Middle East Focus-Arabia Deserta

Israel to Join NATO, Help Liberate Syria……………

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-11T23:15:55Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“NATO said Friday it is considering an Israeli offer to contribute a warship to the alliance's naval patrol in the Mediterranean, despite Turkey's opposition. NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the offer is being evaluated "according to NATO procedures and operation requirements." In the past, Israeli warships and air force jets have joined in some NATO exercises, but Israel's participation in the naval operation would the first time its armed forces have taken part in one of the alliance's military operations……….”

This may mean that Israelis can soon be invited to "liberate" some Arab countries. The West liberated Iraq and NATO liberated Libya. Now NATO is being pushed by the Democratic People's Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the freedom-loving potentates on my Gulf to intervene and "liberate" Syria from the Assad regime. Before you know it, Netanyahu will be visiting the troops outside Tartus or in Damascus, flanked by a Salafi shaikh and a couple of Muslim Brother worthies (one Saudi-owned, one Qatari-owned). Lieberman (either Avigdor or Joe) may offer to entertain the IDF troops in Damascus.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

A King and the UN Veto: Oppressor of Bahrain Wants Freedom for Syrians but not for Saudis………

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-11T19:58:52Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Saudi Arabia has slammed the Russian and Chinese veto of a UN resolution on Syria as an "unfavorable" move. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said on Friday that world confidence in the United Nations had been shaken after the world body failed to adopt a resolution against the Syrian regime's deadly crackdown on protests. "We all used to take pride in the United Nations which used to bring us together and not divide us ... but what took place does not augur well as world confidence in the United Nations has undoubtedly been shaken," King Abdullah said in a televised speech. "We are going through scary days and unfortunately what happened at the United Nations is absolutely regrettable," the king said……… "No matter how powerful, countries cannot rule the whole world," he said. "The world is ruled by brains, by justice, by morals and by fairness.………”

He said لا فض فوه: “The world is ruled by brains, by justice, by morals and by fairness”. Saudi media, almost all owned and controlled by princes and their relations, are ecstatic over this royal piece of….. wisdom. On the Gulf, Wahhabi faux-liberals from Bahrain and farther north up to my hometown are going orgasmic over this, tweeting and editorializing about this savior of mankind, this absolute font of wisdom.
Brains: the speech definitely reflected a unique intellect of….. some kind. So that is the secret of good governance, and that explains the situation in places like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Justice: that is what they call sectarian discrimination and repression and arrests and tortures and prisons and death sentences. Even the regularly chopping off of heads of sorcerers and witches and magicians and poor Asian housemaids in Riyadh are a reflection of this justice.
Morals and fairness: yes, looting a country, or two countries or three, is not necessarily immoral. And we’ve got genuine signed fatwas fresh from the oven, the best that money can buy, to prove it.
As for fairness: wtf is that?
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Intervention in Syria: the Legend of Qassem Suleimani and his Lost Brigade…………

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-11T18:58:13Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“Russia said on Friday that the West was stoking the conflict in Syria by sending weapons to the opponents of President Bashar Assad. In an attempt to deflect criticism of Russia for blocking a UN Security Council resolution urging Assad to give up power, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Western states were stirring up trouble in Syria, where Assad has pursued a violent crackdown since March on protests against his 11-year rule……………”

“The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is expecting up to 15,000 Iranian troops to help maintain order in the country’s provinces, a Chinese newspaper reports. Iran has yet to confirm or deny the news. According to the central Chinese daily Renmin Ribao, the Iranian special task troops are due to be deployed in Syria’s key provinces. The Syrian opposition announced earlier that commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, advises the Syrian authorities on quashing the country’s opposition movement, the Telegraph newspaper reports……...”

I would take all claims by the Syrian opposition, all factions of the opposition, with a grain of salt. Their claims are suspect. The same goes for claims by the Syrian regime. It is possible that Qassem Suleimani went to Damascus, but these people can also claim, any day now, that Hassan Nasrallah is in Damascus helping the Assad regime crush the protests. They may forget that Imad Mughniya is dead and claim that he, too, is in Syria helping Assad. After all, the Saudi network Alarabiya last month claimed that Muqtada al-Sadr’s Iraqi militia were in Syria fighting for Assad (Alarabiya was trying a bit of divisive Sunni-Shi’a sectarian mischief, a Saudi specialty).
This publication got the news about 15,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria from a Chinese news site which got it from Israeli daily Haaretz which in turn allegedly got it from Saudi semi-official network Alarabiya! This has become a truth now, continuously disseminated online by the Wahhabi faux-liberal media and tweeters of some GCC Gulf states. The rest of Arab media (yes, there is arrest of Arab media that is not owned by the GCC) seem to ignore it. So far.

Now we all know that if there were 15, 000 Iranian troops in Syria the Western intelligence services would know it and they would publicize it: they wouldn’t need a Saudi propaganda network to tell them. Hell, members of the U.S. Congress would leak the information, if it were true. And they would know.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

More on the Kashghari Case: Who Owns Interpol and Malaysia? ……….

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-11T18:25:06Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet's birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats……….”

I posted about Hamza Kashgari (a couple of times). Here.

Saudi Arabia apparently can get Interpol to do its bidding and arrest dissidents at foreign airports. That is indeed bad news for Saudi dissidents who think they can seek asylum in places like Malaysia (a country that is deeply intolerant and quasi-Wahhabi). And this guy is not even a dissident: he is a loyal son of the Wahhabi system.
It can get the West to do its bidding on the Syrian regime at the United Nations Security Council. If that doesn’t work, it can get the West to do its bidding at the United Nations General Assembly. It has even ordered the Western powers to turn a blind eye to the year-long uprising and repression in Bahrain. It has even forced Washington to ship weapons of repression to the Manama regime even as it condemns the repression in Syria. All for a price, no doubt.
Still, not bad for a repressive xenophobic bigoted medieval kingdom ruled by an absolute dynasty of several thousand rapacious princes. All in the name of freedom and democracy: not bad for the most repressive regime in the world after North Korea, n’est-ce pas?
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Iran’s Real Nuclear Worries……………

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-11T17:41:47Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Amidst mounting geopolitical tensions, Iranian officials said Wednesday they were increasingly concerned about the United States of America's uranium-enrichment program, fearing the Western nation may soon be capable of producing its 8,500th nuclear weapon. "Our intelligence estimates indicate that, if it is allowed to progress with its aggressive nuclear program, the United States may soon possess its 8,500th atomic weapon capable of reaching Iran," said Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, adding that Americans have the fuel, the facilities, and "everything they need" to manufacture even more weapons-grade fissile material. "Obviously, the prospect of this happening is very distressing to Iran and all countries like Iran. After all, the United States is a volatile nation that's proven it needs little provocation to attack anyone anywhere in the world whom it perceives to be a threat." Iranian intelligence experts also warned of the very real, and very frightening, possibility of the U.S. providing weapons and resources to a rogue third-party state such as Israel……………”
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Nuclear Princes: Ulema to go Ballistic, Re-education of Housemaids……..

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-11T17:01:27Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

Al-Quds Alarabi (published from London although reportedly funded from Qatar) reports that Saudi Arabia plans to “purchase” a nuclear bomb as soon as the Iranians announce that they have developed one. If the Iranians follow the Israeli book and never announce, then the Saudis will “purchase” their own bomb as soon as Benjamin Netanyahu officially announces that the Iranians have developed the bomb. If Benjamin Netanyahu by some miracle declines to opine on the subject, perhaps due to Laryngitis, they will form a committee of the clergy (ulema) to decide the matter. Or they may just decide to ask the ayatollahs about it, hoping they would tell the truth. A fatwa will be in order.

The daily quotes the London Times which quotes a top Saudi official which probably quotes one of his wives that the Saudis will never be content with male dancing and verses of praise at the annual Al Jenadriya “festival”, not after that. Surprisingly, the newspaper did not name Prince Turki al-Faisal, the only will probably be inundated with emails and other solicitations and attractive offers from secretive Nigerian sources in Lagos and Abuja and London.
That means the Saudis will have to retrain the tens of thousands, nay hundreds of thousands, of their Wahhabi ulema, the clergy, in nuclear physics. The palindromic Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh will have to become conversant in such terms as Uranium 235 (U-235), Uranium 238 (U-238), enrichment, yellow cake, delivery systems, and maybe even Niger. He may be forced to break his taboo against the sin of cinema and watch Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). He will have to fatwa on all these weighty issues.

There will also be a huge shift in the favorite Saudi import: human labor. Henceforth, the millions of imported Asian and African housemaids will have to be conversant in rudimentary physics. There will be a fatwa before that: “a real good education starts in the crib and the diaper, no matter how soiled”.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Syria: America from Afghanistan to Damascus, Keeping Charlie Wilson Home……..

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-10T20:23:23Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“Ronald Reagan spread weapons all around northern Pakistan, and in my view began the destabilization of that country, which now has an endemic problem with armed tribes, militias and gangs. I saw the same thing happen in Lebanon shortly before, during the civil war that threw that country into long term fragility. More recently, we saw a civil war in Algeria (1991-2000) that left 150,000 people dead, which is really no different than what has been going on in Syria except that it was on a much larger scale and the West at that time decided to support the secular generals against the rebelling Muslim fundamentalists.......... And while the war would have been longer in Libya if Qatar and France had not secretly armed the rebels, it likely would have had a similar outcome (what was really important was NATO attrition of Libyan armor). And in that case the problem the country now faces, of militia rule and fragmentation, would have been much less severe. If people don’t think a flood of arms into the hands of Syrian fighters will spill over onto Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel/ Palestine, they are just fooling themselves…….. “

Yes, but it is not the “opposition” in Syria that is the most important in Western calculations. Just like it was not the fate of the wild regressive Islamic Mujahideen and their regressive Arab Salafi allies in Afghanistan that mattered to Reagan in the 1980s.
In Afghanistan the main goal, to needle and possibly defeat the Soviet Union mattered the most: it was uber alles. The Soviets were defeated, Charlie Wilson (Rep.-Texas) was edified with a good Hollywood film, but what came after also defeated the Afghan people and then the West.

In Syria the goal of the West diverges from the goal of the people of Hama and Homs protesting and dying on the streets. The West’s goal is not really Bashar al-Assad or his dictatorship: they are just a tool. The real goal is in Tehran, by way of Beirut and possibly Iraq. Right now getting a Syria that is not an ally of the Iranian mullahs, possibly a Mubarak-style ally of the Saudi princes, is what matters the most for the West. The chain of Iranian influence, it is assumed, will be broken at the Iraqi-Syrian border. In the Saudi calculation, a new fundamentalist Syria can be used to squeeze the Iraqis as well, just like it was used after 2003. In erroneous and shortsighted Saudi thinking, squeezing the Iraqis is the same as squeezing the Iranians. That is the narrow Wahhabi mind not the Arab mind doing the thinking.

Then there is the elephant in the room that American leaders are studiously ignoring: the Golan Heights. A quasi-Islamist regime in Damascus will be under pressure to move closer toward the Hamas solution for the Golan. More tensions along the border, regardless of what Mr. Burhan Ghalioun claims now. No doubt the Israelis are furiously updating the situation in Syria with an eye toward the Golan, perhaps more so than even Lebanon, especially Beirut and the south.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Will Iranians Beat Newt and Callista Gingrich to the Moon?…………..

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-10T15:42:45Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“Iran plans to launch heavy satellites into orbit and is setting up a new launch base to put such types of satellites, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said. Vahidi said Thursday that the base will be used to launch one-ton satellites into an orbit of 1,000 kilometers. He said that among Iran's next year plans was the launch of Tolou (Rise) and Fajr (Dawn) satellites into orbit. Vahidi also said that Iran is planning to launch satellites into orbits of up to 36,000 kilometers next year. Last Friday, Iran successfully sent Navid-e Elm-o Sana'at (Promise of Science and Industry) satellite into orbit. The 50-kilogram orbiter lifted off into space with an orbital angle of 55 degrees on the Iranian-made Safir satellite-carrier………”

Apparently the Iranian space program is proceeding in spite of the tightening Western sanctions. Who knows: once President and First Lady Newt and Callista Gingrich land on the moon, they may not find the Chinese waiting for them. They may run into an Iranian ayatollah with a Quran and an Iranian flag.
Enough to give an aging Catholic convert-for-love an infarct. Unless the Western sanctions decimate their space program long before then.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Tweeting Mohammed: Kashghari and the Princes and the Wahhabi Palace Clergy…….

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-10T14:52:37Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“It remains unclear why Kashgari is being held or whether he will be extradited to Saudi Arabia. Last week, just before the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth, Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old Saudi writer in Jidda, took to his Twitter feed to reflect on the occasion. “On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you,” he wrote in one tweet. “On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more,” he wrote in a second. “On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more,” he concluded in a third……………”

Some details on the Hamza Kashghari case and his tweets:

What he wrote was within the Salafi Wahhabi doctrine of not idolizing prophets or any historic figure. He writes like a good young Wahhabi fundamentalist of the old school, many Saudis are.
What he may not have realized was that all that is only on paper: Wahhabis now are expected to idolize the Al Saud princes and absolute tribal kings, and they mostly do so.
The Prophet Mohammed was a simpler more modest man: most people, the Arabs of his era, just called him simply “Mohammed” or later on “Messenger”. Nobody kissed his hand; neither would he have condoned such abhorrent behavior. Nobody bowed to him either; that used to be un-Islamic “I shall not bow to you……. I shall not kiss your hand”.
Maybe the potentates were upset about this phrase the most “I will say that I have loved the rebel in you….” Rebels are not loved nor admired nor tolerated nor left free in Saudi Arabia, have not been since this dynasty came to power. They are sent to cells where they are kept without charge.
All the public protests are just sanctimonious posturing in Saudi Arabia and the palace Salafis of some Gulf states. Once the news spread that King Abdullah himself, no less, has personally ordered his arrest, everyone jumped on the royal bandwagon, fell in line and started to express fake outrage.
Malaysia was the wrong place for Kashghari to go. It is a fundamentalist country clothed in a thin secular blanket, and its rulers are close to the Saudi potentates. Religious freedom has a patchy record, at best, in Malaysia. He ought to have split to somewhere in Europe.

Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

A Blood Red Valentine’s Day Coming to Bahrain…………….

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-09T23:43:44Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

About the meeting in Saudi Arabia between King Abdullah and King (formerly shaikh) Hamad of Bahrain. The Wahhhabi king has summoned his Bahraini satrap to al-Jnadriya. It has nothing to do with some kind of brotherly or sisterly love between the two kings as their official media repeat.
What is on their minds, both kings but especially the Bahraini king is Valentine’s Day, February 14. That will be the first anniversary of the start of the people’s uprising in Bahrain against repression and discrimination and the policy of apartheid that has kept a majority of the people of Bahrain as second class citizens (in fact third class citizens, after the imported foreign mercenaries). The regime imported mercenaries from as far away as Pakistan and Jordan and Syria and former Iraqi Ba’athists to crush the uprising. It didn’t work and the Saudi forces invaded to shore up the regime and keep apartheid in place.
One year later, many civilian deaths later, many prisoners later, many tortures later, many destroyed houses of worship later, and the people are still insistent on their demands for freedom and equality. The regime is forced to keep the people away from the center of Manama, from the site of Pearl Square (Lulu), and to lay siege to native villages with its mercenaries and invaders. Arrests and kangaroo trials and teargas attacks are a daily thing in Bahrain.
February 14, Valentine’s Day, 2012 will be a red one in Bahrain. Not from roses of love, but from the blood of the people that the hateful regime will be shedding again. As it has been doing for a year now.
That is what the Saudi king summoned his Bahraini satrap to discuss. How to crush the spirit of a majority of the people of Bahrain, once and for all? I doubt that they will find the answer.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

GCC Claptrap: Two Bin Technocrat Kings Meet in Brotherly Atmosphere of Sisters, about Motherly and Fatherly…….

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-09T21:30:35Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
"His Majesty King Hamad Bin Issa (Bin Technocrat) Al Khalifa yesterday met in al-Jnadriya with his brother Servant of the Two Shrines King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz (Bin Technocrat) Al Saud, monarch of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Servant of the Two Shrines welcomed his majesty the king and chatted with him about the historical and unique brotherly ties between the two brotherly countries and the growth and development of these ties in many fields. His majesty expressed his pride in how far the thick (that is what he said, mateena, meaning strong) brotherly relations between the two sisterly kingdoms have reached in terms of growth and development in all aspects so that they have become an example for all brotherly ties. His majesty the king and the Servant of the Two Shrines reviewed views and ideas about the Gulf Unification project that was approved by the leaders of the GCC during the 32nd session of the Supreme Council………..”

All that from a royal daily newspaper of Bahrain, (the lousy English is my quickie translation from Arabic).
All these sisterly and brotherly sentiments and love and affection and lust reeking of extra sweet sugary tea and incense and dihin oud musk oil (and some BO). How can sisterly countries have brotherly feelings to each other, pray tell? Flipping between sisterly and brotherly, but no mention of motherly or fatherly love and affection between the two monarchs, or rather the Saudi king and his satrap, the effective governor of his fourteenth province of Bahrain. And it's not even St. Valentines Day yet.

If I were rude and crude, which I ain't, I’d ruin the nearly romantic atmosphere, ruin the mood of those two romancing potentates by mentioning the one word that often describes such hypocritical sessions: claptrap. But I am not rude or crude, so I won’t use the term ‘claptrap’ or the term ‘bullshit’.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Dubai Claims Second Virgin Birth in History, no Manger no Magi ………..

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-09T20:48:36Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“Dubai: Zebedee may have never met a male of her species, but that hasn't stopped the nine-year-old female zebra shark from reproducing on a recurring basis. In a phenomenon that has defied everything science ever knew about the zebra shark, Zebedee, who lives in an aquarium at the Burj Al Arab Hotel, has been giving birth for the past four years, a first-ever for her species, reveals Warren Baverstock, Aquarium Manager at Burj Al Arab and co-author of an article featured in the Journal of Fish Biology. Baverstock and co-author, marine biologist and assistant aquarium manager David Robinson explained the reason the news wasn't brought to public attention was because tests had to be carried out, DNA had to be sampled, research conducted and theories approved……… For the scientifically inclined, the process is called parthenogenesis………”

Muslims, like Christians, believe in Immaculate Conception, the virgin birth of Jesus. It was supposed to have happened only once in history. Yet leave it to the potentates of UAE to try and redo or outdo Immaculate Conception. Just like they've tried to outdo the Swiss ski slopes and the Hilton Head golf courses and the African mercenaries and the old Ba’athist (both Iraqi and Syrian) interrogation techniques.
At least it is a shark, not one of the potentates that was born out of wedl…, er, Immaculate Conception. And the three Magi are probably under Western sanctions these days. But give it some time.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Iran Assassinations: Mujahideen of Mossad, Mujahideen of the West, Mujahideen of the Potentates……

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-09T19:29:57Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“Deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group that is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service, U.S. officials tell NBC News, confirming charges leveled by Iran’s leaders. The group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, has long been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, accused of killing American servicemen and contractors in the 1970s and supporting the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran before breaking with the Iranian mullahs in 1980. The attacks, which have killed five Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007 and may have destroyed a missile research and development site, have been carried out in dramatic fashion, with motorcycle-borne assailants often attaching small magnetic bombs to the exterior of the victims’ cars. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration is aware of the assassination campaign but has no direct involvement………..”

Mujahideen Khalq are still listed on the U.S. terrorist list, but you wouldn’t know it from the way top American politicians, current and former, deal with it. It holds conferences in places like Paris and invites prominent speakers at fat fees, thousands of dollars a pop. People of both American parties: Rudi Giuliani, James Woolsey, Ed Rendell, Bill Richardson, Tom Ridge, etc. They all come home from these MEK (MKO) conferences a bit richer and a bit more hawkish on the prospects of a war against Iran.
The cultish organization spends a lot of money is spent, and I have speculated here on the source of all that money, many millions. Some Gulf GCC states have been singing the praises of the MEK in recent years, campaigning to keep their “camp” in Iraq even as Iraqis want them out of their country. The Saudis have not yet offered them its territory for their camp, which is too cloe to the Iraq-Iranian border to last. During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88 the MEK were loved by the Gulf potentates because they fought on Saddam Hussein’s side. After Desert Storm they were reviled by the GCC potentates for the same reason: because they sided with the Iraqi Ba’athist security in helping crush rebellions. Now the MEK are loved again by the same potentates. As for the source of all that money…….
In fairness, the group is an equal opportunity ally, as long as its Western or Arab partners and paymasters are against the Iranian regime. You all know the story of Lenin's 1917 train ride across Germany and into St. Petersburg.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

On Syria's Future: Roots of another Despotic Dynasty………..

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-09T19:02:42Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF
“But what of Syria’s religious minorities, the moderate Alawites; the Christians and the Shia? What of its women? What of the ever-dwindling number of free-thinking intellectuals, its ordinary moderate Muslim ‘folks’, in Obamaian parlance, who do not wish to live under a backward Wahhabi theocracy? They can suffer in silence, it seems. American and Israeli ‘security interests’ must come first, and are best served by a pact with the devil. Of course, Russia and China’s veto at the UN had nothing to do with concerns about human rights. For China, it was revenge for being duped by Nato after the UN sanctioned a no-fly zone over Libya strictly to protect civilians but which was used as an excuse for all-out war and subsequently to ensure that China no longer had access to the country’s vast oil reserves. Russia has extensive economic investments in Syria, whose main port is leased to the Russian Navy; and it sells billions of dollars of arms to the Assad regime. But we sell many billions more to Saudi Arabia, which is Britain’s main trading partner. We installed the Al-Saud dynasty back in the 1920s………....”

This piece is a little confusing, making it seem like the writer is confused about some of the issues in Syria and the Middle East. He has some good points, but also several points that are just plain wrong, incorrect about Syria. It is true that Syria will become more Islamic fundamentalist once Assad leaves (and I believe now that he will have to go). The current secular Syria will be no more, although it may be politically freer. Yet I doubt the point about a 'Wahhabi theocratic' state, it could be modified to a simple 'quasi-theocratic' state.
But the Syrian issue is more complex, for Syria is the new prize now: everybody wants it in their camp and that is unfortunate for Syria and her people.
I was mainly intrigued by this excerpted paragraph, especially the last five lines, especially the very last sentence. That one is basically true: the British at least aided and encouraged the al-Saud clan to expand from their Nejd homeland and occupy the Hijaz and al-Hasa (Qatif) and Najran and Jazan (Yemen). Without British acquiescence, they would be just a small tribal emirate in Nejd instead of a large tribal monarchy.
So, you see, it is true because I say so, and I say so because it is true. Wirklich.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Saudi King Boycotts Iranian Leader on the Web: Khamenei to Retaliate Posthumously………

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-08T20:40:23Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Iranian news websites report that Saudi Arabia has blocked the official website of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which is available in a dozen languages, including Arabic. "Shafaf" says Khamenei's website was blocked by Saudi officials ahead of his sermons for Friday Prayers on February 3, parts of which the Iranian leader delivered in Arabic. The hard-line "Shafaf" website posted a screenshot of the page it claims Saudi users get when they try to access Khamenei's website. The website claims Saudi officials decided to block Khamenei's official website because of what it described as Iran's influence on the "Islamic awakening." Iranian officials have been using the term as part of their efforts to put their own stamp on the Arab Spring uprisings ………..”

So the Saudi king will not be able to browse the thoughts of Ayatollah Khamenei. The Saudis were upset by his use of the term “Islamic Awakening”: he may be right because they all end up with Islamic regimes, but not the Iranian type. But I am not sure the term “awakening” is the right one to use here. We shall see.
Maybe the king's advisers were worried that he would start beating his chest, then rush to book a flight to Karbala. (You never know what kings can do when they are in the mood; look at Henry VIII and he wasn't even an old king or an old goat, just a middle-aged one).
As retaliation, Khamenei may decide to block the website of Saudi King Abdullah, whenever he gets one (i.e. posthumously). That would deprive him of much of the wisdom of Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh, mufti and ‘hami el-diyar (in Arabic).
Iran is not a beacon of free speech either. The Iranians also block many websites, possibly more than Saudi Arabia blocks. Case closed.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Tale of Humor in Police States: Assad’s Password, Jordan’s Secret, Egyptian Exceptionalism………

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-08T19:49:50Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

       BFF


      So, WTF is humor in 2012?

“Unknown members of the hacker collective “Anonymous” reportedly broke into the private email account of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad this week and learned that the embattled dictator is not one much for electronic security. That’s because he picked the second-weakest password around: “12345,” according to documents published by Israeli news magazine Haaretz. Security researchers say the only password that’s weaker is “password.” The “12345″ password was not just on al-Assad’s computer: documents show it was also used by several others in the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs………….”

Password: 12345.
Now WTF kind of police state is that (if that is true)? Syria is a police state, but that is a mark of a stupid police state (come to think of it, police states are always stupid in the long run). Speaking of Arab police states (almost ALL Arab states are police states, with perhaps two ‘possible’ exceptions): I used to opine that Syria is a police state that feels and looks like one and that Jordan is a police state that doesn’t look like one (until you hit some red line).
Which reminds me: maybe it is related to humor. Both countries are extremely short of, nay almost devoid of, any sense of humor. Other Arab (and Middle East nations including Iran and Turkey and Israel) are also short on humor but not as bad as those two. Palestinians are as humorless as Jordanians. As for some others like Libyans or Algerians, the usual answer is "wtf is humor?"

Somehow Egypt has managed to get away with some sense of humor in the middle of a grim region. Now that is exceptionalism.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

To the Shores of Tartus: McCain, Lieberman, Graham, and Yosemite Sam in Syria……..

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-08T19:03:45Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

Senator John McCain, true to the rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ angry form, is calling for the United States to arm and aid the Syrian opposition. He’d rather the US and NATO joined the fray. He and his dog of war pals Lieberman (Joe not Avigdor) and Goose have finally given up on the idea of setting up camp, their very own base, in Iraq. Now the senator is eying Syria, a latter day Douglas MacArthur wading ashore at Latakia or more likely Tartus. McCain can sweep ashore arm in arm with Bernard-Henri Lévy although Republicans tend to be suspicious of things French, even if they are not fried French. Arm in arm with Levy and Burhan Ghalioun and very likely a Muslim Brotherhood potentate (either of the Qatari or Saudi branch).
Still, I wouldn’t want to see Lieberman in a military helmet, or maybe it is okay; he is not running for office anymore.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Annexation of Bahrain? al-Saud’s Fourteenth Province, Saddam’s Nineteenth Province……

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-08T17:04:04Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Intersected an information from different sources confirmed Chairman of the AL-AYAM newspaper Najib Al-hamar, who is the brother of Nabil Al-hamar the media adviser for the king, That the royal family of Bahrain (Al Khalifa) has decided to sell Bahrain and its people to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the declaration of "Union of two in a royal decree" is likely to be released soon. The move, if true, confirms the desire of the family of the ruling Al Khalifa to ensure control of the wealth looted, and fear of real change reduces their powers. Observers had been spotted intense letters between the Royal family in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, and was a message to carry the Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa to the king of Saudi Arabia, In these letters agreed to form of Union, which would be practically an admission of Bahrain governance with Saudi Arabia. Highlight of this, "Bahrain mirror" knows that the national events fell apart for the meetings away from the spotlight to discuss this serious step, which will serve as a final and full occupation to Bahrain……………..”

This piece quoted up there is garbled and messy (in English), but the news has been circulating over the past 24 hours. It is not clear what is going on here. This item is being circulated by Bahrain opposition sites, but some regime dailies in Bahrain (al-Ayam) have also reportedly dealt with it. Al-Ayam is reportedly owned by the prime minister Khalifa al-Khalifa or by someone close to him. He is the main architect of the apartheid policy and the Saudi man in Manama and, after forty one corrupt years in power, one target of the people’s protests.
This Saudi union, or the handover by the al-Khalifa clan of Bahrain to the al-Saud clan, sounds far-fetched. But one year ago I also thought the idea of a Saudi invasion of Bahrain was far-fetched. What is left of Bahrain’s parliament (used to be three quarters appointed, now 90% appointed and Sunni fundamentalist and boycotted by the majority Shi’as) has already agreed to some form of ‘confederation’. That was immediately after the Saudi invasion and occupation of the island.
Of course the people of Bahrain will never be asked to vote on anything: they know how the vote will go. I do believe the al-Khalifa have no loyalty to Bahrain as an entity, they would become part of Saudi Arabia if that would keep them lording it over the people of Bahrain.
I still doubt this item, but if true that would make Bahrain the fourteenth Saudi province. All other 13 provinces each is ruled by one al-Saud prince. Bahrain will presumably remain ruled by an al-Khalifa.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

French Culture Wars: a Troubled Sarkozy Treads Fascist Waters……….

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-08T16:23:22Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“French Interior Minister, Claude Guéant, has revived the controversy surrounding the clash of civilizations and anti-Islamism by stating that “all cultures are not of equal value” under his ruling party's republican principles. Guéant, who is a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement, told a symposium organized by a right-leaning student group at the National Assembly on Saturday that “contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us, all civilizations are not of equal value.” He criticized the French Socialist Party for not having voted for a legislation that banned the Muslim face veil. “The majority voted to ban the full veil and the Socialist Party did not vote,” the French daily Le Monde quoted him as saying. “Another example is street prayer. I heard a very important socialist leader saying that this didn’t bother anyone, but it does bother a lot of the French, it bothers a particular principle of secularism. And we banned prayer in the street [and this is] an expression of civilization,”…………”

He says: “all civilizations are not of equal value". That is truly Fascist territory, almost Salafi French Wahhabi territory.
He said: "we banned prayer in the street [and this is] an expression of civilization”.
Cute: banning a public expression is a sign of the neo-right civilization. Almost something both the "national insecurity" and "cultural" sides of the American right would agree with. Yet only a French right-winger in a tough election year may be able to say this with a straight face. Sarkozy is getting desperate: his Socialist rival is ahead in the polls. His “liberation” of Libya did not do the trick. He may need to liberate Syria, and soon. Then there is always the verbal punching bag du jour: Iran.
Sarkozy looks down, but the French electorate have a talent for re-electing lousy presidents who are almost always engulfed in scandal as soon as they leave office. The financial corruption occurs while they are in office, but they are exposed after they leave office. De Gaulle was one exception in the past half century.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Ayatollah Khamenei and the Poets: no Khayyam or Qabbani or Neruda…….

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com (Mohammed Haider Ghuloum PhD) — 2012-02-08T15:21:03Z

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution met today with foreign poets. Speaking at the meeting, His Eminence said that Muslim poets should play a role in Islamic Awakening and increase the insight of the Islamic Ummah with their poetry. "In the poems related to Islamic Awakening, it is necessary to pay special attention to the orientations and lofty goals of this great development, the path that leads to these goals, and the obstacles that the enemies create." His Eminence reiterated: "As far as Islamic Awakening is concerned, it is necessary to pay serious attention to the role of religion and the role of faith in God and Quranic teachings because any movement that relies on religious beliefs will be invulnerable and permanent." The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution described Islamic Awakening……….”

The Ayatollah insists on calling the Arab uprisings an “Islamic awakening”. It is beginning too look like he may be partly right, after all. They are not Islamic except maybe by default. They are Arab uprisings that are mostly degenerating into Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood ‘awakenings”. From Libya to Egypt to Yemen to the Gulf the wild ones are taking over. Very likely they will take over soon in Syria as well, once it is liberated by NATO. Tunisia is the one bright Arab spot and there is hope for Egypt yet. In some cases on the (Persian-American) Gulf they have degenerated into repressive and ugly sectarian and tribal awakenings beholden and loyal to absolute Wahhabi tribal princes.
I wonder if the Ayatollah has ever read anything by Pablo Neruda (Chile: remember the guy in Il Postino?) or Nizar Qabbani (Syria). They were both very “political”, although Neruda was no doubt a more serious one.
No doubt he has read a lot of Omar Khayyam (of Nishapur) in his youth. And who hasn’t read Khayyam (except maybe for members of the Nabati Poets Diwaniya)? I bet he never saw the Robin Williams film either.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com