“

Inside the kingdom, the social and economic reforms that are strongly popular with the next generation of Saudis continue to move forward in important ways, and the old ways of thinking grounded in a conservative interpretation of Islam are being pushed further to the sidelines, nevertheless, Saudi Arabia remains an absolute monarchy intolerant of a diversity of views, and it still takes troubling measures to stifle dissent. It has a lot of work to do in respecting basic human rights and freedoms including religious freedom.