Heh.
The Obama administration briefly on Thursday called on Saudi Arabia to cancel the flogging of Mr. Badawi. On Friday the kingdom ignored the plea and carried out the first of the 50 whippings. So much for strong language from the State Department. It had no impact because it came with no consequences.
It must be pointed out that this is not unique to the Obama Administration. America has pretty much ignored Saudi Arabia’s abuses for decades because we rely on their oil to fuel our economy, and, more recently, we rely on their support for our wars in the area.
What is different now is fracking. America will become the biggest oil producer in the world and is no longer reliant on Arabian oil. That is, we won’t be reliant on their oil IF we support our domestic efforts to extract oil from our own soil. The effect of the anti-fracking policies advocated by the president and his eco-wacko base is to keep us reliant on Saudi oil. And with that comes all of the consequences of that reliance.
“…all of the consequences of that reliance”
Which happens to include the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, the rudest, crudest, and most violent one available.