{{Country
|name ='''المملكة العربية السعودية''' '''al-Mamlaka al-‘Arabiyya as-Su’ūdiyya'''
|map =Saudi arabia rel 2003.jpg
|flag =Flag of Saudi Arabia.png
|arms =Arms of Saudi Arabia.png
|capital =Riyadh
|capital-raw =[[Riyadh|ar-Riyād]]
|government =Absolute Monarchy
|government-raw =
|language =Arabic
|king =Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =
|pm-raw =
|area =829,996 sq mi
|pop =24,000,000
|pop-basis =
|gdp =$446 billion
|gdp-year =2007
|gdp-pc =$21,200
|currency =Riyal
|idd =
|tld =
}}

'''The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia''' (''al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya'', '''المملكة العربية السعودية''', also '''Saudi Arabia''' or '''KSA''') is a large country on the Arabian peninsula. Ruled by The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King [[Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud]], The country is one of the few absolute monarchies left in the world. [[Shari'a]] (Islamic jurisprudence) is the official law of the Kingdom. The Kingdom was first declared on 8 January 1926 by [[Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud]], and was brought together on 22 September 1932.

Saudi Arabia is mostly a desert country, but it is rich in [[oil]] and date palms. Desalination plants have made the kingdom a major exporter of wheat. Foreign workers are plentiful and the citizens enjoy a number of socialized gifts. The kingdom is also ruled with an iron fist. People will get their hands chopped off for stealing, alcohol is illegal, and women are not allowed to drive. Despite Saudi Arabia's repuation for being one of the most oppressive governments in the world, the United States maintains a close relationship with them and they are one of America's biggest allies in the Middle East after Israel<ref>http://www.cfr.org/publication/10728/</ref>.
[[Image:Bcdf.jpg|right|Masjid Nabawi, Medina, Saudi Arabia|thumb|200px]]
[[Image:SaudiArabiaWorldMap.png|right||200px|thumb|World View Geo Location of Saudi Arabia]]
The Arab-American Oil Corporation ([[ARAMCO]]), through U.S. Secretary of the Interior [[Harold Ickes]], got U.S. President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] to agree to [[Lend Lease]] aid to Saudi Arabia, which would involve the U.S. government in Saudi Arabia and create protection for the interests of ARAMCO. <ref>[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/Petroleum/kuniholm.htm "American Oil Interests in the Near East,"] in Bruce R. Kuniholm, The Origins of the Cold War in the Near East: Great Power Conflict and Diplomacy in Iran, Turkey, and Greece (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), Chapter III, "The Iranian Context," pp. 178-192.</ref>

==Religious Intolerance==
As an Islamic country under Islamic law, Saudi Arabia has little of the religious freedom common in the west. For instance even tourists can not bring a [[Bible]] or a [[Star of David]] into the country or risk having them confiscated.<ref>Christian Examiner, Sept. 2007, Vol 25, No 9, Pg. 20</ref>

==Noteable Saudi Arabians==
*[[Osama Bin Laden]]
*[[Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud]]: ranked 11th richest person in the world by USAToday in 2002.<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/28/forbes.htm</ref>

== See also ==

*[[Ramadan]]
*[[Arab American]]

==References==

<References/>

[[Category:Asian Countries]]
[[Category:Middle Eastern Countries]]
[[Category:Dictatorships]]

Saudi Arabia

2007-10-14T20:36:31Z

MichaelM:

Authoritarianism

2007-10-14T20:33:34Z

MichaelM: revert vandalism

Authoritarianism is an [[ideology]] that affirms that individual rights and liberties do not matter and that the decisions of how society should be run should be left to a single [[dictator]] or a small group of elites whether corporate (right-wing authoritarianism) or government (left-wing authoritarinism). Authoritarianism has been responsible millions of deaths whether in the form of fascism, communism, or religious fundamentalism. The worst authoritarians today include the right wing authoritarians of [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Uzbekistan]] and the left wing authoritarians of [[North Korea]] and [[Zimbabwe]].

Authoritarianism

2007-10-14T20:31:44Z

MichaelM:

Authoritarianism is an [[ideology]] that affirms that individual rights and liberties do not matter and that the decisions of how society should be run should be left to a single [[dictator]] or a small group of elites whether corporate (right-wing authoritarianism) or government (left-wing authoritarinism). Authoritarianism has been responsible millions of deaths whether in the form of fascism, communism, or religious fundamentalism. The worst authoritarians today include the right wing authoritarians of [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Uzbekistan]] and the left wing authoritarians of [[North Korea]] and [[Zimbabwe]].

Talk:Hugo Chavez

2007-10-14T20:30:31Z

MichaelM: /* Thanks */

This page appears fine to me. Citations are needed throughout the article, but as far as everything else goes, I approve. [[User:ColinR|ColinR]] 05:18, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

==Uribe is a dictator too==
I think that Uribe should be considered a dictator, he shows little regard to human rights and supports paramilitary death squads.
== Thanks ==

I'll get to work on some citations, but thankyou for accepting it, It's good to see some objectivity on this site. =)

==This article is surprisingly neutral==
I'm impressed that this article is surprisingly neutral towards Chavez, I figured it would call him a totalitarian communist.--[[User:DemocraticSocialist|DemocraticSocialist]] 11:50, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
:He's more of a '''greedy''' communist robber baron. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 16:36, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
It must be liberal subversion hahahaha--[[User:DemocraticSocialist|DemocraticSocialist]] 11:51, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

:Sorry to burst the bubble. He has been referred to as a dictator [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Template:AboutC&oldid=139640 here]. Have patience this article will eventually follow suit. [[User:Auld Nick|Auld Nick]] 11:59, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

I knew it was too good to be true. While Castro is a dictator, Chavez who was elected by almost two thirds of the population is clearly not --[[User:DemocraticSocialist|DemocraticSocialist]] 14:58, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
:We're waiting for Castro to die before her passes the baton. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 16:27, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
==Dictator!!!!????==
How can someone who is democratically elected be referred to as a dictator --[[User:ScandalousHegemony|ScandalousHegemony]] 23:57, 23 May 2007 (EDT)
:How about that Hitler guy in 1933? [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 21:16, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
::...Who was not democratically elected. --[[User:Hojimachong|'''Ĥøĵĭmåçħôńğ''']][[User_Talk:Hojimachong|talk]] 21:17, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
::: Maybe the question should be, "how can someone who continues to hold democratic elections at the frequency prescribed in the nations constitution (Like Mr. Chavez for example) be called a dictator?" The answer to that question is, he cannot. Because he isn't. Like it or not, Hugo Chavez is the democraticly elected leader of a democratic country and any suggestion that he is a dictator is little more than an insult to democracy. How can this website call Chavez a Dictator, but not someone like General [[Pinochet]] of Chile??? This 'encyclopedia' gets progressively more ridiculous by the day. Unless someone either 'locks this page for editing' or gives me some very good evidence to suggest that I am wrong about Mr. Chavez and his democratic government I will delete the word 'Dictator' from this entry.
:::::: Oh look, how suprising. It's already been locked. That's it. I've had enough of Conservapedia. You have to look less hard to find the truth in UNcyclopedia than Conservapedia. At least they admit they are a comedy parody of the truth. And at least they dont get all angry because I choose to spell suprising with an 's' instead of a 'z'.

It doesn't matter how he got into power, especially if he significantly increases his power while in office. [[User:DanH|DanH]] 21:19, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
:Chavez does not have a record of increasing his power, merely changing the economy to having a socialist slant. --[[User:Hojimachong|'''Ĥøĵĭmåçħôńğ''']][[User_Talk:Hojimachong|talk]] 21:21, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
::*actually, he does [http://www.mywire.com/pubs/ForeignPolicy/2006/01/01/1111144/print]. Chavez is an autocrat.[[User:Bohdan|Богдан]] [[User talk:Bohdan|Talk]] 21:28, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
I used to have neighbors from Venezuela whose relatives were on Chavez's hit list. [[User:DanH|DanH]] 21:28, 30 May 2007 (EDT)

== chavez IS NOT a dictator ==

you conservatives all suck. how can someone who was democratically elected be considered
a dictator? you are all a bunch of imperialist fascists!

== Irony ==

Guys, you lost me at "Repressive Dictator". Can you really not see the irony in this skewed, worthless article namecalling democratically elected foreign (to you) leaders?. Someone please kill this article as it is embarassed by it's own existence.

Can anyone actually explain the point of this article; a blinkered, one sided repressive waste of time projecting its own ignorance onto others. Really there is no point to it. {{unsigned|Mrivpond}}

== What a disgrace. ==

How can anyone seriously type that he is a repressive dictator? He was democratically election every single time, his new bid to remove term limits is being done by REFERENDUM.. are you guys on something, how is he a dictator in '''ANY WAY'''?

And don't get me started on this RCTV stuff, he closed it down because it actively called for a violent revolution against him, and then when that actually occured and an ACTUAL DICTATORSHIP was put in place, it just ran anti-Chavez ads the entire time, then when the dictatorship was crumbling as the people fought back to put Chavez back in, instead of running actual news saying this, it showed dramas like the Bold and the Beautiful. And so when it came around the renewing the liscence for it, he refused. '''ANY COUNTRY WOULD DO THIS''', If there was a television channel in the United States actively calling for a violent revolution against the US government and falsifying news, what do you think the US government would do? The exact same. PLUS, RCTV can still be viewed on cable television.

It also is in ''no way'' the only anti-Chavez media source in the country, most media in the country are hostile to Chavez. [[User:Pallawish]]

Alvaro Uribe

2007-10-14T20:28:01Z

MichaelM: remove POV

'''Alvaro Uribe Velez''' (July 4th, 1952 - ) is the repressive [[right]]ist [[dictator]] of the Republic of [[Colombia]]. Alvaro Uribe was born in Medellin, capital of the department of Antioquia in Colombia. Uribe holds a degree in law from the Universidad de Antioquia and a post-graduate degree in Management and Administration from Harvard University. From 1998 to 1999 after being awarded the [[Simon Bolivar]] fellowship by the British Council in Bogotá, he worked as an associate professor at Oxford University. He has maintained a steadfast alliance with the United States. Urbie was elected as President in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, by large majorities. President Uribe and his government have been linked to right wing death squads which operate throughout the countryside, killing suspected insurgents as well as innocent peasants [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/16/Colombia.Watergate.reut/index.html].

==Early career==

In 1976 he became head of the Real Estate Department of the city of Medellín's Public Works. From 1977 to 1978 he was Secretary General of the Labor Ministry and from 1980 to 1982, head of the Department of Civil Aeronautics. He was the mayor of his native city of Medellín in 1982 and later, from 1984 to 1986, he was elected as city counselor.

Uribe was elected governor of the department of Antioquia for the 1995-1997 period, during which he developed a model of communal participation in key government decisions such as the creation of new jobs, education, the granting of official state contracts and public safety, which he called Community State. During his term as governor, Alvaro Uribe sized down the number of government jobs by 34% and the number of official vehicles by 35%. Such savings in government spending meant schooling for 103,000 new students. As governor he also devised a program by which, 40,000 people received training in the peaceful negotiation of conflicts. 200,000 of Antioquia's poor became eligible for free health care under the nation's subsidized health insurance System.

Uribe was also responsible for the paving of 939 kilometers of roads. More than double the amount of paved roads in all of Antioquia's history. And extensive repair work was done on the roads which link Antioquia with the nation's capital, Bogotá. The number of kidnapping cases in the department, went down by 60% thanks to the cooperation of the community with the local authorities.

He was elected Senator for the periods 1986-1990 and 1990-1994, terms during which he received the Star Senator, Senator with the Best Programs and Best Senator awards.
==Situation in Colombia==

Uribe was democratically elected with 62 per cent of the vote and has built roads and lowered crime rates in major cities. He has been harshly criticized by human rights groups for alleged violations of human rights. There are accusations that Uribe has personal connections to the United Self-Defence group of Colombia (AUC) terrorist group. The Colombian military is known to work hand-in-hand with this terrorist group because they share a common enemy, the leftist terrorist group [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC) <ref>[http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=96 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)], Retrieved from the Terrorism Knowledge Base, June 4 2007.</ref>. Protestors in Washington and Bogota have leveled harsh criticism at Uribe and his regime. They allege of around 400 unionist killed in Colombia, there have been 10 convictions so far.[http://colombiaherald.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/demonstrators-in-washington-call-uribe-an-assassin-pictures/]. Amnesty International in a statement acknowledged, "undoubtedly, Colombia is facing an extremely difficult situation due to the action of armed groups refusing to respect international humanitarian law and to acknowledge the right of the civilian population to stay out of the hostilities" but "expressed dismay for the measures adopted to guarantee greater security are being aime at others whose security against abuses of power maybe undermined." [http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_colombia].

==References==
<references/>

==Source==

*http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/world/americas/21colombia.html?ex=1327035600&en=ad8d53a3750a2092&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
*http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_colombia
*http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/16/Colombia.Watergate.reut/index.html
[[Category:Heads of state]]

Alvaro Uribe

2007-10-14T20:26:39Z

MichaelM: whats good for Chavez is good for Uribe

'''Alvaro Uribe Velez''' (July 4th, 1952 - ) is the repressive [[right]]ist [[dictator]] of the Republic of [[Colombia]]. Alvaro Uribe was born in Medellin, capital of the department of Antioquia in Colombia. Uribe holds a degree in law from the Universidad de Antioquia and a post-graduate degree in Management and Administration from Harvard University. From 1998 to 1999 after being awarded the [[Simon Bolivar]] fellowship by the British Council in Bogotá, he worked as an associate professor at Oxford University. He is perhaps the greatest president in ''modern'' Colombian history {{fact}} and has maintained a steadfast alliance with the United States. Urbie was elected as President in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, by large majorities. President Uribe and his government have been linked to right wing death squads which operate throughout the countryside, killing suspected insurgents as well as innocent peasants [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/16/Colombia.Watergate.reut/index.html].

==Early career==

In 1976 he became head of the Real Estate Department of the city of Medellín's Public Works. From 1977 to 1978 he was Secretary General of the Labor Ministry and from 1980 to 1982, head of the Department of Civil Aeronautics. He was the mayor of his native city of Medellín in 1982 and later, from 1984 to 1986, he was elected as city counselor.

Uribe was elected governor of the department of Antioquia for the 1995-1997 period, during which he developed a model of communal participation in key government decisions such as the creation of new jobs, education, the granting of official state contracts and public safety, which he called Community State. During his term as governor, Alvaro Uribe sized down the number of government jobs by 34% and the number of official vehicles by 35%. Such savings in government spending meant schooling for 103,000 new students. As governor he also devised a program by which, 40,000 people received training in the peaceful negotiation of conflicts. 200,000 of Antioquia's poor became eligible for free health care under the nation's subsidized health insurance System.

Uribe was also responsible for the paving of 939 kilometers of roads. More than double the amount of paved roads in all of Antioquia's history. And extensive repair work was done on the roads which link Antioquia with the nation's capital, Bogotá. The number of kidnapping cases in the department, went down by 60% thanks to the cooperation of the community with the local authorities.

He was elected Senator for the periods 1986-1990 and 1990-1994, terms during which he received the Star Senator, Senator with the Best Programs and Best Senator awards.
==Situation in Colombia==

Uribe was democratically elected with 62 per cent of the vote and has built roads and lowered crime rates in major cities. He has been harshly criticized by human rights groups for alleged violations of human rights. There are accusations that Uribe has personal connections to the United Self-Defence group of Colombia (AUC) terrorist group. The Colombian military is known to work hand-in-hand with this terrorist group because they share a common enemy, the leftist terrorist group [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC) <ref>[http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=96 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)], Retrieved from the Terrorism Knowledge Base, June 4 2007.</ref>. Protestors in Washington and Bogota have leveled harsh criticism at Uribe and his regime. They allege of around 400 unionist killed in Colombia, there have been 10 convictions so far.[http://colombiaherald.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/demonstrators-in-washington-call-uribe-an-assassin-pictures/]. Amnesty International in a statement acknowledged, "undoubtedly, Colombia is facing an extremely difficult situation due to the action of armed groups refusing to respect international humanitarian law and to acknowledge the right of the civilian population to stay out of the hostilities" but "expressed dismay for the measures adopted to guarantee greater security are being aime at others whose security against abuses of power maybe undermined." [http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_colombia].

==References==
<references/>

==Source==

*http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/world/americas/21colombia.html?ex=1327035600&en=ad8d53a3750a2092&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
*http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_colombia
*http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/16/Colombia.Watergate.reut/index.html
[[Category:Heads of state]]