic energy makes things glow green, so that's ok
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @12:34AM
Thorium research is being developed and funded by the federal government. The US and friends are at the forefront of the technology. China and India are half a decade behind. Why else do you think they keep trying to hack into R&D servers?
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday January 06 2016, @04:02AM
Perhaps. China and India will be the first to actually gain experience operating thorium reactors while the West (except perhaps France) will be NIMBYing themselves into 3rd world status.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 05 2016, @11:11PM
If only we had applied Stay-The-Hell-Out-Of-This™ from the get-go. The world would be a much different place.
And I would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling foreign nations!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 05 2016, @11:58PM
Form a Non-Meddler party, and it just may pick up 20% of the votes. Not enough to bring about instant change, but enough to start nudging and embarrassing the meddlers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @12:37AM
If we stayed out of it, tens of millions at minimum would have likely died. Israel would be wiped from existence. A second holocaust would have happened successfully. Shia or Sunni, which one would be buried along with Jewish and Kurdish peoples no one can say.
Is the world a better place for our involvement or not? Another answer no one can say with certainty.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday January 06 2016, @02:59PM
Yeah but those are Other People. Maybe if we'd Stayed The Hell Out of the Middle East 9/11 wouldn't have happened.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday January 06 2016, @11:11AM
Even if there wasn't a drop of oil in that entire region the USA would still be getting involved in the middle east due to the simple fact that those running the USA want Israel to carry out their part to set the stage for the Second Coming of Christ. Any nation that is a threat to Israel gets sanctions and worse to prevent them from wiping Israel off the face of the map. Why else would the USA give a fuck about what happens to Israel? It has no resources, no strategic value and no oil, but it DOES control the area containing Jerusalem.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 06 2016, @06:53PM
Uuuugh...I had almost forgotten that, yeah :/ Sometimes I think the only difference between the Taliban and the Dominionists is whether they shave or not.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...