Saudi: Dissent & Geopolitical Worries

The New York Times covers social media’s role in growing dissent in Saudi Arabia. The piece highlights the resilience of the women’s right to drive campaign in spite of the nine-day imprisonment of Manal al-Sharif. It also explores how the government has attempted to use the same online platforms to counter dissent. prompting the Twitter hashtags to identify suspected government agents. The movement also centers around extralegal detentions of Saudis suspected of terrorism, as represented by the YouTube video, “Missing Saudis” (above). The video prompted a pro-government response, “Saudis are Present.” Simon Henderson argues that Saudi Arabia has lost much of its influence due to its disagreements with the U.S. over the Arab Spring, as well as its inability to lead OPEC and promote Middle East peace. An analysis from the Middle East Media Research Institute draws on Arab media of the past month to show that Jordan and Morocco’s invitations to join the Gulf Cooperation Council was a strategic move pushed primarily by Saudi Arabia. It cites Saudi Arabia’s official daily, al Riyadh, as arguing that one of the rationales of the expansion was to consolidate the Ummah, a rationale echoed by Morocco’s foreign minister. Jordan’s Islamic Action Front opposed the invitation for the very reason that it would reintroduce regional axes and divide the Muslim world further.