Monthly Archives: June 2012

Culture, Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, WTF

Forget Iran: World’s New Real Nuclear Menace, a Willie Nelson Song…….

    

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“Broken her heart
And I know I done wrong
But I pray
That someday she’ll forgive me
And remember
When I’ve sang
My last hillbilly song………..” Willie (Hugh) Nelson


“For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the specter of nuclear armageddon looms over the world, as the Pentagon announced yesterday that a group of hillbillies in central Tennessee has constructed a fully operational 50-megaton nuclear device. With this potential for destruction in the hands of people who have throughout history acted out violently for no better reason than family tradition, scientists in Helsinki, Finland, have moved the doomsday clock back up to one minute before midnight. Pentagon officials were tipped off to the backwoods people’s potential to invoke mass destruction last week when an I.R.S. agent returned from the Smoky Mountains claiming that a group of hillbillies had threatened to “nuke him up real good.” The bomb’s existence and operational status were later confirmed by a team of scientists who, after finding the weapon in a hay thresher, were run out of hillbilly territory by a family armed with a shotgun and three dogs named “Duke.”……….”

Mr. Netanyahu was pissed. He said this is a phony report planted by anti-Semites in the IRS with the goal of distracting from the most serious nuclear threat the world has faced since Hiroshima and Nagasaki was barbecued for the sake of peace.
Cheers
mhg
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Death Penalty, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Swords and Sorcerers: Of Elites and Peons and Fun in the Gulf GCC………….

    

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“A Saudi man has been beheaded on charges of sorcery and witchcraft, the state news agency SPA says. The man, Muree bin Ali bin Issa al-Asiri, was found in possession of books and talismans, SPA said. He had also admitted adultery with two women, it said. The execution took place in the southern Najran province, SPA reported. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned executions for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia. Last year, there were reports of at least two people being executed for sorcery……… No details were given of what he was found guilty of beyond the charges of witchcraft and sorcery. Amnesty International says the country does not formally classify sorcery as a capital offence…… Some, he explains, have repeatedly called for the strongest possible punishments against anyone suspected of sorcery – whether they are fortune tellers or faith healers…………”

The Saudi law enforcement system, of which the late Prince Nayef was the boss for decades, is an eager pursuer of all kinds of crime except one. They are especially avid pursuers of all kind of opposition to the regime, and that includes any call for “reform”. Reform is strongly opposes because it will inevitably bring down the regime, hence political prisoners are often tried as “terrorists”. That keeps the Western powers happy and content that the al-Saud are keeping their end of the bargain and working hard to protect life, liberty, and the American (and French) way of life.
Next in line are those who seek to have fun (aka fun seekers) but are not among the royals or their close retainers. (Real fun is supposed to be reserved for the elite in Saudi Arabia and in a couple of other Gulf countries. The peons are deemed beneath such suspicious activity). After that come those who try to add some magic to life in the Kingdom without Magic. Magicians, sorcerers, witches, warlocks, fortune tellers, charlatans (other than the Wahhabi clergy), and others including Ronald McDonald and your typical Pagliacci clown.
Oddly, and in spite of the severe sentence of beheading, many such characters pop up in the kingdom. Several magicians, sorcerers, witches, warlocks, fortune tellers, and charlatans are arrested every year; most are sentenced to beheading. This is a result of the interaction of two factors: (1) Desperation and poverty in what is supposed to be a very rich country. People fall for anything or anyone who promises to improve their lot in life. (2) Sheer boredom in a country where the only legal fun is in eating, drinking (soda pop), and driving round creating traffic jams while using up cheap gasoline. Some people try to break the monotony by attending mosques and funerals (one can spend a whole day, each day, offering condolences to the bereaved and accumulating heavenly merits for the future).
As someone might have said: “No worry. There are more heads where those that they chop off come from”. And that is a comforting though to the average citizen and to the executioner swinging the sword.
Cheers
mhg
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Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

New Band in Middle East Town? Romney’s Warmongers……

    

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“Rick Perry labeled the Turkish government “Islamic terrorists.” Newt Gingrich referred to Palestinians as “invented” people. Herman Cain called Uzbekistan “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan” and memorably blanked when asked what he thought of NATO’s incursion into Libya. Michele Bachmann pledged to close the US embassy in Iran, which hasn’t existed since 1980. Rick Santorum gave a major foreign policy speech at a Jelly Belly factory in California…………. Few advisers personify the pugnacity of Romney’s foreign policy team better than Bolton. He has been a steadfast opponent of international organizations and treaties and seems never to have met a war he didn’t like. “John’s wisdom, clarity and courage are qualities that should typify our foreign policy,” Romney responded……….”

President Obama started in office being generally well-liked by Arabs and Muslim. He has come along way: now he is not liked much in the Arab and Muslim worlds. He is considered no more than any other recent US President, probably less because he is waging more wars in the Middle East than any other American president.
I have no doubt that Willard (Mitt) Romney will immediately become the most-hated (by Arabs and Muslims) US president in history. He is already setting himself up, if elected, to expand America’s wars in the Middle East to Iran and Syria and possibly a few other places. John Bolton is such an extremist that even a Republican-controlled Senate refused to confirm him as UN ambassador when Bush nominated him. He was appointed at recess for one year only. He will no doubt be back with Romney, either as deputy at State or Defense or at National Security or as UN ambassador. Bolton assiduously evaded serving in the Vietnam war, a war he verbally supported. Sort of like Cheney and Bush and many other rightist ‘war lovers from a safe distance‘.

The Romney Middle East and Arab policy looks pretty bad when we know his advisers who are mostly neoconservatives. The only native Middle Eastern among them is a veteran of the Lebanese right-wing militia the ‘Lebanese Forces‘ (LF) which were implicated in massacres like those at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps. (Actually the LF militia committed the rapes and massacre, with the dead estimated at between 1,000-3,000 victims, while Israeli forces kept a lookout outside). His name is Walid Phares. This does not bode well especially for a Romney policy toward Lebanon and Syria. It does not bode well for US relations with a majority of the Lebanese people who, like it or not, support Hezbollah and its allies (they won 54% of the votes during the last Lebanese elections). It does not bode well for relations with the plurality of Lebanese who are the political base of Hezbollah.

No matter who wins next November, he will become the least popular American president in history as far as Arabs and Muslims are concerned. I am talking the people not the princes and potentates who no doubt prefer Romney but can learn to continue loving Obama.

Cheers
mhg
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Uncategorized

An American Fascist View of Muslims………

    

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“I summarized, for Schmitz’s edification, the liberty-crushing, dehumanizing nature of Sharia: open-ended jihadism to subjugate the world to a totalitarian Islamic order; rejection of bedrock Western liberties — including freedom of conscience and speech — enforced by imprisonment, beating, or death; discriminatory relegation of non-Muslims to outcast, vulnerable pariahs, and even Muslim women to subservient chattel; and barbaric punishments which violate human dignity, such as amputation for theft, stoning for adultery, and lashing for alcohol consumption. Refusing to acknowledge Sharia’s ugly, living essence, Schmitz instead made a factually challenged, immoral equivalence between totalitarian Islamic law — a form of state governance — and modern Church canon law, which is deliberately confined to religious affairs, even glibly asserting: “Surely Catholics would love to see canon law cover the globe.”…………..”

These people, these fascists, always forget history, their history. They forget how the West invaded Muslim lands in Asia and Africa and occupied them for hundreds of years by force. How they captured millions of African Muslims and hauled them across the world into slavery. Not just Muslim lands: how they forcefully converted natives of Central and South America to their own distorted “violently un-Christian” version of Christianity. Of course it is usually basically a combination of ignorance and racism (the two are co-related). Sometimes it is just old-fashioned political fear-mongering, in the tried and true fascist-style.
Even today, Muslim lands in Asia and parts of Africa are awash in Western forces, warplanes, warships, and tanks. Muslims are not fighting wars in the West (except for an occasional Salafi terrorist fringe), but Western states are invading and waging war in Muslim lands. They are already planning the next war or tow on Iran and Syria.

Cheers
mhg
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Apartheid, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain

Sporty Potentates of the Gulf, Bahrain Horse Apple………..

    

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“Shaikh Khalid hails HM the King’s continued support. First Deputy of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of the Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Horseracing Federation Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa today affirmed that he is a graduate of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa‘s school in the sport of horse riding. Shaikh Khalid highlighted the fact that His Majesty the King was primary motivator for him and Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the sport of horse riding that is an extension to the forefather’s heritage and tradition……….. Moreover, he also spoke about the importance of the GCC countries as he considers them family and friends………..”

He is a son of the shaikh king of Bahrain. He is a deputy to his brother Shaikh Nasser who is the Gauleiter of all sports in Bahrain: sort of like Uday Saddam Hussein used to be in Iraq. So these potentates big and small are busy hailing each other. He says he follows in his father’s footsteps as far as horses are concerned.
Speaking of horses: the whole clan has been dishing out horse apples, they are very good at it even if very few believe them. It is the thought that counts. Quite moving, actually, if it weren’t for the many thousands of their victims who are in prison, in hospital, in the grave, or out of jobs. Hail away, your highnesses. The problem with horse apples is that you can’t get rid of the odor (although some may consider that an aroma rather than an odor).
Cheers
mhg
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U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Romney Promises Policies ‘Opposite’ Of Obama, Screwing Up the Economy…

    

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This past weekend, Mitt Romney vowed that he would look at what President Obama has done regarding Israel and “do the opposite.” What do you think? ……” 

Some American voters responded that: “I can only assume what Romney means is that he’s going to cut off aid to Israel, support the Palestinians, and make out with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…..…. this style of rhetoric could really take the guesswork out of Romney’s positions on everything…….”

This might be problematic for Romney if he applies it to economic policy (especially before he gets elected). Obama always says he wants to create more jobs for Americans. Ergo: Romney has to say he will strive to lose more American jobs (just like Bush and Cheney did). Hopefully if he is elected Romney will abandon this policy since it will screw up the U.S. economy in a way that only Republicans have been able to do so far and get away with it.
Cheers
mhg
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GCC, Gulf states, Saudi Arabia

Lion of Sunnis, King of Falafel, Pious Prince of Baba Ghannouj………

    

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When Saudi crown prince (for 8 months) Nayef Bin Abdulaziz died last week, Saudi and Salafi media started calling him “assad al sunna”, Lion of the Sunnis (or Lion of Sunna). Post-mortem, post-very-mortem. When some irreverent citizens in the GCC states started mocking this title on Internet social media, the Saudi Embassy in Kuwait reportedly retained lawyers to sue them. Other lawyers volunteered their services to suppress free expression and free speech.
Now Prince Abdulaziz Bin Fahd, son of late King Fahd has taken to calling himself Khadim al Sunna (Servant of the Sunnis or Custodian of the Sunna or Janitor of the Sunna or Housemaid of the Sunnis). He is allegedly a former (and occasional current) play-prince who reportedly spends around $7 million per day when on European vacation. I expect some prince will soon be calling himself Lion of Shish Kebab or Servant of Machbous or a future Falafil King (not the one near UCLA).

More seriously
, Saudi media, almost totally owned or partly owned or controlled by the ruling family and their retainers and in-laws, has gone viral about the sectarian thing. It is their main defense against popular resentment and anger: to divert it toward others. Implicitly they are warning the faithful that the “enemy” is waiting in the wings to “get” them. The enemy are the Shi’a Muslims of the Gulf and beyond. At some point last year or the year before there were reports that Saudi online media and supporters were campaigning in a Scandinavian country against permitting a Shi’a mosque, claiming it will be a hotbed for “terrorists” (it was like the pot calling the kettle black). I think it was probably in Norway but I need to check my older posts here.
Cheers
mhg
[email protected]

Death Penalty, Iran, Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia and Texas: Hungry for Executions…….

    

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“Ann Harrison, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, has severely censured the Saudi Arabian government for the execution of a group of Iranian nationals. On May 30, the Persian service of Tabnak news website reported that Saudi officials in Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, executed 10 Iranian citizens for alleged involvement in drug trafficking. In an analysis published on June 15, Harrison said that foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia face discrimination in relation to the death penalty, and executions are on the rise. As Amnesty International has documented for many years, it is true that a large number of people are executed in Saudi Arabia after grossly unfair trials, Harrison stated. ………….”


This was Iran’s Fars news agency gloating over the Amnesty International reaction to Saudi Arabia’s sudden execution of 10 Iranians. That is a HUGE number at one time, even allegedly for drug smuggling; but there have been larger “batches” of beheadings: one was in 1989 when they announced the execution of 16 young Kuwaiti men after a quick secret trial, then there was the aftermath of the Juhayman uprising in Mecca in 1979-80. It is true, Saudi courts, rather judges, pass sudden execution (by beheading) sentences often without benefit of defense and other “normal” court procedures. Yet Amnesty International has also often criticized Iran’s easy death sentences, including the recent sentence of several Arabic-speaking Ahwazi-Iranian men from Khuzistan Province. Two or three of these men were reportedly hanged this week, rather quickly and I never heard of any appeal of the sentences. This is what one AI official wrote about that:

“I must admit that I had to blink and look away for a moment when I saw the Iranian news agency headline: ‘Execution of Iranian citizens in Saudi Arabia was a medieval act’. As Amnesty International has documented for many years, it is true a large number of people are executed in Saudi Arabia after grossly unfair trials. Foreign nationals face discrimination in relation to the death penalty and executions for drugs offences are on the rise .…………However, it is bizarre for an Iranian news source to state so blatantly that “executing a foreign national for a crime less serious than murder is a sign of barbarity”. International standards do indeed prohibit the use of the death penalty except for “crimes with an intention to kill which resulted in the loss of life”, but we shouldn’t forget that Iran is second only to China…………”

Something about our region: it is in love with capital punishment, whether by beheading or by hanging or otherwise. Our region probably beats even Texas in its love for executions, and Texans are known to truly love executions be they fair or unfair. In Texas, as long as someone is executed for a crime, then Texans are happy feeling that justice was somehow done. Even if, as it sometimes turns out, the person executed is innocent of the crime for which he or she was executed. As some Texas reporter once commented: “Texans just like executions”.
I think executions should be banned, and not just in Texas or other Middle Eastern countries.
Cheers
mhg
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