I know that Saudi Arabia has a long way to go to measure up to Western standards of democracy, and that any little step in the right direction is cause for celebration. Perhaps all citizens of Iraq were given the opportunity to vote on January 30th because the U.S. was running the show, and that countries like Saudi Arabia who are doing it for themselves might do it a bit differently. But I can't see this as being terribly democratic:

Saudi Arabia took a small step towards democracy today as men in and around the capital voted in the kingdom's first municipal election.

The vote excludes women, but is the first in the country that largely conforms to international standards. Although the city councils are to be half-appointed and half-elected, some are optimistic it will lead to further reforms to the Saudi royal family's absolute monarchy.

In Saudi Arabia, women are more opressed than anybody, even Christians or Jews, because they can't leave. If you are a Jew and you stumble into Saudi Arabia (you are an idiot), at least you can leave. You can escape. In fact, they want you to go. But the women of Saudi Arabia are property. They are prisoners. More than anybody, they should have the right to choose a government that will do something to alleviate their suffering. Which might be the reason they are barred from voting.

I saw clips of these Saudi elections on the news last night: Bedouin tents with broadband access, politicians peppering their speeches with Koranic quotes - isn't that what got them into trouble in the first place? And somewhere off in the distance, dark shapes moved silently through the streets. Women. Even the reporter I saw last night (I can't remember where) was a Western woman, and was dressed in black with a long scarf to cover her hair when she wasn't on camera. The whole thing had more of a circus feel than anything. It was farcical. The same people will be in power tomorrow as were there yesterday. They will simply have a different title. They look as if they are capitulating to Western democratic pressure, yet they will be laughing when it's over.