Category Archives: Arab Revolutions

Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria, WMD

Syrian Activists on WMD: If at First You do not Succeed………

      

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A Kenny G Holiday

Syrian Activists and Saudi media on WMD: “If at First You don’t succeed, try again and……….”

“Opposition activists again accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of using poison gas in Syria’s civil war on Thursday, and said victims had been discovered with swollen limbs and foaming at the mouth. The activists told Reuters two shells loaded with gas hit a rebel-held area in the town of Nabak, 68 km northeast of Damascus, on a major highway in the Qalamoun region. They reported seven casualties……….. They reported seven casualties. Separately, the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union also accused Assad’s forces of using poison gas..………….”

After which Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Al-Yamama, leader of the Syrian opposition and putative future viceroy for Syria, will also declare refutable evidence of Syrian regime use of poisoned gas. The Islamic Heritage Revival Society, Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Saudi Religious Police, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, and the Ringling Brothers (and Barnum & Bailey) will also confirm the use of WMD in Syria. Alarabiya and Asharq Alawsat and Mad Magazine will now headline the gruesome incident. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich), head of the House Intelligence (this did not use to be an oxymoron) is considering a demand for action. The French and British governments will offer to confirm the use of poison gas.
 
Qalamoun is the site of an ongoing battle that will very likely lead to the ejection of the opposition groups from another strategic area. Remember, the claims of the use of WMD got louder and accelerated after regime forces defeated the opposition in Qusayr earlier this year.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria

A Robber Prince with Chutzpah but Flawed Strategy…….

      

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“Last year, according to Saudi sources who’ve worked closely with Bandar, he told King Abdullah that he could solve the Syria situation in a matter of months. The previous intelligence chief, Abdullah’s half brother Prince Muqrin, had not been able to make much headway. But Bandar, as it turns out, has not been much of an improvement. “His job requires being able to work 18 hours a day and he cannot,” says a Saudi who has collaborated closely with Bandar. He is frustrated and angry and anxious to show off to the world his ability to achieve the seemingly impossible, as he did in the past. But as the same Saudi points out, “being angry is not good in the intelligence business.” And in today’s Middle East, chutzpah just isn’t enough……………”

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan (bin Bush bin Al Yamama) may have a complex. He probably thinks he is the smartest among the absolute Al Saud princes that own the country called Saudi Arabia. That doesn’t mean he is. Yet normally he will never be considered as a potential future king. He doesn’t have the requisite tribal blood connections that most of the other eligible princes have. I suspect this is the reason someone like his cousin Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is more into business than into competing for a future chance at the throne. That might explain why “he is frustrated and angry and anxious to show off to the world his ability to achieve……..“

Or he can always join the Peace Corps or Habitat for Humanity or some other worthy cause.
He can even volunteer for the Salvation Army and help outside Safeway or QFC during the Christmas season.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Espionage, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon

Faces of Hezbollah: Syria and the Nuclear Briefcase……

      

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“Hezbollah forces will remain in Syria fighting alongside the troops of Syrian President Bashar Assad for the foreseeable future, the leader of the Lebanese group said Thursday. “As long as the reasons are present, we are staying” in Syria, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s general secretary, said in a speech to supporters here marking the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura…………”

See the photo up there? I bet every Western and Arab, and maybe some Asian and other intelligence services are poring over these guys standing around Hassan Nasrallah. I bet even NGOs, AIPAC, the NRA, and the Tea Party are poring over the photo, trying to identify the persons. Especially the man with the gun, but maybe more so the man with the ominous-looking brief case.
Actually there is no need: the fact that they showed the photo means that Hezbollah knows that these guys are already known to diligent foreign intelligence services. Or maybe they are just in a playful mood, teasing the foreign spooks. About the brief case: could it be Nasrallah’s laptop and iPad? His own Lebanese version of the “nuclear” briefcase (oh, oh: now Ben Netanyahu will start screaming wolf and that Lebanon has also gone nuclear).

That photo was taken during Nasrallah’s recent speech this week. It was inevitable that he would decide to stay in Syria, given all the new proxy ‘rebel’ armies being formed and financed to the north (Turkey), south (Jordan) and east (Iraq). All financed by the rebellious and revolutionary democratic regimes of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, humorless Jordan, and assorted Western mercenary groups. Hezbollah has already taken a big hit in its popularity among Arabs for being involved in Syria. Only another victory against another foolish Israeli attack, like the invasion of 2006, could change that.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, History, Jerusalem, Religion

Religion in Egypt: from Saladin to Sisi, from Jerusalem to Beckett……..

      

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“The Shia leader added that the decision of Endowment Minister Mohamed Mokhtar to prevent Shia celebrations came “to prevent Salafis from causing a strife in the community.” He noted that they’re going to commemorate the event by visiting the mosque individually and praying, but to continue the rest of the rituals at home. He vowed that Shias would be quiet and would keep the sanctity of the mosque as to stop “the strife the Salafis want to ignite.” The Egyptian Shia community have demanded greater protections in the country’s new constitution expected to go to public referendum by the end of the year, particularly more emphasis on freedom of religion as well as protection from discrimination and hate speech………….”

Egypt has not changed since the days of Hosni Mubarak ( did you know that he is not the president anymore, technically?). Religious freedom is as restricted now as it was before the alleged so-called ‘revolution’. In the end, that so-called ‘revolution’ was won by revolutionary Saudi Arabian princes and the Jacobin United Arab Emirates shaikhs. In fact religious freedom is worse now, for the Wahhabi Salafis, who take their political cue from their Saudi masters, are monitoring all minority religions, be they Shi’as or Copts or Vegans. They are making sure the old Egyptian idea of religious freedom is never taken seriously.
 
FYI: Egypt was Shi’a for a couple of centuries under the Fatimid Dynasty. Until the Fatimid caliph made the fatal mistake of appointing Saladin (Salah El-Din) as his military commander. He staged a coup d’etat, closed Al-Azhar (which was established by the Fatimids), and appointed himself as the new ruler. Saladin did atone for his treachery later by liberating Jerusalem from the barbarous European invaders and occupiers. Now the Muslim Brothers are probably waiting for General Al Sis to atone for what they consider his betrayal of Mohammed Morsi who had appointed him head of the military. They might as well be waiting for Samuel Beckett’s elusive creation.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Corruption, Lebanon, Syria

Surprise, Surprise: Embezzlement in Lebanon………

      

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“The head of Lebanon’s governmental aid body, through which millions of dollars are funnelled, and his wife have been arrested on embezzlement charges, judicial sources said on Monday. The criminal investigation against High Relief Council (HRC) Secretary General Ibrahim Bashir comes as Lebanon appeals for direct aid to help it provide for more than 800,000 Syrian refugees who have flooded into the small Mediterranean state to escape civil war. Bashir has denied media reports that he embezzled $10 million of public funds…………..”

I don’t know. He denies it, but would you admit to stealing $10 million from Syrian refugees? Some people arrapently strongly suspect that he, they, did it. I know, just because he looks it doesn’t mean that they did it. Anyway, just take a peek at the photo. What do you think? Of course this might have been just  “a bad-picture day” for him.
Still a man or/and a woman is innocent until proven guilty, etc, etc. That might apply even to a prince. But stealing from the poor Syrian refugees? Probably the most vulnerable people in the Middle East now?

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, GCC, Syria

‘Political’ Legitimacy in the Arab World………

      

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“Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have also strongly criticized the U.S. backing away from expected military strikes in August against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Arab diplomats believed such strikes could have helped topple Mr. Assad, Iran’s closest ally in the region. Instead, the U.S. and Russia forged a deal with the Syrian government to dismantle its chemical-weapons program, which the Saudis and Emiratis now fear is providing Mr. Assad with new legitimacy………………”

Oh boy. The democratically-elected princes and potentates of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi worry about the legitimacy of Bashar Al-Assad.
FYI: most Arab leaders are illegitimate. I probably mean that only in political terms of governing. After all, when were the last elections, free or otherwise, held in Saudi Arabia and a few other places?

Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Saudi Army of Islam to Invade Syria: a Wahhabi Blast from the Afghan Past?………

      

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“Saudi Arabia is preparing to spend millions of dollars to arm and train thousands of Syrian militiamen in a new opposition force dubbed ‘Army of Islam’ to fight the national military, The Guardian daily reported Thursday. Citing Syrian, Arab and western sources, the UK newspaper said the intensifying Saudi effort is focused on Jaysh al-Islam (the Army of Islam or JAI), created in late September by a union of 43 Syrian groups. According the article, the JAI will be trained with Pakistani help, and estimates of its likely strength range from 5,000 to more than 50,000. But diplomats and experts warned on Thursday that there are serious doubts about its prospects as well as fears of “blowback” by extremists returning from Syria…………”

The Saudis also demanded that all “other” countries, like Iran and Russia, stop meddling in Syrian affairs. The idea is for this new Wahhabi army to recreate the glory days of Afghanistan, starting with the 1980s. Financed by Saudi princes and Emirati potentates, armed by the Western powers, trained by Pakistan’s ruling military generals of the ISI. Does this remind you of anything, perhaps a Wahhabi blast from the past that created the Taliban and Al-Qaeda?

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Syria, Turkey

An Exchange of Hostages over Syria………..

      

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“Nine Lebanese hostages freed after being held by Syrian rebels for more than a year arrived to a tumultuous welcome in Beirut late Saturday, capping a complex deal that also resulted in the release of two Turkish pilots kidnapped in Lebanon and the reported freeing of scores of prisoners from Syrian jails. About an hour after the nine ex-hostages were mobbed by relatives and other well-wishers at a VIP lounge at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, images on Turkish television showed an aircraft carrying the two Turkish Airlines pilots arriving at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. The Lebanese had been flown from Istanbul to Beirut, while the Turks were whisked off by jet in the opposite direction, from Beirut to Istanbul…………….”

So the Syrian rebel sectarian militias kidnapped a bunch of Lebanese Shi’s pilgrims in Syria, called them Hezbollah fighters, and held them hostage. Some of the Syrian rebels factions have become better at kidnapping than at fighting. So some Lebanese Shi’a clans went straight to the source, they kidnapped a couple of innocent Turkish pilots, on the assumption that Turkey is allied to the Syrian rebels and has leverage over them. This turns out to have been the correct, if cruel and illegal, thing to do to get the desired result. One kidnapping, one crime, does not justify another, but apparently it does in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Human Right

New ABS Strategy for Bahrain: Regime to Naturalize Tear Gas Canisters………..

      

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“[Manama] Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior is planning to import 1.6 million tear gas canisters and 90,000 tear gas grenades, according to a leaked document, published today by research and advocacy group Bahrain Watch. The document — apparently a tender issued by the Ministry of Interior’s Purchasing Directorate — shows that Bahrain’s security forces are stockpiling massive amounts of tear gas, despite serious concerns of international NGOs and the United Nations Human Rights Council. These groups have called Bahrain’s use of tear gas “unnecessary and indiscriminate”, and “lethal”. This planned new shipment will supply Bahrain with more tear gas canisters than the entire population of the country. The document, signed by “Assistant Undersecretary Abdulla Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa”, calls for all proposals to be submitted “not later than 16th July 2013”. Ministry of Interior tenders are typically not available on the Government’s Tender Board website. This is the first time that an apparent tender for tear gas has been made public. The tender calls for arms companies to supply Bahrain with the following items:……… Bahrain Watch understands that no shipment related to this tender has yet been made, however, such a shipment could begin at any time………………..”

His excellency the Bahrain shaikh who controls these imports claims that the tear gas canisters will be used in case Bahrain is invaded by Iranians or Qataris or Klingons, or anyone else who is not part of the Saudi military and security services.
Bahrain’s ruling family and their tribal allies have been notorious for trying to alter the demographics of the country by recruiting and naturalizing mercenaries with military, security, and interrogatory and torture experience. The mercenaries come from select Arab countries and select South Asian countries, and the key criterion is called ABS (Anybody But a Shi’a).
Bahrain has limited resources and mercenaries and their families are a costly drain, even if they come from very poor countries, even with all the money other GCC potentates send over to prop up the ruling family. Now they may have found a solution: millions of tear gas canisters. They can naturalize tear gas canisters at hardly any cost. They can even get them to vote in the strange elections they occasionally have in Bahrain. And the best part is: nobody inside or outside Bahrain can tell the difference between these canisters and the current members of the funny legislature, mostly appointed and selected by the rulers. Come to think of it, nobody inside or outside Bahrain should be able to tell the difference between these canisters and the Bahrain Council of Ministers. As we say on the Gulf: one goo’ti looks like just another goo’ti.
Not a bad idea, huh? And they did not need to pay Tony Blair millions of dollars in consulting fees for the idea. Or maybe they did.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Middle East Nuclear, Syria, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Twenty Five Years Later: Natanyahu, the Ayatollahs, Elderly in Syria, and Nuclear Obamacare…….

      

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Imagine how things will possibly be about 25 years from now:


  • Benyamin Netanyahu will still be either prime minister of Israel or running to become prime minister of Israel.
  • Netanyahu will still be announcing every two weeks that the Iranians are still only six months from developing a nuclear bomb. He has been claiming the same for the past twenty years. An extremely long six months indeed.

  • The U.S. Congress (both houses, both parties) will still be voting on and passing new resolutions and bills tightening the economic blockade on Iran, asserting Israel’s “right” to attack Iran at will, insisting that the United States support any such military attack. All will pass irresponsibly unanimously, of course.

  • Mr. Obama, or whoever is in power at the time, will keep insisting that “all options are on the table” and will remain so. No mention of red lines anymore.

  • Iranian politicians will continue to predict the demise of the “Zionist Entity”. The more moderate ones will continue to predict the demise of “Israel”. Crossing your fingers is frowned upon by the mullahs, might be considered some sort of “flipping gesture”.

  • Nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 will be continuing, with frequent Geritol breaks.

  • The Iranians will keep announcing more centrifuges operating as they keep negotiating with P5+1, all in good faith by both sides, by all sides.
  • The GCC Gulf potentates will still be funneling weapons and money and occasional Salafi volunteers to the Aging Free Syrian Salafi Army along the Turkish border, in its quest to depose Bashar Al-Assad. Bashar will still be ruling Damascus from his wheelchair, with the help of his army of nurses and his IVs.
  • Saad Hariri will still be trying to become prime minister of Lebanon, insisting he can run things from Paris and Riyadh.
  • Republicans will still be promising to cancel Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act) as soon as they control all three houses in Washington.

Cheers
mhg

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