A new era has arrived in Saudi Arabia as King Salman has taken the reign and has moved immediately to insure stability at the top. An extent of the value the United States places is when the President cut short his visit to India to pay his respects--accompanied by a bi-partisan delegation of former Secretaries of State and key members of Congress:
Saudi Arabia is a challenging country as it changes. King Abdullah's 20 year reign was tumultuous. The Wahhabi Philosophy continues to be at the forefront as beheadings continue and people continue to be persecuted for their beliefs--as the case of the Saudi Blogger sentenced to 1000 lashes is self-evident here. But, it seems as if King Abdullah understood that he had to gradually change Saudi Arabia as noted in this snapshot published "On the Grid":
Saudi Arabia is a challenging country as it changes. King Abdullah's 20 year reign was tumultuous. The Wahhabi Philosophy continues to be at the forefront as beheadings continue and people continue to be persecuted for their beliefs--as the case of the Saudi Blogger sentenced to 1000 lashes is self-evident here. But, it seems as if King Abdullah understood that he had to gradually change Saudi Arabia as noted in this snapshot published "On the Grid":
But, people will ask for more as Saudi Arabia will have to deal with a number of challenges around it--including the collapse of Yemen and the raging insurgency in Egypt. As we went to press with this latest edition of "notations" we reviewed reports of Egyptians Soldiers being killed in a firefight with insurgents in the increasingly lawless Sinai Region. The current count is 42 Soldiers--based on the latest reporting from Al Jazeera.
This past 24 hours has also seen an escalation of tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. It was gratifying to see that Hezbollah has signaled that it is not interested in further escalating the conflict with Israel as Israeli Soldiers were killed in an apparent retaliation for an Israeli Drone Strike. It was unfortunate how the Foreign Minister of Israel slammed the Israeli Prime Minister for showing restraint.
As such changes are at hand, the plight of the ordinary man and woman continues to be ignored. Syrians and Iraqis continue to suffer as Palestinians continue their struggle for trying to survive from day to day. Iraqi Forces are being accused of a massacre in Diyala province as lawlessness continues ever more. The report from Jane Araaf at Al Jazeera is chilling on the details especially as Sunnis were targeted.
As the Middle East burns, what is ever so tragic is how the Young have been sacrified. One such brave voice spoke out which is noted below--it is telling how he expressed the hope and the frustration of the future generation:
