Monthly Archives: November 2013

Arab Revolutions, Espionage, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon

Faces of Hezbollah: Syria and the Nuclear Briefcase……

      

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“Hezbollah forces will remain in Syria fighting alongside the troops of Syrian President Bashar Assad for the foreseeable future, the leader of the Lebanese group said Thursday. “As long as the reasons are present, we are staying” in Syria, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s general secretary, said in a speech to supporters here marking the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura…………”

See the photo up there? I bet every Western and Arab, and maybe some Asian and other intelligence services are poring over these guys standing around Hassan Nasrallah. I bet even NGOs, AIPAC, the NRA, and the Tea Party are poring over the photo, trying to identify the persons. Especially the man with the gun, but maybe more so the man with the ominous-looking brief case.
Actually there is no need: the fact that they showed the photo means that Hezbollah knows that these guys are already known to diligent foreign intelligence services. Or maybe they are just in a playful mood, teasing the foreign spooks. About the brief case: could it be Nasrallah’s laptop and iPad? His own Lebanese version of the “nuclear” briefcase (oh, oh: now Ben Netanyahu will start screaming wolf and that Lebanon has also gone nuclear).

That photo was taken during Nasrallah’s recent speech this week. It was inevitable that he would decide to stay in Syria, given all the new proxy ‘rebel’ armies being formed and financed to the north (Turkey), south (Jordan) and east (Iraq). All financed by the rebellious and revolutionary democratic regimes of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, humorless Jordan, and assorted Western mercenary groups. Hezbollah has already taken a big hit in its popularity among Arabs for being involved in Syria. Only another victory against another foolish Israeli attack, like the invasion of 2006, could change that.

Cheers
mhg

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Anti-Semitism, Humor, Israel, Jesus, Jews, Religion

Sinning Zealots: American Zionist Hayseeds Awaiting the ‘Final’ Final Solution…….

      

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“Despite an uproar in the Jewish community, former president George W. Bush is still slated to deliver the keynote address to a fundraiser for the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute in Irving, Texas, tonight. The MJBI trains people to persuade Jews to recognize Jesus as their messiah. Followers of the group believe that if enough Jews are converted, Christ will return to Earth. After Mother Jones broke the news about Bush’s appearance last week, “a small shitstorm…kicked up over the President’s decision,” writes Rob Eshman, editor of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. “I have yet to meet a Jewish person who hasn’t heard about this,” Tevi Troy, Bush’s White House liaison to the Jewish community from 2003 to 2004, told CNN Wednesday. Troy had high praise for Bush’s support of Israel and the Jewish community, but, he added, “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed.” A spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition did not respond…………..”

There is something hypocritical about these objections. After all, it is known most those right-wing (and a few left-wing) politicians who are more Zionist than Ben Netanyahu are doing it for the same reason. All these Bible-thumpers and occasional secret sinners (and I mean serious focused sinners: nobody sins like a zealot) are seeking to convert the Jewish people, eventually. Accent on “eventually”.
In fact they are certain that they will convert all the Jews, eventually. They anticipate that once all the Jews are gathered in the Holy Land (do they mean ALL of them?) and the Rapture dawns, they will all finally convert to the eccentric ancient Jewish sect inadvertently started by Jesus of Nazareth. Yep, that same sect the Europeans took to Rome and Constantinople so many centuries ago and made into a huge bureaucracy. Before the Americans took it over and converted it into a huge show-biz-style money machine.
And voila! No more Jews! With friends like these……….
I am not a suspicious and rude and crude person. If I were, I would opine that all these right-wing wannabe Zionists, all these Ben Netanyahu fans and groupies, have a sinister goal. They are seeking their own “final solution” for the Jewish people, only they are more genteel about it than the Europeans have been for the past six centuries. The favorite European methods of conversion have been gruesome and often unconvincing: the rack, the burning pyre, pogroms, indiscriminate massacres, and the gas chambers. Not the right way to win hearts (forget about minds). The American extreme right is smarter: it “knows”, it just “knows”, that someday there will be no more Jews. All they need is await the Rapture.

This is not antisemitism. After all, these good well-meaning folks would like the same fate for Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and Environmentalists and Marxists and even for Northeast and West Coast Democrats.
Meanwhile the Israelis, knowing what is planned for them by these hayseeds, are laughing as their agenda becomes Washington’s agenda.

Cheers
mhg

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Afghanistan, Jews

The Last Halal Kosher Kebab Joint in Kabul………

      

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“In his 50s, Simintov is the last known Afghan Jew to remain in the country. He has become something of a celebrity over the years and his rivalry with the next-to-last Jew, who died in 2005, inspired a play. Mindful of Afghanistan’s extremely conservative Muslim culture, Simintov tries not to advertise his identity to protect the Balkh Bastan or Ancient Balkh kebab cafe he opened four years ago, naming it after a northern Afghan province. “All food here is prepared by Muslims,” he said. Now the cafe, neat and shiny, faces closure because kebabs are not selling well – largely because of deteriorating security in Kabul…………..”

How did this man survive the hellish years of Taliban rule? He would have been an obvious target for them. Even many Muslims, both Shi’a and Sunni, did not survive their bloody years. Can survival be something that is, as Wendy Sherman might say, in the DNA?

Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, GCC, Jihadis, Kuwait, Syria

From the Gulf with Wahhabi Love: Money to Al-Qaeda……

      

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“The money flows in via bank transfer or is delivered in bags or pockets bulging with cash. Working from his sparely furnished sitting room here, Ghanim al-Mteiri gathers the funds and transports them to Syria for the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Mteiri — one of dozens of Kuwaitis who openly raise money to arm the opposition — has helped turn this tiny, oil-rich Persian Gulf state into a virtual Western Union outlet for Syria’s rebels, with the bulk of the funds he collects going to a Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda. One Kuwait-based effort raised money to equip 12,000 rebel fighters for $2,500 each. Another campaign, run by a Saudi sheikh based in Syria and close to Al Qaeda, is called “Wage Jihad With Your Money.”………………..”

I posted on this last June. Here is an excerpt from that posting, The Economics of Jihad in Syria:
 
“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)……..”
 
I must amend that last quote from my older posting. It is not “the opposition” that is supporting and collecting money for Al-Qaeda. It is the Islamist tribal branch of the opposition, what is effectively the Wahhabi branch, which in recent years has dominated the opposition, including a couple of the hairy worthies mentioned in the New York Times piece. There are outspoken “secularists” among the opposition who seek more freedom. But the Wahhabi branch of the opposition has been more outspoken and they rely on their tribal bases to get elected (cross-tribe voting is almost unheard of, it is even rarer than cross-sect voting). Liberals and secularists are divided and politically weaker since they are city folks and have no reliable tribal votes.
But then they are in retreat all across the Arab world, even in the few places where there are no tribes.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, History, Jerusalem, Religion

Religion in Egypt: from Saladin to Sisi, from Jerusalem to Beckett……..

      

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“The Shia leader added that the decision of Endowment Minister Mohamed Mokhtar to prevent Shia celebrations came “to prevent Salafis from causing a strife in the community.” He noted that they’re going to commemorate the event by visiting the mosque individually and praying, but to continue the rest of the rituals at home. He vowed that Shias would be quiet and would keep the sanctity of the mosque as to stop “the strife the Salafis want to ignite.” The Egyptian Shia community have demanded greater protections in the country’s new constitution expected to go to public referendum by the end of the year, particularly more emphasis on freedom of religion as well as protection from discrimination and hate speech………….”

Egypt has not changed since the days of Hosni Mubarak ( did you know that he is not the president anymore, technically?). Religious freedom is as restricted now as it was before the alleged so-called ‘revolution’. In the end, that so-called ‘revolution’ was won by revolutionary Saudi Arabian princes and the Jacobin United Arab Emirates shaikhs. In fact religious freedom is worse now, for the Wahhabi Salafis, who take their political cue from their Saudi masters, are monitoring all minority religions, be they Shi’as or Copts or Vegans. They are making sure the old Egyptian idea of religious freedom is never taken seriously.
 
FYI: Egypt was Shi’a for a couple of centuries under the Fatimid Dynasty. Until the Fatimid caliph made the fatal mistake of appointing Saladin (Salah El-Din) as his military commander. He staged a coup d’etat, closed Al-Azhar (which was established by the Fatimids), and appointed himself as the new ruler. Saladin did atone for his treachery later by liberating Jerusalem from the barbarous European invaders and occupiers. Now the Muslim Brothers are probably waiting for General Al Sis to atone for what they consider his betrayal of Mohammed Morsi who had appointed him head of the military. They might as well be waiting for Samuel Beckett’s elusive creation.
Cheers
mhg

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Saudi Arabia

Adding Insult to Fatal Injury in Taif……

      

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“A young Saudi Arabian boy has been spared execution for shooting dead an elderly relative after mistaking her for a monkey………. Sabq daily newspaper reported that the boy killed his relative, who was in her 60s, while she was collecting leaves from a tree to feed to her sheep. It is believed that he shot her from a distance after mistaking her for a monkey trying to damage one of the neighbourhood’s trees…………..”

I wonder how the Saudi equivalent of the NRA is spinning this one. It doesn’t say how old/young the poor boy is. The little unfortunate schmuck did add insult to fatal injury with his explanation.

Cheers
mhg

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Palestine, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics

Old Music and Paranoia: Republican Gohmert-us Asinus Texacus…….

      

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“Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) recently repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was deploying a “secret security force” as part of the health care reform law, but he wasn’t sure if they were being trained with weapons or syringes. In a Friday interview, Christian radio host Janet Mefferd told the Texas congressman that the evidence of President Barack Obama creating a civilian security force and hoarding ammunition was adding up…………….”

This guy is a true-blue red-blooded schmuck. I recall Goh-mert once claimed that Hamas was getting their children born in the United States with the goal of planting their moles, hidden agents, here. He claimed he based that conclusion on the “confession” a pregnant Palestinian lady he met during a flight (to Texas).
Thus the cerebral travails, trials, and tribulations of Gohmert-us Asinus Texacus. And just for that, we shall entertain him with one of my old favorite songs. Unfortunately it is unlikely to be one of Louie’s favorite songs.

Cheers
mhg

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Racism

‘Black’ White Supremacist Shafted………

      

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“Well, that’s awkward: A white supremacist who made headlines worldwide for plotting to take over a town in North Dakota received the results of a DNA test — and the results say he’s 14 percent black. And this all happened while cameras were rolling. Craig Cobb, 61, who has tried to create a white enclave in tiny Leith, N.D., submitted a DNA sample to Trisha Goddard’s talk show and got the results back during a recent taping…….. “Eighty-six percent European and,” Goddard said, pausing as the audience started to cheer before she continued, “14 percent sub-Saharan African!”……… Cobb told the Bismarck Tribune on Monday that he doubted the validity of the test and said he planned to take up to three more DNA tests………………”

Serves the mother right. I wonder if his brown-shirt (some used to secretly call them shit-shirts in Germany) ‘brothers’ will kick him out of the organization. That would improve the quality of both.

Cheers
mhg

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GCC, Iran, Israel

Peacenik Tom Friedman vs. Warmongering Arab Princes………

      

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“But there is something else that goes without saying, but still needs to be said loudly: We, America, are not just hired lawyers negotiating a deal for Israel and the Sunni Gulf Arabs, which they alone get the final say on. We, America, have our own interests in not only seeing Iran’s nuclear weapons capability curtailed, but in ending the 34-year-old Iran-U.S. cold war, which has harmed our interests and those of our Israeli and Arab friends. Hence, we must not be reluctant about articulating and asserting our interests in the face of Israeli and Arab efforts to block a deal that we think would be good for us and them………. . Some of our allies don’t share those “other” interests and believe the only acceptable outcome is bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities and keeping Iran an isolated, weak, pariah state…………”

Friedman is going peacenik about Iran. He says: “Some of our allies don’t share those “other” interests and believe the only acceptable outcome is bombing……”
No wonder some Iranians have come to believe that some of their neighbors are almost serial back-stabbers. They did it in the 1980s, when they threw their money and media and weapons behind Saddam Hussein’s invasion of southwestern Iran. When that one failed, Saddam did his own backstabbing: he turned his guns south against the Gulf. The Americans deployed and saved the day in 1990/91.
The potentates tried again to push for war a few years ago (remember the Wikileaks revelations?). They have been trying since then. A version of history is being repeated here, perhaps with Ben Netanyahu replacing Saddam as the instrument. They have come a long way from the Saddam Fan Club to the Ben Netanyahu Fan Club.

Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, GCC, Iran, US Congress, US Foreign Policy

Pushing the Next American War on the next Muslim Country………

      

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“The heightened rhetoric came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was to meet behind closed doors Wednesday with members of the Senate Banking Committee, which is weighing new sanctions against Iran’s energy and financial sectors, similar to a measure approved by the House in August. Kerry will appeal to skeptical lawmakers of both parties to wait at least a week before considering the new wave of punitive sanctions, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. He will ask them to put the sanctions a “temporary pause”………………”

It is not really about the Iranian nuclear program, stupid. I stopped believing that a few years ago, listening to Netanyahu and American senators and legislators and some Gulf media of the princes.
It is about the omnipotent Israeli lobby in Washington pushing for yet another war of choice against another Muslim country that has some regional strategic reach. It is about the Persian Gulf money lobby (absolute tribal Saudi princes and UAE shaikhs, even lowly Bahrain shaikhs) pushing for yet another American destructive war of choice on yet another Muslim country. A proxy war they are not willing to fight nor to participate in.
It is about a war that will not be sanctioned by the United Nations, and hence will be a certified Western war of aggression. Maybe it is about some inexplicable insatiable American desire to get bogged down in yet another faraway war that is erroneously painted as a cakewalk. Maybe it is a way to keep the military-industrial complex thriving.
It will be a war about all of the above.
What it is not about is a desire to reach a peaceful solution on the part of a U.S. Congress, both houses and both parties, that is in the Israeli pocket. Which is how most Muslims and Arabs see it, once one gets away from the views publicized by controlled Gulf and Saudi media like Alarabiya, Asharq Alawsat, Al-Hayat, and others.

Cheers
mhg

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