Saudi Women To Run, Vote

It's just an election to a Chamber of Commerce board, but it's unprecendented:

Saudi women will be able to fully participate in an election for the first time in this ultraconservative Islamic kingdom, after the government ordered a local chamber of commerce to allow female voters and candidates. ...

The move is a small but unprecedented step in Saudi Arabia, where women are under heavy restrictions. They are barred from driving a car while a male guardian must give permission for women to get an education or job. (source)

In her lengthy post on the matter, the Bookworm gives the just-right perspective:

I haven't heard NOW running around the street celebrating this victory, but it should be -- this is a staggering change in the Muslim world, coming from the country that has, for decades, been writing the checks for the most extreme Islamist education and conduct all over the Middle East.

And of course, while cause and effect is often difficult to pinpoint, I'd bet a lot of money to support my belief that this change within Saudi Arabia came from U.S. pressure. I'd also be willing to bet that this pressure would have been meaningless to those who supply our addiction to Saudi oil if the pressure hadn't been backed up by the American military right across the Saudi border.

She even provides a handy map to remind the geographically challenged that Iraq shares a 500-mile border with Saudi Arabia.