Politics

Authored by Nick Cohen, originally posted at The Spectator,

Sweden’s feminist foreign minister has dared to tell the truth about Saudi Arabia. What happens now concerns us all

Margot Wallström’s principled stand deserves wide support. Betrayal seems more likely...

If the cries of ‘Je suis Charlie’ were sincere, the western world would be convulsed with worry and anger about the Wallström affair. It has all the ingredients for a clash-of-civilisations confrontation.

“It’s not as if you have an Iranian alternative. And if you have no alternative, your best choice is to stop complaining about the Saudis.”

That’s a quote from a “senior Gulf Arab official” who spoke to The New York Times about Washington's position on the sectarian strife playing out across the Mid-East.

As a refresher, an already volatile situation took a decisive turn for the worst over the weekend when Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, sparking outrage across the Shiite community.

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

This week I am addressing themes I see playing out in 2016.

A number of systemic, structural forces are intersecting in 2016. One is the hollowing out of democracy globally.

Democracy has three distinct states of being: formal, in actual practice and informal. Nations that claim the mantle of democracy typically mix features of all three varieties.

Following this weekend's escalation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in which both sides managed to infuriate each other to a degree that brought diplomatic relations between the two to levels not seen since 1980, one thing was certain: the escalation has only just begun; after all, there is no point in severing diplomatic ties with Iran, and thus thrusting OPEC into complete chaos, if Iran does not at least curb its production on its own, one way or another.

Day 2 of Obama's gun sales push is going well...

It's been quite a year already...