Category Archives: Arab Counterrevoltion

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia

Saudi (Arabian Peninsula): Reform or Rebellion……..

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      BFF
Government apologists and hired opinion-ators claim that the al-Saud rulers want to reform, that most people don’t want it. In Saudi Arabia the regime has managed to again do what it is good at doing, what all Arab despots are good at: change the subject again, divide the country again. They started by stressing last spring that public protests are the domain of disgruntled Shi’a in the Eastern Province: hinting that no good Wahhabi should protest at the same time as the Shi’as. At least have the decency to wait until the Shi’as are calm, which means never or until hell freezes over, whichever comes first. Besides, didn’t the good palace muftis and pliable Salafi shaikhs say that protests in the kingdom are un-Islamic? Then there is the more crucial issue of women drivers, or non-drivers, much more important than other freedoms. Women still can’t drive, but they did change the subject for a week or two.
Cheers
mhg


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Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, Human Right, Occupied Bahrain

1984 in Occupied Bahrain: a Ministry of Human Rights? Expatriates and Lackeys and Abe Lincoln and Bob Marley…………

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“You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time….” Abe Lincoln

“You can fool some people sometimes,

But you can’t fool all the people all the time.

So now we see the light,

We gonna stand up for our rights!…...” Bob Marley

“His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa today issued
decree 60 for 2011 renaming the Social Development Ministry as Human Rights and
Social Development Ministry. The Social Development Minister will also be known
as Human Rights and Social Development Minister. Under the same decree, the
ministry has been restructured to include an undersecretary for human rights, an
undersecretary for social affairs developments, a public and international
relations directorate and other affiliated departments. HM King Hamad also
issued decree 61 for 2011 appointing Osama Abdulla Al-Absi as Labour Market
Regulatory Authority Chief Executive Officer for a three-year term……” Bahrain “News” Agency

King of Bahrain has now changed the name of one ministry to a “Ministry of Human Rights”. This is like Hitler establishing a ministry for Jewish Welfare, or Stalin establishing a ministry for prisoner rights. Or the American Republican Tea Party advocating for labor unions. Some slick, but not smart enough, publicists/lobbyists in Britain or the United States must be behind this desperate attempt at a face-lift for the al-Khalifa ruling clan. Transparently Orwellian.
It started with a call for a so-called “national dialog” to be headed by al-Dhahrani, a semi-educated Salafi-connected head of the mostly appointed legislature, and an al-Khalifa lackey. Then they called to include the “expatriate”, largely South Asian laborers and housemaids, community in the national dialog. On the face of it an admirable call, but a publicity window dressing aimed partly at watering down the majority of the Bahrainis. If they cared for the expatriate community they would allow them access to public education and other benefits, which they do not.
Bahrain’s rulers had become masters at deceiving the West, especially willing American officials, with their public relations stunts, including fake and meaningless elections and a few very public appointments (including one ambassadorial). This time the Arab Spring has caught up with them.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Economics, GCC, Jordan, Middle East, Saudi Arabia

Fighting for Jordan: the GCC and America and Compelling Economics……

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“Senior U.S. diplomats have been dropping by the royal palace in Amman almost every week this spring to convince Jordanian King Abdullah II that democratic reform is the best way to quell the protests against his rule. But another powerful ally also has been lobbying Abdullah — and wants him to ignore the Americans. Saudi Arabia is urging the Hashemite kingdom to stick to the kind of autocratic traditions that have kept the House of Saud secure for centuries, and Riyadh has been piling up gifts at Abdullah’s door to sell its point of view…….The quiet contest for Jordan is one sign of the rivalry that has erupted across the Middle East this year between Saudi Arabia and the United States, longtime allies that have been put on a collision course by the popular uprisings that have swept the region……..”

The King of Jordan may have no choice than to move toward a constitutional monarchy. The Arab Spring has touched Jordan, but not as much as many other Arab states. As I commented a few months ago: Jordan differs from, say, Syria in that it (Jordan) is a police state that does not look like a police state (Syria is a police state that does look like one). The Saudis will have to fully integrate Jordan into the GCC, allowing Jordanians full free access to Gulf employment, something that would greatly reduce economic and political pressure on the regime. But that may create problems with other source countries of labor: Pakistan, India, Egypt, etc. Besides, Gulf potentates usually prefer non-Arab labor because the Asians are not interested in regional politics. (Unemployment among native citizens is extremely high by any standards in several GCC countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain: all double digit).
The truth is that Riyadh depends, will continue to depend, heavily on the USA, on American power and, especially, American weapons in its attempt to contain Iranian influence. Saudi hegemony in the GCC region is at least partly based on the sophisticated American weapons to which the massive Iranian military has no access. Instead, the Iranians rely heavily on their own arms industry.
Cheers
mhg


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Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Osama Bin Laden, Religion, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Salafis of the Gulf: Saudi Paymasters, and a Kosher Homey in Abbottabad……..

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“Note that these villages are not engaging in any criminal activities. They are unarmed civilians who are being wantonly attacked by state security forces simply on the basis that the people are Shia and therefore deemed by the Sunni elite rulers to be supportive of anti-government (pro-democracy) movement, which in itself is not illegal and is supposedly a right that is permitted by Bahrain’s signatory to international laws, that is, the right to have political opinions. Note also that, according to my contacts, the security personnel are mainly Saudi or from Yemen, Syria, Jordan. These personnel are predominantly Sunni and loyal to the regime. That is why they have been recruited by the regime. The police and army personnel are extremely hostile to Shia people out of deep sectarian phobia. This is especially true of the Saudis who are typically Wahhabis, the kind of extreme Islamism that Saudi rulers and Al Qaeda espouses. Wahhabis see it almost as a religious duty to crush Shias. We saw the same phobia in Iraq where Shia mosques were mostly attacked by bombers. The effective consent that the West has given the Bahraini rulers to crackdown on their people means the West is colluding with some of the most repressive regimes in the Middle East to crush pro-democracy people in Bahrain……”

Salafis have been the strongest supporters of the campaign to crush the uprising for equality and democracy in Bahrain. They are strong supporters of any campaign by regimes in the Gulf GCC, or other countries, against any true democratic movement that supports free speech. Even as they themselves are often used by their Saudi paymasters to disrupt other regimes in their home Gulf countries, like in my own hometown, under the pretense of demanding more democracy. Salafis never ever believe in democracy and free speech: sometimes they use the others’ demands for freedom but only to serve their and their masters’ purposes.
Salafis all across the Gulf and indeed across the Middle East, are coreligionists and ideological mates of al-Qaeda. They consider the al-Qaeda people basically ‘kosher’ homeys who may have erred and gone astray against the ruling al-Saud dynasty (apparently no too astray: they still get all the money they need for their terrorist activities). Some of these Salafis in the Gulf, including in my hometown, have penned articles beseeching Bin Laden to return to the fold, come in from the cold, enjoy the joys of the absolute tribal monarchy which spawned him and his movement. That was before Abbottabad (for some reason Abbottabad always reminds me of Lou Costello).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Bahrain, Occupied Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, US Foreign Policy

Political Nirvana: Hillary Clinton Writes to the Saudi People about Freedom for Syrians…….

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has penned a column for the Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat (owned by Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud). Her topic is the Syrian uprising against the Assad regime and is titled “No return to the Status Quo Ante in Syria”.
She assures the Saudi people, and any other Arabs who might read that daily, that the Bahraini Saudi Syrian people deserve freedom and the right to choose their own government, that they deserve dignity and freedom from fear. She also said that Bahrain Syria deserves a government that respects the people and seeks a unified and democratic nation…..
Like Mr. Obama in his last speech, she neglected to mention Saudi Arabia and the people of the Arabian Peninsula. They both believe in the principle of selective non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, and hence she did not mention Occupied Bahrain or Saudi Arabia or the UAE where many people are languishing in prison for expressing their opinion. Or maybe they believe that the peoples in these absolute tribal monarchies have already attained political Nirvana or, worse, they don’t believe these people deserve what the peoples of other Arab countries (and Iran) deserve.
It is true, not as many people have been killed in most the Gulf states than in Syria or Libya or Egypt. Except for Bahrain where proportionally as much if not more have been killed than in some of the others, given the small population of native Bahrainis and the 33 killed and dozens still “missing”.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Gulf states, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Possibly a New Egypt, Same Old Saudi Arabia……………….

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“In fact, it is not implausible that post-Mubarak governments will advocate causes and goals that undermine Saudi Arabia’s interests. For instance, a democratising Egypt could seek to promote freedom and liberty in the region, which is undoubtedly antithetical to Saudi interests. And down the road, a more nationalistic Egypt very well could try to challenge Saudi Arabia as the vanguard of Sunni dominance in the region. Some of this is conjecture, to be sure. But do not think Saudi rulers are unaware of these possibilities. And here is one more challenge in Saudi-Egyptian relations: Egypt’s revolutionaries and political activists, as well as various Shia and Copts, believe that Saudi Arabia is funding extremist political groups (specifically, the Salafis) so as to undermine the revolution. That is to say, in their eyes, Saudi Arabia is meddling in their country and in bed with, if not actually leading, the counter-revolutionaries. Not surprisingly, there have been protests at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo. Arguably, the more troubling part of this is that the accusations give the Saudis another reason to dislike the revolutionaries ……….”

Last January, an angry King Abdullah famously called the protesting people of Egypt “foreign infiltrators”. Egypt under Mr. Mubarak was a unique animal: a country that normally leads the Arab world was a sidekick for the Saudis for thirty years. That will probably never happen again, unless the Mubarak-appointed Field Marshal Tantawi and his generals keep control. Egypt is too large, has too much history and culture: it automatically poses a challenge to the al-Saud leadership (it always did until Hosni Mubarak took over). It is the same with Iraq: too rich (potentially has more petroleum than Saudi Arabia) with too much history and culture to play second fiddle to the al-Saud (even under someone like Allawi). Even in the so-called “moderate” camp, Egypt poses a challenge for the Saudi regime. In their hearts, the al-Saud would rather have Egypt, and Iraq, away from their sphere of influence around the Gulf and in Jordan.
(I have no doubt that the Saudis are financing the Salafis of Egypt, just as they are financing the Salafi groups and politicians of the Gulf region. These Salafis are their fifth column, their not very sleepy sleeping cells in the Arab states. But that is okay: every regime looks for its own interest).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, Jordan, Torture, WTF

Bahrain and Jordan: Brothers in Repression and Other Things………

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The Bahrain Ministry of Interior (in charge of police, foreign mercenaries, baltagiya, security, prisons, torture, sexual assault, etc etc) reports that:

“His Excellency Minister of Interior Lt-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa received on Thursday Jordanian Director of Public Security Lt-General Hussain Haza Al Majali with the presence of Chief of Public Security Major-General Tariq Mubarak Bin Diana. HE Minister hailed the strong and brotherly ties between Bahrain and Jordan that were strengthen during the ruling of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his brother His Majesty King Abdullah the Second. Security cooperation ties between the two countries were discussed, in which HE Minister highlighted the importance of such visit to expand cooperation……..”

What is this? A club of torturers are us? Bahrain is known to import security agents and interrogators and torturers from Jordan (as do the UAE and Saudi Arabia and possibly others).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Iraq, Mercenaries

GCC Expansion: Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Malaysia……….

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“Pakistan today stressed the importance of re-enforcing trade and defense relations with Bahrain, as well as in labor and work fields. The Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari held talks with the commander of the national guard in Bahrain Shaikh Mohammed Bin Issa Bin Salman Al Khalifa in which they discussed regional developments and cooperation in defense and regional matters…….…”

Pakistan is effectively a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC. The Pakistani military, retired or on active duty, have for years operated the armed forces of some Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Pakistani military and police personnel have been important in the repression of the people of Bahrain. Bahraini officials fly regularly to Pakistan to hire more ‘security’ agents even as they deny security jobs to most Bahraini citizens. Top Saudi princes like Bandar Bin Sultan Bin al-Yamama Bin BAE Systems Bin Commission is reported to have flown to Pakistan to make deals on stationing or preparing Pakistani forces to defend the regime if and when needed. Reports also indicate the same can be said of Malaysia: its government officials recently expressed willingness to send forces to defend the regime in Bahrain.
Now on the Arab side, the GCC has sought to form alliances with the monarchies of Jordan and Morocco. The last GCC summit made a surprise announcement of welcoming membership for Jordan and Morocco. Now we have the nucleus of a new group of states: the GCC, Jordan, Morocco, Malaysia, and Pakistan. That means the rich GCC states and three or four poor relations that are far away enough (Morocco, Malaysia, Pakistan) or small enough (Jordan) to be manageable. Clearly the potentates of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and others, are looking for cheap bodies, impoverished mercenaries willing to do what it takes. The UAE is ahead of the game: the al-Nahayan are forming foreign legion of Latin Americans, Australians, disgruntled white Africans and others to keep the people at bay.
I was going to suggest that the GCC look at closer countries, like Iraq which is a Gulf country, and perhaps Yemen which is close enough ad has had deeper cultural, ethnic, and other ties (as does Iraq). Then there are Turkey and Iran, both closer than Malaysia and Pakistan and Burma or WTF. What about Egypt? Then I remembered: with none of these excluded countries can the al-Saud rule the roost. They would be dominated rather than dominate.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia

A Country of Princes on Wheelchairs, Corrupt Men in Suvs, Scurrying Faceless Women……

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“But not Saudi Arabia, or so it seems. And not Riyadh. As ever, Saudi men sit in their large SUVs, stuck in traffic between the steel-blue facades of office buildings, and the wives of these men are still having their drivers drop them off in front of the shopping malls in downtown Riyadh, where they scurry from Prada to Ralph Lauren and then disappear into Starbucks for a latte — in the “family department,” a room on the side kept separate from the world of men. The boulevards and promenades of the Saudi capital look as though they had been swept clean, as if some mysterious force had extinguished all public life. Riyadh has nothing like Avenue Bourguiba in Tunis or Tahrir Square in Cairo. In fact, there is no sign in Saudi Arabia of a public political discourse that could be compared with the debates, held in secret at first and then more and more in the open, with which the unrest began in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria. Almost every political discussion seems to end with the same words: Long live the king! Saudi Arabia feels like a realm that has come to a standstill in a rapidly changing world. Its leaders, most notably the 86-year-old King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, are pinning their hopes on the old principle of stability………….”

They call it stability, others call it stagnation. That same argument was used in the swamp that was Egypt under Mubarak for thirty years: they said it was ‘stability’, I called it a swamp. There is not much virtue in stable misery and repression and powerlessness and corruption. Once the fear is gone, the ‘stability’ card is not compelling.
(And then there was/is Khaled al-Jehany, a brave young man, the only one in the city, who stood in a Riyadh street and said that the whole country is a big prison, He was whisked away and his fate is still unknown).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, GCC, UAE

Peninsula Mercenaries, Peninsula Foreign Legion, UAE……..

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I have been wondering, nay worrying, what is behind this large mercenary force being gathered in the UAE? The al-Nahayan autocrats surely don’t expect these Colombians, South Africans, Europeans, Americans, Israelis (possibly) and others to just sit in the desert. They must have a goal for them. Is it as reported to keep the peace by putting down popular uprisings in the UAE and possibly other Gulf areas? Then what is the Peninsula Shield doing in Bahrain (actually it is the Saudis doing it all in Bahrain)?

I suspect that the reason for gathering this mercenary force in the UAE has to do with Saudi Arabia. The al-Nahayan have at best cool relations with their fellow despots in Riyadh. There have been cases of friction in the past few years, and there are still pending border territorial issues that their media tries not to report. The UAE has sparse native population, and has to import foreign labor for almost everything that needs to be done. About 85% or so of the people are temporary imported foreigners (mostly housemaids and laborers, but professionals as well). They can’t form any substantial military force out of that. Even the natives eschew military service in the harsh climate in favor of government jobs. Hence the idea of forming a Foreign-Legion style mercenary force. That would save the al-Nahayan from having to depend on the al-Saud. Apparently (at least to me) they do not like what they have seen in Bahrain and have concluded that if anyone will have to commit atrocities in their country it better be a force under their own command. Hence this large mercenary force.
Cheers
mhg


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