Monthly Archives: October 2013

Media, Syria

Media No-Fly Zone in Syria………….

      

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“Now it is mainly rebel-held Syria that is a no-go zone for outside reporters. War correspondents can generally weather violence. But it is another matter if you have a high chance of being snatched at gunpoint by rebel groups that are supposed to protect you. One jihadist internet site has urged fighters to nab all journalists, whom they sometimes accuse of being spies; foreign aid workers are also being targeted. At least 16 foreign and 60 local journalists are currently missing, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French), a Paris-based lobby. Many more cases go unpublicised, sometimes at the request of victims’ families. (RSF also notes that at least 25 professional journalists and 70 “citizen” ones have so far been killed in the conflict.) The regime has taken advantage of this. It has become more generous with visas for Western journalists, favouring those sympathetic to its claims to be resisting foreign meddling………..”

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Syria, Turkey

An Exchange of Hostages over Syria………..

      

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“Nine Lebanese hostages freed after being held by Syrian rebels for more than a year arrived to a tumultuous welcome in Beirut late Saturday, capping a complex deal that also resulted in the release of two Turkish pilots kidnapped in Lebanon and the reported freeing of scores of prisoners from Syrian jails. About an hour after the nine ex-hostages were mobbed by relatives and other well-wishers at a VIP lounge at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, images on Turkish television showed an aircraft carrying the two Turkish Airlines pilots arriving at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. The Lebanese had been flown from Istanbul to Beirut, while the Turks were whisked off by jet in the opposite direction, from Beirut to Istanbul…………….”

So the Syrian rebel sectarian militias kidnapped a bunch of Lebanese Shi’s pilgrims in Syria, called them Hezbollah fighters, and held them hostage. Some of the Syrian rebels factions have become better at kidnapping than at fighting. So some Lebanese Shi’a clans went straight to the source, they kidnapped a couple of innocent Turkish pilots, on the assumption that Turkey is allied to the Syrian rebels and has leverage over them. This turns out to have been the correct, if cruel and illegal, thing to do to get the desired result. One kidnapping, one crime, does not justify another, but apparently it does in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Cheers
mhg

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Hezbollah, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Friedman on the Tea Party’s Hezbollah Roots and Koch Brother Wahhabis………

      

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“During the Dust Bowl years of the ’30s, Jackson reminded, the monoculture crops died but the polyculture prairie, with its diverse ecosystem, survived. What is going on in the Arab world today, I argued, is a relentless push, also funded by fossil fuels, for more monocultures. It’s Al Qaeda trying to “purify” the Arabian Peninsula. It’s Shiites and Sunnis, each funded by oil money, trying to purge the other in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon…………. The same is true of the Republican Party in America today. Tea Party conservatives funded by the Koch brothers and other fossil-fuel donors are trying to wipe out whatever is left of the Republican Party’s polyculture and turn it into a monoculture. When Senate Republicans last week first offered their compromise proposal to end the shutdown………….. It’s striking how much the Tea Party wing of the G.O.P. has adopted the tactics of the P.O.G. — “Party of God” — better known as Hezbollah. For years, Lebanese Shiites were represented by the mainstream Amal party. But in the 1980s, a more radical Shiite militia emerged from the war with Israel: Hezbollah. Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah………………”

Clearly Thomas Friedman is still pissed that his 2009 post-election prognostication for Lebanon proved quite wrong (as I predicted at the time). His obsession with Hezbollah continues. His love affair with the Saudi faction in Lebanon, as represented by the Hariri March 14 and NowLebanon, continues. He does overlook the growing Salafi al-Qaeda threat in Lebanon, helped along and financed and armed by March 14 and its Saudi paymasters.
But this is breathtaking, this mix of Dust Bowl history with Hezbollah and the Tea Party and the Koch Brothers. Now if Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas and other Godly places) were a bit fatter, just a bit fatter, with a shaggy beard and a turban, and had a Lebanese accent………….
BTW: whatever happened to the wise Arab taxi driver that advises Friedman on Middle East affairs? Where is Abed (or Abdu) in all this?
Cheers
mhg

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Arab League, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations

Arab Joke du Jour: Chutzpah! Arab League Blasts “Failed” UN…………

      

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“Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi Sunday backed Saudi Arabia’s rejection of a seat on the UN Security Council, saying the diplomatic body had failed in its responsibility towards the Arab world. Arabi told reporters that Saudi Arabia was right to object to the Security Council’s management methods and the fact that it failed in its responsibility to secure international peace, “which it is not doing at all.” He said Arab states, including Palestine and Syria, were the worst affected by the Security Council’s weakness in the last six decades. His remarks come a day after Arab nations urged Saudi Arabia to reverse its decision to reject a seat on the 15-nation Security Council. Arab ambassadors to the UN said it was crucial for Saudi Arabia to represent the Arab and Muslim world on the council “at this important and historical stage, specifically for the Middle East region.”…………….”


Talk about chutzpah: the Egyptian secretary general of the useless, ineffective, Saudi-owned Arab League calls the UN a “failure”.
It is almost funny, almost, this stance by Nabil al-Arabi, the Arab League’s top ineffective bureaucrat, a man effectively in the pay of the Al Saud princes.  He says the UN “had failed in its responsibility towards the Arab world”. As if the corrupt putrid Arab League of Absolute Kings, Princes, and other Despots and its bureaucracy are a glittering success. Truly a case of the kettle and the pot.
Cheers
mhg

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Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations

WTF? Egypt Supports Saudi Rejection of UN Seat, Arabs Declare Unilateral Victory……

      

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Al Shourouk daily from Cairo reports that the Egyptian regime has declared its full support of the surprise Saudi decision to refuse taking a seat on the United Nations Security Council. It is likely general Al Sisi called the Saudi King, or whoever speaks for him these days, and congratulated him for his rejection. My Cairo source reports that it is not true that Interim semi-President Mr. Adly Mansour Al Zombie has asked if he can take the abandoned Saudi seat on the UN Security Council.

As a reaction, the King of Jordan is said to have made the “right noises”, the nature of which have not been divulged. Not to be outdone, the government of Bahrain has declared a three day holiday in celebration of the Saudi rejection of the UN SC seat. Other Arab potentates are sending messages of congratulation to Riyadh. One Lebanese journalist who writes in Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat is getting ready to call this Saudi move the “true Arab Spring”. Another Arab journalist, J Al-Khazin, who write for Saudi daily Al-Hayat is comparing this rejection to Anwar Sadat’s audacious visit to Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, and in that spirit of support, I have decided to declare my support for Turkish leader Erdogan for calling the President of France and asking him to get tougher on Syria, or was it Mali……….

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Iran

Life and Death Penalty in Iran: Clash of an Ayatollah with Himself………

      

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“An Iranian grand ayatollah who issued a fatwa ordering the re-execution of convicts who come back to life has said his religious ruling should not be applied in the case of the man who revived in the morgue earlier this month. Alireza, a 37-year-old father of two, was hanged two weeks ago for possessing a kilo of crystal meth and was certified as dead by medics after lingering for 12 minutes from a rope tied around his neck. He was sent for burial but a day later morgue workers realised he was still alive after spotting steam in the plastic cover he was wrapped in. Following his arrest three years ago, a revolutionary court had found Alireza guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced him to death….……….. Golpaygani reacted after a number of people contacted his office asking him to intervene or clarify his position over Alireza’s case. The state-run Jam-e-Jam newspaper, the first media organisation to break the news about Alireza’s ordeal, said many of its readers had asked for his life to be spared….……….”

The mullahs, being dour mullahs, are attached to the death penalty. As attached as anybody in the Middle East is, almost as attached as Texans are, it seems.
Remember the old days when the American overlords eliminated the death penalty in Iraq right after the 2003 invasion? Oddly, very few seriously support eliminating capital punishment in the USA itself, at least not openly, certainly not any major politician. Anyway, the moratorium on the death penalty did not last long in Iraq: the Salafi terrorists made sure of that.
Still, they’d have fun with a case like this in Texas, another place where executions are liked and evading them is seriously frowned upon.
(FYI: I am against all forms of capital punishment, be they by hanging, beheading, shooting, clubbing, watching TV, or needling. Clearly they do nothing to stop crime. Otherwise the USA, Texas, China, Iran, and Iraq would be crime-free heavens. They are not. They don’t do much to reduce sorcery and witchcraft either, otherwise Saudi Arabia would be footloose and witch-free).

Cheers
mhg

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Arab League, Arab Politics, GCC, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

Syrian Fallout: Saudi Tantrum over the Security Council………

      

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“Saudi Arabia on Friday rejected its freshly-acquired seat on the U.N. Security Council, saying the 15-member body is incapable of resolving world conflicts such as the Syrian civil war. The move came just hours after the kingdom was elected as one of the Council’s 10 nonpermanent members. In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the Foreign Ministry said the Council has failed in its duties toward Syria. This, the ministry said, enabled Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime to perpetrate the killings of its people, including with chemical weapons, without facing any punishment. The kingdom, which has backed the Syrian rebels in their struggle to topple Assad, has in the past criticized the international community for failing to halt the civil war in Syria…………..”

This is a surprising and uncharacteristic public royal tantrum. Something has pissed off the Saudi princes. Or maybe now Prince Bandar has unbridled control over foreign policy. Earlier, they canceled their annual speech at the UN General Assembly meeting, not that anybody actually listens to it beside the flunkies. Now they refuse to take a seat at the Security Council.
It could be the frustration from the setbacks to their allies and proxies in Syria and Lebanon. It certainly can’t be the Security Council’s failure to react to their own invasion and continuing repression of Bahrain. It could be the failure of Mr. Obama to wage war in Syria and possibly Iran (all options still being on the table and all that). It could be the prospect of resolving the Iranian nuclear “issue” peacefully.
There is another possible angle here. A Security Council member will have to vote on issues, or abstain. Even abstention is a form of voting. Maybe the Saudis are going back to their old foreign policy mode of avoiding confrontation on sensitive issues.
The Saudis want no part of the Security Council until it is reformed to their liking. Which reminds me of the League of Arab States (Arab League), apparently now under Saudi financial control and quite reformed, thank you very much……….
And no, I would not be so crass as to suggest it is a form of royal PMS……….

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Human Right

New ABS Strategy for Bahrain: Regime to Naturalize Tear Gas Canisters………..

      

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“[Manama] Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior is planning to import 1.6 million tear gas canisters and 90,000 tear gas grenades, according to a leaked document, published today by research and advocacy group Bahrain Watch. The document — apparently a tender issued by the Ministry of Interior’s Purchasing Directorate — shows that Bahrain’s security forces are stockpiling massive amounts of tear gas, despite serious concerns of international NGOs and the United Nations Human Rights Council. These groups have called Bahrain’s use of tear gas “unnecessary and indiscriminate”, and “lethal”. This planned new shipment will supply Bahrain with more tear gas canisters than the entire population of the country. The document, signed by “Assistant Undersecretary Abdulla Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa”, calls for all proposals to be submitted “not later than 16th July 2013”. Ministry of Interior tenders are typically not available on the Government’s Tender Board website. This is the first time that an apparent tender for tear gas has been made public. The tender calls for arms companies to supply Bahrain with the following items:……… Bahrain Watch understands that no shipment related to this tender has yet been made, however, such a shipment could begin at any time………………..”

His excellency the Bahrain shaikh who controls these imports claims that the tear gas canisters will be used in case Bahrain is invaded by Iranians or Qataris or Klingons, or anyone else who is not part of the Saudi military and security services.
Bahrain’s ruling family and their tribal allies have been notorious for trying to alter the demographics of the country by recruiting and naturalizing mercenaries with military, security, and interrogatory and torture experience. The mercenaries come from select Arab countries and select South Asian countries, and the key criterion is called ABS (Anybody But a Shi’a).
Bahrain has limited resources and mercenaries and their families are a costly drain, even if they come from very poor countries, even with all the money other GCC potentates send over to prop up the ruling family. Now they may have found a solution: millions of tear gas canisters. They can naturalize tear gas canisters at hardly any cost. They can even get them to vote in the strange elections they occasionally have in Bahrain. And the best part is: nobody inside or outside Bahrain can tell the difference between these canisters and the current members of the funny legislature, mostly appointed and selected by the rulers. Come to think of it, nobody inside or outside Bahrain should be able to tell the difference between these canisters and the Bahrain Council of Ministers. As we say on the Gulf: one goo’ti looks like just another goo’ti.
Not a bad idea, huh? And they did not need to pay Tony Blair millions of dollars in consulting fees for the idea. Or maybe they did.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Politics, Islam, Islam and Elections, Saudi Arabia

Revolutionary Mufti Urges Muslim Leaders to Repress their Peoples with Respect ……

      

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Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh has gone revolutionary, or so it seems. He has warned leaders of Islamic countries against imposing “restrictions” or insulting the “dignity” of their peoples. He urged leaders to build bridges with their peoples. He did not specify polygamy, taking many wives from many tribes, as a form of bridge-building either. He was apparently talking about something deeper.

Interesting, since in the past Shaikh Al has usually urged the people to obey and respect and love their leaders (except in Libya and Syria and Iraq and possibly Belize). The shaikh also called for some half-assed Islamic “union”, to be led by his princes, the very same princes the Caliph Omar, and two others, would have ordered publicly whipped for corruption on earth, and rightly so.
If the Saudi case is an example, then he has no worry. The princes and their retainers rob and repress the people with the utmost respect. Those who object to being robbed and repressed are made to vanish with the utmost discretion, so discrete that you never ever hear a Western leader criticizing them, which is one way to show you’re being respectful.

Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, Mossad, Turkey, US Congress

Turkey vs. the Mossad in Iran, Davalued Joint Session in DC………

      

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“Officials in Ankara described the Washington Post article claiming Turkey deliberately blew the cover of an Israeli spy ring working inside Iran in early 2012 as part of an attempt to discredit Turkey by foreign powers uncomfortable with its growing influence in the Middle East. A senior official from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party said such accusations were part of a deliberate attempt to discredit Turkey and undermine its role in the region following election of Iran’s relatively moderate president Hassan Rohani. “Turkey is a regional power and there are power centers which are uncomfortable with this … …. Stories like these are part of a campaign,” the official said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. “It’s clear the aim of some is to spoil the moderate political atmosphere after Rohani’s election … and to neutralize Turkey, which contributes to solving problems in the region and which has a relationship with Iran.”…………….”

So the Iranians were correct when the announced the busting of an Israeli espionage and terrorism cell almost a couple of years ago. Which also means some of the Israeli agents (be they Israeli or Iranian exiles) probably went through Turkey to enter Iran, perhaps also through part of Northern Iraq. I am not sure why the Turks are upset that this is out now, they did the right thing from their point of view. Unless the Mossad has some inalienable right to spy and kill civilians in other countries with impunity. Maybe the Turks worry about the reaction in the U.S. Congress in the future. Let me put it this way: Erdogan now has as much a chance to be invited to address a joint session of Congress as Mr. Rouhani has. Which is about as much of a chance as Hassan Nasrallah has, probably somewhat lower than Fidel Castro’s chance.
Imagine being denied the honor once accorded Winston Churchill (and King Abdullah of Jordan and Benyamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ayad Allawi, among others). Wait a minute, did I say Churchill AND Netanyahu and King Abdullah and Ayad Allawi, all in one sentence? Is the world coming unhinged? Is the unique honor of addressing the U.S. Congress been so devalued? Could it be all of the above? You betcha………….

Cheers
mhg

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