Clueless Obama Bows Before Saudi King

US President Barack Obama, center, back to camera, greets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, center, before the official G20 leaders group photo with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at London's Buckingham Palace, Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

(AP Photo/John Stillwell/pool)

Obama bows before his boss, the Saudi oil tick.

This is really Obama's first big date with other world leaders, though he has met with President Lula and Prime Minister Gordon Brown before. Catch the slide that has Obama doing a curtsy in front of Saudi King Abdullah!!

We never heard the end of it when Bush held his hand while they walked together. I wonder if the left will be yukking it up over this?

Is Obama that stupid he doesn't know only his subjects bow before him?

Apparently so.

Update: Thanks to Michelle Malkin for the link, and if you had any doubt what Obama was doing, here's the video.

Saudi Headchoppers to Lead UN Conference on 'Religious Tolerance'

Is this some kind of sick joke?

Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Islamic kingdom that forbids the public practice of other religious faiths, will preside Wednesday over a two-day U.N. conference on religious tolerance that will draw more than a dozen world leaders, including President Bush, Israeli President Shimon Peres and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The event is part of a personal initiative by Saudi King Abdullah to promote an interfaith dialogue among the world's major religions. The Saudi leader agreed for the first time to dine in the same room with the Israeli president at a private, pre-conference banquet Tuesday hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But Ban hinted that the two leaders -- whose governments do not have diplomatic relations -- were not seated at the same table.

"Normally, in the past, they have not been sitting in the same place like this. That is very important and encouraging," Ban said. "I wholeheartedly support the convening of the interfaith meeting that will be held here at headquarters tomorrow. The values it aims to promote are common to all the world's religions and can help us fight extremism, prejudice and hatred."

We're now officially living in bizarro world when those who are the most intolerant and preach hatred of others are leading an alleged interfaith dialogue. I think I'm going to be ill.

HRW: Saudi Women Treated Like Children

Those damn conservatives.

Saudi Arabia's rigid sex segregation, compulsory male guardianship of women and other "grossly discriminatory" policies are a denial of fundamental rights, a leading human rights watchdog says today.

Women are treated like legal minors who have no authority over their lives or their children, finds a new report by Human Rights Watch.

The depth and detail of discrimination was laid bare in more than 100 interviews conducted during HRW's first fact-finding visit to the oil-rich, conservative kingdom, where King Abdullah is often described as a cautious reformist.

"The Saudi government sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women," concluded Farida Deif, HRW researcher for the Middle East. "Saudi women won't make any progress until the government ends the abuses that stem from these misguided policies."

Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, normally a father or a husband, who is tasked with making a range of critical decisions. And even when permission from a guardian is not mandatory some officials still ask for it "because current practice assumes women have no power to make their own decisions" over medical procedures or discharge from hospital.

Women are "marginalised almost to the point of total exclusion" from the country's workforce, the report says. And since Saudi women are banned from driving, a large proportion of their salaries goes on paying for transportation.

Isn't 7th century living wonderful?

Representatives from the National Association of Gals were unavailable for comment.

Saudis Take Unscheduled Detour Into 21st Century

Gee, this is mighty big of the oil ticks.

A gang-rape victim who was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for being alone with a man not related to her was pardoned by the Saudi king after the case sparked rare criticism from the United States, the kingdom's top ally.

Outrage over the sentence prompted unusually strong comments from President Bush, who said that if the same thing had happened to one of his daughters, he would be "angry" at a government that didn't protect the victim. The White House called the sentence "outrageous."

In past weeks, Saudi officials have bristled at the criticism of what they consider an internal affair—but also appeared wary of hurting their image in the United States.

Bush's National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the White House thinks the Saudi king "he made the right decision" by pardoning the woman.

With the pardon, King Abdullah appeared to be aiming at relieving the pressure from the United States without being seen to criticize Saudi Arabia's conservative legal system, a stronghold of powerful clerics adhering to the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.

Previously.

Saudi King Invites Little Hitler to Hajj

Good thing they're our friends. Otherwise, who knows who they might consort with.

The king of U.S.-allied Saudi Arabia has invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend this year's haj in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

It would be the first time an Iranian president was officially invited to take part in the annual pilgrimage, starting later this month, the official IRNA news agency said.

Like other Gulf Arab states, Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has long been wary of its large Shi'ite Muslim neighbor and shares Western concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"Saudi King Abdullah has formally invited President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take part in this year's haj ceremony," Iran's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Hosseini, was quoted as saying by state television.

The five-day rites are expected to begin on December 18.

Expect a stampede no later than December 21.

Oil Tick Denounces U.S.

This piece of garbage should thanks his stars we stopped Saddam Hussein back in 1991. Considering 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from his hellhole, he has a hell of a lot of nerve talking such trash.

King Abdullah denounced the American military presence in Iraq on Wednesday as an "illegitimate foreign occupation" and called on the West to end its financial embargo against the Palestinians.

The Saudi monarch's speech was a strongly worded lecture to Arab leaders that their divisions had helped fuel turmoil across the Middle East, and he urged them to show unity. But in opening the Arab summit, Abdullah also nodded to hardliners by criticizing the U.S. presence in Iraq.

"In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war," said the king, whose country is a U.S. ally that quietly aided the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Hopefully, there will come a day when we're free of any oil dependence on these lowlifes and I really hope they get what's coming.