Good News & Bad News from the Middle East

First the good news. Iran finally frees US journalist Roxana Saberi. Not that I suspect any kind of meaningful change is coming to Iran (bless those still held in captivity!), but this is a noteworthy development in a case that didn't receive nearly enough press. (H/t: LittleGreenFootballs)

Now, the bad: In a (sadly) unsurprising ruling, a Saudi judge has ruled that it is OK to slap a wife for spending "lavishly." This is wrong on so many levels, but let's dissect this anyway. Starting with domestic violence seems like as good a spot as any, but beneath the DV, I see there's something else quite sinister there, as well. The ruling suggests that a woman is incapable of listening to reason. People use loud noises to train a dog that something is bad, not because loud noises are an ideal method of communication, but because there's no way to reason with a dog to understand not to do that on the carpet. This goes beyond misogyny--the ruling places women on the same level as mute beasts. I am not quite sure how to comment on the "spending lavishly" bit--there are quite a few Saudi men known to spend lavishly without fear of receiving a slapping from their mullah. So why does this standard apply to women? I fear it doesn't--at least not to all women--it is a standard applied by a particular husband to his particular wife. And if someone were to view all wives as property of their respective husbands, then why not let the husbands hold their wives accountable to whatever standards they see fit? Disgusting.