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
Cyber Security, cyber war, Internet

Cyber Jingoism: CyberSecurity, Cyber Wars, and the New Cyber Powers…………

         

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“Many Western countries, and the Russian Federation, have designated cybersecurity threats as a top priority risk against national security, says the Rand Corp. In a study (.pdf) conducted for the Swedish government, which is developing a cybersecurity strategy, Rand says countries including many of Sweden’s neighbors, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the Russian Federation have prioritized cybersecurity as a top tier national security issue. That higher prioritization hasn’t always resulted in greater funding. The United States, Great Britain and France have allocated significant funds toward cybersecurity, but the Netherlands hasn’t made a formal commitment to increase spending despite characterizing cybersecurity as a high priority …………”

Like I wrote before, this Cyber War and Cyber Security is the “equalizer”. Unlike conventional weapons or nuclear weapons, there are no Cyber Super Powers. Any country can be a Cyber Power. It can be the USA or Israel or Iran or China or Russia or even Molodva!

Some Western powers, especially the USA, seem to be working to define new things like Cyber Security and Cyber Aggression. It is no doubt tempting to seek a jingoistic definition of Cyber Laws and proper Cyber behavior. It is tempting to argue for a new Cyber doctrine that is not unlike the old European Imperialist doctrines. One that favors current world powers. It might go like the following:

“What we and our friends do to you is not Cyber Aggression, what you do to us is Cyber Aggression, Even if it is the same thing that we do to you“.


Of course it probably will not wash. I have provided down here links to some of my more recent posts on this topic:

Mr. Obama as the Hacker in Chief? Cyber Wars and Cyber Intrusions

Israeli Cyber Wars: Are the Mullahs Striking Back?

Why the GCC Likes Booz: Cyber Wars Reach the Gulf

Cyber Wars, Cyber Battles, Self-Inflicted Infections

Cyber Pearl Harbor: Kosher Judeo-Christian Hacking vs. Halal Muslim Hacking

When is Cyber Attack an Act of Aggression? Depends on the Gods

Cyber Wars: Flame of Persia, Mother of All Malwares

Israel and the West: only Arab and Muslim Hacking is Terrorism, Ours is Kosher

Duqu Hits Iran: Virus Du Jour beats a Shooting War

Soviet Iranian Cyber Wars, a Congressman’s Cyber Photo

Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Nobel Prize, Saudi Arabia

King Faisal the True Winner of Nobel and Conqueror of Communism, Himmler…………

         

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“From the 1950s to the fall of communism, Saudi Arabia was the steel wall against the spread of communism. In later months in 1975, I have read many books about the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and the mechanism of the nomination for the prize. And it has been mentioned many times that King Faisal was able to stop the spread of communism in the Middle East without the use of force. He used his influence and charisma to achieve this. King Faisal was the first political figure who predicted the fall of communism at the peak of the Cold War. And in September 1975, I sent a registered letter to the Nobel Prize Committee. I sent it from a post office located on East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, New York. In the letter, I was asking if there were any other candidates for the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize besides Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho and I asked why the 1972 Nobel Peace Prize was blocked and was not awarded to any person or organization. I got no answer and I wasn’t expecting to be answered.
In 1976, one year after the death of King Faisal, a foundation was established in Saudi Arabia and was named King Faisal International Prize……………… And to this day, I always ask myself: Why the blocked 1972 Nobel Peace Prize wasn’t awarded to King Faisal for his efforts to stop the spread of communism……………”

I would have liked to say that the Nobel Committee was antisemitic, that is why King Faisal was passed over, but that can’t be it.
Can you believe this F—Kopf writing in the Saudi daily Arab News? And here Americans have the misconception that they are responsible for the defeat of communism. Republicans think Reagan did it single-handed, while John McCain believes his years at the Hanoi Hilton contributed. Not some too bit absolute monarch.
I would think the late king should get the Nobel Prize for opposing the emancipation of slaves in his country in the 1960s, or was it for supporting it?  Which reminds me, I have never seen the late king smile. They even have photos of Hitler smiling (although not Himmler). I am sure he had a sense of humor, the king not Himmler, but probably well-hidden. After all, he had to have some sense of humor: he was not even from Jordan or anything like that. Obviously the vengeful nephew who shot him had no sense of humor either. I suspect that maybe it runs in the family, at least among those who are sober.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Israel, Salafi, Women

Israeli Salafi Feiglin to Mufti and Mullah: Hey, it is Halal and Fun to Touch a Woman’s Hand!………

         

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“Knesset Member Moshe Feiglin ( Likud) who is commonly associated with extremist political and religious views, made a surprising announcement on Thursday: “I decided to shake hands with women. There is no halacha against it if it’s done out of courtesy.”The issue arose after Feiglin was photographed shaking the hands of female Yesh Atid MKs, following his debut Knesset speech. The pictures were discussed in religious websites, causing Feiglin to post an explanation on his Facebook page: “In the past I used to not shake hands until I found out there is no prohibition against when it is a gesture of courtesy as opposed to a touch to demonstrate affection.”…………..”

Clearly this guy Moshe Feiglin doesn’t like affection, especially the type that is aimed toward women. Normally our preferred kind of affection. Which makes me think that little Moshe had issues of affection with his mom as a child: something about him did not agree with her. At least she did not wrap him in papyrus and float him away down a river where Mr. Morsi could find him.  Which makes me wonder wtf he got Mrs. Feiglin (if there is still one) for Valentine’s Day, if anything. I mean besides the recently rediscovered (questionable) magic of his touch.
Can you imagine the equivalent on our side? Imagine a mullah, or better yet the Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Shaikh, may his large tribe increase, switching sides? One day grinning through his beard into the Alarabiya cameras and extolling the ‘virtues’ of touching a woman’s hand (then shaking it)? Presumably one of his wives, to start with. But he ought to be warned that this thing can become addictive (I guess he knows it, hence the multiple wives and the usual periodic rotation that some practice).
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Persian-American Gulf

Bahrain Uprising: Revolting Authorities, People in Revolt, Writing on the Wall………

         

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“The Information Affairs’ Authority (IAA) has issued a statement today in which it revealed that some internet webpages and social media accounts in Bahrain circulated news about direct threats being sent by terrorist gangs and saboteurs to various individuals, groups, families, workers, shops and companies intended to compel citizens and residents to stay at home and refrain from going to work or business as usual on Thursday February, 14, 2013 in a desperate bid to forcibly impose a de facto public strike in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Such threatening calls have been circulated in various foreign languages and posted alongside roads, streets and electric power pylons and included frightening images in order to scare citizens and residents and compel them to stay at home. The Information Affairs’ Authority has urged all Bahraini citizens and residents to cooperate with the relevant authorities in order to tackle these gangs of outlaws by reporting any threat received by citizens and residents intended to forcibly restrict their freedom……. The IAA urges all citizens and residents to report to the competent authorities ……………”

So said the Bahrain authorities request.
Yes but when there are no ‘competent authorities’, what are people to do? Clearly there are no competent authorities in Bahrain, only a ruling clan of despots and thieves and their security agents and imported foreign mercenaries and assorted minions. Revolting for certain, but not competent. So what are people to do? When the authorities are truly revolting, as is the case in Bahrain, then the people end up revolting.
Normally under these circumstances, people try to create their own “competent authorities”. People have have tried this throughout history: from the Abbasid Revolution to the American and French and Russian and Iranian Revolution(s). They are trying this method now in Arab states from Tunisia and Libya and Egypt and Syria and Yemen and Bahrain. It takes time, but the writing is on the wall.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arab Politics, GCC, Iran, Iraq, Islam

Gulf Purification: De-Baathification, De-Despot-ification, De-Salafi-cation, De-Tribi-fication, De-Stupification…….

         

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I wrote in my previous post that de-Baathification in Iraq after 2003, like German de-Nazification after World War II, was not a bad idea to start with. It was overdone, though, and became sectarian. It was a logical policy to start with, although many typically sectarian-focused of our Gulf potentates complain about it: maybe they’ll be more eager for the de-Baathification of Syria?
Personally, I would love to see other versions as well: De-Khalifa-cation in Bahrain and De-Saudi-fication on the Arabian Peninsula some day, and maybe a few other De‘s. Natural ‘evolution’, mind you. Just to make it even and complete: how about de-Mullah-fication in Iran as well? De-tribe-fication and de-sect-ification in the Gulf GCC would be even greater for our whole region’s detoxification.
The best first step would be de-Salafi-cation which would also entail, nay require as a precondition, de-Wahhabi-fication. After that, we can all start the de-Stupification of the region.
That leaves Israel and Turkey. but I am not touching either one of those. Not yet, but de-stupification is a universal need.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Britain, Iraq, Islam, US Foreign Policy

If the British Misunderstood Islam: then Who in the West Can? Zionists for Arabists …….

         

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“Labour has conceded for the first time that a “primitive understanding” of the Islamic world caused some of the problems faced by the west in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warned David Cameron his response to the terrorist crisis in north Africa shows he has not learned the painful lessons from those conflicts. In a speech on Thursday, Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, will suggest the Blair government did not appreciate what it was getting itself into after the September 11 attacks, as British forces joined the international effort to overthrow the Taliban and hunt down Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network……….. In Iraq, he will say, “there was a serious deficit in Western comprehension of the Sunni-Shia or intra-Shia dynamics. We know that de-Baathification left a lethal vacuum.”………..…”

It said: “a primitive understanding of Islam”!
The British created modern Iraq, patched it together with a view toward their own control of it, as part of their empire. Gertrude Bell, Percy Cox, Churchill, and others decided early on to hand power to the same class of natives (Sunni Arabs) who had served the Turkish Ottoman occupation well both in the bureaucracy and in the military. They thought the same class would serve British interests well, which they did for a while. Of course there was the small matter of the restive Kurds, who were in fact reportedly gassed by the Royal Air Force, and the majority Shi’as, who were disregarded as ‘hostile to British interests’. Iraq has been unstable ever since 1917.
Now if the British can’t understand Islam and the nuances of its various sects, then how could other Westerners think they could unravel that complex (to Western eyes) issue? Certainly not the Israeli lobbyists that have edged out the old Arabists in the U.S. State Department and other policy-making institutions and think-tanks. They have no interest in delving deeply into Arab or Muslim culture: they seem to be limited by the motto of “Israel right or wrong“, as shown for example by Susan Rice at the UN. It is almost correct now to say that the Arabists have been almost completely replaced by Zionists in the American foreign policy establishment and the institutions that feed it with advice.

De-Baathification, like de-Nazification after World War II, was not a bad idea to start with. But that policy in Iraq was carried too far beyond the senior level of bureaucrats, which created political, economic, security, and other problems. Besides, all the Baathist military and security services melted away before the fall of Baghdad. They went AWOL, like deserters during war. The military and security did not even bother to defend its capital against invasion. So how much good could it have been: it was good at repressing the people but not to face a foreign attack.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Syria, U.S. Congress

McCain’s Sidekicks: Humanitarian Aid for Syrians or Political Aid for SNC…………..

         

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”Humanitarian groups are lobbying hard against a proposal by several U.S. senators that would turn over the delivery of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to a Syrian opposition council that’s criticized as too weak and too political to handle the responsibility. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is leading the charge to require the Obama administration to give the Syrian Opposition Coalition responsibility for aid delivery. The proposal was made after a bipartisan Senate delegation visited the region last month and heard firsthand Syrians’ frustrations with the pace and scope of U.S. and other foreign assistance. The senators recommended that the Obama administration step up its support for the coalition so that the body “can visibly play a meaningful role in delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid.” Executives from leading international aid groups are urging Congress to reject the recommendation……………..”

The senators want to make the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) look good and effective and perhaps relevant. The Syrian regime knows that as much as I do: ergo, they will not cooperate. People will suffer. It is best to leave the aid issue to the ‘humanitarian’ groups. Senator McCain and his Republican sidekicks and the late unlamented Joe Lieberman (now replaced as a sidekick by some chick from New Hampshire) were probably instrumental in strengthening the Jihadis that now control the opposition’s military campaign inside Syria. Their earlier Syrian meddling was not helpful, neither will this one be.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Bahrain, Corruption, GCC, Persian-American Gulf, Weapons deals

Bahrain Navy all Set to Defend the Gulf against NBC and CNN …………

         

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“A special committee at the General Staff of the Bahraini Navy is said to have recommended the necessity of buying advanced defensive systems to confront nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) threats in the Gulf region. The following 358-word report sheds light on the Bahraini Navy’s recommendation and tells what about the Bahraini plans to buy the necessary NBC equipment and………………”

Field Marshal Admiral Shaikh Bin Technocrat Al Khalifa von Rommel Al Nelson Hornblower getting set to defend the Persian-American Gulf against all comers. Now we can all rest assured. Ever try some of all that teargas you guys have been using every day for two years on your people and their villages?
(Okay, so which Al Khalifa shaikh will get the commission for this purchase? Unless they have a common fund that the whole family shares, just like they do for waiters at restaurants).

Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Salafi, Syria, Tunisia

Salafis of Tunisia: All Roads Lead to Syria and Iraq and Mali and…………

         

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“The cradle of the Arab Spring is increasingly looking like the birthplace of jihadists. Long before Tunisia ousted its dictator and inspired the North African pro-democracy movement, the small, relatively prosperous country had the more dubious distinction of exporting Islamic militants. Experts say the flow of fighters is getting worse……….. Though no one knows for sure just how many Tunisian fighters have traveled abroad, evidence suggests it remains one of the top exporters of jihadists per capita. Tunisians have turned up on the battlefields of Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Mali. The 32-man militant strike team that seized a gas plant in Algeria and took dozens of foreign workers hostage was more than one-third Tunisian………………”


“The left accuses these groups of affiliation with the ruling moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, and say it has failed to root out the violence. The party denies any link or control to the groups. But it is the rise of Salafist-associated political violence that is causing the most concern in the region. Banned in Tunisia under the 23-year regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which ruthlessly cracked down on all forms of Islamism, Salafists in Tunisia have become increasingly vocal since the 2011 revolution………… Indeed, when an al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb cell was broken up in Tunisia last year, all its members were also found to be active in another Salafist grouping – Ansar al-Sharia…………Tunisian jihadists are said to have left for Syria..….……”

“Alquds Alarabi quotes Tunisian newssources that at least 50% of those Jihadis killed near Aleppo airport the other day were Tunisians………”

Odd that the most secular Arab state, actually what was the most secular Arab state, is now a major source of Salafi Jihadi terrorists. More than Saudi Arabia or other places closer to the heartland of Salafism in the Arabian Peninsula. Only a few years ago, France was the favorite destination for most young Tunisians fed up with things at home. It probably still is, only now many of them head east and south, to the killing fields of Arab and Muslim lands. To kill and massacre other Arabs and Muslims, based on warped doctrines and teachings of Wahhabi clerics.
For Salafi jihadis, almost all roads lead to Ba’athist Syria now, that is the prize these days. To Islamize the last remaining secular state in the Arab world, albeit a repressive police state. Preferably with the help of the hated heathens of NATO who also liberated Libya and Iraq before. These same Tunisian and other Arab Jihadis who flock to Syria to fight against the repressive regime would also flock to Bahrain to fight FOR the repressive tribal Al Khalifa dynasty. Some roads lead to the terrorist killing fields of Iraq, some to Libya, Mali, Algeria. Egypt does not need to import jihadis yet: it has plenty of the home-grown variety. They just need outside money, plenty of which they seem to be getting from “somewhere”.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Demographics, Economics, Finance, GCC, Iran, Middle East

Iranian and Arab Population Policies: It is the Quality, Stupid! It is the Economics, Stupid!………

         

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“Mohammadi represents a worrisome trend to the Iranian government: More young couples are wary of having babies in the climate of economic instability caused by international sanctions. The disenchantment comes as the ruling Islamist clergy, alarmed by Iran’s meager population growth rate — estimated at 1% in 2011 by the United Nations — has mounted a campaign for families to have more children. Iran’s leaders fear the prospect of an aging population that would burden the welfare system and severely diminish productivity. Without a change, Iran’s median age is expected to rise from 27 to 40 by 2030…………The desire to migrate has also played a significant role in the lack of interest among young Iranians to have children — along with a turn away by women from conservative religious values as they seek equal footing with men…..………”

I posted on this topic before regrading Iran, and also about the Gulf GCC population policies. I still suspect that the main reason for this policy reversal is economic and financial. The mullahs couch it in religious and nationalist terms because that is what their base, their political supporters, understands best. It is the same story in other places, especially Europe and Japan: as the population ages, there is more demand on retirement age-related resources and less money going in. They need to get creative and find ways of replenishing these resources and making them more productive. A huge population explosion now a la Egypt or India would only postpone the problem and have it pop up later on a larger scale.
Now there is an idea in our region that more people means strength. The rulers, especially on the Gulf, encourage population growth. It is probably a tribal-ethnic-sectarian thing. In the old days, and even now in some places, the larger the tribe the more powerful it is. Yet this is erroneous. Look at Israel with a population of around 6 million: she defeated all Arab regime armies in whatever combination one could think of, several times. Six million defeated more than 200 million. Look at Hezbollah: representing less than 50% of Lebanon, barely two and maybe a half million people, yet it defeated the mighty Israeli IDF, twice (in 2000 and 2006)! I have no doubt that they can also defeat any Arab army now (that includes the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi and Qatari and Saudi Wehrmacht combined).
It is not the quantity, stupid. It is the quality, stupid!

Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com