> I'm not sure if the regime is the reason for the repressive Islamist culture of Saudi Arabia. Well if you treat half of the population like second class citi

> I'm not sure if the regime is the reason for the repressive Islamist culture of Saudi Arabia. Well if you treat half of the population like second class citizen, then you shouldn't be suprsided about the repressive culture. This is a vicious circle. How should the culture improve if the government provides such as role model ? > If we're talking about treating women like second-class citizens, Iran is definitely in the same boat, Sorry but that must be a huge boat, because women in Iran can vote, drive a car, travel alone, etc. > The historical alignment of Russia and Iran with the Assad regime isn't the problem. I won't argue that the Assad regime is terrible but fueling the oppositions with weapons and money was a huge mistake. But we tend to make mistakes over and over again (see Libya). Also where do you draw the line ? What about the civil war in the east of turkey ? > So, the Saudis are scared of the rising tide of popular mobilization and Shiite mobilization I want to add to this that SA is mostly afraid of the economic rise of Iran once the sanctions are lifted and rightly so. I really don't believe that the timing of the execution of Nimr was a coincidence. SA did everything they could to stop the atom deal, so I would't be suprised that they would also use those means to sabotage it. It might be true that the destruction of the embassy was sanctioned by high levels or at least tolerated, but the iranian government and politics is not as homogeneous as one might think. You have moderate people like Rohani and Katami and then also extremist like Khamanei (although he recently also condemned the descruction of the embassy) and Ahmadinejad. I would even claim Iran is probably the country in the middle east with one of the most repressive regimes but with the most tolerant populace