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North Korea’s hereditary rulers are all from the Kim family. What I noticed is that each generation of leaders starts at a younger age than the previous one. The current one is in his twenties? We’re talking someone who could be housed at the Animal House fraternity in some college campus: Great Leader (Grandpa Kim)--> Dear Leader (Father Kim)--> Cute Leader (Son Kim)-->Teenage Leader (Grandson Kim)--> Toddler Leader (Great Grandson Kim).
 
In Saudi Arabia, the ruling kings are selected horizontally (and sideways) instead of vertically: Dear Father King (Abdulaziz Ibn Saud; the Great Polygamist) -->Great Son 1 (Saud: the Avid but not Great Polygamist. He was overthrown by his brother and next-in-line)--> Great Son 2 (Faisal: he was killed by his nephew)--> Great Son 3 (Khalid: he died)--> Great Son 4 (Fahad)--> Great Son 5 (Abdullah). Great Sons 6 & 7 died while waiting for Great Son 5 to pass away. Great son 8 is waiting in the wings, goatee beard ready (It is in the non-existent Saudi constitution that only a prince with a goatee beard can become king).

In Bahrain the rapacious and avaricious Al Khalifa clan have been given their own names: Late Little King (Shaikh Issa: a ka Mothercare, affectionately in my hometown) Cute King of Hearts (King Hamad) Dear Son (Salman)  Vicious Son (Nasser). Nasty Old Uncle and Prime Minister for 42 years (his son is his deputy prime minister). All Bahrain’s ruling shaikhs (now kings) are traditionally named: Hamad, Issa, Salman, Khalifa. One of these names is as essential as a goatee beard is for a Saudi prince. To the best of my knowledge, although there may have been other names in the distant past.
 
In Syria, Hafez Al-Assad reportedly planned to leave the throne to his flamboyant son Basil, but he died young. Bashar became the heir by default. FYI: Bashar has a son named Hafez.

There are other former wannabees. Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), and Mu'ammar Qaddafi (Libya), and Ali Abdallah Saleh (Yemen) all groomed their sons to inherit their countries.

Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

“The Turkish media has failed to take a stand against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted as saying May 19 while speaking with a group of journalists during an official visit to Washington. “Through the process, even our print and visual media haven’t stood against [Syrian President] Bashar [al-Assad]. Moreover, there are [media] which act together [with the al-Assad regime]..........."
Could this be one factor why Turkey is reportedly the world’s top jailer of journalists nowadays. The Turkish journalists do not show enough enthusiasm against the Syrian strongman. Not as much enthusiasm as the Turkish strongman Erdoğan wants.........Having done so, Mr. Erdoğan is now stuck in the Syrian boat being carried.............<< MORE >>

"Immediately after Hitto’s narrow victory in the coalition’s vote, several members suspended their membership and the armed wing of the group – the Free Syrian Army command – issued a statement that it opposed his election. …….. Two members of the Syrian Opposition Coalition separately confirmed to McClatchy what Arabic-language news reports have said for days: that Hitto is at great risk of being pushed out because his post has become mired in a tug of war between Saudi Arabia and Qatar over Syria’s future…………….”
Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These two Persian Gulf Wahhabi absolute tribal states are reportedly fighting over Syria’s future. And here American media (CNN, Fox News, and others) have been telling us for two years about the bright future that awaits the Syrian people once the Baathist dictatorship is deposed. Once the dictator is gone, the thinking has gone, Syria will surely join the civilized trickle-down nations that worship Citibank and Goldman Sachs. This was the Obama-Clinton-Kerry vision. Francois Hollande dreamed of clinking glasses of Beaujolais........... << MORE >>

"The Saudis say they never existed. They also dismiss the allegations as fabrications designed to blackmail them into settling the case on disadvantageous terms. Almhairat's first allegation relates to a transaction said to have taken place in spring 2010, when he was asked to fly from the Jordanian capital Amman to Beirut to issue a bank guarantee for $5m to an intermediary who supposedly dealt with Hezbollah, the Shia political organisation which controls much of eastern Lebanon…………Almhairat claims he was later told the banker's draft was to be used to "facilitate money-laundering for Hezbollah"……….….”
I am not buying the part of the Jordanian's claim about a senior Saudi prince helping Hezbollah in an illegal operation just to earn$ 5 million. That amount is peanuts, ..........Would he trust Hezbollah and would Hezbollah even trust him? Are they that stupid in Beirut? I am........<< MORE >>

"McCain told host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "We need to have a game-changing action: No American boots on the ground, establish a safe zone, and protect it and supply weapons to the right people in Syria who are fighting for obviously the things we believe in."…………….....”
Talk about a helluva leap of faith. And how does McCain and his fellow travelers know who are these democracy loving Syrians? Jabhat Al-Nusra? Nope. The hostage-taking, sectarian,, torturing, head-cutting, cannibalistic Free Syrian Salafi Army? Probably not. The politicians in Turkey and Paris? Many of these are no doubt well-meaning gentlemen, but they are not in Syria,......... They do not believe in truth, justice, and the American way. In fact the Superman would get beheaded and....... Maybe the senators know the history of the Spanish Civil War, and how the Western democracies left the field for Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. How the British and others refused to supply the ...........<< MORE >>

"The meeting would bring the opposition and Syrian government together and pave the way for a new transitional government. France's Foreign Ministry said Friday it opposes Iranian participation in the peace talks. A spokesman says France cannot see how a country that threatens regional stability like Iran can take part. Russia has said Iran, a close Syrian ally, must be included in the talks and accuses the West of trying to narrow the circle of participants.........."
The French, the former colonial masters of Syria and North Africa, come from thousands of kilometers away and claim to have the “right” to shape our region. They claim the right to decide which country in our region can participate in discussing regional issues. The French governments, be they Gaullists or Socialists, act as if the............<< MORE >>

“In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if he retaliated………………”
Now, the way things are, the UN Security Council may be called to an emergency session only if Syria ‘threatens’ to retaliate for an attack. In this case, only a veto would prevent a condemnation and more sanctions. The definition of a 'threat" by the "international community", meaning by the Western Powers...........<< MORE >>

"The French fries arrive soggy, the chicken having long since lost its crunch. A 12-piece bucket goes for about $27 here — more than twice the $11.50 it costs just across the border in Egypt. And for fast-food delivery, it is anything but fast: it took more than four hours for the KFC meals to arrive here on a recent afternoon from the franchise where they were cooked in El Arish, Egypt, a journey that involved two taxis, an international border, a smuggling tunnel and a young entrepreneur coordinating it all from a small shop here called Yamama — Arabic for pigeon….................."
Now why would the Israelis, and the Egyptians for that matter, ban Gaza from importing KFC? Egypt is allegedly ruled by the Fudamentalist Islamists, bot Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, yet the Gazans still need to smuggle their favorite American chickens through tunnels. The same way they used to smuggle asses (as in jackasses or donkeys, mostly: 4-legged and 2-legged) until recently. FYI: importing asses was banned by Israelis and Egypt, maybe on the assumption that Hamas............ I didn't like it and I didn't inhale (to quote Bill Clinton). Afterwards I slaughtered a sheep as atonement. I did not actually......<< MORE >>

" Every year in South Africa, boys aged 10 to 15 years from several of the country's tribal groups are circumcised in traditional "initiation rituals". The ceremonies usually take place over a number of weeks in remote rural areas. Deaths are often caused by blood loss or infection when circumcisions are poorly performed by traditional practitioners………………”
I remember it. Mine was performed at the American Mission Hospital in Kuwait City, my hometown. Presumably not by a good Muslim, but presumably by the late Dr. Lewis Scudder or at least under his supervision. Dr. Scudder, God bless..........<< MORE >>

Last week, Abdulemam was given a “now-or-never proposition” by someone in Bahrain. He got into a secret compartment in a car and was driven across the causeway that connects his tiny island nation to Saudi Arabia……. From Saudi Arabia, he snuck into Kuwait, from which he was smuggled by fishermen into Iraq. There, he took two flights to Baghdad and finally, last week, made it to London………..[About his torturers} “I cannot call them a human; they are savage,” he said. “They were enjoying torturing us.”………........"
Note: he is seeking asylum in Britain. Ali Abdulemam represents an interesting and shameful fact about the plight of Arab opposition in general. The shame of it is that no Arab country, not a single one of 21 Arab countries would grant him asylum. ...........It is interesting that allegedly "liberated" Egypt and Libya and Tunisia all refuse to accept dissidents............leaders of the Syrian opposition are doing the same. Few of them, if any, flock to Arab capitals to run their opposition..........<< MORE >>

Aftermath of the FSA Syrian video showing one of their officers eating the raw heart (or was it liver) of a Syrian soldier he killed. The Free Syrian Salafi Army and its Arab allies are now trying to do some damage control.........I have been of the opinion that the FSA gangs of fighters, kidnappers, and torturers have about as much credibility in their tales as all those anonymous "Syrian activists" that gullible Western media.........Damascus was about to be "liberated" from the Baathist dictatorship and delivered to the Talibanesque Wahhabi Paradise promised by ..........<< MORE >>

"Between 1970 and 2007 America’s incarceration rate (including county jails) rose roughly fivefold, to 756 per 100,000 people………………As spending on incarceration in cash-strapped California soared, other recipients of state largesse, such as universities, saw their budgets slashed. But despite a flurry of prison-building in the 1980s and 1990s, cheered on by officers’ unions, California struggled to house the growing aviary of jailbirds. At one point more than twice as many prisoners were stuffed into the state’s facilities as they were designed to hold..………………….”
It is a true Gulag here in the United States, given the ratio between overall population and the population of the prisons. There are many interests that benefit from keeping the numbers incarcerated for minor offenses high: police unions, prison warden unions, and now private for-profit prison .............<< MORE >>

“Dominique Verger, Swiss ambassador in Cairo, opened the Caravan Exhibition in the Ma’adi district. The exhibit consists of likenesses of 50 asses (as in jackasses or donkeys), all made from polyester. The exhibit was organized by the Swiss Embassy and the British Institute: its preparation took five years………..”
We must remember that preparation of this asinine exhibit started under the previous asinine government of former president Mubarak. But it is telling that it has been completed and exhibited under the Muslim Brotherhood-Salafi regime of Mohammed Morsi. It is noticeable that none of Egypt’s cantankerous xenophobic Islamist parties have opposed this, none of them, not even the Salafis called it blasphemous. Which deprived me of a great ...........Reading the news has convinced me that the donkey is the least asinine among the various citizens of Egypt. The worst part is that things might get.............<< MORE >>

"The committee, headed by Fathy Shehab El-Din of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), engaged in a heated argument on the effects Iranian tourists could have on Egypt. "The Shias are more dangerous than naked [women]," MP Tharwat Attallah of the Salafist Nour Party said during the meeting."They are a danger to Egypt's national security; Egyptians could be deceived into [converting to] Shiism…………......”
Egypt’s Islamists seem to have gone mad. They are obsessed with the fear of conversion, to Shi'ism. Are they that insecure about their faith? Hopefully this applies to Islamists and not to most Egyptian Muslims. They have become Wahhabi’ized under thirty years of Mr. Mubarak’s Fascist rule, under thirty years of Saudi money and influence. Now many of the Islamists who are sharing power are showing clear signs of Islamo-Fascism. And not just Salafis. Some high officials in the Muslim Brotherhood............<< MORE >>

"Mashaei is among more than 680 hopefuls, but no more than a handful will be selected for the final ballot. State TV quoted Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei as saying the claims against Ahmadinejad will be referred to the country's judiciary for possible charges. The Council's members said that public fund rules were broken when Ahmadinejad accompanied Mashaei to the election registration office on Saturday, said Kadkhodaei. A conviction could bring a maximum punishment of six months in jail or 74 lashes…………….....”
Ahmadinejad may face flogging, at least on paper. This is the man whom the hapless president of Columbia University once stupidly called “a dictator”. That was a few years ago and the ..........as usual, nobody knows who will win. Mr. Mashaei does have a chance of winning ........probably Qalibaf (his name means carpet-weaver) and Jalili............ << MORE >>