A senior Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards in Iran has said that Saudi Arabia is on the brink of collapse following the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr. General Hossein Salami warned on Friday that “The Al Saud will collapse in the near future if it keeps on its sectarian policies in the region,” adding that the “Saudi rulers will be buried under the avalanche that they have created”.
Paul Pillar makes the case against taking either side in the Saudi-Iranian rivalry:
It would be just as much of a mistake for the United States to tilt in favor of Iran in this conflict as it is to tilt in favor of Saudi Arabia. Taking either side in this rivalry, as with many other international rivalries, entails several disadvantages for the United States.
Hundreds of activists and Human rights groups have gathered outside the Saudi embassy in London, demanding the release of Raif Badawi and his jailed lawyer. They are handing over a petition signed by 250,000 people, calling for the release of the jailed activist and blogger in Saudi Arabia RT reports: Marking one year since the 31-year-old was lashed 50 times in a public square in Jeddah, protesters will also hand over a separate petition demanding the release of his lawyer, who was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for attempting to set up a human rights monitoring website.
For Xi Jinping, it has been a rough week.
Panicked flight from China’s currency twice caused a plunge of 7 percent in her stock market, forcing a suspension of trading.
Kim Jong Un, the megalomaniac who runs North Korea, ignored Xi’s warning and set off a fourth nuclear bomb. While probably not a hydrogen bomb as claimed, it was the largest blast ever in Korea.
It ain’t easy being a libertarian anti-war activist. No one trusts your motives and the scene is rife with assumption: If on the left, the heart bleeds for humanity, libertarians want to make sure no one drops blood on behalf of the state. One is selfless, while the other is selfish. Or so the metaphors go.