“Chief of Public Security Major-General Tariq Mubarak Bin Daina
on Monday ordered a ban on forming human chains, a notification
for which was submitted by three citizens to the General Directorate
of the Capital Governorate Police in view of Al Wefaq National Islamic
Society’s plan to form a human chain along a vital road in Manama
tomorrow.
Major-General Bin Daina said that the ban had to be imposed since
the notification does not fulfil the criteria laid down in Decree Law
No. 18 of 1973 on public gatherings, rallies and processions……….”
The people of Bahrain are planning what they call “the Deluge of Manama” or “Manama Tsunami” while the regime calls it by other names. They have drawn a map of the “human chain” route they plan on taking tomorrow. The regime forces, mostly consisting of imported foreign mercenaries and possibly Saudi forces, will be waiting for the people with the best weapons that the freedom-loving West can produce and export.
(This worthy is not even of the ruling family, just a retainer. He is one of the very few top fuckheads I have seen whose last name is different. Must be some in-law). Cheers
mhg
““Il n’est pas possible de donner une date pour la réalisation de ce projet. Dès que nos scientifiques annonceront qu’ils sont prêts, nous le ferons savoir”, a déclaré le responsable de l’organisation spatiale iranienne, Hamid Fazeli, cité par le site internet de la télévision d’Etat. Hamid Fazeli n’a pas donné d’explication sur l’ajournement de ce projet. Le responsable avait annoncé en juin que l’Iran allait envoyer un singe dans l’espace en août, à bord d’une capsule de 285 kilos portée par une fusée Kavoshghar-5, dernière version du lanceur déjà utilisé en 2010 pour envoyer dans l’espace une petite capsule contenant un rat, des tortues et des insects…………” Sending one a monkey into space is only bound by technical issues, and maybe some simian-itarian (as in human-itarian) considerations. Now sending a human requires other considerations, especially for the Iranians. I recall when NASA sent a Saudi prince into space with one of its teams he returned professing puzzlement about one main issue: he could not tell which way to face for prayer; he could not tell where Mecca was located from space. I would not have had any problem locating where Mecca was: it is exactly where it has always been, on the big blue marble. Even a spaced out prince should be able to see that. Now the Iranians may face another thorny issue as well, in addition to the Mecca direction. Will they or will they not send a cleric, a mullah, out into space (with the human astronaut)? In that case, why not train a cleric for the mission and launch him?Then there will be the thorny issue of the cleric being accused, like that Saudi prince, of being spaced out. Cheers
mhg
“Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan, one of Saudi Arabia’s most senior clerics, said he was not consulted about King Abdullah’s decision to grant women more political rights, one of the first signs of discontent from powerful conservatives since the reform was announced. In a speech last week the Saudi monarch announced that women would vote and run in future municipal council elections and serve in the appointed Shura Council which advises the king on policy. King Abdullah said his decision was made after consultation with the country’s most senior clerics, who have extensive political and social influence……..” Apparently the absolute king has his own “kitchen clergy” also called “palace clergy” that he consults. This old chap is clearly not part of it. I suspect that the various princely factions may have their own “ulema” or cleric factions. Imagine, each senior prince has his own kitchen full of pliant clerics; it is possible. Yet this Salafi cleric also knows that 1915 is a long way off, depending on one’s age. It may be a race with time between this cleric and the absolute king. Besides it is a meaningless vote for “advisory” municipal councils. Cheers
mhg
“Osama bin Laden, hunted as the mastermind behind the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, has been killed, President Obama announced tonight……..”
“Same US military unit that got Osama bin laden killed Anwar al-Awlaki. Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born al-Qaeda leader linked to terrorist plots in the UK and US, has been killed in a drone strike in central Yemen, the country’s military has announced…….”
“A senior leader of the militant Haqqani network, Haji Mali Khan, has been captured in Afghanistan, the Nato-led international force Isaf has said. He was detained during an operation by Afghan and coalition forces in Paktia province on Tuesday, Isaf said. He was heavily armed but did not resist, it added……”
So this “Manchurian” American president with a Jewish-sounding first name, an African last name, and a decidedly Muslim middle name has bested Dick Cheney in the war against al-Qaeda. I wonder what the Cheneys are up to these days. Cheers
mhg
“Four years after Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq was revoked over the killing of 17 Iraqis, Xe Services LLC — the company formerly known as Blackwater — wants to return to the country. In an interview published Thursday, Xe President and Chief Executive Ted Wright told The Wall Street Journal that he would like to do business in Iraq again.”Would I like to go back into Iraq?” Wright said. “Certainly.” “Would the Iraqi government accept us in Iraq? That’s really the question.” Wright’s renewed interest in operating in Iraq comes at a time when the U.S. State Department is considering adding 5,000 private contractors to replace some of the U.S. troops that will be withdrawing bythe end of the year………..” Soldiers come back from wars often damaged, wounded, or dead. They come back to a different kind of struggle to survive. They are hailed as heroes. Cheered for a few minutes, handed over to the dubious mercies of the bureaucracy, and forgotten. These are the public soldiers, the ones who enlist in the regular, low-paying military. Then there are the ‘private’ soldiers, the ‘corporate’ soldiers, the so-called contractors. The well-connected “contract” corporations, the former Blackwater and Halliburton and others, are the ones who receive the benefits of the “stimulus” spending of the wars in the Middle East.
Speaking of private armies: the Roman Republic at one point of its history was dominated by ‘private’ legions which it used to wage its wars. These legions belonged to certain leaders (Pompeii, Julius Caesar, Crassus, etc). These worthies waged war with soldiers that they recruited for their own ‘Roman’ legions, and these legions were loyal to the leader who owned them, mainly because he also paid them. It was also during that period that Rome experienced sporadic civil wars that got worse with time. During periods of civil strife the legions fought on the side of their respective ‘leaders/owners’. Ancient Rome did not have exactly the type of corporate structure that exists today. Cheers
mhg
BFF “An investigation into the bank accounts of several members of parliament has been expanded, it was reported yesterday. The politicians are under suspicion of possibly taking bribes. Dharar Al Asousi, the acting attorney general, said he would freeze the bank accounts of 14 of parliament’s 50 members yesterday, the daily Al Jarida reported, quoting unnamed sources…… The scandal began two weeks ago and could mean the Gulf’s most powerful parliament is heading into a crisis when it reconvenes after the summer recess next month. The report in Al Jarida estimated that the number of MPs embroiled in the scandal could rise to 20 as banks refer MPs’ accounts with suspicious transactions to the public prosecution… Ahmed Sadoun, a member of parliament’s Popular Action Bloc, has said the amount of money involved in the scandal is about 96 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh1.28 billion)………Some Kuwaitis suspect the payments have been made by members of the royal family in a bid to secure support. Others have suggested that the source of the money is elsewhere…………” There is something that is not kosher about this whole thing, and I mean it may not be what it looks like, (or it may). Suddenly depositing 96 million dinars (more than US $ 325 million) in a few accounts is a very stupid act. Anybody who knows anything about the country would know that such huge transfers cannot be kept secret, not in Kuwait, no way, no how. Unless it was intended to draw public attention.
Either someone in authority was stupid enough to do it, or someone else was clever enough to do it knowing that it will soon be news. That amount of money, if the reports are true, could only come from a government or some potentates with deep pockets. It can be domestic potentates or foreign potentates. Possibly very rich domestic potentates as part of a campaign for political power, part of an ongoing local political infighting within the elites. Or possibly a foreign government bent on interfering in the political life of the country. It can be a big ‘sisterly’ country or a big brotherly country, or it can be some other country. I can name one such government, but I won’t in order to protect the innocent. Now, what government (and its potentates) of what country in our region has such deep pockets and is able of spending money without supervision? I know of one, or maybe two.
Or maybe these guys won the Lottery and don’t know it yet. Already this ‘report’ is being used for political purposes. Which makes me very suspicious indeed. But anything is possible in the watermelon politics on my Gulf. Cheers
mhg
BFF “When King Hamad came to power in 1999, he initially sought to put an end to the violence and sectarian tension that had characterized much of the 1990s by releasing political prisoners, expanding freedoms for the press and civil society, abolishing the most repressive aspects of the security apparatus, and encouraging dialogue with the opposition to help draft a new constitution that would devolve authority to an elected parliament. These efforts gained overwhelming support from most Bahrainis who yearned for more political and civil liberties, and particularly from Shi’a who faced systemic discrimination in the political, economic, and social spheres. Despite initial expectations, however, the resulting 2002 constitution failed to deliver on the King’s promises, dashing hopes and creating deep mistrust between the ruling family and the political opposition. Tensions were exacerbated when an alleged government report was leaked in 2006 detailing a plan to weaken the Shi’a community politically and alter the country’s demographics through the systematic naturalization of Sunni expatriate workers…………..” Not only did the al-Khalifa fail to fulfill their contract with the people of Bahrain, the one agreed at independence. (Their failure to democtratize as promised did not much bother the elite who were not victimized and it certainly was welcomed by the other oligarchies of the Gulf states). It was, it is, the apartheid system that they and their retainers of the elite have insisted on keeping in place. Of course getting rid of the apartheid system would mean a more open political system and more freedoms. More important, it would mean the election of an effective legislature and accountability for corruption by the ruling dynasty. That is why the rulers of Bahrain and their masters and protectors in Saudi Arabia, the absolute tribal princes, insist on keeping the discriminatory system in place. That is why they have resorted to fanning the flames of sectarian fears and passions among the people of Bahrain and the people of the Gulf GCC region. That is why they are willing to foot the bill for the importation of foreign mercenary thugs and torturers by the regime. What they don’t understand is that the people of Bahrain (and one or two other Gulf states) are not like the people of Saudi Arabia who have been trained and terrified over several generations to silently bow and accept the writ of the princes. Even the people of the Arabian Peninsula are stirring now against the restrictions imposed by the potentates and their Salafi lackeys among the clergy. Cheers
mhg
“The Palestinian leadership yesterday accused the US Congress of inflicting “collective punishment” upon its people by holding up almost $200m in aid earmarked for the West Bank and Gaza by the Obama administration. The freeze on funds earlier allocated for the financial year which ends today is the first concrete Congressional reprisal against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to come to light since he angered US legislators by pursuing his application for full UN membership last week. The unpublicised block has been in force since August and was imposed in response to the then planned UN recognition bid,………”
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is often accused by its opponents of doing the bidding of the United States government and the Israeli Likud government. Apparently the PA felt that its authority over Palestinians was slipping, it had to do something to slow this trend. In a desperate move it applied for UN recognition. It did this just at the beginning of the U.S. electoral cycle and in a year when extreme right-wing Republicans control the U.S. Congress, with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a well-known right-winger and avid Likudnik, as head of the Foreign Affairs Committee. They might as well have elected Bibi Netanyahu as chairman of the committee.This is not a time when most politicians in Washington show any courage for peace, if ever. Cheers
mhg
BFF “In a tense showdown above the East River, the police arrested more than 700 demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street protests who took to the roadway as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday afternoon. The police said it was the marchers’ choice that led to the enforcement action. “Protesters who used the Brooklyn Bridge walkway were not arrested,” Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department, said. “Those who took over the Brooklyn-bound roadway, and impeded vehicle traffic, were arrested.” But many protesters said they believed the police had tricked them, allowing them onto the bridge, and even escorting them partway across, only to trap them in orange netting after hundreds had entered………..”
Somehow the Arab Spring overflew Saudi Arabia and landed in New York City. It must be the power of that old fear: it was vanquished in Tunisia and Egypt and Libya and Syria and Bahrain and Yemen, but it still rules supreme in Riyadh. Cheers
mhg
BFF Al-Qaeda calls Ahmadinejad ‘stupid’. They advised him to be “logical” not “ridiculous”. The Salafi terrorist group is pissed at the Iranian president for disseminating conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks at the UN. Ahmadinejad was probably just trying to needle the U.S. government with his talk, but he also got an unintended benefit by pissing off the Salafi terrorists. Castro calls Obama ‘stupid’
. Castro maybe at least half right about that. The whole Cuban blockade by the United States is stupid. It has nothing to do with freedom for the Cuban people; it has to do with winning elections in Miami and some other congressional districts. If freedom was the goal of these boycotts, Saudi Arabia would be the first country on the American boycott list (and Bahrain would have NATO planes bombing it). Cheers
mhg
Rattlesnake Ridge 
BFF