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 Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Foreign Policy, Yemen

Southern Arabia: a Faltering Storm………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

 

KuwaitCox2

“Iran’s leader on Thursday condemned as genocide the military intervention by its main regional rival Saudi Arabia in Yemen, sharply escalating Tehran’s rhetoric against the two-week-old air strike campaign. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saudi Arabia would not emerge victorious from the war in Yemen, where Iran-allied Houthi fighters who control the capital Sanaa have been trying to seize the southern city of Aden from local militias. Iran has repeatedly urged a halt in the air strikes and called for dialogue in Yemen, but Khamenei’s comments are the most critical yet from Tehran about the offensive by Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies………….”

Two weeks of American-supported and coordinated brutal Saudi bombings have failed to achieve any results other than destroy the fragile infrastructure of Yemen. The best and most expensive machines of war that the West has ever produced have been pitted against the poorest Arab country outside Africa, against a Houthi militia and its army allies. So far it has been a failure, whatever goal its planning princes had in mind. So far. The result must have shocked the attackers (Saudi Arabia and its allies): predictable air supremacy for one side against supremacy on the ground for the other.
So, the Yemeni-Houthi air force has been effectively destroyed or grounded. The Yemeni-Houthi ground offensive continues to gobble up territory from Sanaa to Aden to Shabwah. Other army units, possibly infuriated by foreign warplanes raining death and destruction on their country, on their people, have shifted allegiance to the Houthis and Saleh and handed other bases over. We can say that the escaped ex-president AbdRabuh (so far) Mansour Hadi now controls only part of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That is the area where he lives. (Those fighting the Houthi-Saleh forces around Aden are mostly southern secessionists (Hirak), not Hadi loyalists as Western media report).

This alleged Decisive Storm, led by a young Saudi prince, a defense minister who is reported to be younger than 30 years, has been not so decisive. They have intensified the bombings, possibly in frustration. So far Decisive Storm looks to confirm my earlier description of it: more like a Stupid Storm quickly morphing into a Faltering Storm, rather than a remake of Desert Storm. So far………..

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Iran, Middle East Nuclear, nuclear Iran, War on Iran

The Final Word on the Lausanne Nuclear Deal……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“But at the end of the day, Iran is a scientifically-advanced country with good cash-flow and, if it is willing to pay the price, it can develop a nuclear weapon. Absent some program of national-scale lobotomization, there is nothing the international community can do about this. The negotiators have implicitly admitted this by focusing on limiting Iran’s breakout time to one year rather than on denying the capability altogether. But nobody can explain why one year is a magical period of time, versus, say, six months or five years. This is because there is no reason………… But it is more a symbol of the fight over Iran policy than the core of the issue. At heart, this is a fight over what to do about Iran’s challenge to U.S. leadership in the Middle East and the threat that Iranian geopolitical ambitions pose to U.S. allies, particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia…………”

Verstehen sie?

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Revolutions, Caliphate, Drugs, Hashish, Libya

Jihadists and Hashish? ISIS in Libya, Shabby Caliph in Raqqa…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Attempt to smuggle hashish to Libya foiled. The Lebanese security forces stopped a drug-smuggling operation destined for Libya Monday. The Anti-Drug Unit of the Judicial Police thwarted an attempt to smuggle drugs out of Lebanon after being tipped off about the operation, the Internal Security Forces said in a statement. The police cooperated with Egyptian authorities to halt an illicit shipment of 3.5 tons of hashish from Lebanon to Libya transported on the ship “Mare Ta Queen.” The ship left Lebanese waters for Tobruk’s marina in Libya but was stopped by the Egyptians near the coast of Damietta. Egyptian authorities confiscated the illicit items……………”

Ironically, that illegal “stuff” might help them stop killing each other. I hear that you can’t be stoned and high AND angry at the same time. Even in Libya, even in Syria, and in the Caliphate.

The shabby Caliph Al (Samarrai) of ISIS would probably mellow down (or maybe ‘up’) if he and his cutthroats were stoned more often, and not just “high” on the sight of blood. All these uptight Wahhabi youth streaming through the Erdogan Kingdom of Turkey into Syria and Iraq. All these madenned Salafi Jihadis in Libya. All the rest of them, need behavior modification, something to cool them down and see the world from a “different” point of view.

Then there is the legend of the stoned ‘assassins’ and the man on the mountain……
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

War on Yemen: Hadi from His Peanut Gallery Exile……….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Former President General AbdRabuh Mansour Hadi of Yemen and his foreign minister are ensconced in luxurious quarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. From whence they have called and urged a violent foreign bombing campaign against their country and their people. Having seen their opponents, the Houth-Saleh alliance, continue to gain ground in spite of intense Saudi bombardment, they are now urging a full foreign invasion of their country. In order to return them to power. But I have already issued a final fatwa that Hadi will not return to rule in Sanaa no matter who “wins” this complex war.

So, why isn’t “General” Hadi, the escaped former president, the escaped military general, in Aden now leading the fight he is urging everyone else in Yemen to wage? Why is he not leading the fight against the Houthi-Saleh alliance. And maybe against Al Qaeda (AQAP) and maybe ISIS and even the Southern Independence Movement (Hirak)? And maybe expose himself to the same foreign Western-Saudi bombs his people face every day?
Instead of joining the faraway media peanut gallery in Riyadh? Confining himself to urging others to fight and expose their families to catcalling from far away, like us “peaceful” bloggers and tweeps?

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Politics, Blockade of Iran, GCC, Iran, U.S. Foreign Policy

The Urban Legend on Arab Reaction to the Lausanne Nuclear Deal………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Western media, especially American media, are full of talk, analysis, anguish, and punditry about the regional impact of the Lausanne nuclear deal made by Iran and the six world powers. I am speaking about the alleged Arab reaction. It is all based on a vast media campaign, whispered leaks to select American columnists, and private complaints by highly-placed “Arab” officials to unnamed bureaucrats. This campaign has utilized the vast media owned by some Arab kings, princes, potentates and their fronts in some Arab capitals and in the West. Thus it has created an urban legend about “Arab” anger and disappointment about a deal that will lift the economic blockade from Iran.

It is obvious that the sources of this alleged “anger” come from some of the GCC states of the Gulf and not from most other Arab states. That is why President Obama has invited the GCC leaders exclusively to Camp David in order to calm their alleged fears. And no other Arab leaders.
Now the members of the GCC whose regimes have leaked or expressed their dissatisfaction are almost certainly only four members: Saudi Arabia (including Bahrain), Qatar, and the UAE. These four countries have, with a total population of about 30+ million represent maybe some 12% of the total Arabs. I am not even counting the fact that almost half the ‘total’ population are imported temporary expatriate laborers who couldn’t care less about the issue. Can we say that these princes and potentates speak for the Arab world? Can we say these entitlement “born” leaders speak for other countries that “elect” their leaders? Now what about the others: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, etc, etc?

So, forget the reports about “Arab” anger. It is mostly an urban legend created and encouraged by the dominating vast media of Saudi Arabia and Qatar who have created so many news outlets and gobbled up so many other Arab media.

So, show me the figures, the reliable polls……..
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Yemen

Arabian Peninsula: Is Decisive Storm Really a Desert Storm or a Stupid Storm?………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

In the Gulf GCC countries that are bombing Yemen, you get arrested and imprisoned if you publicly criticize this war being waged by air against the poorest Arab country outside Africa. The war is done in alliance with Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and at least two Western powers who supply the weapons and provide the logistics and intelligence. Pakistan and Malaysia are being coy, but it is almost certain the former ia supplying some personnel.
As I said, one goes to prison for publicly opposing this war that probably was imposed on the GCC by the Saudis. The doubters have been right so far. Decisive Storm has not been decisive yet, has not decided anything except to visit misery, death, injury, and homelessness on the people of Yemen. While the escaped former president, the weakling AbdRAbuh Hadi, and his ministers egg on the attackers from luxury accommodations in Saudi Arabia.

So far the war has not achieved any strategic success. Since it started a week ago, the Houthis and their military allies have completed their takeover of Aden and Bab El Mandab Strait on the Red Sea. Perhaps the idea is to weaken them enough with bombardment for an easy ground attack or to force them to accept Hadi. Neither is realistic. Hadi is out and for good. He was never popular inside Yemen. Any leader that invites a foreign attack on his country and people does not usually return to power, as per my last fatwa.

The whole concept of Decisive Storm is based on the Desert Storm campaign that freed Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991. Softening with bombardment, and then……….what? Can you imagine a Saudi and Egyptian expeditionary force slugging it in the rugged Yemeni landscape? And what would the other side do?
That is why I prefer to call it Stupid Storm. Unless they can prove otherwise……..

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab League, Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, Humor, Media

Arab Media Outlets: a Rainbow from the Mad to the Angry to the AIPAC to the Smart…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

New Arab media sprout almost every day. Both online and offline. I am only listing some with the word “Arab” in them. Otherwise there are more, many many more. Briefly, here are some that exist now, some that will exist, some that should exist, and some that should not exist:

Al-Quds Al-Arabi (=Arab Jerusalem):London-based. Used to be Qatari-funded but pro-Palestinian. Now totally Qatari-owned and nicely sectarian.
New Arab: sounds like Qatari or Emirati-funded propaganda website. I would guess more Qatari, tentatively.
Free Arabs: Not really ‘free’, me thinks. U.S. based, a bit cutesy. Seems more like it should be renamed AIPAC Arab or some other pro-Likud or Mujahideen Khalq or Neoconservative funded group.
AlArabiya: owned by an in-law of the Saudi royal family. Has close ties with Asharq Alawsat which is owned by Saudi King Salman.
AlArab:news network owned by Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal (he sued Forbes for underestimating his wealth). Now looking for a home base after being kicked out of Bahrain on its first and last day of broadcasting.
Angry Arab: I don’t know who the hell funds this one. Almost certainly self-funded from the sale of non-Israeli hummus.
Mad Arab: partly owned by Alfred E. Neuman and his wife.
Arab Garlic: partly owned by The Onion but based in Gilroy, California.
Humorless Arab: you’d think it is a Jordanian outlet, but t goes deeper than tat……
Pissed off Arab: just about anybody between Bahrain and Casablanca who is not a ruler, relative of a ruler, or minion of a ruler.
Stoned Arab: almost certainly headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dumb Arab: probably based and operated by the League of Arab Nations (Arab League).
Smart or Thinking Arab: in exile, in prison, dead, or ruling the rest of them.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

The Myth of a Proxy War in Yemen………..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Western media are stuck on this “proxy war” idea. They keep claiming that “Saudi Arabia and Iran are fighting a proxy war in Yemen“. “Proxy” means having someone else do the fighting for you. Now, those dropping the bombs on Yemen, killing people and destroying cities are NOT proxies, they are the Saudis (or whoever is flying their bombers) who are firing the missiles on Yemen. They are butchering Yemenis. And the Houthis are not Iranian proxies. The Houthis have been fighting either the Saudi princes or the Yemeni central government for many decades. They may have moved closer to Iran now because of the regional alignment against them, but they do not take orders from Tehran: that is a ridiculous claim to anybody who has read about them.

It is good propaganda to throw in the name ‘Iran’ for Western consumption. It gets people like Senator McCain and other warmongers all riled up. It silences any inclination to protest the brutal bombing campaign against the Yemeni people. But it is a futile war in the end. It is a war with the goal of allowing the Saudis to determine who will rule Yemen (well, maybe a couple of major cities in Yemen). You all know, as do the Saudis now, that AbdRabuh Hadi (99.8% of the vote, LOL) will never return to rule in Sanaa. Not after he invited foreign bombers against its people. As per my last fatwa about Hadi’s Last Look at Sanaa.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, GCC, Saudi Arabia, War, Yemen

Arab Despots Finally Find Someone They Think They Can Defeat, Poorer Arabs……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

The princes of the Persian Gulf countries must have spent almost a trillion dollars on weapons and related services in the past decade or so. Many princes and potentates and their families have accumulated huge fortunes from commissions and kickbacks (never called bribes in polite mixed company) on these arms deals. I and others have often commented that these weapons are imported and left to rust in the desert, unless they can be used for repression and crowd control.

Now the princes and potentates are setting out to prove me and others wrong. They have finally found someone they think they can beat on or so they think. So they are carpet bombing the major cities of the poorest Arab country outside Africa, Yemen. As long as they stick to aerial bombing they are doing fine from their point of view, killing Yemenis and destroying Yemen.

They may, they should, hesitate to actually enter the land of Yemen: they have tried it before and got whipped, both the Saudis and their Egyptian sidekicks. Still, they may decide to end this curse of Yemen by using imported mercenary armies as cannon fodder, or Houthi-fodder. Pakistanis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Moroccans, and perhaps Bengalis. People the princes deem expendable.

They are crowing, these entitled princes, in their media that they are achieving a great victory, from a distance. As they kill and destroy their neighbors. Soon it will be time for the pop corn as the real battle is joined on land.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Genocide, Iran, Turkey

Erdogan and Ahmadinejad and Twentieth Century Genocide……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Their two countries were closer when they were both in power at the same time. The two great genocide deniers of the region. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran toyed with Holocaust denial although he did not go all the way: he probably did not really quite deny it. He just chose a stupid way to annoy the West and the Israelis. Caliph Erdogan of Turkey almost went all the way: refusing to admit the Armenian genocide even as he offered vague conciliatory comments. They were/are both deliberately dishonest.

In addition, Erdogan of the Turkish Islamist regime reportedly has thrown more journalists in prison than any other Middle East tyrant, and we have so many of them.

Of course there are others in the region who are worse. The Wahhabis and many Muslim Brotherhood types don’t deny the genocide but they explain and excuse it, even as their ilk continue it in Iraq and Syria and other places: as the implementation of God’s will, his/her wrath, against certain peoples.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
[email protected]