80
votes
Why would a Western country sanction Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's possible killing?
It's especially an issue for the US because Jamal Khashoggi is an immigrant and permanent resident to the US.
The Washington Post reported on 9 October that "US intelligence intercepted ...
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53
votes
Accepted
Why has Russia declined OPEC's request to cut oil production?
Disclaimer: I'm no expert, this answer is based on my modest understanding of the situation at play.
The OPEC decision to cut oil production was meant to keep prices high: if every OPEC country were ...
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51
votes
Why is the media concerned about the sharia and the treatment of women in Afghanistan, but not in Saudi Arabia?
It's a little disingenuous to say they're not concerned about it, as much as it is to use 'the media' to describe a highly textured and diverse industrial sector.
That said, the status of women in ...
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47
votes
Why would a Western country sanction Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's possible killing?
First, civilization is based on doing things that don't directly benefit them. Sanctions can be based on moral concerns, without reference to interests.
Second, acting in support of morality even ...
- 7,841
41
votes
Accepted
Why did Saudi Arabia not allow women to drive?
Internal reasoning in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA): It's for women's benefit
Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan, a judicial adviser to an association of Gulf psychologists, recently told a Saudi ...
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36
votes
Why is the media concerned about the sharia and the treatment of women in Afghanistan, but not in Saudi Arabia?
This question is starting out from a false assumption, that the media does not regularly cover, mostly in a negative fashion, events in Saudi Arabia concerning both sharia and its treatment of women.
...
35
votes
Accepted
Why is Saudi Arabia "sitting on the fence" on Ukraine?
Here is a frame challenge to the question: it isn't, necessarily.
The linked article moves smoothly from talking about countries that actually abstained from "voting on Ukraine," by which I ...
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32
votes
Accepted
Why would a country grant citizenship to a robot?
I think you have answered your own question (emphasis mine):
Sophia made global headlines when she was granted Saudi citizenship, making the kingdom the first country in the world to offer its ...
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29
votes
Accepted
What countries voted for letting Saudi Arabia join the UN women's rights commission?
According to the United Nations press release, the election was conducted using a secret ballot. In a secret ballot, there is no way to know who voted for a particular candidate.
To help you out a ...
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26
votes
Why do the Saudis want Al-Jazeera to be shut down?
Basically, it's because Al Jazeera has more freedom in their reporting than other Saudi Arabian networks and the network doesn't always portray other Arab nations in a good light. As Al Jazeera has ...
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25
votes
Why has Russia declined OPEC's request to cut oil production?
The reason Russia didn’t want to do a production cut is because the US is not participating in this, since the US is also not part of OPEC and actually leaves all the oil production to market forces ...
- 251
24
votes
Why are most US news programs silent about Iran-Saudi deal announced at Beijing on March 10th?
I think this gets a bit more oversold in China, relative to the US, that's why you're so surprised. Coverage does exist, at least in [digital] "print", sometimes actually quite laudatory of ...
- 133k
23
votes
Accepted
Were there any sanctions for the Khashoggi assassination?
As you can read on the wikipedia article on the topic, the direct reactions from most governments was mostly symbolic in form of official statements condemning the assassination, calls for ...
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22
votes
Accepted
Who supplies Saudi Arabia with weapons?
Who supplies Saudi-Arabia with weapons?
As you can read on the Wikipedia article on the Royal Saudi Air Force and Saudi-Arabian ground forces, Saudi Arabia has the following aircraft capable of ...
- 74.6k
21
votes
Accepted
Why does the U.S. still consider Iran an enemy and not a potential partner?
Iran's foreign policy frequently conflicts with US goals and values. There are several grievances that cause the US to view Iran adversarially, including:
Iran finances and arms groups such as Hamas ...
- 4,497
20
votes
Why are most US news programs silent about Iran-Saudi deal announced at Beijing on March 10th?
In addition to my comments that suggest part of this is American News Media has a historically poor record for covering international stories unless it is a tragedy OR involves U.S. interests in some ...
- 16k
18
votes
Why would US NOT sanction Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's possible killing?
I found this comment to be insightful
But the House of Saud always had an almost literal killer counterargument, that they were probably better than any regime that would replace them. Often the ...
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17
votes
Why would a Western country sanction Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's possible killing?
It remains to be seen whether any sanctions will actually occur, and whether they wind up being token sanctions or meaningful ones.
Some of the US political reaction might well be genuine because of ...
- 7,451
16
votes
Why do Iran and Saudi Arabia share the same "age of majority"?
Some remarks:
First: It is not "8 for girls, 14 for boys"; It is 9 for girls and 15 for boys (Lunar year).
Second: It is not true that "only Iran and Saudi Arabia use this law", ...
- 6,211
15
votes
Why has Russia declined OPEC's request to cut oil production?
The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, has long been convinced that the OPEC deal "plays into the hands of the United States" by making its shale oil industry profitable. Allegedly he finally managed to ...
- 2,334
14
votes
Why are war atrocities in Yemen reported less often than war atrocities in other conflicts?
You're not alone in thinking that the war in the Yemen is under-reported. Medium ranked it as the top underreported stort of 2015 and even the normally reserved BBC described it thus:
...the war in ...
- 1,584
14
votes
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Differences between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn's opinion on selling arms to Saudi Arabia?
Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly said he would stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia. He said:
Labour will re-examine the arms export licensing regulations to ensure that all British arms exports are ...
- 8,427
13
votes
Why is the media concerned about the sharia and the treatment of women in Afghanistan, but not in Saudi Arabia?
What's happening in Afghanistan is "news". During the US occupation of Afghanistan, the Afghan government had been making progress in its treatment of women. With the Taliban taking over, ...
- 9,016
13
votes
What does China have to gain from renewed ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran?
Stability.
If tensions rise, oil trade could be affected and affect very negatively China, both because of increasingly expensive oil for China and because the economy of China's customers would also ...
- 30.5k
12
votes
Accepted
Are there political reasons why Turkey would want to catch Saudi Arabian agents committing a crime?
Turkey and Saudi Arabia are the two biggest Sunni economies in the world, and until 2011, were aligned economically and militarily. However, they had a major difference of opinion on the subject of ...
- 17k
12
votes
Why is Saudi Arabia "sitting on the fence" on Ukraine?
The quote may somewhat incorrectly lead someone to believe that KSA might have voted against the resolution (condemning Russia for invading Ukraine) when the KSA didn't do that. (KSA doing that would ...
- 133k
11
votes
"Some 40 countries... on the sidelines of the (Russia v. Ukraine) war were invited to talks... in Saudi Arabia" Who was/wasn't invited? Who declined?
The list of attendees was published by the Saudi embassy in Washington:
The countries and organizations that participated in the meeting chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia include: the Argentine ...
CDJB♦
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10
votes
Why does the U.S. still consider Iran an enemy and not a potential partner?
On the paper, at least Iran seems as a country more worthy of a partnership. Iran is a more moderate and modern country with more educated population. Their diplomats rarely get caught abusing staff ...
- 341
10
votes
Accepted
Is there an official website to check if Saudi Arabia is member of the United Nations human rights council
Yes, the UN Human Rights Commission
Current Membership of the Human Rights Council, 1 January - 31 December 2016
Saudi Arabia 2016
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10
votes
Accepted
Why is there always a tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran?
The root cause is religious: Saudi Arabia is Sunni Muslim; Iran is Shia Muslim. A schism followed the death of the prophet in 632 and the conflicts over his succession that resulted. The relationship ...
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