Monthly Archives: October 2011

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Libya, Religion, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Alarabiya: Libya Denies Reopening the Tripoli Synagogue, about the Shari’a and Monarchy…………

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“The current differences among the Libyans would not stand in the way of forming the forthcoming government after fully liberating the country, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) told Al Arabiya. Mustapha Abdul Jalil said that Libya is currently passing through a critical phase on all sides, but once a full control on Sirte is achieved, a series of “drastic changes” will follow. In his special interview with Al Arabiya, Jalil said that sharia (Islamic law) will be the main base of legislation in the new Libya. A balanced Islamic religion, away from extremism, will be applied in the country, he added……….” Alarabiya (Saudi)

Alarabiya headlined this in its Arabic edition as “Abdul Jalil denies he permitted reopening the Jewish Synagogue in Tripoli”. And “Abdul Jalil says Libya will not be radical in the future”. It did not say that “Libya will reinstate the monarchy with an imported Saudi prince, possibly Bandar”.
Now why is this semi-official Saudi network stressing the “synagogue” issue in the Arabic version? Could it be because there are no synagogues nor any churches nor any temples in Saudi Arabia and they and their Salafi agents want this to be the form? You betcha.
He also said that they will have the “Shari’a” as the main source of law. This means, if they follow the Saudi model, that certain social mores will apply and that they will disregard Islamic rules about corruption and repression. Sort of like Saudi Arabia (and almost all other Islamic countries but to a lesser extent, with or without the Shari’a).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Human Right, Saudi Arabia, UAE

Is it Possible to Insult the UAE Potentates?…….

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“During the 10 month old Arab Spring, the United Arab Emirates expressed its opposition to the trial of Egyptian former president Hosni Mubarak, sent troops, as part of the “Shield of the Arabian Peninsula,” to oppress the Bahraini uprising, and arrested several activists who demanded reform. The arrests started with blogger Ahmed Mansour who was detained, as rumored, while talking in a Friday prayer about supporting the Arab Spring, the Egyptian revolution, and the third Palestine Intifada, which failed to materialise a few months ago. The other four detainees are Nasser Bin Ghaith, Fahad Al-Sihhi, Hassan Ali Al Khamis, and Ahmed Abdulhaleq Ahmed. All five are accused of publicly “insulting” the country’s president and top officials. ………”

Insulted the president and top officials? It is not like they told these worthy potentates to go and do something to themselves. They put it more politely than that. They just called for political reform and more freedoms, something that royally pissed off the shaikhs of the Al Nahayan clan of Abu Dhabi.
The rulers of Abu Dhabi did not only object to the trial of Mubarak, they objected to his popular overthrow. They were as pissed as the Al-Saud that the Egyptian people wanted him out. The brilliant Saudi king is on record for having famously said early February that the Egyptian protesters were “foreign infiltrators and agents of foreign powers”. They both thought the U.S.A. could and should keep him in power by force if necessary, sort of like they are doing in Bahrain.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain

Joe Trippi Lobbying for Gulf Apartheid Regime? It is the Money, Stupid!………

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“Joe Trippi & Associates is a D.C.-based media firm headed by Democratic political strategist Joe Trippi, (@JoeTrippi) who managed Howard Dean’s 2004 U.S. presidential election campaign. He was hired some time before August by Dr. Saqer Al Khalifa, Ph.D. on behalf of Bahrain’s ministry of information. According to the registration documents, Trippi is tasked with providing “strategic counsel” and assisting “with outreach to members of the media and non-governmental organizations.” The documents don’t mention how much the Bahrain government is paying for the services…….”

Now Joe Trippi is selling his services to the despotic Apartheid regime of Bahrain. Oddly, his old Democrat boss Howard Dean is also being paid by the secretive and cultist Iranian opposition Mujahideen Khalq (MEK or MKO), a current favorite of the Republican extreme right-wing. Oddly, again, other Democrat luminaries like former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson have also been paid for the same ‘services’, now he is calling for a tougher stance in the Gulf region.
It is the money, stupid!
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Arab Spring Finally Reaches Eastern Arabia? Wahhabi Faux-Liberals of the Gulf………..

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“Security forces in eastern Saudi Arabia clashed with armed people provoked by a “foreign country,” the Saudi Press Agency said Tuesday, citing an official source at the Interior Ministry. The incident occurred Monday night in Awamiyya, in the Qatif region of Eastern province, where many Shiites in the predominantly Sunni country live. At least 14 people were wounded. “A group of instigators” congregated in the town’s roundabout and “used motorcycles and Molotov cocktails to undermine security and interfere in national sovereignty,” according to the report…….The ministry said that it “will not tolerate any threat to the security and stability of the homeland and its citizens, and will respond with an iron fist.”………”

“Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that clashes on Monday night that injured 14 people including 11 policemen in its oil-rich Eastern province, home to a large Shi’ite population, were the work of an unnamed foreign power, usually code for its rival Iran. Saudi Arabia applies the Wahhabi austere version of Sunni Islam, and minority Shi’ites say that, while their situation has improved slightly under reforms launched by King Abdullah, they still face many restrictions and discrimination. The government denies these charges. Shi’ites have long complained of second class status in the absolute monarchy. They also want the release of Shi’ite prisoners, some of whom were arrested during previous protests. Shi’ites, who make up to 15 percent of the 19 million Saudi population, say they are not represented in the cabinet, they struggle to land senior government and security jobs and are viewed as heretics or even agents of Iran by the Saudi authorities and hardline Sunni clerics. …………”


The fear is also vanishing in Saudi Arabia, just as it did in other places from Tunisia through Libya and Egypt and Syria and Yemen and Bahrain. The fear is gone or going away. Now the “Saudis” even have a Facebook page for what they call their “revolution”. Today it is Qatif, but who knows, maybe tomorrow it will be Riyadh and Jeddah in spite of the many who have vanished, like Khalid al-Jehany and Ashmawi and many others. The regime is already claiming that the protesters are “Iranian” agents, a predictable claim for Gulf absolute polygamous monarchs when they are in trouble. This old tune of the despots has lost its charm. Only the so-called self-styled palace liberals, really Wahhabi faux-liberals, in the media of some GCC Gulf states, including my hometown, pretend to believe this nonsense anymore. The despots can fool their people only so many times with the sectarian card that they and the Bahraini rulers have overused.

The solution can be simple: give people back their full God-given rights, the rights they were born with before you usurped them.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Human Right, Saudi Arabia

One Opinion on Saudi “Elections” of Royal Cheerleaders…………

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“This experiment is not enough, though, because the citizens only elect half of the members of their local parliament. Furthermore, these bodies are not vested with important powers; they are more like advisory councils without any authority. Their benefit consists for the government and the regime in demonstrating to the West that certain democratic reforms are being carried out in Saudi Arabia, too……………Yes, that is exactly what is happening. They already did so during the first elections of this kind in 2005, and ended up profiting from this tactic. Back then they tried to demonstrate to those forces in the West that are exerting increasing pressure: We are organising a political ballot here and we have begun to lead the country away from dictatorship and toward political participation. But the Saudi people’s thirst for more far-reaching participation, for enforceable political rights and elected representative bodies with genuine powers, can likewise no longer be overlooked. The current local elections may have primarily a decorative character……….…”

He says that only half the municipal councils are elected and they are only ‘advisory’. He is the director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (none of which exists) in Saudi Arabia (CDHR).
Like I said, when the princes all have to run for elections in order to become rulers of the various Provinces, when they have to be elected as “princes” then those will be real elections. Not for some toothless, non-binding advisory municipal cheerleading councils (okay, they probably don’t chant “rah rah rah, push ’em back, way back” but it is the same).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Politics, GCC, Gulf states, Humor, WTF, Yemen

WTF: Railway Link to Yemen? From Funny GCC to Asinine GCC…………

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“Transport and Communications Undersecretaries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states discussed here Monday the establishment of a railway authority, as well as linking Yemen with the yet-to-be-established GCC railway network. Director General of UAE’s national transport authority, Dr. Nasser Al-Mansouri, in a keynote speech to the meeting, underlined importance of the railroad project that would link the six GCC countries. He said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has established the federation trains company and issued relevant legislations to pave way for the construction of the UAE’s railroad network. GCC Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs Abdullah Al-Shubaili, in remarks on sidelines of the meeting said the officials discussed feasibility study of the railroad linkage with Yemen, safe regulations of small ships and inspection on vessels…..….”

I can’t believe these F-heads seriously talked about a rail extension into Yemen. Yemen is having a popular rebellion, nay multiple rebellions, against their favorite dictator. Yemen is experiencing several civil wars on several fronts. Yemen has a serious al-Qaeda presence. Yemen faces American drone bombings from bases most likely in Saudi Arabia. Yemen will be unstable for years to come mainly because of the dictatorship. It is absurd enough that they want to invite Morocco and Jordan and Monaco and Brunei and Zimbabwe and Colombia to join. And now this. What is the matter with these watermelon dignitaries of the GCC?
Cheers
mhg


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Culture, Middle East Women, religious police, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Religious Police Get Tech, Hit the Road, Target Women and Sorcery and Pussycats……

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Alarabiya network reports that the powerful Committee for the Propagation of Vice (religious police, the Wahhabi inquisition) has started a new campaign to get its message, wtf that be, across the country and eradicate certain types of behavior. The shaggy denizens of the Committee are now using large trailers equipped with latest technology in terms of multimedia to travel around the provinces and save souls. They trailers will be also chasing holiday crowds, meaning that wherever there are public festivities in that distinctly non-festive kingdom, the religious police will show up to make things even less festive (if at all possible).

The report
 says they will focus on things like prayers and sorcery (magic, witchcraft) and women. Not necessarily but most likely in that order, since sorcery and magic are usually attached to women in Saudi Arabia these days (sounds familiar huh? But almost four centuries later). 
This is odd, since from my travels I know that the ones whose souls really need ‘saving’ are the Saudi men, just ask any hotel manager in Beirut, Bahrain, Cairo, Dubai, Bangkok, Manila, etc, etc.
A few years
 ago the Committee surprised everyone by banning the acquisition of dogs and pussy (as in cats) in Saudi Arabia. They allegedly also toyed with the idea of  banning women anywhere outside the bedroom but changed their minds for some reason.
Cheers
mhg


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Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Human Right, Iraq, Racism, Saudi Arabia

Sectarian Wahhabi Logic of a Saudi Mouthpiece………….

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“These words mean that the al-Assad regime is trying to win over the minorities by scaring them of the dangers posed by the majority. Yet the real problem here is not the al-Assad regime, but rather what the minorities themselves have done in our region; the Christians in Lebanon and Iraq, even the Shiites in Iraq and Bahrain, who are committing a grave mistake by sliding into the quagmire of supporting dictatorships, under the pretext that they will be protected against the majority. It is important here to repeat what I heard from a rational, liberal friend, who is far removed from sectarian views, about his reaction to the actions of minorities these days in our region. My friend’s opinion reflects the view of a substantial portion of the rational liberals in our region……….This is the mistake which befell the Shiites in Bahrain, and although they are not a minority in their own country, they are amongst their Arab surroundings. The same thing happened with the Shiites in Lebanon, given their surroundings, especially because they believe that there are embers [of an uprising] under the ashes in Iran…..” Asharq Alawsat (Saudi daily)

This from one of the chief editors of the semi-official Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat. His masters’ voice. He is blaming the people of Iraq for again not letting the remnants of the Ba’ath regime, those who would not even defend Baghdad against the invaders, maintain power. He is blaming the people of Bahrain for resisting the Wahhabi-inspired policy of discrimination and Apartheid applied by the Al Khalifa rulers. He is drumming up that old sectarian and racist nonsense that his Saudi masters and their paid Salafi agents and fifth columnists have used effectively around the Gulf. He is urging the oppressed people of Bahrain to co-exist with others, meaning that they should accept second class status under an unelected minority regime (he might add: worse than the one in Syria which is repressive and dictatorial but does not apply a policy of Apartheid).
He is also taking a swipe at Christians and a few other minorities in the Arab world, perhaps because they are not allied enough with his Wahhabi masters.
Cheers
mhg


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Culture, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics

Expanding the Oxymoronic Base: the Republican Drive to Dumb Down the Rest of America………….

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“House Republicans are laying the groundwork for another battle with President Obama over spending and domestic policy with a bill that would cut some of his favorite health and education programs, tie the hands of the National Labor Relations Board and eliminate federal grants for Planned Parenthood clinics. The bill, which finances the Departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services, would prohibit Mr. Obama from spending more money to carry out the new health care law until all legal challenges to the law were resolved……. The House bill would also block numerous rules intended to protect workers. For example, the National Labor Relations Board could not use any money to enforce a new requirement that employers notify workers of their rights to form and join unions……. the bill would eliminate Pell grants for a million students, or roughly 10 percent of those now eligible, while reducing the cost of the program by $3.5 billion, also 10 percent. Since many states have increased tuition at public colleges, Mr. Hartle said, the bill would mean that “low- and middle-income families will face higher college costs with less student aid.”………. Federal education officials could not enforce a new rule setting stricter standards for profit-making colleges and vocational schools………..”

This looks suspiciously like a deliberate drive to dumb down the rest of America. Less educational opportunities, less education, lower quality education: all these point out to a desired end product that forms the base of the Republican Tea Party. Polls and surveys have indicated in recent years that the less educated voters prefer extreme right wing Republican candidates, while the most educated prefer Democrat candidates. This analysis probably applies especially to white voters in Blue states or ‘swing’ states who are more likely to be considered ‘independent’ voters. The Republicans want dumber “independent” voters, presumably dumber than voters in the extremely Red states, which some may consider an oxymoron-ic thing to expect.
Cheers
mhg


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Anti-Semitism, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Human Right, Muslims, Qatar, Religion, Saudi Arabia

Yusuf al-Qardawi: ‘Pay as You Pray’ Anti-Semitic Shaikh of Islam……………

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Yusuf Al-Qardhawi represents some of the worst aspects in a certain class of Islamic clergy. He is a loud demagogue, and his dogma is quite flexible, depending on who wants him to be flexible. Which makes him, like the rest of us, inconsistent. That flexibility presumably comes at a price. He supported the uprising in Egypt toward the end. He supported the uprisings in Libya and Syria after the fact and especially after his Qatari masters started supporting them. He is against any uprising in Bahrain and has said so, and certainly in Saudi Arabia, for the same obvious reasons. Some might say that is because the Saudis and Qataris can pay him well, better than anyone else can.

Some of his opinions can be found on his website, but only some of them. Others he would not revisit, like his pro-Nazi ranting about Hitler being the instrument of God to punish the Jews. He opined that Hitler was part of God’s punishment of Jews and expounded on how Jews are enemies of God and how they exaggerate the Holocaust. All these anti-Semitic remarks within two minutes in this video.
Cheers
mhg