Category Archives: Arab Counterrevoltion

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Iran, Syria, US Foreign Policy, Yemen

Hillary Clinton and Democracy Hypocrisy: Yemen and Syria and Iran……

 

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“Syria’s authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as a “sham.”…..” AP

“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday hailed the presidential election in Yemen, offering continuous support to the Arab nation as it confronts challenges ahead. …..”
Only one candidate allowed in Yemen and he “won” 99.8% of the vote, and there were many dead. Clinton must think Arabs are stupid. Here are my rantings on Yemen yesterday.

“On June 14, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement on repression in Iran and Syria to mark the second anniversary of the disputed 2009 presidential election in Iran….“
Ahmadinejad had three candidates running against him, he claimed less than 60% of the vote, I think about 58%. Arab SpringMuch more democratic than the travesty in Yemen, wouldn’t you say? The difference is that he was not sponsored by the Saudi king and the absolute potentates of the GCC and the Western powers.

So, the new definition of democratic elections is simple: they are the elections that are approved by the absolute tribal polygamous Saudi king and the absolute shaikhs of Qatar and UAE and Bahrain. And they are hailed by Western media (CNN, Fox) as true elections. Cute.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, US Foreign Policy, Yemen

Electoral Democratic Joke: Yemen’s 99.8% Landslide, a F–king Big Deal………………

   

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The election results were typically Arab: the vice president of Ali Saleh, the man supported by the Saudis and the potentates of the GCC and the democratic Western powers won. He won with a modest 99.8% of the vote. He was the only candidate. Even Ahmadinejad won less than 60% in that disputed 2009 election in Iran (but Ahmadcinejad was not appointed by the Saudis and the West). It was like electing the King of Saudi Arabia or the ruler of Bahrain or Abu Dhabi. Now that is, to quote Joe Biden, a fucking big deal!

Here is what I posted about it before the vote results:
“Yemenis, including Tawakkol Karman, winner of the 2011 Nobel peace prize, go to the polls. Tuesday’s election is the fruit of a US-backed deal that eased President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in exchange for immunity from prosecution over the alleged killing of hundreds of protesters. Saleh’s deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is the only candidate………..”

Tawakkol Karman: “This is a day of holy joy!”
This is a Nobel Laureate speaking.

Is the lady out of her blinking fundamentalist mind? Had she been chewing qat? A day of ”holy joy”? So they were forced by the neighboring potentates to vote for one man, maintaining the power of the old regime.

The GCC, with Western support, have saddled the Yemeni people with a continuation of the dictatorship. Of course the potentates of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oligarchies would not want free choice for Yemen. So they have an election with one candidate! One candidate! Did anyone expect the Saudi princes to deliver democracy and freedom to the Yemeni people? When they refuse any mention of it to their own people? When you can vanish if you so much as mention freedom in Riyadh? And they call that travesty freedom? No wonder the Huthis and the Southerners are ready to resume their battle for whatever the hell it is they are seeking.
The Saudis, led by Field Marshal Khaled bin Sultan bin Technocrat bin Rommel were defeated militarily in Yemen. Their most expensively armed military was defeated by a ragtag tribal group armed with WWI and WWII weapons. Now they are trying to win their counter-revolution by diplomacy. It won’t work.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Cairo, Egypt, Salafi, Saudi Arabia, Wahhabi

Fifth Column on the Nile: of Bodily Fluids and a Kingdom of Frustrations……..

   

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 “This version of Islam is not Egyptian. Real and honest moderate Egyptian Islam has receded in the face of Wahhabi Islam coming from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. For thirty years masses of oil money has been used to drown Egypt in Wahhabi ideas. The purpose of this support for the Wahhabi school of thought is basically political, in that the Saudi system of government depends on an alliance between the ruling family and the Wahhabi sheikhs. Hence spreading the Wahhabi ideology reinforces the political system in that country. At the same time millions of Egyptians have migrated to the Gulf seeking a livelihood and have then come back to Egypt full of Wahhabi ideas……… As for the Salafists, who are more numerous than the Brothers, they stood quite openly against the revolution. Their sheikhs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia issued fatwas that demonstrations are haram and that Muslims have a duty to obey a Muslim leader, even if he is unjust. They asserted that democracy is haram because it advocates government by the people, while they believe that God alone can rule, not mankind. When the revolution succeeded in deposing Hosni Mubarak we found the Salafists suddenly changing their beliefs, forming parties and taking part in democracy, which had been haram a few days earlier. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists made a deal with the Military Council.……….”

So writes
Alaa Al Aswany about Egypt’s new/old political “elite”. Mr. Mubarak and his al-Azhar appointees helped to gradually convert Egypt into a quasi-Wahhabi society. Even the courts started handing down Wahhabi-style sentences not aligned with Egypt’s traditionally tolerant laws. They changed some laws to fit the Salafi ‘proclivities’, like allowing temporary marriages, vacation marriages, under-age marriages, and other exotic Saudi Wahhabi forms. You notice Salafi Wahhabi proclivities evolve mostly around “bodily” functions (and a lot of bodily fluids, both kinds of bodily fluids). Just to accommodate repressed male Saudi tourists who spend their holidays seeking ‘halal’ sex in Cairo (and Alexandria). Away from the Kingdom of Repression and Frustration.

(The Salafis also received a lot of Saudi and Gulf money for their election campaign. Which means they will likely always have a strong influence in the Egyptian government, as long as the money keeps coming. Which it will. A fifth column on the Nile).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, GCC, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Yemen’s Funny Old-Style Non Election, a Nobel for Qat……..

   

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“Yemenis, including Tawakkol Karman, winner of the 2011 Nobel peace prize, go to the polls. Tuesday’s election is the fruit of a US-backed deal that eased President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in exchange for immunity from prosecution over the alleged killing of hundreds of protesters. Saleh’s deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is the only candidate………..”

Tawakkol Karman: “This is a day of holy joy!”
This is a Nobel Laureate speaking.

Is the lady out of her blinking fundamentalist mind? Had she been chewing qat? A day of ”holy joy”? So they were forced by the neighboring potentates to vote for one man, maintaining the power of the old regime.

The GCC, with Western support, have saddled the Yemeni people with a continuation of the dictatorship. Of course the potentates of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oligarchies would not want free choice for Yemen. So they have an election with one candidate! One candidate! Did anyone expect the Saudi princes to deliver democracy and freedom to the Yemeni people? When they refuse any mention of it to their own people? When you can vanish if you so much as mention freedom in Riyadh? And they call that travesty freedom? No wonder the Huthis and the Southerners are ready to resume their battle for whatever the hell it is they are seeking.
The Saudis, led by Field Marshal Khaled bin Sultan bin Technocrat bin Rommel were defeated militarily in Yemen. Their most expensively armed military was defeated by a ragtag tribal group armed with WWI and WWII weapons. Now they are trying to win their counter-revolution by diplomacy. It won’t work.
Cheers
mhg


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Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Human Right, Persian-American Gulf, Salafi, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy

Saudi Regime: Free Speech as a form of Terrorism, a New Fifth Column…..

 

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Rasid website reports that the Saudi regime has accused an outspoken Shi’a cleric of terrorism for speaking against injustice and repression. Shaikh Hassan al-Saffar had openly questioned how a regime that ‘condemns killing protesters in other countries allows the killing of protesters at home’. Saudi regime spokesmen have again accused the protesters and civil rights advocates in Qatif (Eastern Province) of being pawns of foreign powers. (Charging protesters and opponents of the Wahhabi regime of being Iranian pawns is a standard refrain of some Gulf despots and of the pro-Saudi Wahhabi faux-liberal media and regime academics along the Gulf). The Saudi regime media have often spoken of a “fifth column”, referring to Shi’as who are demanding their rights as citizens on their own ancestral land of the Eastern Province.
The Saudis, in fact, have their own strong “fifth column” all along the Persian-American Gulf: it consists of the Salafis who are loyal to the al-Saud clan and their Wahhabi shaikhs more than to any other entity. Most of the Saudi oil is extracted from the Shi’a area but they are the last to benefit from it.

I wonder if the Saudis can convince the Obama administration to add free speech to the list of acts of terrorism. That new definition of terrorism would only include free speech in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE, almost exclusively.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab League, Arab Revolutions, Human Right, Syria, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Bashar al-Assad on Ending the Violence (in Syria)………..

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“Russia’s foreign minister said after Damascus talks on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad was “fully committed” to ending the bloodshed in Syria even as regime tanks pounded the central city of Homs for a fourth straight day. Sergei Lavrov said he had had a “very useful” meeting with Assad and that Moscow was eager to work towards a solution based on an Arab League plan that it had previously criticised. “We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the Arab League,” said Lavrov, adding that Syria was also ready see an enlarged Arab League mission in the country, Russian news agencies said……”

Of course Assad is committed to ending the violence. The problem is that he seems to want to end it his own way: by killing off the opposition. That would end the violence, but if the opposition refuses to be killed off, then it goes on. Qaddafi also tried to end the violence by finishing off the opposition, but NATO would not allow him. The al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain is doing the same, but on a smaller scale mainly because the people are protesting peacefully. The Western powers liberated Libya from its dictator, just as earlier they had liberated Iraq from its dictator. Syrian opposition and impotent Arab potentates want the West to intervene again militarily and change the regime in Damascus. They were check-mated by the Russian and Chinese vetoes at the UN in their efforts to do a repeat of Libya in Syria.
Will they still do it in Syria in this election year? It will certainly be a tougher nut to crack given that the regime is organized and well-armed (they can do some damage to NATO warplanes and tanks). Besides, Assad still has some regional and international allies (Iran, Russia, China, Lebanon, a few others).
Will they do it? Ich weiss nicht.
Cheers
mhg


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

When the Saudi Mufti Al Attacked Egypt’s Revolution, a Late Egyptian Musician….

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One year ago, just before Mubarak was forced out in Egypt, the Mufti of Saudi Arabia got his orders and issued a fatwa against protests. Here is how that post starts:
 
The Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh severely criticized those who protest and demonstrate in Arab cities. He said the demonstrations are part of a plot to weaken Arab and Muslim countries and, get this, to transform them from big strong nations to weak backward nations. Shaikh Al said these protesters are spreading lies….. He said that security and stability are most important, using the example of Saudi Arabia, which he said follows the word of Allah and has become an example cited all over the world. (Somehow I had missed the part about it being cited as an example to be followed, unless Angela Merkel is now proposing to behead sorcerers and magicians in Germany, for example)

The Mufti, besides being intellectually the equivalent of a Neanderthal, is also a keen propagandist for Wahhabism and for the absolute royals. But that is okay, they appointed him. Besides, he had no choice: the Saudi king himself publicly called the Egyptian youth who started the revolution “foreign infiltrators”. For the king, these youth are foreigners since they are not Saudis.

FYI: Shaikh Al is a direct descendant of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdulwahab, an early ally of the al-Saud after whom the strict Wahhabi doctrine was named. They got to name a whole country after their family, and the shaikh got to name a whole sect after his family. Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdulwahab should not be confused with the late great Mohammed Abdelwahab, the Egyptian composer and singer who was never a Wahhabi nor a fundamentalist.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, GCC, Gulf states, Iran, Khamenei, Muslims, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

On Arab Uprisings and Crazy Illusory Iranian Ideas, Salafi Money vs. Salafi Opium………

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“The recent popular uprisings and revolutions in the region and massive popular protests throughout the world have been inspired by the Iranian nation’s Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said……. In a statement released on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the IRGC said that Iran’s revolution has presented the discourse of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation to human communities, Muslim nations in particular. “The Islamic Awakening and popular revolutions in North Africa and the Middle-East and collapse of tyrants and dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and, God-willing, in other lands and also the waves of awakening in the heart of Europe and the United States and the confrontation between Anti-Capitalism (Occupy) movements with criminal and Zionist rulers in the West are undoubtedly among the achievements of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation’s leadership in promoting awareness (of the other nations) and in the campaign against the arrogant powers,“ the statement said……………..”

Maybe
the Iranian media publicize these incredible reports as propaganda, which is okay, it is normal. The danger is if Iran’s leaders actually believe this stuff they publish, that the Arab revolts look to imitate an Iranian system. Yet that is against all the evidence. The rebellion in Egypt led to a Muslim Brother and Salafi parliament. Salafis are the sworn enemies of Shi’a Iran and of all Shi’as anywhere. Salafis hate Shi’as and Jews and Methodists and Hindus and Mormons and Episcopalians and even pagans. Salafis worship Mohammed Bin Abdulwahhab the Nejdi cleric (not the late Egyptian singer Mohamed Abdelwahab). They also nearly worship Saudi princes (especially the Gulf Salafis do). They agree with the Iranian mullahs on one thing (in addition to the Five Pillars of Islam): they both hate and fear Barbie Doll.
In all other Arab states the uprisings were started by young secularists but were hijacked by Salafis or other fundamentalists who are also not eager to have an Iranian style system. In fact, the Salafis admire the Saudi system more than any other system in the whole wide world (well, the Taliban are a little more puritan now than the Saudis, but they have no money to give away; they only have opium).

I think I shall tweet Ayatollah Khamenei (I follow him on Twitter) and correct this Iranian misunderstanding before they go too far with it. All this does is terrify the Saudi potentates who “might” be naive enough to believe it, then they will redouble their efforts to get their American and Israeli allies to attack Iran. It also makes them crack down harder on the oppressed people of Bahrain and Qatif.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, NATO, Syria

America Getting Ready to Liberate Syria from Itself: about Iraq and Libya and Maysaloon…….

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“As the violence in Syria spirals out of control, top officials in President Barack Obama’s administration are quietly preparing options for how to assist the Syrian opposition, including gaming out the unlikely option of setting up a no-fly zone in Syria and preparing for another major diplomatic initiative. Critics on Capitol Hill accuse the Obama administration of being slow to react to the quickening deterioration of the security situation in Syria, where more than 5,000 people have died, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Many lawmakers say the White House is once again “leading from behind,” while the Turks, the French, and the Arab League — which sent an observer mission to Syria this week — pursue more aggressive strategies for pressuring the Assad regime. But U.S. officials insist that they are moving cautiously to avoid destabilizing Syria further…………..”


What is it about Arab opposition groups that they always beg for the West, their former colonial masters, to come back and rescue them from their own local dictators? This is becoming an unfortunate Arab phenomenon. Don’t they remember what happened with the Ottoman Turks and the British and the French? When the Hashemite rulers of Hijaz (original custodians of Mecca and Madinah and Jeddah) sought British help and got more than they bargained for? Do they remember the French and Faisal and Maysaloon?
First some Iraqi groups encouraged Western intervention against their repressive Ba’athist rulers. Then the Libyans did the same against Qaddafi. Now the Syrian ‘opposition’ groups want foreign intervention to liberate them.
Why do other peoples make their own revolution and these Arab “revolutionaries” insist on the easy way: Western forces and warplanes? Why can’t they do as the Tunisians and Egyptian did? Some of the same people who taunted the Iraqis for being “liberated” by Americans and British forces are now begging for American and British and French forces to kill their compatriots and liberate them. Even the Arab Saudi League is now seeking foreign intervention (in Syria but not in Bahrain).
Do you know why the peoples of Bahrain, Yemen, and Qatif don’t ask for foreign intervention against their repressive rulers? Do you know why the democracy-loving West is not offering or contemplating intervening in these countries (at least not on the side of the people)?
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria

Syrians and their Foreign Friends……

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“Syrian media outlets reported Friday that President Bashar Assad’s security forces seized huge quantities of weapons used by rebels across the country, including Israeli-made arms. According to the unconfirmed reports, Assad’s troops seized a machinegun, Israeli-made bombs, automatic rifles, various explosive devices, protective vests, night-vision equipment and military uniforms, among other things. Syrian television showcased the weapons Friday evening and claimed that some of the arms originated in Israel. Some of the weapons featured Hebrew inscriptions, yet it was unclear who was holding the arms and where the images were photographed. The latest Syrian reports are apparently meant to discourage anti-Assad rebels and present them as traitors who enlist the help of the “Zionist enemy”…………” Haaretz

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also immediately condemned the kidnapping of the Iranian pilgrims in Syria, calling the act inhumane and unjustifiable. “These acts, which are against humane principles and moral and international obligations, are by no means justifiable, and it is expected that these people take immediate action to free Iranian pilgrims,” Mehmanparast said Thursday. In December, five Iranian electrical engineers were abducted on the way to a power plant in the troubled Syrian city of Homs by unknown gunmen. Two more Iranian experts, who were trying to clarify the situation of the five abducted engineers, have also been kidnapped………..”

The Syrian regime claims the rebels are using Israeli weapons, hinting they are connected to Israel. Yet the Israelis have no reason to side with the Islamists who are likely to rule Syria if and when the Assad regime falls. Their only beef with the regime has been that it facilitates arms shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. They certainly seem to have managed to have an unwritten peace in the Golan for a quarter of a century. Israeli farms and Israeli wines thrive in the Golan: they wouldn’t want to disrupt that.

On the other hand, some Syrian opposition groups, and Saudi media, have claimed in the past that Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters are helping the Damascus regime. One Saudi source, most likely Alarabiya, even repeated allegations that Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army is helping Assad.
I have my usual doubts about that: the Syrian Ba’ath Party has been training security forces to crush dissent since 1963. They are experts at that sort of thing and don’t need any outside help. It is possible that they get Iranian and Hezbollah help, since both support the Assad regime. Yet it is unlikely they would send men and certainly not to a degree that matters, probably weapons and maybe advice (so are the Russians). If they are intervening, they are clearly not doing so to the vast degree as the Saudi military intervention against the Bahrain uprising. Besides, the West would certainly know if any foreign countries are intervening in Syria: they wouldn’t need the Syrian opposition to tell them.
Cheers
mhg


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