Pulse of the Saudi Blogoshpere · Global Voices
Ahmed Al-Omran

Let's start our roundup for this week with the coverage of international media on Saudi Arabia, which has drawn the attention of many bloggers. Mansur posts a comment on a story from the BBC website. He says:
Now what kind of Deputy Minister would share this kind of information with a BBC dimplotic correspondent? He claims that the “best of years of my life” were when he “shared a house with two lesbians.” If this Deputy Minister were named, he would be ashamed!
Meanwhile, Saudi Future posts about a story she read from the LA Times on Shiites: “Thank you America media, you proved you are smart, know a lot about the Saudi areas, and there people. And most of all, you don't spread propaganda!” she wrote. She also has another post on the ignorance of American media when it comes to Saudi issues.
Women's rights remain a big concern to Saudi bloggers, and this time Ruba has an angry post on why women can't vote. “The leaders of Islam nowadays are doing nothing but ruining the image of Islam and misusing the adelh, (sunnah and Quran). Anyway I still don’t get why we cant vote? I want rational excuses.” She thinks we should not allow people to take Islam and change it to the way they want it and what suits them. “That's wrong,” she added.
On another issue, Ubergirl has an interesting post comparing the reaction of Saudis to the Danish cartoons and what's going on in Darfur. She says:
In the space of one month, I have only heard one person (briefly) talk about what's going on in Darfur. In the space of two days you hear about those God damned cartoons five hundred times. Not to mention the bumper stickers. 300,000 People have died in Darfur since 2003. Most of them starved to death. One man in Afghanistan died while taking part in a protest demanding the government of Denmark publicly apologize for the cartoons. Do they think the world needs more death? How these people sleep at night is beyond me.
Now let's move to technology, where the negative feedback from visitors of Gitex Riyadh continues. Herbaz thinks the exhibition is getting worse (Arabic) year after year. “The most ridiculous exhibition and the worst organization,” he said. He believes this exhibition has nothing to do with the original Gitex Dubai, except for the name. “I want to announce that I will boycott Gitex Riyadh for the coming years,” he added. “This is not an exhibition, it is a mockery,” Fouad Al Farhan said (Arabic). “Maybe it would be more successful if they turned it to a vegetable market,” he added.
Back to politics, Aya does not know if she wants to cry or laugh at the so-called ‘Integrity of the Saudi Judicial System.’ “Maybe both!” she added. In the same time, she believes that “the Saudi government is adopting its own version of the controversial three strikes law.”
Away from politics, DiDi has finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie, and she thinks the book is pretty good. She says:
He talks about the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, death, family, emotions, fear of aging, money, how love goes on, marriage, culture, and forgiveness. One of the most intense parts was when he was talking about death; it's just so realistic, and so full of wisdom.
Finally, let's finish our roundup with these two posts: Dotsson takes a trip down memory lane. He misses so many things about his life in the States. “I miss 4th of July fireworks. I miss going to IMAX,” he says. And Mohammed Al Rehaili writes a review of Arabic news websites (Arabic), and thinks that Al-Arabiya.net is the best. “They support RSS, and their interactivity is excellent,” he said.