Monthly Archives: November 2012

Anthropology, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Iran, Tribes

Clarification of the Gruntgrunt Tribe (With No Flag) of the Gulf……….

   

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Re. my earlier post on Anthropology and the stone-age weapons trade between Europe and the Persian Gulf. I just want to emphasize that this was just fanciful speculation. There is no such tribe as the Gruntgrunt tribe in the Gulf region, not that I know of. It is a generic “tribe” name that does not refer to any existing tribe that I know of, not necessarily. I apologize if I stepped over any tribal sensibilities (or on any tribal senselessness or insensibility, which is probably more likely).
FYI: the largest tribe in the Gulf region is not on the Arabian Peninsula. It is the Bakhtiari tribe in Iran that numbers more than a million. This is true, although Iran is not a ‘tribal’ society, except for the ruling Mullah tribe. I was not referring to them either with the Gruntgrunt thingy.
Cheers
mhg

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Anthropology, Arabian Peninsula, Weapons deals

Stone-Age Military Industrial Complex: Eurpeans and Gruntgrunt Tribe of the Gulf…………….

   

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“The date when stone-age humans first invented the lethal technology of spears and arrows has been set back many thousands of years with the discovery of small stone blades dating to 71,000 years ago. Archaeologists believe the “bladelets” were used as the sharp tips for arrows or spears and were made by a relatively sophisticated technique involving the heat treatment of stone before shaping the final cutting edges. The fine stone blades were excavated from a prehistoric site called Pinnacle Point on the southern coast of South Africa and are between 6,000 and 11,000 years older than the previous oldest known samples of spear and arrow blades, scientists said. The discovery suggests that the invention of lethal projectile weapons came far earlier in the course of human prehistory than previously realised and that, once invented, the knowledge was passed down the generations, according to a study in Nature led by Curtis Marean of Arizona State University..……………..”

Everybody loves Anthropology, no matter what their major. Well, maybe there are exceptions: some ayatollahs, Wahhabi clerics, Orthodox priests, Salafis, Muslim Brothers, and most U.S. Republican Congressmen, among others.
Do you think they did in those days what they do now? Do you think leading Western cavemen from Europe traveled to the Middle East peddling their axes and stone (obsidian) spears to our leading cavemen of the ruling “Gruntgrunt” tribe? Is it possible that someone who looked like Mr.Cameron, all hairy and clad in animal skin (no underwear of course) walked to the Gulf to sell sharpened stones attached to pieces of wood as well as rock-encrusted clubs as defensive weapons? And what about ‘crowd control’? There was no tear gas in those days, no stun weapons. Did he advise the use of human waste as the second best thing to tear gas? Use of “stink bombs” as opposed to the modern version of crowd control weapons?
Did he advise the leading cave-men that, after bashing their fellow cave–men’s (and cave–women’s) brains with his clubs, they ought to start thinking about considering the possibility of looking into the idea of perhaps allowing them to entertain thoughts of being allowed to tell them that they stink and perhaps ought to dunk themselves in the Gulf waters once in a while.
Fanciful but interesting speculation. No?
mhg
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Arab Revolutions, Britain, Syria

David Cameron Supports Safe Passage for Syrian, Saudi, and Other Arab Leaders……………

   

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“Bashar Assad, the Syrian President, could be allowed a safe passage out of his country and immunity from prosecution, David Cameron said today. Although the move would enrage human rights campaigners, Mr Cameron said it would be worthwhile if it ended the bloodshed in Syria which has resulted in the death of up to 40,000 people. Speaking in Saudi Arabia during his three-day visit to Gulf states and the Middle East, the Prime Minister said it “could be arranged” for President Assad to flee his country. He did not suggest where he might be given sanctuary but made clear that Britain would not offer to be a safe haven. Asked by Al Arabiya television what he would say if the Syrian President asked for asylum, Mr Cameron replied: “Done. Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria.” He added: ”Of course, I would favour him facing the full force of international law………………”

If Mr. Al-Assad ever leaves Syria, and he probably will have to at some point, his options are limited. Of course he might just hang on to power  by force and terror, the way the Al-Saud and Bahrain and other Arab potentates do. The money is just too good for them to leave the massive prisons they have created. He can go to Russia or Iran or possibly Venezuela or South Africa. Maybe repair to one of the Hariri o Saudi palaces in France. He definitely wouldn’t want to go to Mexico: remember Leon Trotsky!

Back to Cameron: British governments, be they New Labor or Tory or New New Labor or Roundheads, practice a breathtaking level of hypocrisy when it comes to the Middle East. There is no need for me to repeat a list, a litany, of their offenses in this regard. From Tony Blair to David Cameron, and back all the way to Winston Churchill, the last admirable male Tory prime minister. But they are not alone, of course. They are joined in that by American governments, Iranian governments, and many others (including Arabs).
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Iranians Gloat over Netanyahu’s November Defeat……………

   

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“Wednesday was “not a good morning for Netanyahu,” as one of his deputies Eli Yishai of the religious Shas Party said, when results showed that Bibi’s friend Mitt Romney had lost the presidential race. Netanyahu had at times confronted Obama or even tried to undermine him by making direct relations with the Republican-dominated, Israel-friendly Congress and during the election campaigning, had driven Obama into a tight corner by challenging his positions about Iran’s nuclear energy program and the recent developments in the Arab world. On Wednesday, however, the primer invited the US ambassador to Tel Aviv to his office to give his painful congratulations…………..” Press TV (Iran).

Press TV is an official Iranian English-language television news network that is banned in Britain (and possibly some other European countries).
Interesting take: they seem to be gloating over this. Yet it is true: Netanyahu worked as hard as Fox News, nay harder than Fox News, to undermine and defeat Barack Obama. He went around him to deal with his friends in the right-wing controlled Knesset Congress for policy coordination (extremists like Ros-Lehtinen, Kantor, and Goh-mert, among others). The Israeli right has developed a certain hubris in its relations with the USA, no doubt fed by right-wing leaders of some Jewish-American organizations that do not represent the political views of their constituency. Obama got about 70% of the Jewish vote, which shows how “popular” Netanyahu is in the United States.
Cheers
mhg
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Arab League, Bahrain, WTF

WTF is UNIAAC? An Arab “MANIAC”: League of Despots and Thieves……………

   

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“The Union of Arab Ambassadors for Children (UNIAAC) hailed the decision to revoke the Bahraini citizenship of 31 people involved in the destabilization of the country, misleading children into terror acts and engaging them in political rallies.
The union’s General Coordinator Faraj Al Qasimi slammed at the union Board of Directors meeting in Cairo the phenomenon of exploiting children, engaging them in unauthorized marches and sit-ins and attacking the expatriate workforce. This, he said, is “an obstacle to growth”. He also stressed the union’s support to the decision to strip those offenders of their Bahraini citizenship……………”

This is the first time I read that there is such an entity as UNIAAC. And it is supposed to be “for children”, but I bet they will never speak against child–brides in countries blighted by the princes! The Arab ambassadors, yes-men of unsavory dictators and tribal absolute polygamous princes, are unionized! How about that? Even if their regimes do not allow the people, the workers, to be unionized!
And these unworthy worthies do things like “hailing” all measures taken by their detestable employers. The leaders who have their own union: the Union of Arab Dictators and Absolute Tribal Princes. Also known as the League of Arab States. The League of Arab Despots and Thieves.
This is truly the WTF of the day, so far.

Cheers
mhg
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