Suchergebnisse

It is by no means easy to criticize the al-Saud monarchy from within the country, as Dr Saad Al-Faqih discovered in 1994 when he was cosignatory to a letter of grievance sent to the King. Following a period in the kingdom's jails, he was forced to leave the country. Exiled to London, this surgeon has created a veritable Saudi opposition party: the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA). As the name of his organization indicates, Dr Al-Faqih is a religious man whose diatribes against the Saudi elite draw as much from the Koran as from the growing resentment of his non-exiled compatriots. An expert in the arcane workings of power in Riyadh, he paints an uncompromising picture of the reigning family: corrupt & spineless, the Princes tear each other apart in their struggle for power, without any regard for the well-being of the Saudi people. For the moment, oil revenues still manage to keep the regime afloat, but in the shadow of the mosques, resentment is growing. Adapted from the source document.

Not many observers proffer predictions regarding the future of Algeria. This is a country enjoying a petro-dollar windfall & yet one that is incapable of improving the lot of its abandoned population. Offering its citizens nothing more than a cut-rate economy, the government veers between stirring up nationalist sentiment by clashing with France over its colonialist past, & reprising the myth of a strong state & regional leader. As for "national reconciliation," it is trying to give substance to the idea of a return to peace after a decade of "dirty war." But in reality, the government's primary objective is to consolidate Abdelaziz Bouteflika's power by giving amnesties to the two protagonists of the violence of the 1990s, the members of the security services & the Islamists, thus ensuring their gratitude. Outside Algeria, no one is complaining about the regime's censorship of independent media, of the arrest of rioters or pressures brought to bear on trade unionists. The regime can sleep easily. The big question is until when ... Adapted from the source document.