Shooting Selfie and angry FLOTUS

Can this Arab summit in Kuwait be the first Summit of Selfies?

We all saw Barack Obama with the fetching PM of Denmark (who has the non-fetching name of Helle Thorning-Schmidt) and the very non-fetching David Cameron taking selfies in South Africa. We all saw Michelle Obama looking truly pissed, and how she somehow maneuvered to end up sitting between Barack and Helle. We all saw the first Selfie Oscars a few weeks ago (Ellen DeGeneres with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia Robertson, etc etc).

Now Arab leaders can try to humanize themselves in the eyes of the public. A first. Most of them: a few will be hard to humanize these stiffs, especially the zombies and quasi-zombies (a majority). The rest may be considering selfie shots after each meeting. Some have suggested that all gather behind whoever is speechifying at the moment and have a few selfies sent to the people. Maybe a few potentates mouthing silently “Hi, mom“. Perhaps a few “Hi first wife; hi second wife; sorry, did I forget third wife?“. That type of thing should bring them closer to the people, at least closer to their moms and wives.

Should be interesting seeing them in selfies. But don’t expect any eye candy. Don’t expect anything ‘fetching’ to show up in any of the selfies, not a single fetching zombie or pudgy little king or military dictator.

Maybe the stiffs should invite Ellen DeGeneres to MC and choreograph the whole thing?

Cheers

mhg

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Some Saudi opposition groups have been writing on social media about a new Saudi deal with France. To the tune of around $20 billion. They call it a bribe to France to support (or follow) Saudi policy on Syria and Iran and Lebanon and the Gulf, among other regional issues. This is not the first time. A few months ago they announced a $3 billion of aid for Lebanese army to buy weapons from France (only from France). I commented that the Lebanese army only reflects its sectarian and ethnic composition, so it will do the Al Saud princes no good. I wrote at that time correctly that:

“More important: it is part of their plan to reward the socialist government of France for making the right noises about Iran and Syria and Lebanon. In other words: it is a bribe to the French…………” I also commented on that deal in another posting right here.

I am beginning to suspect that if it were not for the wine industry (that includes champagne and cognac and armagnac and drambuie) and some ‘other amenities’, the Saudi King would publicly invite the French Republic to apply for membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Then M. Hollande (the very socialist) and his not-so petite amie du jour (quite chic et socialiste, tyvm) could show up in Riyadh wearing the shmagh (which I like in winter only) and waving the traditional sword and look as silly as the Prince of Wales Chuck did right here.
They’d be singing L’Internationale with the princes at the next annual Janadriyah hootenanny.

Cheers

mhg

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“Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday that Egypt is still very much on its way to building a modern democratic country that satisfies all Egyptians and meets their demands and future aspirations. According to a statement made by the army’s official spokesman, Sisi said that Egypt’s security and peace lie in an army that is strong, able and prepared to exert its utmost effort with devotion, sincerity and honor…………… He added that the army is working hard to face the challenges and that “it can do the impossible” …………..”

As he said: “it can do the impossible”. But outside the battlefield. It, the military, already has. It has killed thousands of Egyptians on the street, sentenced many hundreds to death, imprisoned tens of thousands, established kangaroo courts to terrorize political opponents, without much objection from the so-called “international community” (that being the usual joint definition for the European Union and the United States).

That besides losing almost every single foreign war it has waged, maybe with the exception of the famous War on Pigs. It has convinced enough Egyptians, especially among the delusional not-so-liberals, that Egypt will move forward by going backwards. That Mubarak-ism with all Mubarak’s cronies and minions and oligarchs and generals but without Mubarak himself is indeed revolutionary. Many foolish or simply self-serving ambitious liberals in Egypt now pretend that they believe it. Even though the generals don’t believe it, nor do their financiers in the Gulf (otherwise they would not finance them).

I wonder what we (or whoever is around) would be saying, thirty years from now, when Egyptians take to Tahrir Square (maybe with a new name: Sisi Square) to demand departure of the dictator.

Cheers

mhg

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“A massacre was committed in the village of Hatla in Deir al-Zour’s countryside last June in which 60 victims were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights………. Sheikh Shafi al-Ajami boasted of “slaughtering Shias with knives” amidst cheers and cries of “God is great.” Saudi, Qatari and Kuwaiti media outlets celebrated the massacre each in its own way. When a journalist from Asia News Agency asked Ajami a few days later “if he feared that the Kuwaiti authorities might arrest him,” he replied: “This is an issue that concerns me and the Kuwaiti authorities,” who did not lift a finger. After its dispute with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Kuwaiti Salafis played a central role in funding al-Nusra Front. The nature of the relationship between the two sides changed from implementing specific missions and getting paid for them, like the Hatla massacre, to ongoing funding and supervision. A jihadi source told Al-Akhbar that “al-Ummah Party under the leadership of Hakim al-Mutairi is now active in financing and directing al-Nusra Front.”………… The Council of Supporters is one such initiative. Its formation was declared in December 2012 and it includes clerics, activists and former MPs such as Mohammed Hayef (Al-Mutairi)………………”

I don’t recall the Gulf mainstream media ‘celebrating’ the massacre in Hatla. Maybe I missed it, but I doubt that they’d do that. Mainstream Gulf media would not usually go that far that openly, maybe with the exception of some outlets in Saudi Arabia. Some media may have covered the incident, but probably celebrated ‘politely’ just as a victory against Al-Assad. I think the writer means some of the sectarian satellite television channels, the social media, and the blogs.

Interesting how it goes, though. This has been going on since the spring of 2011, when Persian Gulf Salafis (and Muslim Brothers) hijacked the Syrian protests. The Muslim Brotehrs are being eased out by the Saudis and their Wahhabi and tribal surrogates. Now the Jihadist-tribal alliance own this Syrian terrorist enterprise that seeks to ‘liberate’ Syria not for its people, but for the Wahhabi cause.

I posted several times on this last year here:

The Economics of Jihad in Syria: Kuwaiti Opposition Estimates

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

Lost in the Desert: My Possible New Salafi Honorific

Kuwait Constitutional Court Ruling: a Tough Dilemma for the Tribal Islamist Opposition

Banning Demonstrations in Bahrain: Advice from the Kuwait Opposition

Cheers

mhg

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Notice how the term ‘International Community” (IC) is being bandied about in recent years? I mean how it is most likely being abused by everyone? Every side in a conflict seeks to claim that the IC supports it, even if it is not true. Both sides can’t be correct on this one, or maybe they can? Which means in most (but not all) cases it is ‘in the eye of the beholder’. Here are two examples:

“Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted Egypt’s first freely elected leader, declared his candidacy on Wednesday for a presidential election he is expected to easily win. Sisi toppled Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July after mass protests against his rule and has emerged as the most influential figure in an interim administration that has governed since then. “I am here before you humbly stating my intention to run for the presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt,” Sisi said in a televised address to the nation. “Only your support will grant me this great honor.” A Sisi presidency would mark a return to the days when Egypt was led by men from the military, a pattern briefly interrupted by Mursi’s one year in office after his 2012 victory in Egypt’s first democratic presidential election……………”

The Generalisimo Field Marshal Al Sisi, having declared his candidacy, is now leader of Egypt in name as well as in fact. I know he has not been elected yet. Is there any doubt that he will be named the ‘elected’ president of Egypt after coming sham elections in which only the ‘faithful’, the terrified, and the sycophant will get to speak and vote?

Unlike Nasser or even Sadat or even the somnolent Mubarak (most Arabs called him La Vache Qui Rite), he is coming to power in style, with a real loud blood-soaked bang. His apparent example seems to be someone between Augusto Pinochet of Chile (later pal of Margaret Thatcher) and the generals who overthrew Isabel Peron in Argentina in the 1970s. He is veering more toward Pinochet right now, with all the killings on the streets and in the execution rooms. Not to mention those who die of natural causes in custody. Many will also start disappearing now that the old apparatus of State Security is back in force.

He is also very likely condemning his country to a perpetual state of  civil war, a state of political terrorism that matches the state terrorism he has imposed since July 3, 2012, when he overthrew the incompetent and (also) reactionary but freely elected Morsi. (It is true that Morsi was a schmuck, but he was an elected schmuck).

But he has promises of money and investments and even weapons from the Arab Counter-Revolutionary Counter-Democracy camp. You know where that camp is, and if you don’t know then explain where you have been for the past few years.

Cheers
mhg

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“Egypt’s army is taking charge of billions of dollars of development aid from the United Arab Emirates, an army official said, raising further doubts over the narrow separation of powers with the military backed administration in place since July. One of several Gulf states to shower Egypt with cash and petroleum products after the army ousted elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Mursi, the UAE also looked ahead, seeking to bolster a system that could keep Islamists it sees as an existential threat from running the most populous Arab state. Alongside money to build clinics, schools and housing units, it offered to fund a project in Egypt’s strategic wheat sector–the construction of 25 wheat silos that could help the world’s biggest importer of the commodity lower its huge food bill. Bread is a politically-explosive issue in Egypt …………….”

At some point in ancient history Egypt was a breadbasket for Europe, it supplied grain and other foods to the Roman Empire. The Romans from Caesar to Anthony to Augustus coveted it for what it produced, not because they liked to visit the pyramids. As earlier did the Hyksos then the Persians then the Greeks (and Macedonians). Egypt continued to be a food-rich land for many centuries after that. Not anymore, not with the population explosion of the past few decades.

Bread (food in general) has been a politically-explosive issue in Egypt for thousands of years. The Ptolemies (Ptolemy I to Cleopatra) in Alexandria faced occasional bread riots. Probably the Pharaohs did as well. Egyptian rioters were polite (someone rude might say ‘stupid’) even in those old days: they usually made the mistake of overthrowing one Ptolemy in favor of another Ptolemy. No real change was sought: sounds familiar?

No wonder they have had only one elected leader in thousands of years, and he was overthrown in 2013 in favor of the old regime that was overthrown in 2011. Go figure.

Cheers

mhg

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“Bahrain set a two-week ultimatum Thursday for the return of citizens fighting as jihadists abroad, saying they will be charged under the Gulf kingdom’s anti-terror laws if they do not. An interior ministry statement said Bahrainis “currently in conflict zones… on the pretext of jihad” must “return to the country within two weeks”. Those who do not come back “will be pursued under the law pertaining to the protection of society from terrorist acts”, it said. Among the penalties that could be imposed would be loss of nationality. At the end of February, the ministry warned that the law currently providing up to five years in prison for its citizens fighting abroad, including in Syria, would be toughened. It said it would pursue those Bahrainis fighting abroad…………”

Bahraini Jihadists? And in Syria? Who would have thunk it! Why not stay home and liberate their island instead? If ‘liberation’ is what they seek. Unless they think the situation at home is well under control.

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“The president should confront Saudi leaders over the ludicrous fatwa against ‘The 99,’ a ground-breaking Muslim superhero comic. President Obama did not go to Saudi Arabia this Friday to talk about comic books, but he should, because a new fatwa against them—specifically those showing right-thinking Muslim superheroes—underscores just how hard it is to sustain a positive relationship with Riyadh. Obama himself once singled out the remarkable comic book series in question, called The 99, for special praise. The superheroes have the attributes associated with the 99 names of Allah—words like “strength” and “light” and “wisdom”—and these characters team up to fight evil…………………………”

That is because these cartoon characters are not Wahhabis. They are just plain vanilla Muslims and that is frowned upon in the Kingdom without Humor (and Magic of course). They are preferred in the kingdom to be Wahhabis rather than plain vanilla Muslims, preferably princes or someone they approve of. Otherwise how can a mere commoner who is neither a royal nor a klepotocrat be considered a hero? That is like calling for a revolt, as the Mufti Shaikh Al Al Shaikh would dutifully say.

Rumors spread on the Internet this past week of Saudi King Abdullah abdicating in favor of Crown Prince Salman. The king is around 90 years old, give or take a few years. That would make Prince Muqrin the next CP. Muqrin was appointed recently as a Crown Prince to the Crown Prince, wtf that be. That move rankled Prince Talal, the father of prince-about-town Al-Waleed. Talal has been out of the loop for decades, ever since he flew to Cairo with bunch of others and joined Nasser’s call for revolution. Eventually he came back home, although not fully trusted. He has about as much hope of becoming King of Saudi Arabia as Saad Hariri has. Which is a much better chance than I have of ruling Saudi Arabia and renaming it the Confederation of the Arabian Peninsula. Now, a confederation of Najed and Hijaz and Al-Ahsaa and Assir and a few other forcibly-annexed places sounds reasonable, given the recent Wahhabi calls for some confederation, any confederation, with anyone willing to confederate. Even a Confederation of Dunces.

Rumors also that the king wants to make sure his own son, Met’eb, will be in the direct line for succession after Muqrin. That would mean a clash between Met’eb and Mohammed Bin Nayef, the man in charge of police, security, religious police, arrests, prisons, and most violations of human rights. Arab rumor has it that the Americans (the government not the people) prefer Mohammed Bin Nayef as the future king, although it is not clear why. Mohammed has visited Washington DC quite a few times, so maybe he and his camp are spreading the rumor. Apparently Met’eb will need all the help his dad can give before he dies.

I’m beginning to suspect that this rumor was a lead up to April Fools Day.

Cheers

mhg

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“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me– and there was no one left to speak for me….” Martin Niemöller (German Pastor)

“The overthrow of Mohamed Morsi last year did little to help Egypt’s economy. But for the butchers and pig breeders of the slums around Cairo, it has been an unexpected fillip.
Five months ago, pork was so scarce in Cairo that a butcher like Bishoy Samir sold pig meat just twice a month. Now Samir reckons he sells an entire pig’s worth of pork every day.
Five years ago, the Egyptian government culled most of Egypt’s pig population, leaving Samir’s family with nothing to serve. “It was very rare to find something to cook,” Samir says. “We used to work one week on, one week off.” But five months ago things started to pick up, and “now we’re preparing one pig a day – and others are doing two or three.” Pork’s comeback began slowly after the 2011 revolution…………”

We all know that former President Mubarak started a war on the pigs of Egypt in 2009. His goal was to liquidate all the country’s four-legged swine, using the Swine flu scare (H1N1) as an excuse. Reports indicated that the War on Pigs was a great victory and that all of Egypt’s native swine were dead. I always had my doubts, and I wrote so in a few posts here. Now I feel at least partly vindicated.

Which makes me wonder: Hitler thought he had liquidated Germany’s Communists, but they came back to rule half his country for 45 years; Mubarak thought he had liquidated all Egypt’s four-legged pigs, but they are now making a comeback. Now this Al Sisi dude thinks he is on his way to liquidating the Muslim Brotherhood, yet even Nasser who was hugely and genuinely popular could not do it. I say: if the German communists survived, if the Egyptian pigs survived, if the Mubarak cronies survived and have now regained power quickly, then there is some hope for the Muslim Brotherhood, a k a MB. After all, they (the MB not the pigs) had survived at least one earlier attempt to eradicate them. 

Here are a few earlier posts on these epic battles of the war on swine (the very last link at the bottom of the list also has links to most of my earlier posts on the Egyptian War on Pigs):

Saint Francis of Al SiSi: Egyptian Military Invents New Cures, Killing Pigs and Spaniards

Of Pigs and Middle Eastern Politics. Of Swine and American Health Care Politics

Battlefield Report: Egypt’s War on Pigs Falters. Of Wahhabi Shaikh Adle, Shi’as, Closet Christians, and Swine

Egypt’s War on Pigs Returns, Economic Great Leap Backward and Exodus

Cheers

mhg

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