There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

How blinkered can some politicians be?

 US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross suggested no protesters was a sign of Saudi Arabia’s goodwill. Ross travelled with the US president to Saudi Arabia. Speaking with CNBC on Monday morning, Ross said there was “no sign of” protesters and seemed to suggest this was a sign of the country’s goodwill towards the US.

“There was not a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there,” Ross said. “Not one guy with a bad placard...There was not a single effort at any incursion, there wasn’t anything,” Ross said. “The mood was a genuinely good mood.”

Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said “anyone who follows the situation in Saudi Arabia will not be surprised at all” by the lack of protesters.  "No one wants to sit in jail for ten years because they protested Trump.”

In Saudi Arabia,  the government categorically forbids participation in political protests or unauthorized public assemblies.  The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner found that “children involved in demonstrations have been tried and sentenced, including to death, by the specialized criminal court” in Saudi Arabia.