Archive for February, 2010

Saudi Backwardness: Divorce by Tribal Incompatibility

4:45 pm, February 2nd, 2010 on Middle East

Father and daughter

Father and daughter

Despite being one of the wealthiest states outside of the West, Saudi Arabia still has one of the most backwards society in the world.

A married couple was forcibly divorced by a lower court because apparently the husband’s family’s social standing was “beneath that of” the girl’s family. The girl’s brothers felt that the groom had misled them about his backwards even though they had previously established his lineage.

This was despite several years of marriage, a 6-year old daughter and another son.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling, finally allowing the couple to remain married.

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Russia’s SE Asian Client States and Chinese Counterbalancing

4:31 pm, February 2nd, 2010 on Asia

Russia has been actively selling arms to whoever wants to buy its antiquated technology. The most recent addition to its client list is Vietnam, which wants to balance against Chinese supremacy in the region and Chinese claims to the Spratly Islands off the coast of Vietnam…

For Hanoi, this deal [also] involves … the construction of naval infrastructure in Vietnam, including a naval base, repair and maintenance facilities, and a communications center, as well as the training of specialists … Vietnam’s leadership has been traveling the world seeking military sales from the US, Canada, and France …  it has clearly made a major gesture to Moscow to upgrade bilateral relations also to counter China.

… the Vietnamese government is soliciting a large-scale Russian presence in its country to balance Chinese economic and political power, and ensure its energy security, even as it also seeks to check Chinese naval power in the South China Sea.

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