“When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a statement about the need to speed up political reform in the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, did she really think that is possible under these two regimes? There is no way the answer to that can be in the affirmative, unless “reform” means some cosmetic marginal plans and some practices like symbolic elections and “consultative councils” that the state media use……… These day of domination of oil money, such terms are meaningless, especially when large Western public relations firms are available to polish the images of despotic regimes that have unlimited financial liquidity. When the price of crude petroleum exceeds $110 per barrel, the weapon of money in the hands of these repressive regimes becomes an even more effective weapon than torture and other means of repression. I recall meetings between op Western officials, among them Tony Blair, and the now-murdered Colonel Qaddafi when he was an absolute dictator. Yet the same media quickly changed the image of that “repentant leader” back to the “dictator that must be overthrown”………..”
This is my translation of a brief excerpt of a column by exiled Bahraini academic and activist, Dr. Saied al-Shihabi who lives in London. Arab columns are often long, some are way too long, most should not even be written. This was a good one, I enjoyed reading it. Cheers
mhg
The Egyptian people paid in blood, sweat, tears, and fortune for democracy and freedom. They are still sacrificing in Tahrir, throughout Cairo, Alexandria and other regions. Yet the tone-deaf military junta appointed by the dictator Hosni Mubarak is imposing another Mubarak relic, a former prime minister under the dictator (al-Ganzouri), as the new prime minister of the “new” Egypt. No wonder the people of Egypt are not giving up their revolution. No wonder they are willing to sacrifice more to keep their revolution from being hijacked. They know there are plans to abort it, and to maintain the old regime under military control. The constitution proposed by the SCAF military junta is a travesty of any ‘democratic’ pretensions. It gives the military leaders overall power above all elected leaders and representatives of the people. The fact that the military junta opted for an interim prime minister from among veterans of the dictatorship is a clear signal that they, and their Arab oligarchy friends, will not peacefully yield power to the people. They are counting on dividing the country to abort the revolution and maintain the old corrupt regime under a new guise. Cheers
mhg
“If you have no shame, then do (and say) whatever you wish….” A good Arab saying
The divisive sectarian approach of Saudi semi-official Alarabiya network is breath-taking, especially on its Arabic website. It never misses a chance to highlight Shi’a-Sunni differences and divisions and to stoke their sectarian fires, especially in the Gulf region. Here it is writing about Bahrain, in the language of the official media of that country:
“Shaikh Fawaz Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, Chief of the Information (Propaganda) Authority of Bahrain, asserted that none of the opposition were ever prevented from appearing on the Bahrain television. He revealed that more than 300 Shi’a personality from among the opposition and government employees and civil society activists were invited but they all declined, either by refusing directly or pretending to be sick…….. About why the Bahrain government did not present any evidence of Iranian involvement in the Bahrain ‘events’ he said that has to do with future security reasons. He added that there is much evidence of Iranian involvement………….”
I am thinking of changing the middle name of the ruling family from Bin Technocrat al-Khalifa to Bin Goebbels al-Khalifa.
BFF “Thousands of people, including women and children, are being illegally detained by rebel militias in Libya, according to a report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Many of the prisoners are suffering torture and systematic mistreatment while being held in private jails outside the control of the country’s new government. The document, seen by The Independent, states that while political prisoners being held by the Gaddafi regime have been released, their places have been taken by up to 7,000 new “enemies of the state”, “disappeared” in a dysfunctional system, with no recourse to the law. The report will come as uncomfortable reading for the Western governments, including Britain, which backed the campaign to oust Gaddafi……..”
Some of the news out of “liberated” Libya doesn’t sound good for the future. Most of the current leaders of the “new” Libya were either men who served under Qaddafi for many years, or fundamentalists who were in prison or exile. None of the above have any experience with nor any attachment to things like democracy, freedom of religion, or freedom of expression. There are a few who were in exile in Western academic institution, and have aspirations for democracy and freedoms but they are a few who don’t have the political base that the others, the darker forces, have. Cheers
mhg
“What Egypt is witnessing today is a revolution against the coup and a new beginning for the revolution of change. There are new rules for the game from now on and it is important for all players inside and outside of Egypt to return to the strategy-drafting table. The United States and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) should be playing essential political roles right now. The necessary investment that must be made in Egypt cannot wait until after stability is restored, but rather the opposite. There is an opportunity for influential countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to help Egypt’s youth shape the future of their country under a secular civilian government away from ideologies, religious and sectarian struggles. Egypt is not alone in the balance. The Arab future all together is largely dependent on what Egypt’s future turns to be. The GCC is now playing a prominent role in shaping the new regional order in collaboration with the League of Arab States not by sidestepping it. The Arab League is fundamental in securing that the regional order does not get shaped exclusively by the likes of Turkey …………..”
These writers and analysts of the Saudi semi-official media can’t help pushing the Saudi model. This Lebanese writer is from the Saudi semi-official daily al-Hayat, owned by Prince Khaled Bin Sultan al-Saud (deputy defense minister). She is here pushing for the Egyptians to look toward the People’s Democratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for help and perhaps as a role model. Maybe by now the people of Egypt have forgotten the time when the Saudi king called them “foreign infiltrators and agents”. That was only last January.
(She forgot here to insert something appropriate about the role of Hezbollah, the favorite bête noire of the Saudi media). Cheers
mhg
“The real story at hand is about the revival of Arab sovereignty — expressed obliquely in the slow steps the Arab League is taking ………. The Arab League has long been a cross between the forces of fiction and futility, a largely meaningless organization that has enjoyed neither impact nor respect in the Arab arena it is supposed to represent. ………… By engaging with Syrian opposition groups to plan a transition from the current conditions, it firmed up that which the Libya decision had only touched on gingerly: It is permissible now for Arab countries to meddle in the internal affairs of other Arab states, when there is a clear moral or political reason to do so that reflects the sentiments of a majority of Arab public opinion………. The other fascinating new development we see before our eyes is the continued rebirth and reassertion of Arab sovereignty, will and influence within the Arab world, after decades during which the incompetent and politically derelict Arab states largely surrendered their regional security and ideological functions to foreign powers, especially Israel, Turkey, Iran and the United States. The Arab League is now making decisions whose consequences are ricocheting around the region and the world …………….”
This piece above is giving too much credit to the still decrepit Arab League and to the potentates controlling it. Here is my take on how things happened and are happening:
Mohamed Bouazizi, a desperate young Tunisian, sets himself and our region aflame (December 17, 2010 and died January 4, 2011). Hundreds of thousands march in Tunisia, millions march in Egypt, thousands are killed from Egypt to Libya to Syria and Yemen and Bahrain.
This piece is giving credit to the very same people who tried desperately to crush the Arab Spring (and still are). He is writing as if the Arab League was responsible for the Arab uprisings. He is writing as if the Arab despots, absolute tribal kings, princes, and dictators, were behind the Arab uprisings. Remember when the Saudi king claimed last February that Egyptian protesters at Tahrir were “foreign infiltrators”?(Thank God Egypt doesn’t have many Shi’as).
Yet the Arab uprisings are not done, and not only in Yemen and Syria and Bahrain. They are not done in Egypt and Libya (and even in their birthplace of Tunisia). They are not done in other places, they have not even started in the most repressive Arab state: Saudi Arabia.
The Arab League has not really changed: it is still dominated by the same despots who have dominated it for a quarter of a century. The uprising in Libya was aided by NATO with an air campaign and a covert ground campaign (so much for more Arab independence). The uprising in Yemen is being ”controlled” by the same Arab despots with the help of a Western air campaign, at least. The uprising in Bahrain is being “controlled” by the same Arab despots with their tanks. The uprising in Syria is being aided (gradually) in part for reasons of regional power politics. Hardly for the Syrian people. Absolute royal princes would probably kill as many people, nay more, to remain in power if they faced the same uprising as Bashar al-Assad and the Ba’ath Party (just look at Bahrain). The Arab League , since it could not stop the uprisings, is working to contain and control them.
So much forindependence from foreign powers like the West and Turkey and Iran and Israel: the region is far from that. Turkey is looked to for a Syrian solution (and a Palestinian role). Iran is crucial for a Lebanese (and possibly Palestinian) solution. The West (USA, France, Britain), well the West owns most of the region and more than ever before, like it or not. The Western powers are being gradually invited back by the Arab regimes to “reclaim” Syria for the first time since 1946, just as they were invited to “reclaim” Libya for the first time since 1969. As for Israel: some of the same Arab leaders who now run he Arab League are no doubt still praying for an effective Israeli strike against Iran. Just as they did in 2006.
The Arab League represents the lowest common denominator of its members, its ruling potentates. It will not change until these Arab regimes are changed.
BFF Breaking News: the government of Bahrain has not announced the discovery of any new Iranian or Hezbollah terrorist plots today. They have not identified any installations or individuals who may have been targets of today’s uncovered plot. This is an unusual development for Bahrain.The regime and its imported mercenarise are slowing down On the other hand, the Kuwaiti-Saudi daily rag alseyassah is taking up the slack. (I find alseyassah entertaining, although not as humorous as, say, The Onion). It reports that Hezbollah has put its sources on alert around the region, and that there was in fact a terror plot in Bahrain and added an extra-credit bonus: that the latest Bahrain plotters got financing from some Kuwaitis, meaning Shi’as in Kuwait (apparently the Iranians and Hezbollah ran out of money!).
Alseyassah, like a couple of other rags in my hometown, fits well into its Saudi patrons’ propaganda drive to divide the Gulf region along sectarian lines. It also dropped a bombshell that only our overfed “faithful” would believe: it reported that Iranian and Syrian agents were plotting to assassinate three Gulf GCC foreign ministers, no less! Alseyassah has not yet report that Hezbollah and Iran are planning an invasion of Mecca to take over the Kaaba, after blowing up the Vatican. Not yet, but stay tuned. Saudi media are not as dumb as their Gulf surrogates. They have become smarter, more subtle, with the exception of Alarabiya which is openly sectarian on its Arabic website. Cheers
mhg
“BreakingNews Breaking News: Arab League offers to send 500 human rights and military observers to Syria, says Egypt TV -@BBCWorld…………….”
This is what I read Monday. The Arab League will send “human rights” observers to Syria! No doubt it will include Saudis, Bahrainis, Emiratis, and maybe Yemenis. Or maybe they will be supervised by these countries. All regimes that have shown great respect for human rights, allow free speech, do not kill protesters, do not arrest people without warrants and do not hold them for months either without charges (Saudi Arabia) or on trumped up charges (Bahrain). I think the word “chutzpah” should be incorporated into the Arabic language. Cheers
mhg
Arab media are increasingly mentioning the N-F word, for No-Fly zone in terms of Syria. Apparently some factions of the Syrian opposition want Western no-fly zone established over Syria. Hoping it will be a prelude to the arrival of Western Special Forces of the kind that helped defeat Qaddafi in Libya. Some Arab regimes have already established their own No-Freedom zones. The Saudis had long established an absolute No-Freedom zone in their own part of the Arabian Peninsula and they have recently extended it to neighboring Bahrain. They would also like a No-Freedom zone in neighboring Yemen where the people are in rebellion. Actually, if they had their way, they’d like No-Freedom zones all over the Arab worlds, from the Persian-American Gulf to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Cheers
mhg
“A few days ago, ESPN looked at calls for political change in Bahrain through the lens of sport, and it’s not a pretty picture (I’ve embedded the video below). The story of Alaa and Mohammed Hubail, former stars of Bahrain’s national football team now living in exile, reminded me of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, where athletes lived in constant fear of Saddam and his sons. Iraq, like Bahrain, has a Shiite majority. And, like Bahrain, Saddam’s Iraq was ruled by a Sunni leader who blithely ignored the wishes of the majority of his population. Such situations corrupt everything. In Iraq, national players were tortured and jailed for poor performances. Many promising Shiite players never got a chance at the national team because of their fate. Now, in a smaller way, Bahrain is emulating Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Alaa and Mohammed Hubail, brothers and national-team stars, are now living in the shadows, kicked off the national team and humiliated. After being arrested and, according to them, beaten in a Bahraini government detention center, they were also fired from the professional clubs. Why? They joined a democracy protest last February. Like most Bahrainis, they are Shiites, and were angry at the monarchy. Alaa is probably the country’s greatest-ever player, with 21 goals for his country. Of his detention, he told ESPN: “We were living in a nightmare of fear and horror.“………”
No comment this time, but I reserve the right for a rain check. Meanwhile, here is the ESPN video link. Cheers
mhg
Rattlesnake Ridge 
BFF