Monthly Archives: February 2012

Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Another Iranian Embassy Plot, Ministry of Thwarted Overseas Terror Plots………..

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“Authorities in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic bordering Iran, have arrested two men suspected of plotting to attack prominent foreigners including Israel’s ambassador and a local rabbi, officials and media reported on Wednesday. The National Security Ministry said the men were connected to an Iranian citizen who had links with Iran’s intelligence. Azerbaijan, a secular Muslim country, is home to more than 9,000 Jews and has friendly ties with Israel and the United States. A major energy producer, it exports oil to Israel and imports weapons and military hardware. “Citizens of Azerbaijan – Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov – were preparing an attack on public figures, who are foreign citizens,” the National Security Ministry said in a statement. The U.S. embassy issued a warning to its citizens saying “the possibility remains for actions against U.S. or other high-profile foreign interests in Azerbaijan”. The announcement came after several state websites in Azerbaijan were rendered inaccessible for hours this month by hackers who left threats and anti-Israel messages. That incident coincided with similar cyber-attacks in Israel……..”

WTF? In Azerbaijan? Another Iranian plot against some other embassy? I wonder how the dictatorship in Azerbaijan feels about all this. If this continues the mullahs would have to add the picture of a generic embassy in the middle of the Iranian flag. Truly when it rains it pours. They must have a whole ministry in Tehran in charge of plots against foreign targets that are never realized: it must be called the “Ministry of Thwarted Overseas Terror Plots”. The Iranians, though, probably think this ministry might only exist in the imagination of Western and Saudi media, possibly planted there by bored employees Western (and Saudi) security services.
(I haven’t seen any statement of outrage from  Senator Secretary Clinton yet. Maybe I missed it. Maybe even she is getting suspicious of all these alleged plots.)
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

When the Saudi Mufti Al Attacked Egypt’s Revolution, a Late Egyptian Musician….

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One year ago, just before Mubarak was forced out in Egypt, the Mufti of Saudi Arabia got his orders and issued a fatwa against protests. Here is how that post starts:
 
The Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh severely criticized those who protest and demonstrate in Arab cities. He said the demonstrations are part of a plot to weaken Arab and Muslim countries and, get this, to transform them from big strong nations to weak backward nations. Shaikh Al said these protesters are spreading lies….. He said that security and stability are most important, using the example of Saudi Arabia, which he said follows the word of Allah and has become an example cited all over the world. (Somehow I had missed the part about it being cited as an example to be followed, unless Angela Merkel is now proposing to behead sorcerers and magicians in Germany, for example)

The Mufti, besides being intellectually the equivalent of a Neanderthal, is also a keen propagandist for Wahhabism and for the absolute royals. But that is okay, they appointed him. Besides, he had no choice: the Saudi king himself publicly called the Egyptian youth who started the revolution “foreign infiltrators”. For the king, these youth are foreigners since they are not Saudis.

FYI: Shaikh Al is a direct descendant of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdulwahab, an early ally of the al-Saud after whom the strict Wahhabi doctrine was named. They got to name a whole country after their family, and the shaikh got to name a whole sect after his family. Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdulwahab should not be confused with the late great Mohammed Abdelwahab, the Egyptian composer and singer who was never a Wahhabi nor a fundamentalist.
Cheers
mhg


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Iran

Red Sea WTF: Iranian Navy in Jeddah, Doing the Omrah……..

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“The Iranian Navy dispatched its 18th flotilla of warships to the Gulf of Aden on January 21 to protect the country’s cargo ships and oil tankers against Somali pirates. Addressing a ceremony here in Tehran today, Sayyari said the Iranian Navy’s fleet of warships, comprised of Khark warship and Shahid Naqdi destroyer, docked at Jeddah this morning, and added that the mission is part of the Navy’s moves in line with the orders of the Supreme Leader for having a stronger presence in the high seas. The commander said that the navy ships’ 70-80-day mission is aimed at demonstrating Iran’s power in the high seas. While enemies try to portray Iran’s growing power as a threat to the regional states, the Admiral indicated that such missions prove that Iran’s military power is used to defend the region and can, thus, defuse the plot hatched by the enemies to spread Iranophobia …………” Fars News Agency

So while the U.S. Fifth Fleet is anchored at Manama, the Iranian 18th Fleet is anchored at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And since when do the Saudis allow the Iranian navy to anchor at the port of Jeddah? Or is their hostility is confined to the Gulf and Lebanon and Syria?
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Cacophony of War: Iranian Generals, Israeli Generals, American Generals, and Alfred E. Neuman……..

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BFF                                  Alfred E Neuman


“In a ceremony on Saturday, the production line of a new domestically manufactured naval missile system, named the Zafar (Victory), was officially launched and the first batch of the missile system was delivered to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Naval Force…”

“The ground troops of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) started the war games, entitled Supporters of Velayat, in south Iran on Saturday. IRGC Ground Forces Commander Mohammad Pakpour said on Saturday that the maneuvers are part of a series of professional drills by the forces under his command. The war games will put on display part of the capabilities of the ground forces in the face of threats against Iran, …..”
 
“Israeli general Joe Schmo stated that Iran has all she needs to build a nuclear weapon.”
 
“Israeli former chief dogcatcher insisted that Iran is still three years away from…..”

“Former editor in Chief of Mad War magazine quoted the Vice President of the Academy that all options are on the table as far as who will win the Oscar for best director…..”

“General Alfred E. Neuman, former chief o the Cuckoo’s Nest Brigade, stated that a war can be devastating ……”

Three things are becoming tedious and boring, and they go on day after day, week after week:

  • One is the stream of Iranian announcements of new weapons developed, new weapons tested, and new military exercises in the Gulf. We can add to them reports of Iranian space projects and drones. Much of it is aimed at deterring a Western war of aggression.
  • The other one is the incessant statements and counter statements by Israeli generals and politicians and the same by American politicians and generals about Iranian nuclear progress and when and how and if they will attack Iran. These are all over the place, often contradictory, always confusing: none of them clarifies anything for the average person. None of them clarifies anything for the non-average person.
  • These statements are either meant to confuse the average person or those who issue them don’t know what the fuck is going on.

Cheers
mhg


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Iran, US Foreign Policy

New Iranian Role for the U.S. Navy in the Gulf…….

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I am beginning to think that the massive U.S. navy in the Persian-American Gulf and the Arabian Sea has two functions: (1) to confront, threaten, deter, and possibly attack Iran (possibly all of the above), and (2) to save and rescue Iranian citizens and sailors stranded at sea or held hostage by Somali pirates. The latter has happened four times in the past six weeks and, given that Somalia is a member of the Arab League which means Somalis are Arabs, all this beginning to look suspicious in some quarters.
I am beginning to suspect that Plan B (or is it C) for any Iranian vessel at risk on the high seas is to pray for a U.S. Navy warship to come to the rescue. (I don’t think it is Plan A, do you?)
Cheers
mhg




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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, GCC, Gulf states, Iran, Khamenei, Muslims, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

On Arab Uprisings and Crazy Illusory Iranian Ideas, Salafi Money vs. Salafi Opium………

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“The recent popular uprisings and revolutions in the region and massive popular protests throughout the world have been inspired by the Iranian nation’s Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said……. In a statement released on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the IRGC said that Iran’s revolution has presented the discourse of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation to human communities, Muslim nations in particular. “The Islamic Awakening and popular revolutions in North Africa and the Middle-East and collapse of tyrants and dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and, God-willing, in other lands and also the waves of awakening in the heart of Europe and the United States and the confrontation between Anti-Capitalism (Occupy) movements with criminal and Zionist rulers in the West are undoubtedly among the achievements of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation’s leadership in promoting awareness (of the other nations) and in the campaign against the arrogant powers,“ the statement said……………..”

Maybe
the Iranian media publicize these incredible reports as propaganda, which is okay, it is normal. The danger is if Iran’s leaders actually believe this stuff they publish, that the Arab revolts look to imitate an Iranian system. Yet that is against all the evidence. The rebellion in Egypt led to a Muslim Brother and Salafi parliament. Salafis are the sworn enemies of Shi’a Iran and of all Shi’as anywhere. Salafis hate Shi’as and Jews and Methodists and Hindus and Mormons and Episcopalians and even pagans. Salafis worship Mohammed Bin Abdulwahhab the Nejdi cleric (not the late Egyptian singer Mohamed Abdelwahab). They also nearly worship Saudi princes (especially the Gulf Salafis do). They agree with the Iranian mullahs on one thing (in addition to the Five Pillars of Islam): they both hate and fear Barbie Doll.
In all other Arab states the uprisings were started by young secularists but were hijacked by Salafis or other fundamentalists who are also not eager to have an Iranian style system. In fact, the Salafis admire the Saudi system more than any other system in the whole wide world (well, the Taliban are a little more puritan now than the Saudis, but they have no money to give away; they only have opium).

I think I shall tweet Ayatollah Khamenei (I follow him on Twitter) and correct this Iranian misunderstanding before they go too far with it. All this does is terrify the Saudi potentates who “might” be naive enough to believe it, then they will redouble their efforts to get their American and Israeli allies to attack Iran. It also makes them crack down harder on the oppressed people of Bahrain and Qatif.
Cheers
mhg


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Libya, Middle East Women, North Africa, Polygamy

Et Dieu… créa la femme: Colonel Qaddafi Playing Sigmund Freud……..

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Green Book: “It is an undisputed fact that both man and woman are human beings. It follows, as a self-evident fact, that woman and man are equal as human beings. Discrimination against woman by man is a flagrant act of oppression without justification for woman eats and drinks as man eats and drinks; woman loves and hates as man loves and hates; woman thinks, learns and comprehends as man thinks, learns and comprehends. Woman, like man, needs shelter, clothing, and transportation; woman feels hunger and thirst as man feels hunger and thirst; woman lives and dies as man lives and dies. But why are there men and women? Human society is composed neither of men alone nor of women alone. It is made up naturally of men and women. Why were not only men created? Why were not only women created? After all, what is the difference between men and women or man and woman? Why was it necessary to create men and women? There must be a natural necessity……..”

I bet there is a “natural necessity”; in fact there are at least two, or three.
No doubt the colonel had women issues: his female guards, his hitting on female Western journalists, his alleged obsession with HIV risks, among other things. But then, which male isn’t? Yet he seemed more obsessed about women ‘issues” than a typical leader (which he was not).
Come to think of it, Qaddafi had many fewer children than, say, rulers of a certain large Arab Democratic People’s Kingdom who usually have tens of offspring from tens of women (often recycled, of course).

Cheers
mhg


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France, Gulf states, Human Right, Syria, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

True Lies in New York: Syrian Hypocrisy Prizes at the UN ………..

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Watched the UN Security Council “debate” on the Syria resolution. A lot of hypocrisy and grandstanding on both sides:

  • No doubt the Syrian regime is killing many people, most likely not as many as the “opposition” claims and reporters like Anderson Cooper immediately accept and repeat. The number of 260 killed for today is most likely exaggerated.
  • (There I just said it: the Syrian opposition lies as the regime lies; no thunder, no lightening has struck me yet. Not yet).
  • First hypocrisy prize goes to the French ambassador. He waxed nostalgic and sad and shocked about the Hama massacre some thirty years ago, about those responsible. A reporter asked the Frenchy why one of the Assads responsible for Hama massacre 1980(1?) has been living free in France even as he talked bout it. His stupid response: “We are a hospitable country”, and a quick exit.
  • Second hypocrisy prize goes to U.S. ambassador Susan Rice, who said with a straight face that the United States government stands with the people of Syria as they seek freedom and democracy. The same U .S. administration that supports the repression in Bahrain and supplies the regime with tear gas and guns and armored vehicles for crowd control. She did not comment on the Saudi regime, which is as repressive, and would kill as many people if need be to stay in power.
  • Third hypocrisy prize goes to the British ambassador waxing indignant about repression in Syria and countries that enable it. Even while his own government has been supporting repression and killings and arrests by the Bahrain regime.

  • The Mother of all Hypocrisy prizes goes to the Arab League, which represents some of the most despotic regressive corrupt regimes on earth. Yet it goes to the UN with a resolution to deal only with the repression in Syria: not in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, etc, none of whose people chooses its regime. The Syrian ambassador made a silly remark about Saudi women not being allowed to attend football (soccer) games while their regime talks about human rights. He was right on that point.


One American academic suggested that maybe now (after the Russian and Chinese vetoes) the Arab League should think of intervening a la NATO in Kosovo. I tweeted my favorite retort: that the Arab League, especially on the military side, can’t organize a piss-up in a brewery (as some Americans would say) let alone a military campaign.
Cheers
mhg


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GCC, North Africa, UAE

Casablanca in Abu Dhabi: Kiss of Death in UAE, of Potentates and Cheeks………

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“You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by……“  Dooley Wilson (Casablanca)

“A teenaged Emirati boy who kissed two sisters was sentenced yesterday to serve time in juvenile detention. MA, 15, was charged with breaking into another’s home and sexual assault after the father of two Emirati sisters, FS and SS, both 13, reported him to the police after finding the boy at his house. After an investigation, it was determined MA did not break into the house, but was let in by the sisters, who he was dating at the same time. FS and SS were referred to court with MA on the same charges…….. Both sisters refused to answer the judge’s questions. They neither denied nor confessed to the charges. The girls were to be delivered to their parents for discipline. The detention centre will determine when MA’s term should end, based on his readiness and whether he is disciplined enough to be released. He can be kept in custody until he turns 18……………”

That kid would have been better off kissing another guy, or some potentates, or a goat for that matter. The potentates in our region love to be kissed (talking male potentates here). I see the al-Nahayan shaikhs kissing each other, and others, all the time (never seen one kiss a real goat, though). I also see many others kissing the potentates on the cheeks, both types of cheeks. After three years in the slammer, the kid ought to learn to save it.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab League, Arab Politics, Humor, Libya, North Africa

Servant of Two Cities: Colonel Qaddafi on Tribes and Nations and Loyalties and WTF else……..

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In his Green Book, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi had some interesting ideas about the role of the tribe in (Arab) society. Remember, he needed the tribes to be with him. His idea of the primacy of the tribe and its role in society would fit in nicely with those of the ruling oligarchs, and many people, of the Gulf GCC states. I am not sure why he claimed he was any different. He could have declared himself king, like the shaikh of Bahrain and given himself the title of Custodian (or Servant or Janitor) of the Two Unholy Cities (Tripoli and Benghazi). Nobody would have dared rise against him.  He could have established his own gaggle of tame Muftis in Bab al-Azizia to justify whatever he did, like other Arab potentates have done.

Green Book: “In the social sense, the familial society is better than that of the tribe, the tribal society is better than that of the nation, and the society of the nation is better than world society with respect to fellowship, affection, solidarity and benefits. Since the tribe is a large family, it provides its members with much the same material benefits and social advantages that the family provides for its members, for the tribe is a secondary family. What must be emphasized is that, in the context of the tribe, an individual might indulge himself in an uncouth manner, something which he would not do within the family. However, because of the smallness in size of the family, immediate supervision is not exercised, unlike the tribe whose members continually feel that they are under its supervision. In view of these considerations, the tribe forms a behaviour pattern for its members, developing into a social education which is better and more noble than any school education. The tribe is a social school where its members are raised to absorb the high ideals which develop into a behaviour pattern for life. These become automatically rooted as the human being grows, unlike classroom education with its curricula – formally dictated and gradually lost with the growth of the individual. This is so because it is formal and compulsory and because the individual is aware of the fact that it is dictated to him. The tribe is a natural social “umbrella” for social security. By virtue of social tribal traditions, the tribe provides for its members collective protection in the form of fines, revenge and defence; namely, social protection. Blood is the prime factor in the formation of the tribe…..………..”

The colonel didn’t need to take so long to reach his point, wtf that was. He makes some common sense on some of the points. That is one thing about Colonel Qaddafi that was interesting: there are nuggets, nay gems, in the middle of the cacophony. That is what distinguished him from other Arab dictators and absolute kings: one never knew what he would say next. As a result, he was never boring to listen to, unlike all other Arab leaders (post-Nasser), who are always boring because we always know what they are going to say, which is nothing.
Cheers
mhg



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