“Iranian financial aid to Hamas seems to have renewed after the meeting, making it a pivotal turning point in Hamas’ attitude towards the Arab Spring, and to the civil war and Syria specifically. Since war broke out in Syria over two years ago, Hamas leadership chose to stand by the rebels and against Bashar Assad’s regime; subtle at first, Hamas later publicly protested the massacre the Syrian president had committed against his country’s civilians. Meanwhile, Hamas leader left Damascus and spread out in different Arab countries, including Qatar and Egypt, and it was often reported the Palestinian group is taking an active part fighting with the rebels and against Assad. Hamas turning its back on Syria – and by proxy on Iran and Hezbollah – didn’t come without consequences. In Tehran and Dahiya, connections with the group were severed and financial and arms support were ceased. Since then, Hamas leadership realized, it seems, it put its money on the wrong horse…………..”
So much for the fixed Islamist ‘principles’ of Hamas. It has been known for a few weeks now that Hamas has reversed gear, again, back into the Iranian-Syrian-Lebanese-Iraqi(?) axis. But that is okay. The Fatah oligarchs of Ramallah and Abu Dhabi will also gladly join the Iran-Syria-Lebanon axis if their other financial sources dry up. The Palestinian leaders have the usual things in common with other Arab leaders: greed and corruption. Oh, and they avoid elections. Strange how Hamas operatives were reportedly putting out word only a few months ago that their men were helping the Syrian rebels in battle against the Damascus regime. I had my doubts about that claim, I still do. Now, is it possible they might join Hezbollah fighters in supporting Bashar Al-Assad in battle?
“Two million Muslims have flooded into Saudi Arabia’s Mina Valley from Mecca for the start of the Hajj pilgrimage this week. Dressed in simple white garments and freed from their worldly possessions, they are following in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad. But in Islam’s holiest city, there is increasingly little sign of the prophet’s legacy – or the frugal life he espoused. “The authorities are trying to destroy anything in Mecca that is associated with the prophet’s life,” says Irfan al-Alawi, director of the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, who recently returned from a trip to the city. “They have already bulldozed the house of his wife, his grandson and his companion – and now they are coming for his birthplace. And for what? Yet more seven-star hotels.”…………..”
Notice that the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation is based in Britain, not in Hijaz. In Saudi Arabia, they would have some prince leading it: it would be like having a fox in the hen house. I have written earlier posts on this topic, how a combination, an alliance of royal greed and Wahhabi dogma has destroyed, is still destroying the priceless historical monuments of early Islam. It is downright criminal what the Al Saudi princes and their merchant allies and retainers are doing. Properties closest to the Kaaba are the priciest, and that is where monuments of early Islam were located. Ergo, these monuments were doomed once the Saudi princes set their eyes on that prime land, within walking distance to the Holy Mosques. Here are some links to my earlier posts on this:
“A senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party was arrested Monday on the eve of a major Muslim holiday, while the family of the organization’s jailed leader issued a defiant statement saying he wouldn’t renounce his claim to Egypt’s presidency. As Egyptians prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which begins Tuesday, neither the Brotherhood nor the military-backed interim government showed any sign of moving toward a political compromise. Most of the Brotherhood’s leadership has been in jail for months……………”
It looks like the ruling generals may be offering Mr. Morsi a deal. It looks like they may be offering him some kind of immunity, perhaps exile in Turkey or Qatar, in exchange for renouncing his right to the presidency (forget the Bahamas in this case). But of course it is not for him to renounce any ‘right” to leadership. It is up to voters, or so the legend says. Which means General Al Sisi, if he runs and wins (of course he’ll win), will have a shadow of illegitimacy hanging over him. But then most Arab leaders have a shadow of illegitimacy hanging over them, since most are not elected. So what else is new?
“In a day of provocations and incendiary language at Tea Party-type protests Saturday in Washington D.C., WorldNetDaily.com author and Birther attorney Larry Klayman stands out. “I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town,” said Klayman, a founder of the conservative Freedom Watch political advocacy group. Before a crowd at the “Million Vets March on the Memorials” Klayman demanded that President Barack Obama “… get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up.”…………..”
He is a lawyer and he sounds somewhat like Josef Goebbels in his approach to people of other faiths. Which makes me wonder, whatever happened to that famed female Israeli-Russian-American lawyer-dentist-entertainer and birther? Maybe the Canadian-Texan Ted Cruz is looking for a running mate, his own Sarah Palin, to share the electoral fires with.
The Republican Party, an important segment of it, has taken the mantle of racism well beyond Nixon’s original Southern Strategy. They have made it international, dabbling in anti-Muslim wars abroad and crass open racism at home. Like the good old fashioned European fascists of the last century, this newest version of the GOP German-American Bund is true to form. They always end up focusing on a minority. It used to be the Jews in the last century. Now it is cooler to target Muslims directly and “others” not so directly. Cheers
mhg
My Nordic source reports that the Nobel Committee has denied that U.S. Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) and Louie Louie Goh-mert (R-Texas) were ever officially nominated for the Peace Prize. There had been rumors that the two Republicans (Ya ne znayo nechevo) were put on the final short list after their stormy visit to Cairo. In Cairo, they managed the nearly impossible feat of extolling the virtues of free electoral democracy while praising the military coup that overthrew Egypt’s elected president. And they did it by having Michele Bachmann read her script at a slow kindergarten level for the Egyptian people, the sort done for ESL classes across the United States. As for Louie Louie Goh-mert, oh, well, nobody could ever figure out what the f—k he was about anyway. Louie Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) always reminds me of that good old song………..
“Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon…………” Mother Goose
Saudi media report that Servant of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz affirmed, in a statement read for him by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal of Mecca during a conference about human rights and Islamic Shari’a and International laws, that Saudi Arabia is a state based on Islamic Shari’a and is completely committed to international laws and agreements regarding Human Rights. There are some exceptions, but they are only about a million or two and only in small print. The prince did not, however, add that the cow jumped over the moon and the dish ran away with the spoon. Not in so many words, not yet.
“Former basketball star Dennis Rodman has received the Nobel Peace Prize for his unlikely and controversial role in promoting international relations with North Korea and “friend for life” dictator Kim Jong-un. The eccentric sports icon accepted the award via satellite during the ceremony in Norway’s capital, Oslo. The prize committee praised Rodman for working to end the simmering conflict between isolated North Korea, the United States and the world community through “basketball diplomacy.” “I accept this award on behalf of the North Korean people and my good friend, Kim Jong-un………………….” It is not so preposterous. Others have received it, including Yasser Arafat and a few others. Cheers
mhg
“The video shows armed men in fatigues, at least one wearing the yellow arm band sported by the Lebanese Shiite movement, dragging several bloodied men out of a van and shooting them dead. The men speak in the Lebanese dialect of Arabic, and at the end of the video one man calls them over, saying: “One moment, one moment. We are doing our duty, not avenging ourselves.” The others call out: “For the sake of God, for the sake of God.” The one minute, 40 second video’s authenticity could not be confirmed, and it was unclear when or where it might have been shot. Hezbollah declined to comment on it. Al-Arabiya television said it may have been filmed during the battle for Qusayr, a strategic Syrian town near the Lebanese border that Syrian troops recaptured from rebels with the help of Hezbollah earlier this year……………. Lebanese media largely steered clear of the video, either because they were unable to confirm it or for fear of worsening tensions. But the video triggered outrage on Twitter…………”
Its authenticity could not be verified, but that is not new. There is almost no need: the real horror of Syria is that these videos can be genuine real true-blue videos. Both sides have proven they can do it, they have done that and worse. Anything is possible in Syria now, on both sides. Civil wars can get much uglier than most conventional wars, just read up on the Spanish and American civil wars and how prisoners were treated.
It is easy to trigger outrage on twitter, especially sectarian outrage. Maybe this is the second revenge of the semi-official Saudi network Alarabiya for the defeat at Qusayr. The first revenge was the gruesome video of chemical weapons victims, also initially released by Alarabiya to the world media. That one almost started a whole new regional war in the Middle East.
Egyptian media quote a campaign to nominate Generalissimo Abdelfattah Al Sisi for for President of Egypt. Calling itself “Demand by a Nation”, the campaign claims it has collected 7 million signatures, three million of it in only one day during the 40th anniversary of the alleged October “victory” (referring to what Americans and Israelis call the Yom Kippur War of 1973)………… Some media are now beginning to report that Al Sisi is leaning toward running, thus formalizing the facts on the ground. It is of course possible that he and his allies are behind the whole campaign. Except that they have to do something about that pesky Muslim Brotherhood guy named Mohammed Morsi who was elected and is still rotting in a military prison. Funny, a lot of state media don’t mention his name now, they often just refer to him as “el-m’azool=the deposed”, period.
Lately the military has been using tiny bits of its not-so-secret vast wealth, distributing cash and food and gifts on the populace, often dropping them by airplanes on villages and festivals. Even the uber-decadent Macedonian Ptolemies did not do that in their hay day in Alexandria. The Ptolemies did not have access to airplanes or chewing gum or Tutti Frutti.
“PM warns Europe against Iran: ‘Don’t let them have enrichment’
Netanyahu holds interviews with European media outlets to warn against reducing sanctions to Islamic republic, urges world not to ‘let a radical regime have awesome power’. As Europeans are suggesting that economic sanctions against Iran may be reduced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held several interviews with European media to stress the dangers of the Tehran regime. In interviews with representatives from the Frankfurter Allgemeine, the French daily Le Monde, the British Financial Times; as well as the the German ARD television station, the French France-24 and the British Sky News, Netanyahu addressed the issue of nuclear Iran………………”
Netanyahu is also quoted to have said to the Europeans: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you ……………”
He sure did warn them. He has been warning them for more than twenty years now that the Iranians are only six months away from a nuclear bomb. From way back in the 1990s, when he was fear-mongering to win his first election, he claimed that the mullahs were about to go ‘nuclear’. I am surprised Europeans still listen to him (American politicians are different, they have their own ‘compelling’ excuses for listening to him).
Over two decades, Mr. Netanyahu and his ministers have promised the world a lot of unrealized nuclear slam dunks about Iran. I am beginning to suspect they are not serious about their predictions, that they don’t do the necessary “due diligence”. Unless the Iranians pull back in time just to frustrate them. I suspect Netanyahu has been programed to repeat this nuclear Iran mantra; he feels that it is his “raison d’etre”. And what would he do once it is gone? I can imagine him continuing, long after the nuclear issue is settled, picketing the UN headquarters, or the offices of the net Israeli prime minister, urging them not to ease their vigilance. I can imagine the NYPD arresting him for disturbing……… no I don’t think they’d do that. It is a thought.
