“As pressure mounts on Egypt’s military-backed interim government to forcibly disperse supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi from their massive sit-ins, some of the loudest, most passionate voices calling for security forces to clear the encampments come from liberals here. Liberal commentators, activists and politicians — on-state controlled media and across a spectrum of independent channels — are saying that it is long past time to evict the tens of thousands of Morsi supporters and Muslim Brotherhood backers from their sit-ins around Cairo University and the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque……………..”
Egypt’s liberals have come along way from their “revolutionary” days of two years ago. I mean both types of liberals: the pro-Mubarak felul liberals and the former rebels against Mubarak (probably including leaders of the new tamarrod movement that was led by the UAE shaikhs). Now they want the Egyptian army to do to protesting Islamists at Rab’a what it would not do in 2011 at Tahrir. What many of them did not want it to do in 2011 during the Tahrir protests. They want the military to crush the pro-Morsi protests, something they did not want the military to do when they, the liberals, or many of them, were occupying Tahrir Square to make their (legitimate) political demands. That is “nifaq”, spelling h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic. Actually in all dialects of Arabic, from Morocco to the Comoros.
“When Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt, Ahmed Helal was locked up four times in Tora prison, officials’ favorite detention facility for perceived enemies of the state. Each time, he was arrested in the middle of the night and thrown in with scores of others whose only offense, they believed, was being Shiite Muslims…………. In the year that recently ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood held power, the threats grew graver. Brotherhood officials denounced Shiite practices and declared that the sect had no place in Egypt. Lawmakers pushed through a new constitution that made Sunni religious doctrine the basis for most laws. One young preacher who converted to Shiism was jailed on charges of insulting Islam. The trouble culminated in a gruesome lynching in a village outside Cairo in June, when a mob dragged the bloodied bodies of a prominent Shiite cleric and three others through the streets while police officers stood by……………….”
I am afraid this sectarian legacy built during the years of both Hosni Mubarak and Morsi will continue no matter who rules in Cairo. Under Mubarak Shi’as were persecuted, prevented from practicing their rites and often imprisoned for who they were. That was the effect of thirty years of continued Wahhabi influence over the once tolerant and accepting Egyptian society. The Islamist regime that was freely elected brought to power a coalition of Muslim Brothers and Salafis, which institutionalized the persecution of Shi’as (and the Christian Copts and other minorities). It made it halal and kosher to openly spout sectarian hatred. Even some of Egypt’s self-proclaimed liberals got into the habit of doing so. I suspect that the treatment of Shi’as will not get much better under any regime in Egypt in the near future. There are institutional and political factors now that will push for its continuation: from the Mubarak bureaucracy to the Al-Azhar bureaucracy to the influential Salafis to the Persian Gulf princes and potentates. It took thirty one years for Egypt to reach the stage where people got lynched in public for their faith while the police watched. It may take at least another generation to return Egypt to its tolerant past. Maybe.
“On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif delivered a message conveying the challenges facing the region in terms of development and humanitarian issues. The realization of security in the region necessitates an integrated and all-encompassing vision to enable this area to deal with the rising problems and to boost religious, educational and social institutions and security organs. King Abdullah called for the enhancement of joint Arab security cooperation and coordination, adding that Saudi Arabia has supported all Arab, regional and international efforts in combating crimes, notably terrorism. It has also contributed to maintaining international peace and security, he said. Secretary-General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers Mohammed Ali Kuman said the late Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif played a key role in boosting the council and enhancing Arab security cooperation……………….”
This is one issue that all Arab regimes, be they absolute monarchies, dictatorships, or elected schmucks agree one. The security issue (code word for repression) is the one issue that they meet on smoothly and agree on. The meetings of the ministers of interior, the men in charge of police, mercenaries, prisons, torture, interrogation, executions, and the like always reach agreement. I suspect if the Arab states ever unite, the best start would be to unite their ministries of interior. United Arab repression as a first step toward everything else. Come to think of it: once there is united repression, there will be no need for anything else. Even the lousy Arab League can be renamed the League of Arab Police States (which it almost is), or some other Conan-Doyle kind of name. Then they might want to move the headquarters from Cairo to Riyadh, where the atmosphere is more amenable, more conducive to repression. In that case Riyadh will become the capital of the United Arab Ministry of Interior without missing a beat: it already is the capital of Arab repression. Don’t get me wrong, there will be plenty of titles for other Arab capitals:
The Arab Ministry of Proxy War and Destruction can me moved to Damascus.
The Arab Ministry of Tear Gas can be moved to Mamana (Bahrain).
The Arab Ministry of Sectarian Confusion can be moved to Baghdad.
The Arab Ministry of Political Confusion can be moved to Cairo.
The Arab Ministry of Being on the Verge of Something can be in Beirut.
The Arab Ministry of WHoGivesAFuck can be moved to Khartoum (Sudan).
The Arab Ministry of Ignored Starvation can be moved to Mogadishu (Somalia).
The Arab Ministry of Compensating Phallic Tall Towers can be moved to Abu Dhabi.
“Bahrain dailies issued the other day focused in their principal headlines on the main local, Arab and international events which happened over the past 24 hours.
The following are the main topics:
-HRH Premier (Shaikh Khalifa Al Khalifa) receives cable of thanks from Thai monarch.
-HRH Crown Prince (Shaikh Salman Al Khalifa) receives new Italian ambassador to the kingdom of Bahrain.
-Deputy Premier Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa receives former US Ambassador to Bahrain Ronald Neumann.
-Deputy Premier Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa receives Kuwaiti Ambassador.
-Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa receives Sudanese ambassador and discusses bilateral relations
Foreign minister (Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa) attends the meeting of the Friends of Yemen Group in London.………………..” Bahrain News Agency
Now ain’t that sweet? Feel out-Khalifa’d yet? The good news is, at least good news for the crown prince of Bahrain since it makes him seem more relevant than last week, is that they have appointed the crown prince as (First) Deputy Prime Minister. The PM, the hugely unpopular uncle of the king, has had his own son as the only deputy prime minister until yesterday. Which makes the son a ”number two” as of now: the father, the PM, has been “number two” for decades since the king is his boss. This alters things within the ruling Al Khalifa, but I am not sure how it helps the people of Bahrain achieve their rights in equality and justice and freedom. Don’t break out the sharbat, or whatever it is you prefer, yet.
“All these milder monarchies now risk slipping into the habits of the Gulf’s worst human-rights offenders, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The 2011 crackdown by Bahrain’s rulers left nearly 100 dead and the island kingdom dangerously split between a Shia majority and loyalist Sunnis. Hopes of respite rose when the government accepted the recommendations of an international panel for reform. It has implemented almost none of them, however, and Bahraini courts have continued to dispense cruel justice. This month the highest appeal court upheld life sentences for seven men accused of calling for anti-government demonstrations. Saudi Arabia, however, remains in a league of its own, ranked by Freedom House, along with North Korea and Equatorial Guinea, as one of the world’s least free nations. Its small, harassed band of rights campaigners celebrates such small advances as the induction of women into the shura council. But they face a double challenge—not only from the state but from a religious right that habitually brands democracy supporters as apostates from Islam. ………………..”
Also sprachThe Economist, turning its attention back to the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian-American Gulf. In several of the Gulf states, the idea of “reform” is just not tenable under some of the current ruling clans. I can name at least two of them. Can you imagine several thousand Al Saud princes giving up their life-and-death-and-loot grip on the vast country? Can you imagine the leech-like Al Khalifa clan voluntarily releasing their blood-sucking grip over the islands of Bahrain? Okay, the Al-Saud start to make the right noises about women’s rights and the West goes ape in excitement, thinking their ‘values’ are taking hold. The Al Khalifa allow booze and prostitution in their hotels, and some in the West, mostly European expatriates whose fortunes are tied to the rulers, call that enlightenment. Assigning a few token women to a toothless appointed body in Riyadh that prolongs the repression of the absolute monarchy is called reform. Allowing booze and sinning in Manama hotels (mostly for the benefit of thirsty and hungry Saudi faithful) is supposed to imply that the ruling gang is reform-minded. Some may even call it humanitarian. Reform? My well-educated guess is that probably very likely possibly almost certainly it is absofuckinglutely too late for mere “reform” in those two oligarchies. It will go on until it is resolved. The fear is gone or it is on its way out. Cheers
mhg
The Saudi Mufti Shaikh Abdulaziz Al Al Shaikh, who is also president of the Commission of Higher (Ulema) Scientists, has issued a new (scientific) fatwa. He has made it (scientifically) ‘haram’, taboo, not kosher, to communicate with foreign satellite television networks and cooperate with them in publicizing the country’s secrets. His shaikhness noted that these networks aim at spreading confusion, anarchy, and division (fitna) among all Muslims and that they destroy the unity of the umma (wtf that be). His Scientific Muftiness said that the proper Shari’a way to deal with public issues and concerns is to write to officials about them rather than go to media outlets or protest publicly. (Like you can write the King about stopping all the Al-Saud prices looting the country’s resources and end up spending the rest of your life in prison, probably without being tried for it). His Scientific Muftiness said that providing any information to such media is a form of treason and helps the “enemies” of Islam. He also warned against covering up for or helping hide or sheltering anyone who tries to organize assassinations or other unlawful acts. At the end of his sermon during the Friday prayers at the Imam Turkey Bin Abdullah he no doubt left some of his congregation muttering: WTF, in Arabic? Cheers mhg [email protected]
Neck of the woods
“The message sent by the military council that rules Egypt was simple: “Don’t mess with Egypt’s armed forces.” The message received by the activists who flooded Tahrir Square 18 months ago: “Egypt’s revolution, which began with a bang, is ending with a whimper.” With several decrees, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces — a body of 20 generals – moved to neuter civilian authority and give itself unprecedented powers. It got some help from the Supreme Constitutional Court. The timing was hardly coincidental. The candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood was running strongly in the final round of the presidential election against a former Egyptian Air Force general. [Read more about the candidates]. What many observers are calling a “constitutional coup” has serious implications not only for the prospect of democracy in Egypt, but also for the future of the Arab world and for the close relationship between Washington and Cairo……….”
That is not the true message: it is that democracy is never given. It is taken. Egypt’s SCAF military junta (aka the Zombies) is following a soft version of the Algerian model. It closed the elected parliament (just like the Algerian regime did in 1991) but MAY allow an opposition president to be elected to a weakened office. Maybe. Why
the pretended surprise about the SCAF coup? We have known that since last year: the coup has been happening since Mubarak was deposed. A gradual coup that was designed to keep Tahrir Square empty even as it aborted the revolution, gutted it of any meaning. And it was allowed to happen because the Egyptian people did not want to anger the military enough to have it abort the “revolution”. Even though everybody knew that was exactly what the military was doing. Delaying publishing the election results is also part of this coup. The military may surprise us all and announce the victory of Mohammed Morsi against their own favorite candidate, General Ahmad Shafiq. A Pyrrhic victory they hope will keep Egypt effectively under military rule for another generation or two. That may explain why Omar Suleiman, Mubarak’s chief spook and only vice president, and his family have departed for the United Arab Emirates this week. Either
way, the military may win its victory for a while. The next revolution, whenever it comes, may be a real one, not a remake of the old regime. Cheers
mhg [email protected]
“Bahrain has become home to Al-Arab News Channel and its studios. Rotana Group has also decided to relocate its top executive management from Riyadh to Bahrain as per December 12, 2012, while maintaining its studios in Cairo and Beirut. Two agreements have today been signed at The Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Spa, in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Information Affairs Authority President Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa sealed the deals respectively with Al-Arab News Channel director-general and editor-in-chief Jamal Khashoggi and Rotana Media Group Chief Executive Officer Fahd Al-Sukat. Addressing the ceremony, Shaikh Fawaz thanked His Royal Highness Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for trusting in Bahrain’s media openness, deregulated economy and technical and human competences. He wished pioneering Rotana Group and Al-Arab News Channel, along with their media and administrative staff……………”
Also sprach Bahrain News Agency, the least credible news agency in the Persian Gulf region. Which makes it the least credible in the Arab and Muslim worlds which makes it the least credible in the whole wide world. But it is telling the truth, sort of, here. Read carefully and you see that this agreement is a meaningless political gesture to the ruling clan of Bahrain. The studios of the two networks will remain safely in Cairo and Beirut. Some executive offices will be in Manama (wtf that may mean). The princely partner of Rupert Murdoch, who has mouthed some nonsense about a “minority” in Bahrain who are against the regime, is helping out his family’s new acquisition, the islands of Bahrain. But how long will they keep it against the wishes of a majority of the people? The al-Saud princes will find out that in Bahrain they have bitten more than they can chew (a cliche but useful here). The prince’s fortune is estimated by Forbes Magazine at about $18 billion. Forbes also claims that, like Steve Forbes, the prince’s wealth is self-made:he was a Saudi Horatio Alger (CanYouFuckingBelieveThat?). Apparently he was flipping burgers in Riyadh at the same time that Steve was flipping burgers in Manhattan. The prince has been showing some interest in Bahrain ever since his family invaded it last year. Cheers
mhg
“What was meant to be the highlight of the government’s election campaign – a mass rally in Algiers at the weekend addressed by prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia – seems to have backfired. Ouyahia’s speech was certainly memorable, but mostly for the wrong reasons. Harking back to the country’s independence struggle against France, he said: “The Arab spring for me is a disaster. We don’t need lessons from outside. Our spring is Algerian, our revolution of 1 November 1954.” Unlike the glorious days of 1954, the current Arab spring is “a plague” sweeping the region, he told voters. Its effects can be seen, he said, in “the colonisation of Iraq, the destruction of Libya, the partition of Sudan and the weakening of Egypt”. “The revolutions that engulfed brotherly and friendly countries such as Iraq, Sudan, Tunisia, Mali, Libya and Egypt are not accidental but are the work of Zionism and Nato,”………..”
Zionism was behind the Arab uprisings? That sounds like the Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Al Shaikh talking (or maybe the Saudi king or Muammar Qaddafi or the al-Khalifa of Bahrain or the Assad regime in Syria). They have all blamed “foreigners” and Zionists and drugs and even obsession with sex (Tahrir tents and virginity tests) for the uprisings.
Interesting that he called the ‘Arab Spring” a plague , maybe he is a fan of Albert Camus (another native of Algeria). I suppose it all depends on how things turn out in the end (whenever that may be). Who knows how it will turn out in the future, but at least people are voting for their own governments in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya (as they do in Lebanon and Iraq). They are NOT voting for their own governments in Syria and Bahrain and Yemen and Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the Sudan. I may not like the government they vote for, most likely I don’t in these cases, but it is their choice.
Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh (called affectionately Al by the princes) is famous for his fatwas and announced positions on various issues. That is what he is paid for. Now he has, again, blamed miscreants and sinners among Muslims for instability in the Middle East. In that, he is no different from some interesting American political pastors who blamed 9/11 attacks on similar factors (mainly sinning). A Saudi daily quotes Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh that “what the Islamic countries are experiencing of divisions (fitna) and disturbances and insecurity are a result of their sins and crimes” The Mufti charged that mobs have been wearing the mask of “democracy and justice” in order to commit acts that cause injustice and chaos among Muslims. Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh will promise in his next speech stability, justice, and prosperity to everyone in the whole Muslim world, as long as they adopt the Wahhabi absolute tribal monarchy model of governance and looting. Of the sectarian divisiveness (fitna): nobody in the history of the Muslim world has pushed and encouraged and caused it more than the al-Saud dynasty and their vast media and their tribal and Salafi affiliates and their paid academic mercenaries across the Gulf, along with their Walis (satraps) in Bahrain. At least nobody since the battles of Ali and the Umayyad usurpers almost fifteen centuries ago.
About the Mufti (for new readers only): the Al Al-Shaikh (call me Al) are descendants of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdulwahhab, an old Saudi ally after whom the Wahhabi sect is named. They have had close relations with the al-Saud ever since and many hold high positions at the Saudi court and bureaucracy. I expect that when the Saudi king finally decides to allow women to drive (drive cars not their spouses) he will give the first franchise to an Al Al Al Shaikh chick to be the first legal female driver in the Kingdom without Magic (no, the famous Manal al-Sharif will not be the first driver: she may have the wrong surname). As I have repeated here, the shaikh is not to be confused with Mohammed Abdelwahab, the late great Egyptian musician, singer, and occasional actor from the golden (pre-Sadat-Mubarak) days of Egyptian art and culture who was no Salafi, Wahhabi, nor any kind of fundamentalist but a bon vivant in his own right. Cheers
mhg
