Category Archives: Arab Revolutions

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Cairo, Egypt

Egypt under the SCAF Junta: Alaa Abd El Fattah in Jail, King of Bahrain in Cairo………

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      BFF

“Alaa Abd El Fattah is in jail. He was arrested on Sunday – accused of inciting violence against the Egyptian military – and on Monday was given 15 days’ detention for refusing to answer questions to a military court. A campaign to secure his release has also got under way with extraordinary rapidity: protests in the streets, a Twitter hashtag (#FreeAlaa) and even graffiti appeared within the first 24 hours or so. That is not especially surprising as Alaa, besides being a pioneer of Egyptian blogging, belongs to one of the most famous families of leftist agitators. By arresting him, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is currently running Egypt (and increasingly being referred to as “the junta”), has picked a fight with the core of the movement that toppled President Mubarak in January……….”

Saudi King Abdullah famously claimed last February that the Egyptians participating in the uprising were “foreign infiltrators and agents”. Maybe it was a fatwa issued by his tame ulema, his Salafi palace clerics. Apparently millions of foreigners, mostly Iranian and Hezbollah agents with a handful of Hamas operatives, had infiltrated Cairo and Alexandria and el-Mahalla el-Kubra and Suez because these are good places to riot. It is possible the ruling military junta (SCAF), known for its tin ears, also believes the same. They have been doing their best to abort the Egyptian uprising, with a lot of help from their friends among absolute tribal Arab potentates.  Maybe the visiting former shaikh of Bahrain (currently king) can advise them on crowd control. Which makes me wonder: wtf is the king of the Saudi province of Bahrain doing in Cairo?
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Healthcare, Iraq, Persian-American Gulf

Gulf Soccer Tournament Moved from Iraq to Repressive Bahrain…….

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     BFF

Sports potentates of the Persian-American Gulf, including the GCC states and Yemen (which is not a Gulf state) and Iraq but minus Iran, met Monday and made a sudden decision to move the upcoming Gulf Cup games from Iraq to Bahrain. They cited instability in Iraq as a reason for the move, adding that it was not a political move and that the next round, the 2013 tournament, will be in Iraq. The move was from the frying pan of Iraq to the fires of rebellious occupied Bahrain.

Of course the move was all political. Moving the games from terrorist-threatened Iraq to a Bahrain where the people are in revolt against the regime. It was also a way for the GCC potentates to needle Iraq, insult it by forcing it to attend in occupied Bahrain or, possibly better yet, forcing it to withdraw from the event. No doubt the Saudis and their al-Khalifa toadies were behind the move, hoping the Iraqis will decide to quit. Of course the al-Saud may have to send in more tanks and soldiers into Bahrain for the games, and they may have to ban a majority of Bahrain’s people from attending the games. I suspect most of the people may boycott the games anyway.
 
One thing is almost certain: whoever wins the Gulf trophy can attribute the victory, as usual, to the ruling potentates; whoever loses will blame the mullahs in Iran.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Revolutions, GCC, Libya

Kim Jong-Qaddafi on the Gulf…………..

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     BFF

“Worried they might return with provocative tales of a populist uprising that just toppled another Middle East dictator, strongman Kim Jong Il has issued a decree to North Koreans in Libya –- don’t bother coming home. The ban was an effort to prevent word of the often-violent Arab uprisings from reaching the isolated regime, illustrating Kim’s concern about potential social unrest at home inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions, according to stories published in the South Korean press. The move has left an estimated 200 North Koreans stranded as country-less orphans. They include doctors, nurses and construction workers sent to Libya to bring hard currency back to their impoverished country, which many say is experiencing food shortages..……..”


This odd story is just a reminder that even the worst of Arab despots (there are about 20 of them) are mild pussycats compared to the Kims of the People’s Republic of Korea.

Maybe some of our Gulf regimes can use these stranded North Koreans. The UAE now has a mercenary force led by Blackwater veterans and composed of Colombians, Australians, White South Africans and others. They can always add some Asian flavor to the mix. The regime in Bahrain has been in the foreign mercenary business even longer, they can now add a few dazed North Koreans to their current mirthless mix of Pakistanis and Jordanians.

Cheers
mhg


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Arab Revolutions, Jordan, Libya, WTF

Libyan Jamahiriya and the West: Democracy, WMD, and Virginity………

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     BFF

Back in May 2006, when the West (USA) and the Great Libyan Socialist Jamahiriya were becoming fast friends. Americans were asked a question:
“Libya says it will work with the United States to spread democracy. What do you think?…..”

The answers were “interesting” if not necessarily brilliant:


  • “If we really want Libya to help spread democracy, we’d better give them their (WMD) weapons back.”


  • “Libya might seem like an unlikely partner, but, given our current international standing, every partner is an unlikely partner.”

  • A favorite: “The same thing happened with my boyfriend and me, sort of. As soon as I agreed to give up my virginity, he agreed to remove me from his personal list of state-sponsors of terrorism.”

Warning: people in certain places in our region may find this posting offensive. In fact they may not find it even humorous. This includes people in: Jordan, Palestinian Territories, Central Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, among other places.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Corruption, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Defining an Arab Kleptocracy: “Sultan’s Fortune is Estimated at $270 Billion”………

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      BFF

“Sultan’s fortune is estimated at $270 billion, which he distributed between his sons prior to his death in order to shore up their political position in the competitive princely arena. The reality is that every senior prince has placed his favorite sons in important positions in the Kingdom .…….. The Al Saud resembles a family business, established in 1932. Ibn Saud managed to conquer and unite the vast territory of the Arabian Peninsula, give it his family name, and alienate, divide, and control his cousins and brothers in order to establish a clear and undisputed line of succession through his sons. After Ibn Saud’s death, his sons, though never entirely united, maintained enough coherence to keep the store running. That is no longer true of the thousands of princes that they produced. As the older generation dies off, the new generation has fallen to fighting in front of the customers. Indeed, with the ratio of royals to commoners now at one to a thousand (compared to one to five million in the United Kingdom), the challenge of managing princely privileges, salaries, and demand for jobs has never been more intense. Royal perks include lifetime sinecures and domination of the civil service, which enable the princes to award contracts and receive commissions on top of their salaries. So the Saudi regime is divided, its legitimacy is questioned …….….”

This lady knows her country, but she won’t travel home anytime soon.

The amount mentioned is staggering, nay mind boggling. No wonder the Saudi semi-official media (alarabiya, Asharq Alawsat) call him Sultan of Plenty. If true, he had to earn, loot, and steal plenty to get to the $ 270 billion. Yet million of people of the Arabian Peninsula struggle to find jobs, housing, and the basic necessities of life. The unemployment rate is in double digits (over 30% for young people), millions are out of work and more live under poverty than we’ll ever read about in Saudi media or Western media like the Washington Post. He does not appear on the annual Forbes list of richest people; that covers only normal mortals not princes and shaikhs. His nephew al-Waleed Bin Talal is listed, along with the information claiming that his fortune is ‘self-made’. The folks at Forbes editorial must think al-Waleed started flipping burgers at the Dairy Queen in Riyadh and moved up from there. Just like Steve Forbes. It can’t be stupidity, can it?

Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Britain, Libya, Salafi, US Foreign Policy

Libya and MI6, the Rendition of Tony Blair to Pyongyang………….

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     BFF

“The papers, discovered in the British ambassador’s abandoned residence in Tripoli, raise new and damaging questions over Britain’s role in the seizure and torture of key opponents of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. Britain is already facing legal actions over its involvement in the plot to seize Abdul Hakim Belhaj, leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) who is now the military commander in Tripoli, and his deputy, Sami al-Saadi. Both men say they were tortured and jailed after being handed over to Gaddafi………. The cache of confidential documents – which included private letters to Gaddafi from Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and key Downing Street aides – was abandoned when the three-story residence was attacked by Gaddafi loyalists in April. ……… London only designated the LIFG a terrorist organisation after Libya said it was abandoning its weapons of mass destruction programme in 2003. The move is understood to have been agreed as part of the negotiations with Gaddafi’s regime that paved the way to the controversial Blair deal……….”

I have no doubt now: Tony Blair has been behind some of the most corrupt deals made by, for, or, in Britain in the past fifteen years. I think he ought t be renditioned somewhere, I am not sure where. Maybe North Korea, where hopefully we will never hear from him or of him again. But then again, he may cut a deal with Kin Jong-Il to become some kind of PR consultant or lobbyist.

Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Libya, NATO, Salafi, Torture

Graphic New Libya: Sodomizing a Dying Old Dictator………

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      BFF

 
 Sodomizing Qaddafi before Death: Frames of video

“An analysis of video obtained by GlobalPost from a rebel fighter who recorded the moment when Col. Muammar Gaddafi was first captured confirms that another rebel fighter, whose identity is unknown, sodomized the former leader as he was being dragged from the drainpipe where he had taken cover. A frame by frame analysis of this exclusive GlobalPost video clearly shows the rebel trying to insert some kind of stick or knife into Gaddafi’s rear end. GlobalPost correspondent Tracey Shelton said there is some question as to whether the instrument was a knife from the end of a gun, which Libyans call a Bicketti, or a utilitiy tool known as a Becker Knife and Tool, which is popularly known as a BKT. This latest video discovery comes as international and human rights groups call for a formal investigation into how the former Libyan leader was killed…………..”

Another unpromising sign of a new Libya.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab League, Arab Revolutions, France, Libya, NATO, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Thwarted in Iraq, Buoyed in Libya: McCain Seeks a New Maysaloon in Syria……….

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      BFF

“With NATO bombing of Libya set to end, U.S. Sen. John McCain on Sunday raised the possibility of some kind of military attack on Syria, where the government of Bashar Assad has been accused of brutally cracking down on protesters. “Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what partial military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Jordan. “The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder. Kadafi made that mistake and it cost him everything.” There was no immediate response from the Assad government, which has blamed “armed groups” for the violence that has swept the nation since mid-March. ……….. Still, there is a school of thought that an impasse has been reached seven months into the protest movement and some kind of foreign intervention may be the only way……….”

Foreign intervention? How about Chinese intervention? Or Iranian intervention? Are they as kosher as French intervention?  Maybe McCain will join Sarkozy in leading a new Battle of Maysaloon to retake Syria.


The French reneged (along with the British) on their promise to the Arabs under the Hashemites of Hijaz after World War I. The Brits installed Faisal as King of Syria, only to see the French invade and kick him out to Iraq. Later on, the British allowed Ibn Saud and his Wahhabi forces to invade Hijaz and annex it to their Nejdi kingdom. Jordan and Iraq were the consolation prize.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Human Right, Libya

Colonel Gaddafi: the Libyan iPhone, the Arab iPad……..

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News networks have been showing us macabre scenes of thousands of Libyans lining up, in long snaking lines, to see the mutilated body of their former dictator Colonel Qaddafi. Reminds me of the long lines of thousands of people in the United States of Europe who wait in line on the day a new iPhone or iPad comes out. No reports if any Libyans camped out overnight near the frozen food storage facility to be the first to see th  Islamistseir erstwhile leader. Meanwhile, the family of Mu’ammar Qaddafi have asked for his body, something they should be granted. Islam requires respect for the body of the dead, not mutilation and public exposure.
Meanwhile the Libyan people are waiting for their next leader(s): be they democrats, kleptocrats, or Islamists. Possibly a mix of all of the above with less of the ‘democrats’ and more of the kleptocrats and fundamentalists, if the ruling Arab potentates have anything to do with it. And the ruling Arab absolute monarchs are set to have a big say in what kind of government the Libyans will have: not a good start.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, Iraq, Libya

Hypocrisy on my Gulf: Iraq vs. Libya vs. Syria vs. Bahrain vs.………….

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      BFF

The hypocrisy of some Arab opinion-ators, quasi-intellectuals, and faux-liberals (both the Wahhabi and non-Wahhabi variety) has been breathtaking. This is especially true in the Gulf region where many take their cue and their orders from absolute monarchies. Just look at how they treat events in the Arab Spring these days, and go back a few years.

  • Most Arab states ‘of the east’, and all the GCC Gulf states, supported the American-British invasion of Iraq in 2003. In fact they actively supported it (I supported it inactively at the time). Yet as soon as the “wrong” kind of regime emerged in Baghdad, they all turned against it, calling them “puppets”. Admittedly they are now too fundamentalist in Iraq for my taste, but then our whole region is heading that way, if only temporarily. They certainly are not nearly as sectarian or as fundamentalist in Iraq as they are in Saudi Arabia (almost nobody in the world is). Most Arab so-called ‘intellectuals’ and opinion makers still claim to be sour about Iraq, but they are not sour on their own governments for enabling it. But then we all wish sectarianism would just vanish. (Warning: maybe I’ll start my own ‘sect’ and have everyone else join me. I promise that I’ll not use witchcraft. Sorcery and magic will be seriously frowned upon).

  • Now to Libya. Many, possibly most, of the very same Arab opinion-ators were eager for the West, for NATO, to intervene in Libya. Their concern was admirable: to save Libyan civilians from the dictator and his henchmen. Yet Saddam had killed many more Iraqis, and others, during his rule than Qaddafi, than anyone else in modern Arab history. They accepted (actually pushed for it) American, British, and French forces to fight against Qaddafi even as they complained about American and British forces intervening in Iraq.
  • The hypocrisy is not confined to one party or one sect. It works for all sides. Some who are against the Syrian uprising strongly support the Bahrain uprising. Some who are strongly against the Bahrain uprising strongly support the Syrian uprising.

Cheers
mhg


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