All posts by Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Dr. Mohammed Haider Ghuloum: trained as an economist, been called a few other names..... الشرقية للبنين- المتنبي- ثانوية الشويخ
Britain, Syria, US Foreign Policy

The Economist Goes to War, Miss Universe between Syria and Geneva……

      

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“To see why, consider the lessons of other civil wars, which we assess in this week’s briefing. Syria is bogged down in endless killing. Early in the uprising, Western support might have ousted Mr Assad and preserved Syria’s sectarian harmony. That was what this newspaper at first recommended, but the West—and Barack Obama in particular—held back. Now, after more than 110,000 people have died during 30 months of violence, it is too late. Not only have many rebels fallen under the spell of Sunni fanaticism, but history suggests that, unless civil wars end in victory after 12 months or so, they tend to drag on for years. Like many civil-war leaders Mr Assad may prefer to prolong the fighting rather than risk compromise. The rebels, too, will battle on in the knowledge that surrender is likely to mean death. Hence the argument for a negotiated settlement that might bring forward an end to the fighting and spare Syrian lives. The effort is worth it—about 40% of civil wars end through negotiation. But the odds on success are already long. It makes no sense to insist on conditions that would make the talks still more likely to fail……………” The Economist

The Economist has moved back to the right over the past years. They are now more often eager for new Western wars in the Middle East. And by the way, their predictions are often wrong, have been for a few decades. The Economist has somewhat dumbed down over the years, but it is still better than most of its English language rivals.
The problem with the Syrian opposition groups is that they believed what they read in Western and Arab potentates media throughout 2011-12. They believed that Bashar al-Assad’s days were numbered. Hell, even some of Bashar’s subordinates and minions believed that and defected to the opposition fighting hard in five-star hotels in Turkey or Jordan or Saudi Arabia or Qatar. Even Bashar’s best childhood friend Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass got a haircut and defected to the free democratic ambiance of Saudi Arabia.
So, it is easy to see why it is hard for the opposition groups to accept that Bashar might be around for some time. I mean if you’ve been promised by ‘the powers that be’ to be crowned Miss Universe, it is hard to accept being the runner-up. If beauty contests are your thing.

Cheers
mhg

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Britain, Iraq, Tony Blair

Bygone Wars: Washington Protecting Tony Blair’s Nuts, For Now……

      

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“Washington is playing the lead role in delaying the publication of the long-awaited report into how Britain went to war with Iraq, The Independent has learnt. Although the Cabinet Office has been under fire for stalling the progress of the four-year Iraq Inquiry by Sir John Chilcot, senior diplomatic sources in the US and Whitehall indicated that it is officials in the White House and the US Department of State who have refused to sanction any declassification of critical pre- and post-war communications between George W Bush and Tony Blair……………… Without permission from the US government, David Cameron faces the politically embarrassing situation of having to block evidence, on Washington’s orders, from being included in the report of an expensive and lengthy British inquiry..………”
Mr. Obama, in other words, is trying to save Tony (the Poodle) Blair’s nuts for now (for the war that I supported). But not for long.

Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Jihadis, Kuwait, Salafi, US Foreign Policy

Lost in the Desert: My Possible New Salafi Honorific…….

      

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“Sheikh Mohammed Haif al-Mteiri, a former member of Parliament who is not related to the former Kuwaiti soldier and leads a committee that funds mainline rebel groups, said private funding would not exist if countries like the United States had intervened to protect Syrian civilians……………..”

Cute and almost funny. They fund “mainline” rebels, which to them means al-Qaeda type Jihadis. This sectarian admirer of Jihad is using the favorite Wahhabi argument. He claims he and his Salafi ilk support al-Qaeda in Syria because the USA would not intervene. Except that they would also fund the Jihadis to fight the Americans in Syria, should the U.S. intervene. But deep inside, all Salafis are al-Qaeda although they sometimes cover it up, a form of deceptive Salafi taqiyya! But he has chutzpah (he will have to look it up if he reads this, or maybe have it read to him). He is one pissed Jihad supporter because the USA did not intervene in Syria! So, they want the Americans out of Muslim lands, but not when it serves their purposes. Not until after the Americans liberate Syria and hand it over to them, preferably also after they smack the Iranians.

These writers have hit pay dirt. They have encountered these true Wahhabi Salafi gems back in my hometown. He must have promoted himself to “shaikh” recently, while I wasn’t looking. I am almost seriously considering adding “shaikh” to my numerous titles and honorifics. I have noticed that Salafis often disappear for a few of weeks and return with two titles: Shaikh and Herr Doctor. That is what they call “lightening education”. Or maybe they get lost (I like the part about getting lost) in the desert and after about 40 days something unusual happens, an Epiphany…………


Cheers
mhg

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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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