Saudi, Sharia Laws Applied in US Courts

Particularly in light of the fooforaw following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement about the inevitability of Sharia law in the UK, this piece from The Volokh Conspiracy on the application of Saudi Sharia law in Texas and Minnesota is interesting, to say the least! The issue is not actually whether Saudi law applies in Texas (or other states as the article ...

Saudis Loosen Women’s Shackles

Various media are reporting on some serious reforms in Saudi Arabia, starting with giving women permission to drive. The story, so far sourced only to a correspondent of the UK's The Telegraph, but being widely picked up, says that the government has bowed to the inevitable and is in the process of writing regulations and setting up the infrastructure needed, ...

OTB Radio - Tonight at 7 Eastern

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live tonight from 7-8 Eastern. Dave Schuler and John Burgess will be joining me to talk about the recent Saudi rape case, the rioting in France, the Annapolis Conference and whatever other topics come up. We'll also be taking your calls at (646) 716-7030.

Book Review: The Siege of Mecca

I’ve written a review of The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam’s Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda, a riveting retelling of the events of November, 1979, when a group of around 500 Islamic extremists (including at least two American Black Muslims) seized the Grand Mosque at Mecca. The author concludes that this action, taken along ...

Beltway Traffic Jam

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‘The Kingdom’: US-Saudi Relations on Film

Review: 'The Kingdom' Watching the trailers for 'The Kingdom' over the past several months, I was curious about how the film would portray Saudi Arabia and Saudis. I had personal experience with terrorist bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh and wanted to see how accurate the film might be. The film could have taken the low and easy road, pandering to stereotypes, ...

OTB Radio - Tonight at 7

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live tonight from 7-8 Eastern. I'll be joined tonight by Chris Lawrence, Dave Schuler, and John Burgess. We'll be talking about the foiled terrorist plots in Germany and Denmark, tonight's GOP "YouTube" debate, the incessant "bomb Iran" talk, John Edwards' plan to force ...

Late Night OTB - Remembering

Back in the late 1960s, early 70s, I was editing a Washington, DC alternative newspaper, "Woodwind". The publisher, Mike Schreibman, funded the paper as a labor of love. He subsidized the paper with his earnings from his music promotion business, Woodwind Entertainment, specializing in producing concerts at area colleges, from Baltimore down to Richmond. I learned far more about the ...

British Blamed for Beast of Basra

Rumors that British troops have unleashed a dangerous monster in Basra are further complicating efforts to win the hearts and minds of locals. British forces operating around the southern Iraqi city of Basra are being blamed for the arrival of a plague of vicious badgers that stalk the streets at night, attacking livestock and even humans. Local farmers have caught and killed ...

Diplomats and War

Back in May, James Joyner and I wrote a piece for TCS Daily, Armed Diplomats? When State and Stability Operations Collide about the conflicting roles and missions of State Department diplomats and those of the US Military. The article noted that diplomats (as well as the various support staff needed to run a diplomatic missions, though they weren't specifically mentioned ...