I have to be honest from the outset, I detested King Abdullah. A leader who continued a brutal regime and allowed human rights violations that rival ISIS. While the world reacts with horror at each of the crimes committed by ISIS, towards women, homosexuals, "apostates", etc, Saudi Arabia have been doing the same thing for years. And it has been systemic. In this last week alone, video emerged of a woman head being hacked off in the street as she begged and pleaded her innocence, a State sanctioned punishment, and a blogger has been sentenced to 1000 lashes for daring to be a progressive. And don't even get me started on their funding of terror groups around the world. This is the regime that King Abdullah and his decrepit family led and made no move to try to reform or change. So I find it a tad* repulsive as the world reacts with such sadness at his passing. It begs the question.. Why are we praising the tyrant? World leaders have been falling over themselves to praise him. For example.. Angela Merkel: also voiced appreciation for the absolute monarch’s “cautious modernization of his country.” What? WHAT!? "Cautious modernization of his country"? What is she smoking? Perhaps she was praising him for: Abdullah was widely praised in the West for sponsoring an eponymous coeducational graduate-level university, a breach of the taboo in the only country in the world where women are forbidden from driving. Yay, women can apparently now get an education. Can't drive to university, and if they do drive, they will be flogged or possibly even killed, but hey, at least they can attend it, right?.. Right? I mean, this is pretty much all we have to praise him for, I think. Christine Lagarde, President of the International Monetary Fund took the praise to even more nauseating levels.. “In a very discreet way, he was a strong advocate of women. It was very gradual, appropriately so probably for the country. I discussed that issue with him several times and he was a strong believer,” I wonder if Ms Lagarde felt this way before or after she met his daughters who have been locked up by their father and abused for 13 years, for speaking out against their father's regime and the gross abuses to the rights of women? Today, flags across several major landmarks in Australia are flying at half-mast as a sign of respect for King Abdullah's passing. Other countries are also employing similar measures in other countries. And people are rightly pissed off. Our flags should fly at half-mast for the thousands of men and women who have been abused, tortured and killed by his regime over the years. Not for him. ___________________________________________ * Livid
