Saudis block American woman's blog in kingdom

"Susie of Arabia," an American woman married to a Saudi, blogs about life in the desert kingdom. Of course, despite it's royal wrappings, Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship. For instance, a few years ago the US State Department said that there is no freedom of religion there, and Muslim reformer Irshad Manji remarked in a lecture I attended that like automobiles, women are merely property in that country.

Susie keeps her spirits while residing in the Wahhabi nation, and her blog is to me, only mildly critical of such quaint Saudi traditions as prohibiting women from driving cars. She admonishes Saudi drivers--they're all men of course, which makes me wonder if the wrong gender is banned from getting behind the wheel there.

Last week Susie discovered that Saudi censors have blocked her blog from being viewed in the kingdom, although readers elsewhere can still see it.

From her most recent post:

I had an epiphany one day when I realized that maybe I was painting too rosy of a picture about life here. Maybe I was glossing over and ignoring the rough spots, the issues that Saudi Arabia would rather sweep under the rug and pretend don't exist.

Be safe, Susie.

UPDATE June 2: Susie's blog has been unblocked in Saudi Arabia.

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