Until recently, residents of Saudi Arabia could easily believe they lived in the quietest realm on earth. Sure, citizens were arrested from time to time and punished with floggings, amputations and beheadings, but usually for quiet crimes like drunkenness, theft and drug smuggling. Police rarely had occasion to flip on their sirens, much less draw their guns. If they sought someone for arrest, they did so discreetly, using family and tribal ties to track down a person rather than put out a wanted poster, which might alarm the public and scandalize the suspect's clan.
This summer, however, hardly a week...