Will we finally see some anti-dhimmitude regarding the Saudis? I wouldn’t bet on it. Nicholas Kralev in the Washington Times discusses the issue of religious freedom in countries “of concern”:
The Bush administration said yesterday it is close to reaching agreements with Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Eritrea that would improve the state of religious freedom in the three countries of “particular concern” for Washington.
The administration asked Congress, which can impose sanctions on the violators under the International Religious Freedom Act, to extend yesterday’s deadline for the three governments to demonstrate commitment to becoming more tolerant toward various religions.
“We’ve been actively engaged with all three in working for improvements in respect for religious freedom in those countries. We’ve made some important progress,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters….
Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Eritrea were included on the list of “countries of particular concern” for the first time, joining Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Burma and China. They had six months, which expired yesterday, to at least begin reversing the negative trend….
What? No Pakistan? And what about Egypt? Sudan? Jordan?