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 Counterrevoltion, Arab Politics, Egypt, Espionage, Human Right

Takhabur: a Potent New Orwellian Arab Weapon……….

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Egyptian media can be some of the wildest in the Middle East, bar none, when it comes to toeing the official line. Remember when the once-venerable Al-Ahram, the big banana of Egyptian newspapers, doctored photos of world leader to put Hosni Mubarak at the front? They are doing even more now.

One headline I saw yesterday: “Muslim brothers caught with ‘certificates’ of Takhabur (تخابُر) with Hamas”.  (تخابُر is a broad Arabic word that can have any of several connotations: communicating; contacting; exchanging information).
‘Certificates of Takahbur‘: imagine how far you can go in telling your people how stupid you believe they are, maybe not in so many words. This “Takhabur” in Arabic is a recent twist of the term that Arab regimes (and their controlled media) have been using against their foes and against those they don’t like or suspect.
Takhabur: “communicating, exchanging news or information but also perhaps ideas” or “talking to”. You can get arrested for takhabur with The Onion or with Mad Magazine or with the CIA or the Mossad or Dhahi Khalfan, even with your next door neighbor, if they want to get you.
Anyway, they twist things to make it sound so sinister in a way that some regimes can do with impunity. The Egyptian military regime has even brought the charge of “takhabur” against president Morsi, and he was the president of the country! He was supposed to do “takhabur” with leaders and countries, just like any other head of state! Imagine how much ‘takhabur‘ Generalisimo Field Marshal Al Sisi is doing now with oily princes and potentates? How else could he do his job?

Now they are piling on Caliph Erdogan of Turkey, but that is okay: the Turkish Caliph ensconced in his billion-dollar palace deserves it. Suddenly the Egyptians are strongly pro-Greek on the Cyprus issue and on any other issues that come to their mind. They might even award ancient Troy to the Greeks, again. The Greeks must be amused.
Takhabur. A simple Arabic word has acquired terrifying connotations and meanings in the hands of Arab depots and potentates and their security agents and kangaroo courts. Journalists, former officials, dissidents, and doubters can spend many years in prison because of that word. From the Persian Gulf to the stagnant Nile, from Manama to Cairo, the regimes are using it to get you.
Remember the word: takhabur. Other non-Arab regimes in the Middle East (Iran, Turkey, Kurds, maybe Israel?) also use their own version of it to intimidate, but it sounds so pregnant with meanings and connotations in the Arabic language. So threatening on multiple levels.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Burma, History, Muslims, U.S. Senate

U.S. Senate Love Affair with Muslims: Bombing Burma and a New Crusade…….

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I read that President Obama will visit Burma (a k a Myanmar) this week to reward the clinging military regime for offering a good spin in talking a democratic line.

I also read that Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, like the broken LP records of the U.S. Senate, are again calling for launching new invasions of and attacks on Muslim countries. Many senators of both parties agree with them, so long as the targets are Muslims: after all, how many Muslim voters do McCain and Graham have in their states? Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, African Sahel, possibly a couple others. And they are always seeking to set the ground for the Mother of All Middle East Wars, against Iran if they can swing it. Always on Muslim countries.
Nobody credible ever proposed attacking the Soviet Union even during the Hungarian or Czech or Cuban crises. Douglas MacArthur was fired for proposing a possible counterattack on China. Nobody seriously proposed attacking Nazi Germany until after Hitler, in a moment of monumental but characteristic stupidity, declared war on the USA. Nobody has even seriously proposed defanging Kim Jong Un, not even the perennial chickenhawk John Bolton. But they all want to bomb more Muslim countries.

So, perhaps, maybe, could be the Western powers need to take a breather, lay off their Muslim wars. Even if they think they are well-meaning and have lofty ideals, which most “natives” don’t think they do. Many Muslims, especially Arabs, quietly and loudly think of all this as a new Crusade aimed at getting Western hands on their petroleum or at helping maintain Israeli strategic supremacy. And not just Al Qaeda and other Wahhabis or Ayatollahs or the few remaining leftist types.

So, why not Burma, par exemple? Why is Burma never bombed, even as it has opened Nazi-style concentration camps for some of its ‘ethnic’ people like the Rohingya Muslims? Go for it, make history, just for once in this century to bomb some country that is neither Muslim nor Arab, for a change…………

(Someone suggested that maybe this should be AFTER they take care of the Caliphate of ISIS).

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Corruption, Syria, Tony Blair, Uncategorized

Corruption Associates: Middle East Envoy Blair and the Royals……..

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“Tony Blair’s company is alleged to have brokered multi-million pound deals that earned £41,000 a month and two per cent commission on each transaction with an oil firm founded by a senior Saudi royal family member………The leaked 21-page contract apparently shows that the former Labour prime minister’s umbrella company, Tony Blair Associates, agreed in November 2010 to arrange deals for PetroSaudi with his senior Chinese officials contacts during his visit to Beijing that month, as reported by The Sunday Times. ………. PetroSaudi, which is registered in the Cayman Islands tax-haven to legally avoid 85 per cent oil and gas company taxes in the Middle Eastern nation, was jointly founded by Saudi businessman Tarek Obaid and Prince Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, one of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah’s seven sons………….”

Middle East envoy. Pray tell, what has he done about the Middle East problems? (If I were rude and crude, I’d say “whatthefuck has he done” but I ain’t rude, so I won’t). Besides urging more war on behalf of his Persian Gulf benefactors, the absolute princes and potentates.

Tony Blair introduced the ‘stuff’ about New Labor. And it was “stuff” if you know what I mean. Just as Bill Clinton was touted as a New Democrat. Both terms mean moving halfway toward the right, gutting certain programs and introducing extreme deregulation that increased economic instability and widened income and wealth gaps to unprecedented levels.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Egypt, Human Right, Uncategorized

Great News: Egypt to Export its Expertise in Repression……….

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Egypt’s foreign minister is quoted in local media as asserting that Egypt is keen on transferring her expertise and experience in security issue to “sisterly” countries. He is quoted that Egypt is seeking to enhance the capabilities of “these countries” in matters of “internal security” with the overall goal of serving all our peoples.

Cute. Glad tidings for any Arab people who have not yet been subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture, summary death sentences, midnight knocks on the door, tear gas, and disappearances. If there is any rare Arab people that have not been subject to these, er, official diversions. Egypt has one important thing she can now export: the Sisi type of law and order, which is slightly nastier than Mubarak’s version of law and order.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arab Revolutions, Syria, U.S. Foreign Policy, Uncategorized

Valley of Christians, Valley of ISIS……….

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Allentown by Billy Joel

“For them, Allentown is Assadville, USA. Support for an authoritarian regime headed by a ruthless dictator may seem like strange position for a community so steeped in the culture of American democracy. But with Assad’s army standing as the only buffer between their ancient culture and its annihilation by ISIS—the majority of Allentown’s Syrian Christians are more than willing to overlook the contradiction………… Most Allentown residents of Syrian heritage are Orthodox Christians from the Wadi-al-Nasara region in western Homs province………..”

This Hollywood-style Caliphate and its fans do not cotton up to anyone of a different faith or a different sect. That is the main reason why many, possibly most, Syrians who are not Wahhabi-inclined stand with the Al Assad regime. Even many Sunnis, contrary to what we read and hear in the media.
That name of that place of origin of these people in Syria is telling. Wadi-al-Nasara translates from Arabic exactly to: Valley of Christians.

(P.S. As a teenager, I attended and lived in a preparatory high school in a small town not far from Allentown, PA. I never met any Syrians there, but I still had a blast as well as an education. Great people over there).
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Ali Khamenei, Fascism, Iran, Israel, Racism, U.S. Foreign Policy

Enter the Ayatollah as Spoiler: New Bi-Partisan Fascists of America…………

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Saban     Adelson
   Haim Saban                               Sheldon Adelson
“Major Democratic donor Haim Saban said on Sunday that if he were running Israel he would “bomb the living daylights” out of Iran if the current nuclear negotiations produce a bad deal for Israel. Speaking at a conference of the Israeli American Council at the Washington Hilton opposite Republican casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Saban said that if he were in the shoes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the event of a deal with Iran that he judged to be dangerous with Israel, “I would bomb the living daylights out of these sons of bitches.” Saban, a major Obama donor in 2012 and Hillary Clinton supporter in 2008, also expressed deep skepticism of Obama’s policy towards Iran………..“

I had written, just minutes ago, that:
“Even the wildest of the Iranian mullahs never say ‘bomb the hell out of Israel’, except maybe as retaliation’. These are two not-so-new faces of fascism in America: the new phenomenon of ‘ethnic’ fascists. They are jingoistic and racist and they don’t belong to any one political party. They are bi-Partisan”.
Of course just after penning this eloquent comment of mine, and before posting it, who should intervene but the big banana of Iran? I saw the following ‘inconvenient’ tweet by Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei: “Why should & how can Israel be eliminated? Ayatollah Khamenei’s answer to 9 key questions……….”

Which makes you wonder which side are all these guys on, and do they deserve each other? Blogging can be frustrating sometimes, no? No further comment for now………..
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arab Politics, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Qatar, Wahhabi

GCC Summit: Brotherly and Sisterly Problems Between Little and Big Wahhabis……..

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The Gulf GCC heads of state are supposed to hold their summit for this year next month in Doha, Qatar. No, the Saudis did not pick December for the annual meeting because of Christmas or Hannukah. They just happened to pick this cool month.

Anyway, this year’s meeting, if it is held, will be different. Syria, Iraq, and Yemen are not the main entree on the menu. The Big Wahhabi Brother (Saudi Arabia) is seriously angry at the Little Wahhabi Brother (Qatar). The two ruling families often support and finance rival Jihadis in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere where Jihadis roam. The Al Nahayan Brothers who own Abu Dhabi and rule the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are in the Saudi camp for now. The poorer Bahrain rulers usually follow the Saudi orders and do as they are told. Anyway, the two regimes would probably like to ex-communicate Qatar, unless they can force the Doha regime to change its foreign policies. I doubt they have any hope of instigating another palace coup attempt in Doha as the Saudis tried in the 1990s.

Odd, these princes and potentates can force the prime minister of Great Britain to seek an excuse to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, but they can’t force little Qatar to do the same. But then David Cameron is after their money and he’d do almost anything to get some of it. The Qatari rulers don’t need any more money, not from the Saudis and Emiratis.

The other two GCC members who are not parties to this dispute, Kuwait and Oman, have reportedly been trying to mediate and resolve this issue, but without success so far.

One promising fact is that Gulf media have not started to claim that Iranian Brigadier Qassem Suleimani of Quds Force is a regular visitor to Doha. Not yet. I recall how they started making fantastic claims and allegations about his secret visits to Cairo hotels just months before the military coup be Generalisimo Al Sisi against Morsi.

Will the GCC summit be held in Doha as scheduled? That depends on the mediations going on and on the caprice of the suddenly-insecure Saudi princes. A possible alternative is to go ahead with the non-summit but with lower rank representatives from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Caliphate, Iraq, Jihadis

The Economist Tackles Caliph Al-Baghdadi’s Mammary Fixation……….

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““IF I were a cow, I would be wearing a bra,” goes a lyric in a popular song about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State (IS). This reference to bovine lingerie—a poke at Mr Baghdadi’s supposed umbrage at the sight of naked udders—gets cheers from the audience in Metro al-Madina, a theatre in Beirut. The tune about Mr Baghdadi leading Islam into the abyss has proven such a hit that the Lebanese band performing it, The Great Departed, has extended its show…………”

Don’t know: people have their fixations ad complexes. They usually evolve, and in some cases maybe mature, over the years. Maybe baby Ibrahim Al Samarrai (a k a Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi) was nursed by a cold bottle and plastic nipple, care of an Al-Anbar version of Mothercare; never got to taste or see the real thing. They say it has some psychological as well as physical effects. Or it could be just one of the many quirks and obsessions, related to mammary and other glands, that the Jihadis tend to have. Like many other more normal people. This requires deeper analysis by qualified experts, not amateurs of this vital topic which most of us are.

Still, I suspect that it could have been worse for the Hollywood Caliph. Or maybe it was; time will tell.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Cinema, Hollywood, Israel

IDF Gets Two Big Famous Well-Videotaped Hollywood Fans………

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“On Thursday, billionaire Haim Saban threw a dinner at the Beverly Hilton to raise money for the nonprofit Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces. These fundraisers usually attract big names in tech and Hollywood, and this one raised more than $30 million. (Interest has amped up over the last few years due to Israel’s conflicts with Hamas in Gaza.) Attendees this time around included usual suspects such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Barbra Streisand. And then there was Pamela Anderson……………”

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy, Yemen

WTF? UN to Sanction Yemen Opposition Leaders, Charles and Hollande in Saada………

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“Lithuanian U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, chair of the council’s Yemen sanctions committee, said all 15 members had agreed to blacklist Saleh and Houthi rebel military leaders Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi and Abdullah Yahya al Hakim. The three men are now subject to a global travel ban and asset freeze. Saleh has denied seeking to destabilize Yemen and his party warned after a meeting on Thursday that any sanctions on the former president or “even waving such a threat would have negative consequences on the political process.”…….. The United States submitted a formal request to the Yemen sanctions committee a week ago for Saleh and the Houthi leaders to be the first people designated…………”

Years ago some politicians in the United States often warned of “world government” encroaching on national sovereignty. They were usually conservative Republicans who were terrified of a UN-type world regime that would interfere in domestic US affairs. Some of them opined that it was part of an international conspiracy to dominate the world. They were considered ‘the crazies‘ in mainstream US media in those days. Now some of them run the asylum show.

Isn’t this exactly what the UN and the USA are doing now in places like Yemen? And can the UN really force various opposed Yemeni factions to follow international dictate on internal matters? And why does the UN and world powers not try to solve other ‘domestic’ problems with sanctions, as in Egypt and Bahrain? 

I have posted here before that sanctioning the Houthis is a meaningless  gesture. Unless it is a prelude to a more muscular intervention against them. As far as I know the Houthis don’t own properties in Europe or New York; they don’t shop in Paris and London, and they don’t spend their vacations in Nice or Geneva. They certainly don’t purchase their weapons from the West; otherwise Mr. Cameron and Prince Chuck Al Windsor and M. Hollande would be as regular visitors to Saada as they are to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com