To whom Obama bows

What has our dependence on foreign oil brought? Angus McDowell reports at Yahoo News:

Saudi Arabia, the United States' top Arab ally and birthplace of Islam, follows the strict Wahhabi Sunni Muslim school and gives the clergy control over its justice system.

It does not permit the public worship of other faiths or allow them to maintain places of worship inside the country. In a new law last year it included atheism as a terrorist offence.

It uses the death penalty for offences including blasphemy, apostasy and witchcraft. The kingdom has beheaded 40 people so far in 2015, rights watchdog Amnesty International said this week, based on local media reports.

Political dissidents have been given long jail terms in the past year after repeatedly raising human rights issues in international media and urging the absolute monarchy to introduce elections.

The kingdom is the only country in which women are forbidden to drive. Saudi women also need the permission of a male guardian, usually a close family member, to conduct many aspects of official business, including travel overseas.