AL catches this interesting development about Saudi women:

The kingdom’s first hotel exclusively for females opened yesterday, offering plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities for ladies to pamper themselves, away from the accusing eyes of a male-dominated society.

“Inside this physical structure, we are all women,” said the Luthan Hotel’s executive director Lorraine Coutinho. “We even have bell-women. We are women-owned, women-managed and women-run, from our IT engineer to our electrical engineer.

I see potential for a lot of subversion in something like this. Not that I ever will, but let’s say I’m a moderate Western businessperson and I have need to do something in the Kingdom. I’d patronize this place just for the statement it makes. I’d like to believe some of the women who own it also encourage other women to strike it out for themselves. Kingdom women are so restricted, but I bet they are just as competitive businesspeople as men. What do you think? Can anything good come from “gender apartheid?”

Just because they’re my favorite people today, let’s review how much the Saudi government sucks. At least she didn’t turn him into a newt.

In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice.

The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.

Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.

Human Rights Watch said that Ms Falih had exhausted all her chances of appealing against her death sentence and she could only now be saved if King Abdullah intervened.  Read more 

In a sane world, this would be explosive news that would lead to world governments coming together in a massive judicial and law enforcement effort. Can I call their BFFs “traitors” now, please? Wild-eyed conspiracy foilsheet The Guardian

Saudi Arabia’s rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced “another 7/7” and the loss of “British lives on British streets” if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.  Read more 

I was waiting to see what Juan Cole had to say about this matter from yesterday, as he is The Source on the ins and outs of politics in this entire region. He did not let me down:

King Abdullah followed up on these harsh criticisms of the US by cancelling his planned appearance at a White House dinner in April. The Saudi royal family is fit to be tied that Bush gave Iraq away to fundamentalist Shiite parties that have close ties to Iran.

Although the Saudi statement is remarkable for its brutal frankness and coldness toward the United States, its real significance is its slam of the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Abdullah has not only said that the US presence is an illegal occupation, he has said that the al-Maliki government is nothing more than Shiite sectarian hegemony. The Saudis are known for their behind the scenes diplomacy and their public discretion. King Abdullah is hopping mad, to talk this way.  Read more 

Um, George? The Boss is on Line 2. You might want to take this one sir….Rove? Not this time. Cheney? Nope, somebody who trumps even him. Sir, I really don’t think the Chief of Protocol can handle this one….

So Froom a couple of hours ago (quoting Jim Hoagland) notes:

“President Bush enjoys hosting formal state dinners about as much as having a root canal. Or proposing tax increases. So his decision to schedule a mid-April White House gala for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah signified the president’s high regard for an Arab monarch who is also a Bush family friend.

“Now the White House ponders what Abdullah’s sudden and sparsely explained cancellation of the dinner signifies. Nothing good — especially for Condoleezza Rice’s most important Middle East initiatives — is the clearest available answer.”

Um, Dan? That answer turned up just about an hour later (damn deadlines anyway) and in the NYT:

Saudi King Condemns US Occupation of Iraq.  Read more 

I can add little to this excellent Rozen report, but I would like to make one point. The age in which people all over the world are happy to be oppressed, told how to live and what to think, is ending. Not just here, where fat and comfortable Americans can sit around and feel all radical while they read blogs and use curse words about Bush, but also abroad. Not everything is changing because of the Internet, but rapid, open communication has let loose a genie that won’t go back into the bottle. That genie is one in which people can turn on the satellite TV station of their choice, read information they believe and trust because it speaks to them, and compare how they live with those not only around them, but around the world.

Of course the Saudis are “worried” about the reaction to Hezbollah’s victories. Like our Masters, the Saudi Royalty can only exist so long as people all over the Middle East believe they are the best keepers of the holy sites of Islam. The minute enoughh people are motivated to act on the truth of how Arab and Islamic leaders in many of these corrupt nations really are, well- let’s just say that it’s time for an Islamic Gandhi or MLK. I love Laura.

“For a long time, Americans were beating the nuclear weapons drum, and countries in the region were saying, ’Yeah, yeah, yeah, we hear you, sure, whatever you say,’ ” he continued. “I think, in the region, while people were concerned about the nuclear issue, what really spooked the Arab regimes was the reaction after Hezbollah’s triumph in Lebanon and the popular reaction in their own countries of infatuation with Hezbollah, and Iran’s defiance.”  Read more 

Because clearly, the Windsors aren’t in charge:

A two-year corruption investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into a £60 million “slush fund” that was allegedly set up for members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family was discontinued today.

Payments, in the form of lavish holidays, a fleet of luxury cars including a gold Rolls-Royce, rented apartments and other perks, are alleged to have been paid to ensure the Saudis continued to buy from BAE under the so-called Al-Yamamah deal.

The announcement by Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, follows threats by Saudi Arabia to suspend ties with Britain unless Downing Street intervened to block the investigation.  Read more 

[UPDATE Kossack RenaRF points out that the last time Turki resigned unexpectedly was on… September 4, 2001. Eesh. I guess this explains why Bush is postponing his big strategery speech ’til January. Tinfoil, anyone?]

Good God. The guy must have found out what Bush has got planned after He’s through “listening.” (Though if that’s as bad as I think it must be, no doubt the Ambassador would prefer to stay in DC, in the bunker with Cheney and Bush. As long as Cheney doesn’t bring a gun with him, of course.) WaPo, well buried on A23:

Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, flew out of Washington yesterday after informing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his staff that he would be leaving the post after only 15 months on the job, according to U.S. officials and foreign envoys. There has been no formal announcement from the kingdom.

The abrupt departure is particularly striking because his predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, spent 22 years on the job. The Saudi ambassador is one of the most influential diplomatic positions in Washington and is arguably the most important overseas post for the oil-rich desert kingdom.

Turki, a long-serving former intelligence chief, told his staff yesterday afternoon that he wanted to spend more time with his family, according to Arab diplomats.

Only fifteen months, but the guy sure knows DC: “spend more time with his family” my sweet Aunt Fanny.  Read more