Monthly Archives: June 2013

Arab Revolutions, NATO, Syria

General Idriss as the Unlikely Leader of Syria or Yemen: Catfish and Sharks and a Zombie……….

      

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“The new weaponry will be channelled through the Supreme Military Command, a Western-backed rebel body headed by Selim Idriss, a general who defected from Mr Assad’s forces, and whose connections to moderate groups America has been testing with supplies of food and medicine. America’s programme, likely to be based in Jordan, on Syria’s southern border, may in effect amount to a beefing up of a Saudi operation there, which already involves the CIA in training vetted rebels…………. Some reckon it is even too late to achieve the more modest goals of bringing the fissiparous rebel groups under a single command structure and marginalising more extreme elements, in particular the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra. Once a group has seen its fortunes fall, it is hard to resuscitate it. Take, for example, Shuhada Suria (Martyrs of Syria). Just a year ago this group, which operates in the north-west province of Idleb and whose leader sits on the Supreme Military Command, was a leading fighting force. But it has faltered in part because funding has shrivelled, prompting defections to stronger groups, usually more Islamist ones………….”

General Salim Idriss is the man the West (US administration) and presumably Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Yamama is looking at to lead Syria if and when it is liberated by NATO and Bernard-Henri Levy. They may consider him the equivalent of a Yemeni outcome for Syria. In Yemen, the GCC absolute tribal rulers engineered a final resignation of the dictator Ali Saleh and replaced him with his vice president, Generalissimo Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi Bin Zombie (the last name was given him by a Saudi journalist-tweeter). Hadi is famous for breaking post-Saddam Arab records for popular votes (about 99.8%, something not even Kim Jong-Un can get). Yemen is still engulfed in a multi-pronged civil war.

General Idriss looks like a highly unlikely leader for Syria, or of any other place for that matter. But then in fairness, some twelve years ago Bashar Al Assad did not look very ‘leader-ly‘ either. He looks like he should not even be expected to run his supporters in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. More like a catfish in a pond full of Jihadi and other sharks, and we all know there is something wrong with that besides mixing salt and sweet waters.
Yesterday General Abduljabbar Al-Akeedi, apparently chief of the Revolutionary Military Leadership in Aleppo (wtf that be), was reported in Al-Quds Al-Arabi to have resigned from the FSA command in protest. He claimed that the Free Syrian Salafi Army has failed. Could be merely discontent with Idriss as well, could be a premonition of outcome of the battle for Aleppo. Could be both.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Politics, censorship, Internet, Middle East

Middle East Leaders Tweeting: Khamenei’s Sports and Abdullah’s Market Crash………

      

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Bashar Al-Assad (June 17 TV interview): when the nation is in crisis, the president’s job is even more important, and must remain to solve it. (I don’t know about this thing of “must remain to solve it”: the Saudi king returned home from Morocco last week and their market immediately crashed as he landed).

Ahamdinejad: (no tweets from his account for month, very uncharacteristic, unless he violated the TOS. Could he have gone online incognito?).

Ali Khamenei (June 17) dissing the US Electoral College system, calling it gerrymandering (a surprise use of an American political term): @khamenei_ir How is it possible 2 become US president with fewer votes…..?“
Khamenei has also been waxing nostalgic this month about his youth, and about sports, from mountain climbing in Iran to volleyball (presumably not Beach Volleyball). Which makes you wonder: does he know something the public doesn’t, yet?

Hassan Rouhani (June 17): @HassanRouhani #Rouhani’s Opposition to the Bomb: The Iranian President-Elect’s 2006 Letter to TIME via @TIMEWorld”.  Benyamin Netanyahu immediately opined that he is opposed to this Iranian opposition to the bomb. Said he smelled a whiff of anti-Semitism, retroactively. Said he ought to be bombed just for saying it.

Saudi King Abdullah: (Wish tha Twitter?= WTF is Twitter?) And who is this Gerrymandering thing the Iranian Rafidhi turban-head cleric was talking about up there?

Saudi Mufti: This is evil. Spit out and ask forgiveness, otherwise you’ll never see hide nor hair of them virgin houris. Instead the flames of hell shall caress your walnuts.

Nuri Al-Maliki: I gotta learn about real longevity from the PM of Bahrain.
Psst, Nuri: It’s the family and the mercenaries and the Saudi troops, stupid!

Morsi: @MuhammadMorsi Evoked blood in the same sentence as Nile waters (it is common Arab political bullshit to insert blood into a political statement). Jumped on the Syrian war while kissing up to Sudan’s Al-Bashir.  We shall aid the Syrians with words, liberate Nile headwaters or switch to our blood for irrigation, regain the Sudan (without al-Bashir), and drive the Israelis……….. mad trying to figure me out.

Hip Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal: They say I ain’t no leader, but I own Twitter………. almost.

Cheers
mhg

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Canada

O Strange Canada: is the Regime Going Arab or More Fascist or Both?……………

      

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“Last month, we reported on Saudi Arabia banning the Guy Fawkes masks popularized by the movie V for Vendetta, which have been a staple of populist protests from Occupy Wall Street to the Arab Spring, and now the Taksim Square protests in Turkey. The Canadian ban is a bit different — but just as strange. The new law, which takes effect immediately, makes it illegal to wear a mask in Canada “during a riot or unlawful assembly.” (Because apparently Canadian laws against rioting aren’t dissuasive enough?) Those caught wearing masks during riots could spend up to six months in jail, not including additional charges for rioting; masked miscreants caught “inciting” a riot face a potential 10-year sentence. CBC reports that “exceptions can be made if someone can prove they have a ‘lawful excuse’ for covering their face such as religious or medical reasons.” Does that include dust masks to prevent getting sick at crowded, dirty protests? Balaclavas so protesters don’t freeze on cold Canadian nights? Handkerchiefs to stave off the inhalation of tear gas? Do fake beards,………………..”

Okay, the Canadian regime of Stephen Harper et al has been moving to the extreme right steadily. Now it is close to crossing one of these Red Lines that the media and politicians like to throw around. It is in the good company of the despotic regimes of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, among others. Some Arabs even claim that the Harper government is the most Likud-nik regime outside of Israel (they forgot about the US Congress).

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Economics, Finance, Jihadis, Kuwait, Syria

The Economics of Jihad in Syria: Kuwaiti Opposition Estimates……..

      

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There is a theory, a plausible one that the Syrian uprising of 2011 started as a non-sectarian non-violent call for reform. Until the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf got hold of it and inundated Syria with money, the ideology of hate, and Salafi Jihadis. I wrote two days ago of Kuwaiti politics and the dominance of tribal Islamists of the political opposition movement.
Local Kuwait media report that the tribal Islamist opposition has called for a mobilization for war in Syria (they called it for Jihad in Syria). A bunch of former opposition tribal Islamist MP’s held a sort of tribal charity ball but stag, a large gathering of men to start a campaign to raise money to equip and arm 12 thousand ghazis (ghazi is Arabic for invader, raider, meaning here Jihadi) for Syria. They have called for every family (that listens to them) to equip and arm one Mujahid to go to Syria to fight. One of them suggested that 700 Dinars (about US $2400) would prepare and send a Jihadis to battle in Syria. (No idea if this amount covers one or multiple multiple wives). That of course does not cover the current cost of operations: food, bullets, shelter, bribes, booze, etc. All that minus current revenues: whatever can be looted as war booty or obtained as ransom for hostages the FSA and Jihadist militias like to take (they are avid hostage-takers and are still holding two Christian bishops and two other priests hostage, in addition to many Alawis and Shi’as).

Some of the well-heeled tribal Islamists at the gathering contributed new non-Islamist cars. One gave a new heathen-made Chevrolet Suburban, another donated a new infidel-made Mercedes-Benz. One former member of parliament got a family to pay for the arming and equipping 28 ghazis (raiders or Jihadis) for Syria. Another former member deposited funds to cover three Jihadis.
None of these worthies volunteered either themselves or their sons or any members of their families or tribes for the “struggle”. They can get other Wahhabi youth to do the bloody deed, and if that fails, they figure they can get the infidel heathen Westerners to do it. There is always senators McCain and Graham (Joe Lieberman has hung up his Syrian Jihadist helmet).

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, US Foreign Policy

Syrian FSA On a Hot Streak: Accuses Hezbollah of Using Chemical & Nuclear Weapons…………

      

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“The major organization of Syrian rebels, the Free Syrian Army, announced Wednesday that forces affiliated with Bashar Assad’s regime and Hezbollah fighters employed chemical weapons in battles at the outskirts of Damascus, according to Alarabiya network. Assad’s forces are continuing to shell a number of towns and areas within Syria using a range of munitions, especially chemical warfare which, this time around, hit the town of Zamalka, outside of Damascus………………”

The Free Syrian Salafi Army (FSA) must have gotten its hands on a cache of chemical weapons, and they have been putting it to good use. John McCain may believe them again, may have suggested to the FSA to try this method again to get the Obama administration to invade Lebanon as well as Syria. After all, the same WMD “evidence” cooked up between the FSA, France, and Britain got a nervous Obama to put one foot through the Syrian door. It might work in Lebanon as well, since the Saudi-funded Salafi proxies don’t seem to be getting much traction in Beirut so far.
 
Now the FSA, while on a hot streak, can be bold enough to go for the gold: they can claim that they have evidence of Iranian use of nuclear weapons in Syria. If the Western due diligence of the Sarin claim is any indication, it just might work. McCain and much of the mainstream media will back them up, especially if M. Hollande and Mr. Cameron vouch for the veracity of it, as they would. Tony Blair might also poke his head out out to help. The public in the West will hear a lot of talk, media noise, about “nuclear” and “Hezbollah” and will put the two together so that 1+1=5, with a little help from the media. Then we’d all have a beautiful expanded war.
Yeeehaawwww……. (that was Mr. McCain yelling, not me)
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Salafi, Syria

So Many Friends of Syria but No Quakers: Average Joe and Average Moe and Divinity……………

      

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“Foreign ministers of the “Friends of Syria” bloc will meet on
Saturday in Doha to discuss aid for the Syrian rebels, including
military assistance, according to a French diplomat quoted by AFP. Ministers
of Britain, France, the U.S., Germany, Italy, Jordan, Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt will attend the
meeting, the source said on Wednesday. The meeting aims to
address in a “concerted, coordinated and complementary manner” the
concerns raised by the opposition’s military chief during the last
“Friends of Syria” meeting in Ankara last Friday……………..”

Friends of one Syria have been holding a lot of meetings. You’d think they have no other business but Syria. They will meet in Doha (Qatar) again to support the armed militias of that Syria (Free Syrian Salafi Army). They all agree on continuing the battle toward a free democratic Syria that will be no less free and no less democratic than its most ardent supporters: Saudi Arabia and Qatar and the UAE. Logically, things look to have a good chance of reaching that ultimate goal. The obstacle is the battle before that.

Friends of another Syria will meet elsewhere; could be in Waziristan, in some Wahhabi mosque on the Persian Gulf or Najd or Al-Anbar, or more likely somewhere in Western Europe. They seek to support the militias of their own vision of Syria that sometimes coincides with that first Syria noted above. Even though most of their armed men are not even Syrians as they hail from places such as Libya, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, Chechnya, Bosnia, and other Europe.

Friends of yet another Syria are to meet in Moscow (or was it Tehran or Damascus) to support the regime of that other Syria. They will focus on logistics of weapons shipments and evading pesky satellites. My source claims they might try some trickery: she reports they might look into the possibility of having Bashar Al-Assad publicly denounce the Iranians, which they expect would lead the Western powers and the Saudis and Qataris to immediately adopt him as their new mascot instead of some Salafi cutthroat (or former regime rat, depending). Once they all cheer Bashar, he can turn around and change his mind. The logic is that if the Saudis and Qataris have allegedly chosen to support freedom and democracy (in Syria only), then whatever shift Bashar makes should be as credible.

Friends of yet another Syria, a political rather than military Syria, are slated to meet at some 5-star hotel in Turkey to discuss other relevant aspects of the new Syria they seek. Some of them will argue about the relevance of the New Syria to the rest of the cosmos; they will do so in French, of course.

Other friends (not Quakers) will split from this last group and powwow in classical Arabic. These latter will focus on weighty issues that are paramount in the very long-term, such as: (a) should one redo his ablutions if he crosses path with a foreign lady who wears shorts and is leading a shih-tzu on a leash? (b) why God trusts princes and clerics more than “average Joe” (make that “average Moe”)? (c) why the Lord, in His wisdom, prefers modesty and a humble demeanor and honesty and conformity in those who are ruled but prefers the rulers to be, if not total bastards (self-made of otherwise), then at least rakish?

Among other agonizing issues………….

Cheers
mhg

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Education, Iran

Ahamadinejad at Sarah Lawrence: Misses NYC and Netanyahu and Missipppi Mud Pie……

      

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“Building on a decades-long career serving government and academic institutions in his home country, outgoing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially accepted a position at Sarah Lawrence College as the next Dean of Students, officials for the private New York liberal arts school announced today. “It is both an honor and a privilege to welcome Professor Ahmadinejad to the administrative team at Sarah Lawrence, to which he brings a wealth of leadership experience and a deep passion for our undergraduate program,” college president Karen Lawrence said of the right-wing Islamic leader and former engineering professor, who will teach two introductory courses in government as well as oversee the Office of Residence life, the Center for Health and Wellness, and the First Year Experience program. “From his first visit to campus in April, it was clear to everyone that Professor Ahmadinejad is a passionate and student-centered leader who understands our commitment to a highly individualized course of study………….” L’oignon

Dr. Ahamadinejad as overseer of a bunch of freshmen girls. He will miss all the ayatollahs, all the sparring and jousting and thwarting. He will also miss the Big Apple: already waxing nostalgic about his fun-filled annual September visits to New York City. Ahmadinejad would even miss Netantyahu, something even Israelis will not do after he leaves office, if he ever does. Ahmadinejad will miss Netanyahu and his knee-jerk evoking of Hitler every time Ahmadinejads was mentioned. As for Netanyhau, he will miss Ahmadinejad as the premier evil enemy of Israel and America and Western values and humanity and motherhood and Mississippi Mud Pie (one of my favorites). until the reliable US media does its work on demonizing Rouahani.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, GCC, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Saudi Goals in Syria, Syrian Goals in Syria: about Democracy and Freedom………

      

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“Saudi Arabia has long urged the West to arm the Syrian rebels as they battle forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he explains why. He also says Europe should change its strategy in nuclear negotiations with Iran. SPIEGEL: Your Highness, Saudi Arabia provides Syrian rebels with both money and weaponry. What is the kingdom’s strategic aim?
Turki: The immediate downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and the immediate stop of “the killing machine,” as King Abdullah described Bashar-Al-Assad’s response to the demands of his people.
SPIEGEL: Troops from the Shiite radical group Hezbollah, supported by Iran, have joined the fight in support of Assad and could soon begin marching on Aleppo. Are the rebels not currently facing failure?
Turki: For the last two years, the regime and its supporters have been claiming victory with any advance they make on the ground. The Syrian people are determined to achieve what they aspired to when they began their protest…..………….”

Also sprach Prince Turki Al Faisal, former chief of Saudi Intelligence, former (briefly) Ambassador to Washington, currently man-about-towns and conferences and symposiums and overall bon vivant, sort of. No doubt, some of the Syrian people want to achieve their revised goals of their uprising. Originally it was more freedom and democracy. After the Wahhabi princes showered Syria with their petro-money, their sectarianism, and their desperate Paradise-seeking horny lost young men, the Syrian uprising became a sectarian civil war. The goal became to establish a ‘kingdom’ that is a cross between the Saudi kingdom and the state of the Taliban.
General Salim Idriss, nominal boss of the Free Syrian Salafi Army, may have other plans, but he only controls the rooms he uses to meet Western politicians and advisers, for now. General Manaf Tlass, ex-buddy of Bashar Al-Assad had his Saudi debut, complete with a photographed Umrah hajj, then vanished. Probably like the rest of them he is in some 7-star hotel waiting for the results of the bloody Syrian Lotto. Like the Salafis, Jihadists, Muftis, and other 5-star exiles, he is praying toward NATO headquarters in Brussels (or maybe Mons, Belgium), if at all.

Cheers
mhg

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Culture, Muslims, Syria, US Congress, US Foreign Policy

Abbatoirs of Abu Dhabi in Ramadan, US Senate Waging More Muslim Wars by Christmas………

      

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“Preparations for Ramadan and Eid are in full swing at slaughterhouses, which experience a huge increase in business during the month. “This Ramadan more than 60,000 cattle are expected to be slaughtered during the month,” said Mohammed Al Marzouqi, slaughterhouse section head at Abu Dhabi Municipality. “Normally we slaughter about 40,000 a month at the five abattoirs in Abu Dhabi.” Staff are not allowed to take leave for the month and extra hands will be hired, with the number of butchers increasing by 20 per cent and cleaners by 30 per cent. There will be 75 butchers working in Abu Dhabi and Baniyas, and 40 in Shahama and Al Wathba. The automated slaughterhouse will have 45 butchers………………”

So, they hire extra staff in Abu Dhabi for the ‘fasting’ month of Ramadan to prepare more food. In case you were unaware: much more food is consumed during the fasting month of Ramadan than at any other time. Before you heathen kuffar gloat: what is the least spiritual season in Christendom? Yep: Christmas, and it is all downhill from there.
Increased seasonal employment: you’d think it was Macy’s at Christmas. Or Burgundy during the fall harvest season. Or Quetta during the high terrorist bombing season, wtf that be. Or Saudi Arabia during the season when they need more sword sharpeners, or Iran during the peak hanging season.
Or, a better example, the US Senate during warmongering season, as they orate themselves into a frenzy before embarking on another of their unholy wars against another hapless Muslim country. It is expected now: they talk themselves into a frenzy during summer and early fall, with the numbed media playing along, and strike between late fall or spring. (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, and Mali are history. Syria is already baking in the oven nicely, tyvm. Iran, the Mother of All Wars, may be saved for next year, after the devil that was Ahmadinejad is transformed through the magic of the mass numbing media into Rouhani).

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Syria, WMD

Chemical Baskerville of Syria: WMD Experts Skeptical about U.S. Claim on Sarin……

      

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“Chemical weapons experts voiced skepticism Friday about U.S. claims that the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad had used the nerve agent sarin against rebels on at least four occasions this spring, saying that while the use of such a weapon is always possible, they’ve yet to see the telltale signs of a sarin gas attack, despite months of scrutiny. “It’s not unlike Sherlock Holmes and the dog that didn’t bark,” said Jean Pascal Zanders, a leading expert on chemical weapons who until recently was a senior research fellow at the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies. “It’s not just that we can’t prove a sarin attack, it’s that we’re not seeing what we would expect to see from a sarin attack.” Foremost among those missing items, Zanders said, are cellphone photos and videos of the attacks or the immediate aftermath……………..”

So where is the evidence? The WMD expert said: “It’s not unlike Sherlock Holmes and the dog that didn’t bark”. He was not talking about anybody in the U.S. Senate, a lot of barking there last week.
Anyway, almost everybody is skeptical about the WMD story, even the Syrian “activists” who probably manufactured and provided the evidence, even the French and British who knowingly pretended it was “evidence”. Even the democratically elected Saudi king and Qatari shaikh. Only a couple of U.S. senators and the compliant dumbed-down US media actually believe it was real.
As for me, I am not just skeptical, I know that they know that we all know that it was manufactured evidence.
Cheers
mhg

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