Monthly Archives: November 2013

Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Terrorism

Hezbollah Closer to Taking over Middle East, Threaten the Western World………

      

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“U.S.-designated terror group Hezbollah is expanding networks and deployment of fighters from Lebanon to the entire Middle East as part of its deepening alliance with Iran, say analysts. The latest sign comes in Syria, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has justified intervention as a battle he says is part of a region-wide war of Sunni Muslims against Shiite Muslims……………”

Holy Guacamole! Hezbollah deploying fighters, the Wehrmacht of God, all over the Middle East? All exposed in USA Today! Interesting part citing unnamed “analysts” who gave their insight about Hezbollah. Here is my take, the final word on the Party of Allah:

  • It is true that Hezbollah is an exclusively Shi’a party (with many Christian, Sunni and other political allies) and that its men are fighting on Bashar al-Assad’s side in Syria. It is a sectarian party, but so are almost all other Arab political parties these days, even those that claim to be secular.
  • It is also true that Hezbollah closely follows the Iranian line in regional politics. I am beginning to suspect that Hassan Nasrallah is an admirer of both Ali Khamenei and the theocracy.
  • Hezbollah is not involved in murdering professors and scientists inside Iran, those are almost certainly Israeli acts. They are considered acts of terrorism by everyone and everywhere except by American media and in Washington. This sets a bad example for us wild Muslims to see our more civilized neighbors get away with terrorism and murder.
  • Hezbollah operations are usually restricted to the area around Lebanon. Syria is part of the area around Lebanon: weapons and fighters and shells cross the Lebanese border at will. Nevertheless, there are still the accusations about the terrorist act at the Jewish Center in Buenos Aires some years ago.
  • It is probably an exaggeration what some Gulf potentates and the Salafis claim that Hezbollah is planning to take over Fujairah and Qatif and the rest of the Middle East. Just as it was not true a few years ago that Hezbollah was fighting in Iraq. There are no local Hezbollah militias outside Lebanon, not even in Riyadh. As far as I know.
  • Hezbollah did, however fight the Israeli occupation forces in South Lebanon and defeated them, forcing them out, twice. The only Arab force to ever do that. Unforgivable.
  • It is also not true that Hezbollah has plans to colonize Latin America as a prelude to invading NAFTA countries through Mexico. A nightmare of otherwise nearly almost somewhat sane Texas Congressmen.
  • There have been allegations, mainly by Israeli officials and anonymous Western “officials” that Hezbollah was involved in terrorist attacks in Europe, especially the attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. Bulgarians are not so sure.
  • It is also true, however, that a Lebanese man was arrested at a Shawarma (or was it Falafel) joint in New York a couple of years ago while trying to ship used pistols to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
  • Speaking of used pistols: Lebanon is known to bristle with automatic weapons, missiles, and drones, many of them in the arsenals of Hezbollah. A pistol in Lebanon is considered a wuss’s weapon. Pistols are girlie weapons in Lebanon. They prefer car bombs over there, if the recent murderous history, before and after the Hariri assassination, is any guide.

Cheers
mhg

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Israel, Palestine, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

The UNESCO Fiasco and LBJ’s Tent and Tail Wagging Dog………

      

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“Although the US says it favors a state of Palestine, in fact it has been rather gleefully helping screw over the Palestinians since 1948 and has de facto gone along with virtually any new outrage the Israelis could think up to inflict on them, from putting the children of Gaza ‘on a diet’ to gradually usurping the best land and water resources on the West Bank. Whenever the international community tried to pressure Israel to stop, and to allow stateless Palestinians to have the basic rights of citizenship and property, the US used its veto at the UNSC to ensure the Palestinians were kept down. Now, for the sake of making sure no one recognizes Palestine as a state, the US has cut off its $22 million a year dues to Unesco and has lost its voting rights on the committee. This childish behavior, of taking your marbles and going home if you can’t win the playground game………………….”

It happened in 2011, toward the end of the first Obama term. I have noted here in the past that this administration (Obama) is more under the Israeli spell, nay influence, than any other in American history has ever been under the influence of a ‘foreign’ power.
This UNESCO fiasco is just one example of trying to subvert international organizations, especially the United Nations and its affiliates. Clearly deliberately losing influence within the organization was a mistake. As Lyndon Johnson is quoted to have said (and I know I am paraphrasing LBJ here): it is better to be inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.

Cheers
mhg

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Arabian Peninsula, Economics, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Labor Unrest: An Economic Gulf of Expats?……….

      

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“Two people were killed and 68 others injured in clashes between police and foreign workers following a visa crackdown in Saudi Arabia, the official news agency reported. Police arrested 561 people Saturday in the capital of Riyadh, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The arrests came after “unidentified” people barricaded themselves in narrow streets, where they threw stones at residents and vandalized shops and cars, according to a police statement posted on the news agency’s website. In the aftermath of Saturday’s clashes, a police spokesman urged workers without proper documents to surrender at a shelter in the capital until they could be deported…………..”

“Nearly 17,000 illegal foreigners, including women and children, have surrendered to Riyadh police until Monday evening………” Arab News

“Thousands of undocumented expatriates are desperately seeking to get arrested and deported, as a last resort to end their plight……….” Arab News

This can be a sign of more ominous events. All the Gulf GCC countries have huge foreign populations of laborers, housemaids, and others. The percentages of foreigners to the population range from about one third in Saudi Arabia to about 85% for the UAE and Qatar. Is this Saudi unrest a prelude to more unrest along the Gulf? It can be. When there is a majority of temporary foreigners leading a precarious life, their livelihood and stay in the country tied to often unstable employers, unrest is quite possible. Many are laid off or quit and are forced into becoming “illegal” and fending for themselves. There are tens of thousands of unemployed (also meaning illegal) expatriate laborers in the Persian Gulf states who earn a living in black markets and legally gray areas of the economy, including illegal activities like petty crimes, prostitution, smuggling, and drugs. What is even more ominous is that much of the domestic GCC economies are tied to temporary expatriate labor. The whole infrastructure and available housing and trade and supply network of the GCC states have been built based on larger populations than the native citizens can ever attain. If ‘enough’ of these expats depart, much of the domestic non-oil economies would collapse. Both the supply and demand for goods and services would implode.
I have suggested in the past, almost seriously, that the name of the Gulf be changed from the Persian-American Gulf to the Gulf of South Asia. Now I amend that to the more appropriate name of “Gulf of Expatriates”. Of course the scowling mullahs across the Gulf might object………..

Cheers
mhg

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GCC, Saudi Arabia

Expats: Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arabia………

      

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“The Saudi authorities arrested a total of 33,353 “illegal expatriates” and deported 14,304 during the first week of the crackdown against migrants which began on November 4, according to the General Directorate of Prisons. In Riyadh, some 17,000 “illegal Ethiopians” have surrendered following the riot on Saturday in which two people died, police spokesman Nasser al-Qahtani said. The number arrested in connection with the riot has now risen to 1,199 – including 119 women and 11 children. In Makkah, about 500 “African illegals” were rounded up on Monday. They had gathered under a bridge with their families and were blocking roads – apparently in protest at delays in their repatriation after failing to regularise their status in the kingdom. There have been similar incidents elsewhere. On Saturday, about 300 Afghans gathered outside their consulate in Jeddah, protesting at delays in completing their deportation arrangements. Arab News says police took them to a detention centre by bus and were trying to “expedite travel procedures”. On Sunday, hundreds of stranded Filipinos, including women and children, assembled in Makkah, causing traffic jams. .…………If the border guards’ figure of 20,000 Yemeni deportations is correct, the nationwide figure of 14,000 deportations given by the General Directorate of Prisons must be wrong (and vice versa). Either way, the scale of the current upheaval in Saudi Arabia is extraordinary though it continues to get scant international coverage… …………”

The way they are rounding them up by the thousands, you’d think this is Arizona and not Saudi Arabia. Unless the Saudis have hired old Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Cheers
mhg

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Israel

Old Pretty Face: Israeli cabinet Gets Its Rouhani……….

      

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“Hard-line Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman has been sworn in as the country’s foreign minister. Lieberman returns to the post after being cleared last week of all charges in a long-running corruption case………….”

I am told by my very private source that Netanyahu picked Avigdor Lieberman not necessarily for ‘political’ reasons. She claims he was picked in order to soften the image of the Likud coalition government. In other words, just another pretty face, sort of like Iran’s Rouhani.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Corruption, Lebanon, Syria

Surprise, Surprise: Embezzlement in Lebanon………

      

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“The head of Lebanon’s governmental aid body, through which millions of dollars are funnelled, and his wife have been arrested on embezzlement charges, judicial sources said on Monday. The criminal investigation against High Relief Council (HRC) Secretary General Ibrahim Bashir comes as Lebanon appeals for direct aid to help it provide for more than 800,000 Syrian refugees who have flooded into the small Mediterranean state to escape civil war. Bashir has denied media reports that he embezzled $10 million of public funds…………..”

I don’t know. He denies it, but would you admit to stealing $10 million from Syrian refugees? Some people arrapently strongly suspect that he, they, did it. I know, just because he looks it doesn’t mean that they did it. Anyway, just take a peek at the photo. What do you think? Of course this might have been just  “a bad-picture day” for him.
Still a man or/and a woman is innocent until proven guilty, etc, etc. That might apply even to a prince. But stealing from the poor Syrian refugees? Probably the most vulnerable people in the Middle East now?

Cheers
mhg

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France, GCC, Iran, Weapons deals

French Fries, Nuclear Fries, Gulf Contract Fries…….

      

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“French or Freedom fries: What’s behind France’s move on Iranian nuclear deal? Far from the political stance that inspired ‘Freedom fries’ 10 years ago, France has aligned itself more with US conservatives in rejecting a ‘sucker’s deal’ on the Iran nuclear issue……………”

The French are always looking for ‘number one’, looking for their own financial interests. The country that devastated parts of the Pacific islands, e.g. Moruroa (Algeria is not in the Pacific) with their nuclear tests until recently have not gone religious. They are  most likely eying their royal Arab allies, the Saudi princes and UAE shaikhs, the ones who bestow fat weapons contracts and other contracts. The French have almost certainly decided to adopt their opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran, to keep that country blockaded and isolated. Look for France to get some new Gulf contracts soon.
They are also probably pissed (in French of course) about the Iranian role in events in Lebanon and Syria, as pissed as their royal Arab partners are.

Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy

Iran and Israel: the Pretty Face and the Ugly Face……..

      

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“”We believe that Khamenei allowed Rohani to be elected in order to become Iran’s ‘pretty face‘”. Also sprach Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
That may be so. On the other hand, that evokes the expected inevitable comparison. Which is that: what is even more certain is that most people in the Middle East believe that Benyamin Netanyahu is Israel’s ‘ugly face’. Has been for several years (there might be a few secret exceptions to this opinion among some princes and potentates in recent months).
Amend that: most people around the world including many in official Washington believe that Netanyahu is Israel’s ugly face. With the exception of his fans and groupies in both parties in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, GCC, Iran, US Foreign Policy

On the Gulf: Princely Bluster and the Alternative to Diplomacy……

      

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“U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, are also all warily watching the unfolding agreement in Geneva. The U.S. has forged close alliances with these countries over the past three decades in an effort to create a bulwark against Iran in the Middle East. Washington has showered billions of dollars of sophisticated weapons on the Gulf nations and stationed key U.S. naval and air assets there. Bahrain, Qatar, and the U.A.E. have also developed successful financial and trade centers in the Gulf, fueled, in part, by Iran’s isolation from international economy. A detente between Washington and Iran could significantly shake up Washington’s security calculations in the Mideast and challenge these countries’ long-term interests, according to regional diplomats. This, in part, explains these Gulf Arab states’ strong pushback against the Obama administration’s diplomacy………………….”

Strong pushback against the Obama administration’s “diplomacy”. Which means some of these Gulf princes in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the lesser potentates in Bahrain were hoping for the alternative to diplomacy. And what is the alternative to diplomacy but war? These absolute tribal oligarchs are getting bold: they must feel entitled to American wars in support of their sectarian agenda. They, and their Wahhabi and Salafi allies, were counting on yet another American war, this time against the mullahs. A war they are incapable of waging themselves, even with the most expensive most-advanced weapons that money and commissions and bribes can buy. Their secret last white hope used to be hitched to the warlike bluster and bluff of Netanyahu, but by now they probably realize that without an American commitment to war it is just that: bluff and bluster.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, GCC, Syria

‘Political’ Legitimacy in the Arab World………

      

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“Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have also strongly criticized the U.S. backing away from expected military strikes in August against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Arab diplomats believed such strikes could have helped topple Mr. Assad, Iran’s closest ally in the region. Instead, the U.S. and Russia forged a deal with the Syrian government to dismantle its chemical-weapons program, which the Saudis and Emiratis now fear is providing Mr. Assad with new legitimacy………………”

Oh boy. The democratically-elected princes and potentates of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi worry about the legitimacy of Bashar Al-Assad.
FYI: most Arab leaders are illegitimate. I probably mean that only in political terms of governing. After all, when were the last elections, free or otherwise, held in Saudi Arabia and a few other places?

Cheers
mhg

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