I don't think that not traveling to Saudi Arabia will effect them at all. It's never really been a tourist destination unless you count Muslims on the haj. If you really want to protest then stop using oil. Sure most oil sold in the US isn't from SA, but if we started using a lot less of the stuff prices would go down and that would effect SA.

If we stop buying oil, if you want to hurt the Saudis, we also need to convince everyone else (China) to buy the oil.

If you want to replace oil, make the alternative undeniably CHEAPER.

Why the sudden China bashing? China has more EV uptake than the U.S., in fact they pretty much invented the electric micro-car as a market, because of the density of their cities.

The reality is that U.S. is more dependent on oil than any other major industrialized economy. We consume more than the EU, and we consume almost as much as Asia, despite being some small fraction of that continent's population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_consu...

The Saudis just flipped us off. We should get off of oil.

But if you don't want to hurt the other oil exporters, and just hurt SA, THERE IS NO way to do that

just put a global tax on oil from SA

That's not an option for most people

"Just" get the whole world to agree on something. Should be easy, right?

I'd say if you really want to protest them, then petition the US government to...

1. Stop selling KSA and UAE weapons.

2. Reduce or cancel sanctions sanctioning on Iran, Syria and Lebanon (regimes the KSA has tried to undermine).

3. Make public arguments against the Saudi occupation of Bahrain.

4. Yemen:

   4.1 Arrange a weapons embargo on KSA while their Yemen campaign continue

   4.2 Ensure safe passage to naval and air vessels to Yemen

   4.3 Send some humanitarian aid to Yemen (they need it at least as much, and probably more, than Ukraine)

   4.4 Recognize the Houthi grievances in Yemen and support peace talks and a federated resolution of the Yemeni civil war.

5. Join the ICC and sue MBS' ass for chopping up Jamal Khasokgi. (Ok, the US will never do that, it has too much culpability of its own.)

You're wrong on a number of points:

1.) While the UAE and Qatar were initially in the Saudi camp at the start of the war, they have both since left the field - Qatar because their plan was a token response from the start, and the UAE because of significant casualties (and a petition from the mother of a slain soldier).

2.) Iran is currently beating up and killing their own population for protesting. Syria used chemical gas against their own population for protesting. Lebanon is basically Iran's little Mediterranean bitch. You would like us to unsanction these regimes??

3.) Saudi Arabia hasn't been occupying Bahrain - KSA and the UAE "monitor" it on behalf of the Emir of Bahrain. A better way to rephrase this would be: force the Emir out and let the people of Bahrain decide for themselves.

4.) Yes, the West should embargo the Saudis on weapon sales. Not that it would affect them much since they'll just buy from Russia and China, but that is the moral path.

5.) Ask the Houthis for safe naval and air passage in Yemen. They're the ones causing disruptions in the area.

6.) Any humanitarian aid to Yemen somehow ends up with the Houthis.

7.) Houthis don't have any "grievances". Yemen has been divided between a Sunni half and a Shia half since the start of Islam. For the most part historically, Yemen was largely Sunni-dominated. It's only recently that the Houthis are able to put up a fight, and that's largely due to Iranian support and funding.

9.) Leaving the Houthis alone will only let Iran's theocracy impose their own puppet in the area. That is not something the world needs.

10.) Sure, sue MBS, but that's just opening a whole other can of worms.

Like it or not, Iran is just as bad as Saudi Arabia. Both countries rely on a modus operandi of training terrorists and spreading them abroad to cause chaos and fear, and ultimately acquiescence. On that front, Saudi Arabia is still a better ally, since most of the Gulf monarchies have come to the realization that supporting religious fundamentalists abroad has been a retarded thing to do because they'll return to fuck up their monarchical systems later on.

> Like it or not, Iran is just as bad as Saudi Arabia.

Indeed. Though there's much more hope that Iran will experience some kind of regime change given it's young population that's becoming increasingly dissatisfied with religious rule.

Yeah, that's a fairly recent development, and if it happens, I'm all the more up for it. In my experience, although the governments of both countries are equally horrible, the Iranian people tend to have a much stronger moral compass than the Saudi people when it comes to things like in the original article - indigenous rights, or labor rights of lower class workers, and obviously women's rights, etc.

1. I didn't mention Qatar...

2. UAE is generally aligned with KSA on many/most issues, not just Yemen. As for Yemen - IIANM, they back the "Southern Transitional Council", which holds a large part of the country's territory including Aden.

3. KSA sent tanks into Bahrain when things got out of hand, and backs the kingdom financially and militarily as necessary. It has also apparently been involved in inwards population transfer to alter the demographic balance for better average subservience. So, it's technically not an occupation, but maintaining a monarchy opposed by the population is pretty close.

4. Some international cooperation could lead to a global weapons embargo on KSA. Of course, the US is not much for international cooperation these days, but still.

5. Don't remember the Houthis having much sway over US and Saudi air and naval forces in the region, which would be necessary for a naval blockade.

6. Not really + it's fine if a lot of it ends up in the Houthi-controlled areas - a lot of the population is there after all, and they're the side which is most besieged, right?

7. Oh, people have grievances alright. You just gave one reason yourself: Sunni domination. I'm sure it's more complicated than that. Yemen has had 33 years under the control of the same president, with KSA support, which given the nature of that regime - I'm sure has not been a lot of fun for the population. Poverty and corruption have apparently been plaguing Yemen for a long while now. As for "Iranian support and funding" - I would not be surprised if the extent of it are overblown. At least early in the civil war (2015), even the US NSC acknowledged that "It remains our assessment that Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen" (quoted in Wikipedia).

8. No number 8?

9. You seem to be squarely on the KSA side of things. Do you have evidence to back up the claim that the North-Western/Houthi rebel movement is planning on making Yemen a Shia theocracy? Plus, the Houthis are not even from the same religious current as the Iranians, and don't recognize the Twelve divinely-chosen Imams etc.

> Like it or not, Iran is just as bad as Saudi Arabia.

Not remotely. Saudi Arabia is an order of magnitude worse both internally and externally. I believe your view is colored by how the US paints Iran, which is motivated first and foremost by the fact that Iran freed itself from US imperial control with the 1979 revolution. Yes, the post-1979 Iranian government is a semi-democratic theocracy, militaristic and quite repressive - but that's still nowhere near the extremely warped, corrupt monarchy of the KSA.

> Saudi Arabia is still a better ally

Ah, so I've wasted this whole reply, since your perspective is that of the USA. Yeah, well, I guess it is a better ally for you - because it's been an effective force in suppressing liberation struggles in the region, and a decent trading partner. It's no "ally" of the people of the region, though.

As an immigrant from the middle east, It blows my mind how little Americans know about the impact their government has overseas.

It’s sad people conflate being moral with anti-american.

Iran helped lebanon resist israeli occupation and defeated isis in syria.

Also what is the obsession with calling middle eastern countries “regimes”? Lebanon has had elections and government changes throughout its history.

Also please dont forget who funded isis. Iran has no equivalent “religious extremists”, isis is on a whole other level.

In syria and lebanon, you have countless christians and even sunnis that support iran. In fact, overwhelming christians support iran since the sunni counterpart has shown itself much more hostile to other faiths.

The entire Middle East would be significantly better of than it is today if the "west" (mostly the UK, US, and France) had simply not invaded or significantly interfered with any middle eastern country from WWII onwards (so no coups, for starters).

Unfortunately it's a little too late for that, so we're left with the current clusterfuck of a situation.

They seem to be doing the interference themselves these days.

The West is still actively interfering with the Middle East. It has not stopped.

I'm sure they are and the Middle East is actively interfering in the West.

Let's not pretend that they are innocent children being manipulated by the powerful West.

At this point, who would want to? Genuinely. I haven't any idea. I'm a huge F1 fan and F1 racing there feels like such a bizarre move, and it's one that has almost put me off the sport. Dirty money and F1 go together like mac and cheese but this feels like a new low for them.

They're cooked. Quite literally. Let's see how long that regime stays together when the daytime temperature hits 55 degrees Celsius.

Saudi Arabia will continue to be an oasis no matter the change in climate, as long as they have enough oil to burn for air conditioning. Construction projects can be protected with inflatable tents, for example.

or build at night

I've been practicing this form of protest for nearly every country, my entire life.

So in other words, by doing nothing in particular. A protest where you don't change your behavior in any way and don't have to bear any cost is not much of a protest.

Actually, the best protest of Saudi Arabia was carried out by Mayoshi Son of SoftBank. He working with such people as Adam Neumann of WeWork lit billions of dollars worth of Saudi money on fire. A few more years of this, and Saudi won't be able to afford to do stunts like this.