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"The United Nations’ main internet governance body will host its next international forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In 2025, the UN may take its discussions on t
by shmde 3y ago
"The United Nations’ main internet governance body will host its next international forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In 2025, the UN may take its discussions on the future of an open internet to Russia."
The opening line reads like an Onion article.
- morkalork 3y agoRight? The same Saudi Arabia where they jail people for Twitter posts?
- Waterluvian 3y agoThe same Saudi Arabia that beheads journalists.
- harshreality 3y agoJudging Saudi Arabia is not that simple. I highly recommend this long-form part-article, part-interview of MBS, from the Atlantic. https://archive.ph/s6i5m https://archive.ph/s6i5m
- southernplaces7 3y agoAnd how does the article discredit any criticism of Saudi Arabia's oppressiveness? Not only does it plainly state how badly free expression is crushed in the country, it also adds wonderful PR-friendly zingers like this about the country's de facto leader MBS: "He has also created a climate of fear unprecedented in Saudi history. Saudi Arabia has never been a free country. But even the most oppressive of MBS’s predecessors, his uncle King Faisal, never presided over an atmosphere like that of the present day, when it is widely believed that you place yourself in danger if you criticize the ruler or pay even a mild compliment to his enemies. MBS’s critics—not regicidal zealots or al‑Qaeda sympathizers, just ordinary people with independent thoughts about his reforms—have gone into exile. Some fear that if he keeps getting his way, the modernized Saudi Arabia will oppress in ways the old Saudi Arabia never imagined. Khalid al-Jabri, the exiled son of one of MBS’s most prominent critics, warned me that worse was yet to come: “When he’s King Mohammed, Crown Prince MBS is going to be remembered as an angel.” Yeah, sounds positively anarchic in its protections of free speech. Then again the UN has a long history of tacitly and sometimes openly kowtowing to the "social needs" of its more repressive members, who routinely bribe and browbeat their way through the organization towards more anti-liberal influence than many of them have any right to claim on the world stage. Just holding a conference like the one in this HN post in a country like the Kingdom is a grotesque joke
- harshreality 3y agoYou can criticize MBS all you want. What I disagree with is criticism that fails to admit that the regime would very likely be even worse overall without MBS. How do you weigh MBS's substantial social reforms against his retaliation for personal criticism? This isn't a simple trade either, since a more socially repressive regime would still retaliate against critics, just maybe not Khashoggi, or not in the same discoverable way. I don't see MBS or his underlings assassinating Atlantic staff over that article. Do you? Are you aware that India just assassinated an Indian national in Canada? It's causing a diplomatic spat, but I don't see mass outrage over Murmu akin to outrage over MBS.
- mptest 3y agoNo, judging SA for dismembering a journalist is pretty fucking simple actually.
- gjsman-1000 3y agoNothing has to ever make sense any more. Just last week at a major protest, people with “The LGBTQ community supports Palestine!” signs.
- anon4242 3y agoToo bad Palestine doesn't support the LGBTQ community...
- spondylosaurus 3y agoGay couples can't married in Israel either.
- mrangle 3y agoLOL comment of the week.
- anon4242 3y agoYeah, while that is technically true [0], the difference of being gay in Israel vs gay in Palestine seem to be more about, you know, a life and death situation [1]: > Gay Palestinians frequently seek refuge in Israel fearing for their lives, especially fearing death from members of their own families. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Israel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Israel [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_State_of_Palestine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_State_of_Pa...
- narrator 3y agoThe thing they have in common is believing politicians that say that if said politicians can be given unlimited power, and can have every one of their crimes ignored, and are allowed to eliminate their political adversaries then they will solve all problems of LGBTQ, Palestinian, Jews, Israelis, and any other non white male minority you can think of through their exercise of that power. They are murky on the details except that they need more power. It's kind of a repeat of the 20th century if you ask me.
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- patrick451 3y agoVarious countries in Europe are doing the same thing [1,2,3]. Just recently, Britain has been threatening to jail people if they show support for the wrong organizations. Free speech is dead in the vast majority of the world. Casting shade on the "non-west" like Saudi Arabia as though they are alone in this guilt is ignorant at best. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42164853 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42164853 [2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/20/austria.thefarright https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/20/austria.thefar... [3] https://jacobin.com/2022/09/queen-death-monarchy-censorship-free-speech https://jacobin.com/2022/09/queen-death-monarchy-censorship-... [4] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign/uk-threatens-arrests-hamas-supporters-pro-palestine-protesters https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign/uk-threate...
- Larrikin 3y agoHow about whatabouting while addressing the dismemberment of a journalist?
- patrick451 3y agoSure. The United States commits extra judicial killings all the time, including of it's own citizens. They have tortured countless innocent people at various dark sites. There is absolutely nothing about the west which is morally superior. The fact that they try to hide these acts or justify them through sophistry makes the west even worse.
- spondylosaurus 3y agoRemember a few years back when cops kept roughing up journalists at anti-brutality protests? There was that one guy who lost an eye to a rubber bullet.
- PradeetPatel 3y agoFreedom of speech does not mean freedom of consequences. It's crucial to understand when to voice one's views both in a public and private setting.