Why do conservatives love Sharia and Saudi Arabia so much?

[parochial boy]

I dunno I mean, the fuelling of war crimes in Yemen, slave labour, intense mysoginy and well attributed financial and intellectual support for the worst of violent islamism seem worse than anything Iran has done. And definitely bad enough to make the claim of realpolitik look cynical in the extreme, especially when claiming to be upholding liberal and democratic values with the other side of the face.

And even the effectiveness of US "realpolitik" is dubious enough as it is. It is a factor in why Europe is dealing with a refugee crisis (and let's not forget that the Americans owe us for that) and is also something that the islamists will happily cite as a motivating factor...

Israel's situation is more understandable (although still looks somewhat hypocritical, if less hypocritical than the Saudis amusing triangulation), but it is really hard to be understanding of the US or UK apparently insisting that one bunch of genocidal fascists are better than the others

[parochial boy]

Well, if you're opinion is that restricting abortion is more important than democracy (which is what your argument reads as?) then that is your perogative, but it doesn't really insulate you from the argument that the right is reluctant to accept democracy. I mean, you could make the same argument about a leftist who defends Maduro because he is anti-neoliberalism, at the end of the day it suggests a level of scepticism in democracy.

Anyway, the problem I see with your rationale is that it is defending people who are already in a position of power - so it is hardly a defence of the beleaguered minority in the face of the tyranny of the majority.