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
Arab League, Arab Revolutions, GCC, Syria

Shimon Peres Blows a Shofar: Calls on Free Democratic Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and UAE and Qatar to Liberate Syria…………

         

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“The free world “cannot stand by when a massacre is carried out by the Syrian president against his own people and his own children. It breaks all our hearts,” the Zionist leader said, who launched the 16-day April attack on Lebanon in 1996 when he was a prime minister. Saying “the intervention of Western forces would be perceived as foreign interference,” Peres proposed the best option to end the conflict in Syria “might be achieved by empowering the Arab League, of which Syria is a member, to intervene.” “The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces,” Peres advised the 754-member European Parliament!! “The United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets,” he said…………………”

Also sprach that old warrior, Shimon Peres. Essentially blowing the shofar for the Arab despots to take up arms against their fellow Arab despot. That should be exciting. The Saudi National Guard, fresh from their defeat by the Huthis in Yemen, and Bahrain’s imported Pakistani and Jordanian mercenaries, and the UAE mercenaries imported from Colombia and Australia and the Qatari fishes from my Gulf. I doubt he meant Egypt or Libya or Tunisia or Yemen which haven’t stabilized yet. Being composed of international mercenaries, they ought to get their ‘blue helmets’ free from the UN. We could call it the Twelfth Crusade, undertaken by the democratic free illusory world of the absolute tribal oligarchs of the GCC to free Damascus from Baathist rule. Yet he ought to know better, Perez, he has defeated enough of his stronger neighbors to know better.
If I were rude and crude I’d say “it takes a thief to catch a thief”, except that the Al-Assad are amateurs in thievery and corruption compared to these would-be prince liberators of Syria.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Fatwas, Islam, Saudi Arabia

Duel of the Arab Muftis: Al-Assad Muftis vs. Al-Saud Muftis vs. Arab League Muftis…..

         

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“Supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a “religious obligation” of all Muslims, whether they live inside or outside of Syria, the country’s supreme religious ruling body said Monday. The state television quoted Grand Mufti Shiekh Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun as urging all Arabs and Muslims to fight so called “enemies of Syria.” The Assad government had recently claimed in an interview with The Sunday Time that it was the last “secular” state in the Middle East, reiterating that radical Islamists would come into power if the Alawite president was overthrown…………”

This from the Sunni Mufti of Syria, for what it is worth. Which prompted a prominent Saudi cleric to respond by calling him ‘evil’ and calling on ALL Muslim clerics to issue a common fatwa against the Al-Assad regime (but not against any other repressive Arab regime).
Each of these sides, these schools of thought of (Sunni) Islam, the Syrian Mufti and the Al-Saud Wahhabi Mufti and ulema, supports its own regime. They are truly alike and consistent and similar. The Saudi ulema now claim the Syrian Mufti is ‘evil’. Yet he is saying exactly what the Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Al Shaikh always says: going against the regime is un-Islamic and evil. He is saying what the Egyptian Muftis and the Shaikh of Al-Azhar said about the Tahrir protests two years ago: that they were un-Islamic.
In Egypt the dust has not settled yet, but it is a homogeneous society and it has not gone through a civil war: not yet, hopefully never. Syria is another issue: Jihadist militias dominate the battlefield on the opposition side: maybe not just a straw that the regime clings to, more like an oar.

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Islam, UAE, Women

Stoned in Abu Dhabi: Stoned Women, Stoned Shaikhs……….

         

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“ABU DHABI // An adulteress no longer faces being stoned to death after proving to a court she is not a Muslim. J D, from the Philippines, admitted adultery at the Criminal Court today but told the judge that she was a Christian. After the judge confirmed her statement from his case files, he cancelled an earlier decision to appoint a defence lawyer to represent her. If the woman had been a Muslim, she would have faced the possibility of being stoned to death if convicted of adultery. But Sharia penalties apply only to Muslims, so she now faces a minor custodial sentence and deportation…………”

Interesting interpretation of this barbaric sentence of stoning adulterous women. It is usually women who get stoned, mainly because they tend to confess quicker under beatings and other forms of intimidation. The man, the jack-hole, can deny it, especially in a case of rape where the woman is the injured complaining party. That is what often happens, that is why they don’t have many court rape cases in some countries, like Pakistan. Fear.
I suspect they have mild sentences for some ‘expatriate’ women because it is good for the tourist business. I also imagine any Muslim woman faced with a sentence of stoning to death might want to convert to avoid it. Wouldn’t you? But then she would face the possibility of being charged with apostasy (riddah) and a sentence of beheading under the bright Abu Dhabi sun. Damn if you do, damn if you don’t.
(FYI: there is nothing about stoning in the Quran. We probably got this barbaric type of punishment from the Old Testament. That means from you people, indirectly).
Cheers
mhg

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Libya, Middle East Women, North Africa, United Nations International Organizations

Grand Mufti of Libya Orders Women to Relax and Enjoy Violence against women………

         

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“The Grand Mufti of Libya, Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ghariani has issued a fatwa against a UN report on violence against woman, calling on Muslim women around the world to protest against it. The 32-page report from the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) calls for greater action by governments to protect women and girls from violence as well as spread awareness of women’s rights and do more to challenge discrimination. The statement from the Grand Mufti read that it “strongly condemns the provisions of the charter….………….”

Liberated Libya is doing some things that Colonel Qaddafi would not have condoned. He would not have stood for this type of misogyny. The colonel did, reportedly, have his own form of misogyny and abuse of women. But like many Arab despots he did have pretensions of being progressive on some issues. I shall not bore you by mentioning a possible liberated Syria and what it might be like if…………..

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC

Exciting News from Bahrain: Royal Games of Number One and Number Two………

         

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“Bahrain dailies issued the other day focused in their principal headlines on the main local, Arab and international events which happened over the past 24 hours.
The following are the main topics:
-HRH Premier (Shaikh Khalifa Al Khalifa) receives cable of thanks from Thai monarch.
-HRH Crown Prince (Shaikh Salman Al Khalifa) receives new Italian ambassador to the kingdom of Bahrain.
-Deputy Premier Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa receives former US Ambassador to Bahrain Ronald Neumann.
-Deputy Premier Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa receives Kuwaiti Ambassador.
-Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa receives Sudanese ambassador and discusses bilateral relations
Foreign minister (Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa) attends the meeting of the Friends of Yemen Group in London.………………..” Bahrain News Agency

Now ain’t that sweet? Feel out-Khalifa’d yet?
The good news is, at least good news for the crown prince of Bahrain since it makes him seem more relevant than last week, is that they have appointed the crown prince as (First) Deputy Prime Minister. The PM, the hugely unpopular uncle of the king, has had his own son as the only deputy prime minister until yesterday. Which makes the son a ”number two” as of now: the father, the PM, has been “number two” for decades since the king is his boss. This alters things within the ruling Al Khalifa, but I am not sure how it helps the people of Bahrain achieve their rights in equality and justice and freedom. Don’t break out the sharbat, or whatever it is you prefer, yet.

Cheers
mhg

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AIPAC, Middle East, Think Tanks, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Wars R Us: Another Warmonger Joins AEI, Lieberman Decides against WINEP…………

         

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“In a bid to lend a patina of “bipartisanship” to its ideas, the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has made former Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) the co-chair of its newest foreign policy initiative. The move has been met with raised eyebrows, as progressives have not considered Joe Lieberman an authentic representative of their foreign policy positions for quite some time, if they ever did in the first place. Lieberman will co-chair the new “American Internationalism Project” with former Senator John Kyl (R-AZ). As the project is intended to “rebuild and reshape a bipartisan consensus around American global leadership and engagement,” Lieberman’s participation is aimed at blunting the perception that anything coming out of AEI is a dogmatically Republican plan. AEI generally hews to a hardline neoconservative standard on foreign policy; its staff in the area includes former Bush Administration officials John Bolton, Richard Perle, and Marc Thiessen………………..”

Joe Lieberman is a one-issue guy as far as foreign policy is concerned. His focus is on that one issue and other peripheral issues that touch on it. Yet he has picked to join a different special interest institute than the house that AIPAC built (Washington Institute for Near East Policy). But he fits in right with that other one-issue guy, John Bolton. Mr. Bolton is so extreme that even a Republican U.S. Senate refused to confirm him as Bush’s ambassador to the UN. He had to be appointed for only one year during a recess. Bolton has one other issue, besides cultivating his mustache: pushing for a new war of choice in the Middle East, a war that even Bush-Cheney were not stupid enough to start. In this issue, Lieberman and Bolton are in complete agreement.
Lieberman spent the past few years in the US Senate trying to subvert its resolutions toward another war in our region. Until his very last month. Not that he needed much hard work to do it.
With Jon Kyl as part of the team, we might as well call it :Wars R Us.
Cheers
mhg

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Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, United Nations International Organizations

Shocking News: STL Hariri Tribunal is Still Alive, Barely!…………

         

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“The first shock came when a leading Lebanese newspaper published a confidential list of 17 witnesses who may testify in the murder trial of a former prime minister — showing their names, passport pictures, dates of birth and where they work. A spokesman for the United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon quickly condemned the publication, in January, as a serious breach of court rules that put the lives of those named at risk. But the response of the newspaper, Al Akhbar, which is close to the militant movement Hezbollah, was defiant. A few days later it published a second confidential list, splashing the names, pictures and personal details of another 15 possible witnesses across two pages. ………….”

The STL Hariri tribunal has undermined itself, nay discredited itself, several times over the past few years. Mainly through shoddy procedures and changing the parties that are suspect and leaking information. Not to mention its blatant politicization. Blaming the Syrian regime in leaks when relations with the West and its allies were bad, then shifting the blame away from Syria when relations with the West improved, then shifting it again, through leaks. Right now they have settled on some Hezbollah operatives, but they may change that again if a bigger “villain” materializes (but not on the Korean Peninsula). All subject to the political winds of the time. At one time there were even leaks that they were considering some top Iranian mullahs (some Gulf media once mentioned Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a possible suspect). Too bad the Gangnam-Style guy, Psy, is Korean and the guys who started La Macarena are Spaniards. I believe they both ought to be charged and punished.


It is a wonder this incompetent seemingly political tribunal is still standing, barely. Most Lebanese, except for March 14 supporters, gave up on it a long time ago. Most Arabs outside Riyadh don’t give a damn anymore.


No need to repeat the litany here. I’ll just add links to previous posts on the topic:

Lebanon: Wissam Al Hassan and the Absent Paoli of The Godfather

Hariri STL to Investigate Sabra and Shatila Massacre

UN Lebanon Hariri Tribunal to Extend its Probe to Sabra & Shatila Massacres?

Chasing Hezbollah: Desperation Time in Washington and Riyadh?

Hariri now Claims Syria Killed his Father, Will STL Drop Hezbollah Charges?

Oh Oh Lockerbie, and STL of Lebanon, and Tony Blair, and the Fab Four

Hariri now Claims Syria Killed his Father, Will STL Drop Hezbollah Charges?

Cheers
mhg

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Corruption, Nobel Prize, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Cleric Declines Nobel Peace Prize IF Offered, Funny Royal Awards………

         

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إذا كان رب البيت بالدف ضارباً،    فشيمة أهل البيت كلهم الرقص

Speaking of the Nobel Prize in some of my recent posts: here is a new gem:

“A prominent Saudi Islamic scholar who was previously accused of plagiarism and famous for his best-selling book “Don’t Be Sad” (La Tahzan) has announced that he would reject the Nobel Peace Prize if it is offered to him. Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni made his statement on Twitter after Saudi writer Ibrahim al-Majari wrote in a column on the daily Al-Sharq newspaper that the preacher deserves the prestigious award because he is “sympathetic to women’s rights” and because he stands against terrorism. “If those in charge of the Nobel Prize are unbiased Sheikh Aaidh would be the first winner,” Majari wrote in his article. The Sheikh, however, responded in a tweet saying: “I refuse the Nobel Peace Prize and hope the committee overseeing it will not put my name on the list, with many thanks to the writer from Al-Sharq, Ibrahim al-Majari.” Sheikh Aaidh is famous for his book “don’t be sad” (la Tahzan) which sold more than 10 million copies. But the prominent Sheikh, who has more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter, recently faced a credibility crisis after a fellow Saudi female writer and author accused him of plagiarizing her work in another book…………….”

About plagiarism and stealing. There is that excellent Arab saying, I roughly and quickly translated above as: “If the master of the house plays the drum, than no wonder the rest of the household would take up dancing”
After a PhD (from anywhere possible) and millions of Twitter followers, the new unattainable Gulf chic is: the Nobel Prize (nomination not actually winning). There was a time on the Gulf when all kinds of potentates and their retainers and plutocrats and clerics showed up almost every day with some kind of doctorate. Not sure how they got them since they rarely left town long enough to read a book. They are still at it, getting them online or from places as far as some offices overlooking Times Square or der Kärtnerstrasse or Place Pigalle, especially Pigalle, although Place de Clichy would do as well.
Now the Nobel Prize is in vogue. I am beginning to suspect that every crackpot cleric, prince and shaikh and tribal chief in the Middle East has a website or Facebook account nominating him for some Nobel Prize (usually for Peace). I think there is a permanent site lobbying for Saudi King Abdullah; fine and dandy, but they ought to make it generic, just “Saudi King”: one never knows who will be king six months from now. I know one Gulf shaikh (and a major thief to boot, but what else is new) who has a website dedicated to “what great guy he is”: possibly set up by some minion of his. A prelude to a Nobel nomination for fleecing?


I was told by a Beirut (or was it Paris) source once that Foaud Saniora was thinking of nominating Saad Hariri (can one do that?), before he realized there is someone else who has priority, someone who has oil and pays the bills. I even know one Gulf academic from one tribe who nominated an academic from another tribe: I suspect with the goal of making himself look good and magnanimous and perhaps be considered for the Nobel Prize. I wish I knew how to nominate for the Nobel, I might nominate myself since I am mostly peaceful most of the time.

BTW: the princes give themselves a lot of prizes, usually within the family (i.e. incestuous). Prince X foundation awards Prince Y the kleptocracy award of the year. They, and possibly the rulers of Qatar, have probably offered to donate a lot of money to the Nobel Committee. Hint, hint.
Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Europe, Hezbollah, Israel, Terrorism

New Doubts Cast on Bulgarian Accusations in Terror Bombing……..

         

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“But European ministers who demand hard evidence of Hezbollah involvement are not likely to find it in the Bulgarian report on the investigation, which has produced no more than an “assumption” or “hypothesis” of Hezbollah complicity. Major revelations about the investigation by the former head of the probe and by a top Bulgarian journalist have further damaged the credibility of the Bulgarian claim to have found links between the suspects and Hezbollah. The chief prosecutor in charge of the Bulgarian investigation revealed in an interview published in early January that the evidence available was too scarce to name any party as responsible, and that investigators had found a key piece of evidence that appeared to contradict it. An article in a Bulgarian weekly in mid-January confirmed that the investigation had turned up no information on a Hezbollah role, and further reported that one of the suspects had been linked by a friendly intelligence service to Al-Qaeda………….”

There is no need for a “friendly intelligence service” to link the Bulgaria terrorist operation to Al-Qaeda. I noted early on strong doubts about the early Western media and “anonymous officials” allegations, given the MO of the terrorists. Even as Mr. Netanyahu was pointing fingers toward others. I reproduce some comments and my previous posts on this:

“Netanyahu had been sifting through the news for a few days, looking for something new to pin on the Iranians, his usual accusation du jour. It had been a slow week: no terrorist activity, not even a major traffic pile-up disaster. His luck was about to turn. The right-wing Bulgarian authorities got it a bit wrong and blamed Hezbollah instead, but only because of the imminent European Union decision on its “terrorist list”. One day later the center and left-wing Bulgarian “opposition” struck.…….. Why do “they” insist on politicizing these investigations so openly and flagrantly, on aiming them toward certain conclusions? That only loses them credibility, even if their conclusions might be correct. That is just what happened to the corrupt and incompetent Lebanon STL Hariri investigation (remember first it was Syria, then Iran and Syria then Hezbollah then the Mexican Cartel then the Girl Scouts of Arabia). Her are links to some of my posts on this Bulgaria terror attack.……….“

On the other hand, it is possible
that Hezbollah went totally stupid and decided to do a traceable
terrorist bombing in the heart of eastern Europe. On the eve of the EU decision on listing it on a terrorist list. They have done a similarly stupid thing, in the summer of 2006. The Iranians once claimed that the Mossad did the Bulgarian operation, which is as stupid as claiming that Iranians killed their own nuclear scientists.

On the other hand, it could have been the irresistible urge to avenge the Israeli bombing of Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in February 2008. But the timing casts suspicion on the claim of the right-wing Bulgarian authorities. Nevertheless, many Arab leaders and especially royal potentates are holding their breath, praying toward Brussels, for the EU to do the Israeli bidding and “list” Hezbollah.

Bulgaria: Did Hezbollah Go Stupid at a ‘Convenient’ Time?

Case for an Israeli Attack? a Boy’s Wolf, Michael Oren, Deep Throat II, Salacious Pun

About Netanyahu, the Mullahs, and all them Plots

Terrorism: Hallmarks of the Bulgaria Suicide Bomber with a “Shaved Head

N Y Times and Anonymous Deep Throat Certain Iran was Behind Bulgaria Terror Attack

Terrorism: Bibi Natanyahu with Bulgarian Egg on His Face, For Now

Terrorism in Iran and Bulgaria, Netanyahu and Hitler and Danzig and Sudetenland


Cheers
mhg

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Cinema, Culture, Iran, Islam

Controversial Film about the Prophet in Iran, Clerics in Mecca Pissed…….

         

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Iranians seem to have a knack for producing controversial historical films about ancient Prophets, with actors depicting these ancient worthies. Naturally any historical film in the Middle East, especially about the Prophets of Islam and Christianity and Judaism, is controversial. The Ten Commandments is still banned in all Arab states, but then so is Sodom and Gomorrah and Ben Hur; even Lawrence of Arabia is banned although I never knew T.E. to be a prophet. The last one was about Joseph (son of Jacob, not the carpenter), which had Salafis attack some television studios in North Africa for showing it. Among many Muslims, well among some of us Muslims, such depiction is considered blasphemous.
Among Wahhabi Salafis, any depiction or facsimile or controversial mention of any ancient character other than Saudi kings and princes is considered blasphemous. Iranian mullahs, apparently, are not of that “blasphemy” school of thought where films are considered.
Now it seems the “big no no” is being tested. A dusty organization called the International Association for Muslim Ulema (a bunch of clerics), wtf that be, has protested against the plans of an Iranian film company to produce a film representing the personality of the Prophet Mohammed. The clerics, located at Mecca, are pissed and have asked the Iranian government to prevent production of the film, to be simply titled “Mohammed”, and ban its showing. The ulema said that such film will besmirch the high status of the prophet and will harm his position and may even expose the Prophet to “ridicule”. The ulema noted that it is taboo to have prophets impersonated by actors.
No doubt the ulema have not read the script for the film (nor have I). But the ulema in Mecca are always pissed about something, except repression and the mind-boggling corruption around them in the Holy City and in the whole kingdom.
I think the only ridiculous characters here are probably these clerics who are afraid of anything new, of their own shadows. As for the taboo on actors impersonating the prophets, perhaps they can get a Saudi prince top play the role: he won’t be taboo. Now that Charlton Heston, with his cold cold hands, is dead.
Cheers
mhg

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