Middle East Focus: Democratic Qataris and Saudis and Bahrainis Blasting Autocratic al-Maliki of Iraq…………

Arabia Deserta

Democratic Qataris and Saudis and Bahrainis Blasting Autocratic al-Maliki of Iraq…………

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“Yes, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has always shown autocratic tendencies, unsurprisingly given the traditional political role models with which Iraqis are working. And yes, he has long over-centralised security power in his own hands, maintaining personal control over the Interior, Defence and National Security Ministries and making the Baghdad Operations Command directly answerable to his personal office. But this, too, is not entirely unexpected, given the tenuousness of Iraqi internal security. And finally, yes, Abu Isra has been transparently uncomfortable in sharing any authority with the Iraqiyya bloc, the largest vote-getter………..”

Correction of a falsehood here: actually al-Iraqiyya was not the largest “vote-getter” in the last Iraqi elections. This is a legend spread by some Western media and the Saudis. Al-Iraqiya could not even get anywhere near enough seats in parliament to form a government. Its tenure in power was DOA from the beginning as I opined here at the time. Not that I admire al-Maliki anymore than many other Arab leaders. Whether their prime minister spent some years in Iranian and Syrian exile (al-Maliki) or was a CIA asset with some financial 'issues' (Ayad Allawi) is an Iraqi business. Now to my beef with all this:

So the website of the network of the Qatari oligarchs (Aljazeera) has a piece by a former CIA operative blasting al-Maliki for not sharing power. When was the last time the Qatari royals shared power? This is a common trend in the GCC countries and media. All these autocratic absolute ruling families have their media blast someone else for not being ‘democratic enough’. Even the Bahrain rulers, who rely on foreign mercenaries imported from grim Pakistan and humorless Jordan to kill, torture, and suppress their people, are getting in the act. The Saudis especially take the cake in this one. The media owned by absolute princes, Alarabiya (in-laws and son of King Fahd), Asharq Alawsat (Prince Salman & son), al-Hayat (Prince Khaled Bin Sultan the defeated hero of Yemen), among others, daily lament the lack of freedom and true democracy in places like Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. You'd think the princes are getting ready to resign and run for office in open elections. In the Democratic People’s Kingdom of (Saudi) Arabia…….
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com