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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: 4, Informative) by edIII on Wednesday January 06 2016, @12:09AM
I believe the kingdom of Jordan (98.8% Muslim) qualifies as any:
It is a major tourist destination in the region and is especially popular with expat westerners seeking to live or study in its capital Amman.[14] Not only is the Kingdom considered the safest country in the Middle East, but also considered as the safest Arab country .[15] In midst of surrounding turmoil it has been greatly hospitable, accepting refugees from almost all surrounding conflicts as early as 1948, with most notably the estimated 2 million Palestinian refugees and the 1.5 million Syrian refugees residing in the country.[16] Jordan continues to demonstrate hospitality, despite the substantial strain the Syrian refugees are holding on national systems and infrastructure.[17] It is also the only safe refuge available to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State .[18] Pope Benedict described Jordan during his 2009 visit to the Holy Land as a model for Christian-Muslim co-existence.[19] 30% of population was Christian in 1950, however, due to many reasons (mainly the high rates of Muslim immigration) this percentage plummeted down to 6% in 2015.[20]
Although Jordan is a constitutional monarchy, the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is classified as a country of "high human development"[9] by the 2014 Human Development Report . Jordan has an "upper middle income" economy.[21] Jordan enjoys "advanced status" with the European Union since December 2010,[22] and it is a member of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area. It is also a founding member of the Arab League[23] and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The country is one of the top ten largest contributors to UN Peacekeeping troops.[24] Jordan has a well developed medical sector, making it a medical tourism destination . Also it has one of the world's highest life expectancies, over 80 years ranking it as the second highest in the entire MENA region .[25] Although Jordan has very few natural resources, it has large investments, the reason behind this is the country's highly skilled workforce .[26]
Jordan is quite modern in fact (in some areas better than the U.S by far), and Muslim people have given us important contributions to Geometry, Algebra, and Trigonometry historically. Nothing actually precludes Muslims from being peaceful, prosperous, and generous intrinsically. Jordan proves that.
All of that being said, yes, the Saudis and ruling family are a bunch of selfish assholes. That only speaks to that kingdom, and the people who put up with it, not the entire Muslim world.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @12:46AM
Wikipedia is not a valid source. Anyone can edit it and thus it should and will be ignored. I question your bias by stating that Muslim people gave us Geometry and Trig. Algebra yes, but the rest belong to the Greeks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @01:12AM
Whoa now, I just edited Wikipedia and it says Wikipedia is extremely reliable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @01:29AM
What does it matter if Muslims developed algebra in the middle ages? That was centuries ago. The West developed calculus, split the atom, went to the moon, and much more since then, things that Muslims did not do first nor on their own (up until 1979, the US was helping Iran develop its nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes).
People keep bringing up algebra, one contribution from hundreds of years ago; is it because the Muslims haven't done anything worthwhile or relevant since then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @01:43AM
They've been contributing to global population control you insensitive clod!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @04:52AM
From a species wide sense, we do have a serious population issue. If we don't get it under control, arguing about who invented math systems will be irrelevant as we regress back to the paleolithic or worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2016, @04:10AM
Looks like someone is censoring anything they disagree with here, just like Wikipedia editors.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday January 06 2016, @09:03AM
Not only that but the King is a Trekkie who was actually in one episide
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday January 06 2016, @12:15PM
He was also a ham radio operator with the ridiculous callsign JY1 (JY=Jordan and 1 is number 1). Unfortunately "was" he's been dead a decade or at least many years now. I never talked to him but he was reported to be a nice down to earth kinda guy, for a king.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday January 06 2016, @12:59PM
That was the last King (Abdullah). The current king (Abdullah II) was the prince when He was on voyager [wikia.com]. For a non-speaking extra it's a pretty long article!
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday January 06 2016, @01:00PM
Sorry, no, the last king was Hussein, not Abdulllah. It was his father who was Abdullah (1st)