Women lashes and the vote in the Kingdom

Recently the Custodian of the the Two Holy places (a.k.a) King Abdullah bin Abdel Azziz Al Saud overturned a court decision that sentenced a woman to ten lashes for breaking an unwritten rule of  females driving in the Saudi Kingdom upsetting many of the conservative and religious elements in the country.
S&M enthusiasts apart, this was the right decision by the ageing King.
Then in a surprise move he announced that women will soon be able to vote in Saudi Arabia, and even though they still can't drive a car, they will be allowed to vote in municipal elections and will also be allowed to hold office.
I can't help but feel there is a fundamental flaw in this cunning reform move though I cant quite put my finger on it.
As one grump proclaimed "Now it's driving [women want]. After five years it will be taking off the abaya [all-covering veil and gown], after 10 years they will ask to be allowed to wear short skirts. This is how it's going, that is how I feel."

Whatever next?

Yemen Syria and the Chineese Victory

Lying in a Saudi military hospital Ali Abdullah Saleh seems unlikely to return to Yemen. For him it may have been a face saving strategy as he concludes a financial and political immunity deal and with most of his immediate family out it is up to his son who controls the Republican Guard or his brother who controls the Air force to ensure his ultimate deal.
Meanwhile in Syria the brutal regime continues to slaughter it's own unarmed civilians unchecked by the International Community. With estimates of over fifteen hundred slaughtered I am wondering how many more have to be killed before real action is taken?
With the death of young Hamza Alkhateeb , the thirteen year old boy who was tortured and mutilated prior to his death giving the Syrian uprising a second wind and with the opposition in exile having met in Turkey a more coordinated effort may result.
The Good Doctor who was preparing to declare victory after offering a political amnesty but now after having a taste of blood will wish to extract revenge on his citizens. If this is not a crime against humanity than what the hell is? His Iranian sponsors are going to have to work overtime.
The Saudis having given up on American reliability are a contemplating raising a Sunni Army to combat what they perceive to be a Shia threat emanating from Iran. No doubt their Oil reserves and financial capability will serve them well in creating more mayhem.
The UAE took the easier option of giving Eric Prince's Blackwater a six hundred million US dollar contract to put down any counterinsurgency.
In Libya Mad Mo has shown no signs of leaving despite continued NATO battering. Tripoli will soon feel the effects of food shortages and his grip of terror is loosening.
With Willie Hague turning up in Benghazi, albeit without his Defense Minister Liam Fox, the stalemate might be over. Mission creep seems to be working as there are more European troops actively coordinating the efforts. So much for boots on the ground, perhaps they were wearing sandals?
No doubt in years to come unless Wikileaks or similar give us a glimpse to the secret machinations of Foreign policy deals sooner it will emerge that the Europeans and Americans have agreed with the Russians at the last G8 meeting to regime change in Libya in exchange for letting Assad remain in Syria.
So much for supporting the legitimate aspirations of the Arabs !
As to Israel it seems that demography and intransigence is making a two state solution more and more unlikely and so like the rest of the Middle East it is their government that will be their ultimate downfall.
Arrogance and hypocrisy will keep the region embroiled for some time to come and while Obama and Cameron discuss their essential relationship their influence and relevance in the Middle East is waning fast. Their failing policies will be destined to go on the BBQ of history as bad plans badly executed.
At least China is happy with all this chaos keeping the West tied down from Libya to Iraq and Afghanistan, it can quietly evolve into the " super" market and super power it is destined to become.

War crimes and military gangsters

The world waited sixteen years for the Bosnian Serb General and military gangster  Ratko Mladic to be arrested. Without doubt the Serb authorities knew of his whereabouts for years but chose to remain silent and to some degree excused his genocidal massacres of Muslims.
But at least he was captured alive and will eventually be tried at the Hague.
Pakistan was accused of withholding knowledge of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts but once found he was not given the benefit of a trial but was extrajudicialy  killed. The rule of law was not seen to have taken place. A dangerous precedent.
Both were responsible for murder and death on a great scale and their respective trial or assassination will not bring back the thousands who died or were maimed or whose presence on earth was denied.
Yet there are others who have killed more and hide behind their offices or uniforms that still have not been brought to justice.The International Criminal Court awaits them all.
In the west Tony Blair and George W Bush spring to mind.
In the Middle East Hosni Mubarak might escape the Hague tribunal by his failing health. King Hamad ibn Issa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia by Saudi intervention. Ali Saleh Abdullah by an amnesty deal and Gaddafi most probably by a NATO bomb unless Jacob Zuma is able to negotiate an exit-exile strategy for him and his family. Omar Al Bashir of Sudan for the moment will escape due to Qatari intervention. However we have sen how fickle friends can be when you are no longer of use to them so no doubt those that survive old age or the assassins bullet may yet see the inside of  a courtroom.
Then we come to Palestine and the Goldstone report. Has the International community become so corrupt that it chose to ignore these war crimes just because Israel was involved?  Is this report now relegated to wipe our collective bottoms with? Has our humanity reached such depths of depravity that we allow the Children of Palestine to be ignored,or for that matter the Children of Syria to be continued to be massacred, some being tortured and flayed like young Hamza Al Khatteeb?
No doubt the universe has a way of correcting itself and Bashar Al Asaad and his bloodthirsty regime will be brought to task. Meanwhile his Uncle Rifaat is still swagging around the five star hotels of Europe casually boasting to those that care to listen about his role in the massacres in  Hama, Syria which claimed thirty eight thousand lives. Where is the ICC now?
A one rule approach is the only way to insure that these military gangsters know that the days of ethnic cleansing, genocide torture and repression are over.The carnage they have collectively wrought means they have to be brought to justice even when their expected conviction will not bring back the hundreds of thousands hurt, maimed, or killed in the slaughters there will be an emotional rejoicing in the knowledge that we are a people of laws.
Laws are what separate us from beasts let us not forget that.