{"id":987,"date":"2001-10-28T06:44:22","date_gmt":"2001-10-28T11:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=987"},"modified":"2001-10-28T06:44:22","modified_gmt":"2001-10-28T11:44:22","slug":"with_friends_li","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/28\/with_friends_li.html","title":{"rendered":"With friends like these …"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a low but growing tide of hostility out there toward the Saudis. A lot of the money trail supporting the Taliban and al Qaeda seems to be leading back to Saudi Arabia. And more and more evidence is coming out that, whether through cultural schizophrenia or through an attempt to counter fundamentalist forces in their own regime, the Saudi royal family is seems more than willing to play both sides of the modernism\/reactionary fence. A number of folks are beginning to ask when the Bush “You’re With Us, Or Against Us” Doctrine is going to be put into play.<\/p>\n

Not to address that directly, but here’s an interesting bit<\/a> about how Saudi reconstruction crews in Bosnia are demolishing historic religious architecture they consider idolatrous and blaphemous, and rebuilding it in their own fashion.<\/p>\n

At the Beg mosque, the Saudis ordered the Ottoman tilework and painted wall decorations stripped off and discarded and had the whole building redone, as Riedlmayer puts it “in gleaming hospital white, even the minaret slathered in white plaster.” He says that in scores of villages, the Saudis had war-damaged but restorable historic Ottoman-style Bosnian mosques demolished and redone Saudi-style. All of the colorful Balkan-Muslim interior decor was eliminated, and separate entrances were added to segregate women.<\/p>\n

Imagine, if you will, if the US were doing this ….<\/p>\n

(I have to confess, that with my twisted Historian values, this bothers me a lot worse than some other things going on ….)<\/p>\n

(Via InstaPundit<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a low but growing tide of hostility out there toward the Saudis. A lot of the money trail supporting the Taliban and al Qaeda seems to be leading back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133525,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/22\/no-protests-that-must-prove-all-the-saudis-love-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":0},"title":"No protests? That must prove all the Saudis love Donald Trump!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 22-May-17 8:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Or that people who publicly protest in Saudi Arabia get arrested and thrown into jail. But, hey, keen idea for making the Administration's life easier back home, amirite? Wilbur Ross praises absence of protest in Saudi Arabia, where protests are illegal President Trump's commerce secretary praised the lack of protestors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133562,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/28\/our-friends-the-saudis.html","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":1},"title":"Our friends, the Saudis","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 28-May-17 10:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was amazed by how welcoming the Saudi public was during Trump's visit. No protesters, he noted in amazement. Well, this is one reason why. Did Trump discuss human rights issues with the Saudis, as previous presidents have done? Or was he too busy enjoying golden palaces\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128144,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/22\/on-the-demolishing-of-holy-and-historic-sites-by-our-dear-friends-and-allies.html","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":2},"title":"On the demolishing of holy and historic sites by our dear friends and allies","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Sep-15 11:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting look at Saudi Arabia and how it has been handling holy and historic sites in Mecca and elsewhere: poorly.'These actions, critics say, are the realization of the ultraconservative Salafi ideology of Wahhabism endorsed by the Saudi monarchy, in which historical and cultural trappings are gateways to the sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133889,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/19\/our-freedom-loving-friends-the-saudis.html","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":3},"title":"Our freedom-loving friends, the Saudis","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 19-Jul-17 7:50am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because of course if a woman wears a short skirt, bare midriff, and uncovered head she needs to be arrested, as does anyone who videotaped her. Melania and Ivanka were lucky they weren't whipped when they visited there. Saudi woman who wore skirt in viral video has been arrested, state\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137351,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/17\/what-would-jesus-do-to-protect-a-lucrative-arms-deal.html","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":4},"title":"What Would Jesus Do (to protect a lucrative arms deal)?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Oct-18 6:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"To be fair to Pat Robertson, I have the impression that he gets wheeled out by his handlers to read prepared speeches before being wheeled off-camera before someone notices him drooling.That said, Good Lord ...\u201cFor those who are screaming blood for the Saudis \u2014 look, these people are key allies,\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133532,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/24\/trumps-speech-on-islam-and-the-middle-east.html","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":5},"title":"Trump's speech on Islam and the Middle East","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 24-May-17 7:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a few days old, but if you haven't actually read the official text of Trump's speech, it's worth doing so, for a number of reasons.1. An incessant, constant use of religious language. Good vs evil. Blessings. Sanctuary. Multiple times, Trump frames the War on Terrorism less as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}