Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh (called affectionately Al by the princes) is famous for his fatwas and announced positions on various issues. That is what he is paid for. Now he has, again, blamed miscreants and sinners among Muslims for instability in the Middle East. In that, he is no different from some interesting American political pastors who blamed 9/11 attacks on similar factors (mainly sinning). A Saudi daily quotes Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh that “what the Islamic countries are experiencing of divisions (fitna) and disturbances and insecurity are a result of their sins and crimes” The Mufti charged that mobs have been wearing the mask of “democracy and justice” in order to commit acts that cause injustice and chaos among Muslims. Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh will promise in his next speech stability, justice, and prosperity to everyone in the whole Muslim world, as long as they adopt the Wahhabi absolute tribal monarchy model of governance and looting. Of the sectarian divisiveness (fitna): nobody in the history of the Muslim world has pushed and encouraged and caused it more than the al-Saud dynasty and their vast media and their tribal and Salafi affiliates and their paid academic mercenaries across the Gulf, along with their Walis (satraps) in Bahrain. At least nobody since the battles of Ali and the Umayyad usurpers almost fifteen centuries ago.
About the Mufti (for new readers only): the Al Al-Shaikh (call me Al) are descendants of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdulwahhab, an old Saudi ally after whom the Wahhabi sect is named. They have had close relations with the al-Saud ever since and many hold high positions at the Saudi court and bureaucracy. I expect that when the Saudi king finally decides to allow women to drive (drive cars not their spouses) he will give the first franchise to an Al Al Al Shaikh chick to be the first legal female driver in the Kingdom without Magic (no, the famous Manal al-Sharif will not be the first driver: she may have the wrong surname). As I have repeated here, the shaikh is not to be confused with Mohammed Abdelwahab, the late great Egyptian musician, singer, and occasional actor from the golden (pre-Sadat-Mubarak) days of Egyptian art and culture who was no Salafi, Wahhabi, nor any kind of fundamentalist but a bon vivant in his own right. Cheers
mhg
“She Was More Like A Beauty Queen From A Movie Scene
I Said Don’t Mind, But What Do You Mean I Am The One
Who Will Dance On The Floor In The Round
She Said I Am The One Who Will Dance On The Floor In The Round
She Told Me Her Name Was Billie Jean, As She Caused A Scene
Then Every Head Turned With Eyes That Dreamed Of Being The One
Who Will Dance On The Floor In The Round……...“ Billie Jean (Michael Jackson)
“Iran has signed a 1.6 billion euro contract with a Spanish company to manufacture high-tech equipment and components for its oil and gas industry. Iran’s Society of Iranian Petroleum Industries Equipment Manufacturers (SIPIEM) signed the contract with the Spanish company. Kayhandokht Kavianpour, an SIPIEM member, confirmed the deal in interview with the Mehr News Agency and said, “Certain Western countries imagine that with sanctions the engine of the development of Iran’s oil industry will stop functioning.” The SIPIEM also signed another contract with a Chinese company to transfer technology to Iranian oil industry, the report added. ……….”
This is weird. The EU voted to boycott Iranian oil starting next July. Iran voted to cut off oil to the EU members, including Spain last month. Now Iran and Spain have signed a deal to supply high-tech oil equipment to Iran’s oil industry. Presumably the equipment will be produced inside Iran. Is it a way to go around American and European sanctions? Another Iranian official later stated that soon his country will be manufacturing oilfield equipment. Any why are Spaniards of all people producing oilfield equipment and machinery? Spain has olive oil. This is like having Oman or the UAE produce beauty queens instead of Venezuela (just an example, just an example). The plot thickens.
“Burn this city to the ground
Take a torch and spread the fire”
Persepolis / Now a pile of dust
A blackened carcass / A land of ash
Persepolis / You lost your crown
Persepolis / Burned to the ground
Consumed by hate / Ablaze by pride
Persepolis / Naked as the sand……..” Persepolis (Septic Flesh)
“Tunisia on Tuesday denounced “American interference” in judicial affairs after the U.S. ambassador criticized a ruling that fined a television station boss for showing a film that depicted God. The U.S. ambassador in Tunis, Gordon Gray, last Thursday expressed “serious concerns” after a court fined the Nessma station’s chief executive Nabil Karoui for broadcasting the Franco-Iranian film “Persepolis”. “The declarations of the American ambassador to Tunisia constitute interference in Tunisian justice,” the foreign ministry announced in a statement reported by the official TAP news agency. “The Tunisian government declares itself to be deeply astonished” by these statements. The film, which looks at the Iranian revolution through the eyes of a little girl, features a controversial scene showing a depiction of God. Muslims consider portrayals of Allah to be blasphemous. Karoui was fined on May 3, 2,400 dinars (, $1,700) in a high-profile trial on conviction of “broadcasting a film that disturbs public order and threatens proper morals.” Gray then issued a statement saying that the verdict “raises serious concerns about tolerance and freedom of expression in the new Tunisia.”……..”
When the politicians currently ruling Tunisia were in opposition and in exile, they railed against the United States and the West for not opposing (and for supporting) the dictatorship of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. They also complained about repression and not allowing the freedom of expression under the old dictator. Now that they are in power, they have made a 180 degree turnaround about the freedom of expression: now they rail against the United States for asking them to allow freedom of expression. When out of power, they wanted world powers to seek more freedom of expression in Tunisia; now that they are in power, they want world powers to stay out and not push for freedom of expression. That is ‘somewhat’ hypocritical. Somewhat. Cheers
mhg
