Category Archives: Arab Revolutions

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, censorship, Egypt, GCC

Egypt’s Love Affair with Free Media Resumes, Will Joining the GCC be Next?…………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“Egyptian security officials have raided the Cairo office of Al Jazeera Mubasheer Egypt, roughing up its staff, detaining an editor and confiscating equipment, the news chief said on Thursday. This is the second time this month Al Jazeera Egypt Mubasheer’s office has been raided after Egyptian authorities said the station and its staff were operating without permits. Since its inception in March, the station was unique in that it carried live broadcasts of all major Cairo protests during the uprising that started in December. The station’s news chief, Ahmed Zein, said the station applied for permits, and was promised it would receive them next week.
Zein said security officers dressed in civilian garb forced their way into the office in the Agouza neighbourhood in central Cairo, refusing to identify themselves and shoving the office staff into one room. When a reporter asked them for identification and a search warrant, the security men pushed her ………..”

Egypt’s junta is resuming the old Mubarak-era raids on the media. They have apparently resumed their dislike for al-Jazeera, even though the network has made up with the Saudis and supports the NATO “mission” in Libya. It is these types of behavior that would endear the ruling military junta (SCAF) to the potentates of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, That may explain some recent rumors about a Saudi invitation for Egypt to join the GCC. If true, the next candidate could be Iran or Turkey or Israel (based on “keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”). On a more “serious” note, the more logical candidates for membership would be Pakistan and Malaysia since the former sends mercenaries to the GCC and the latter has expressed willingness to send mercenaries. These all would come after Morocco and Jordan have joined.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Libya, NATO, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

McCain and Graham Lose Lieberman, Abandon Iraq, Seek to Settle in Libya, about Grits…………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“The four lawmakers — John McCain of Arizona, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida — planned to meet with members of the National Transitional Council, which is now governing Libya after the rebels forced Qaddafi from power. Qaddafi’s whereabouts remain unknown, but the new leaders suspect he is hiding in the southern desert of the North African nation. The senators, whose brief visit was largely shrouded in secrecy, also planned to tour Martyrs’ Square and hold a news conference with reporters. They traveled from Malta, where they met with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Wednesday……….”

I hope the senators had a good chat with Mr. Gonzi in Malta (I wonder wtf happened to old Mr. Mintoff?). Glad to see them lose Lieberman and pick up a couple of new sidekicks. I never cared for that weasel Joe, but that’s okay, he did enough damage. Now it is McCain and Graham who seek bases in the Arab world, almost insist on it. McCain probably travels to the Middle East more than he travel to Arizona except at election time and the same applies to Graham. Which tells you something about the quality of the Arizona Tex-Mex cuisine and the grits in these two states. South Carolina did have good grits when I was a freshman there, at least the university dorm did, but that was probably not in Senator Graham’s hometown.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, Gulf states

Bahrain Trifecta: American Weapons, Saudi Money, Pakistani Mercenaries………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF


“The United States should delay a proposed arms sale to Bahrain until it ends abuses against peaceful critics of the ruling family and takes meaningful steps toward accountability for serious human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today. The US Defense Department notified Congress on September 14, 2011, of a proposed sale of armored Humvees and missiles to Bahrain worth US$53 million. The sale would appear to be the first since the start of Bahrain’s crackdown on protests earlier this year. “This is exactly the wrong move after Bahrain brutally suppressed protests and is carrying out a relentless campaign of retribution against its critics,” said Maria McFarland, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch………….”

The rulers of Bahrain, the al-Khalifa clan, have perfected their game in their Apartheid country. They get Saudi money and troops to keep their throne in the face of a popular uprising, they get all the Pakistani and Jordanian mercenaries they need to subdue their people (paid for by Saudi money and money from other Persian-American Gulf states), and they can get all the weapons they need from America to help subdue their angry and disenfranchised people (also paid for by Saudi and other Gulf money). It is a nice racket, if they can keep it going. Except that they can’t keep it going for long, not with a mini-war warming up between the rulers and most of their people.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Human Right, Saudi Arabia

Gangs of Arabia: Oil Fiefdoms and Turf Wars, Ivanhoe and Isaac of Qatif…………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

The clock is ticking and time is running out for the combatants to position themselves. Here is a summary of the turf wars and how the Saudi pie is being split now among the “next” generation (meaning those in their 70’s and up):

  1. The crown prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz is seriously ill and highly unlikely to become king. He spends his time between an undisclosed location at home and American hospitals and Moroccan recuperation. He has appointed his son Khaled as deputy defense minister, meaning he is to inherit the ministry as well as becoming the minister of aviation and inspector general (recalling Danny Kaye now).
  2. Prince Nayef Bin Abdulaziz is next in line and almost certainly the next king. He is a seriously conservative man and is against any type of elections. He famously said a couple of years ago that “Elections can never produce good people of the quality that we appoint” (and that was long before the Tea Party gained control of the U.S. Congress!). He is the minister of interior, in charge of police and security and secret police and terrorism and arrests and prisons and prisoners without charges and whatever goes in the dark cells. He has appointed his son Mohammed as a deputy minister, meaning he is to inherit the ministry when the father either becomes king or dies, whichever comes first.
  3. Then there is the king himself and he is no slouch when it comes to his interests and the interests of his children. Abdullah was head of the National Guard, a parallel army, since forever. Last year he appointed one of his sons to replace him as head of the Guard. Thus the king has staked the permanent claim of ‘his’ branch of the al-Saud clan.
  4. That leaves the Foreign Ministry, forever headed by Prince Saud al-Faisal. He is reportedly ailing without a clear heir. At one time there were two apparent claimants competing for the ministry, or at least there seemed to be, until King Abdullah appointed his son Abdulaziz as Deputy Foreign Minister, thus staking the claim of his own ‘branch’ of the al-Saud clan. Now Abdulaziz has the inside track as compared to Prince Turki al-Faisal brother of the current minister (and the wittiest prince, at least in public) and Prince Bandar Bin Sultan (of the famous BAE Systems bribery case that Tony Blair covered up). The foreign ministry is interesting because has become an area of unexpected competition and turf war. I had assumed it was the private reserve of the al-Faisal clan until Bandar made his move and then Abdullah appointed his own son. Apparently Bandar is a restless type, for he has reportedly made many moves inside and outside the kingdom and was allegedly involved in some palace plots. Apparently all the BAE Systems bribe money has given him more time and funds to pursue his ‘hobbies’. He was even reported at one time to be active in Iraq (not physically, but financially among the Sunni tribes and others). The foreign ministry truly reflects the current territorial infighting among the al-Saud branches: if Abdullah dies before the minister leaves, his son is not guaranteed the top job.


What is at stake is: (a)the future of the throne, (b)the allocation of the petroleum loot among the hungry numerous princes, and (c)power within the top leadership that control the various ministries/fiefdoms.

That is on the ministry or ‘functional’ level. Then there is the real estate, the various provinces, each presided over by a senior al-Saud prince. A prince is the absolute ruler of his province even as he claims allegiance to the king in Riyadh. Does it remind you of Europe in the Middle Ages? Yes, I have read Ivanhoe more than once, read it the first time in Arabic when in ninth grade (Isaac of York, the Jew, would probably be some wayfaring Shi’a from the Eastern province).…….
Did I hear you mention something about “the people” of the Arabian Peninsula? OH, yeah, they were once among the freest peoples of the whole world……….
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Cairo, Egypt, Human Right

Egypt’s Revolution Faces an Illegal Abortion: It’s the Toothpaste, Stupid……………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“Egypt’s state security prosecutor should immediately close “treason” investigations into Egyptian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) accused of receiving foreign funding, Human Rights Watch said today. The Egyptian cabinet announced on September 14, 2011, that a Justice Ministry report had identified more than 30 NGOs that are receiving foreign funding and are not registered with the Social Solidarity Ministry as required by the Associations Law and that it had submitted this information to the prosecutor. The offense is punishable with imprisonment under Egypt’s Associations Law. Restricting foreign funding can effectively deny civil society groups the ability to operate since under former President Hosni Mubarak, local funding sources shied away from funding controversial groups, Human Rights Watch said. “It sends alarming signals about the transitional government’s commitment to human rights that Egyptian authorities have started a criminal investigation with the same methods Hosni Mubarak used to strangle civil society, …………”

The military junta (SCAF) keeps nibbling at the freedoms Egyptians gained with their blood  since last January, even before then. It keeps testing the people’s will, trying to abort the march toward a more just and more free society. But that may be natural: it is unusual to see a non-elected regime encourage free elections and other freedoms. No doubt the junta is being urged by some sisterly and brotherly oligarchies in the neighborhood. But it is impossible to push the toothpaste back into the tube, and the Egyptian toothpaste is definitely out of the tube.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, WTF

Animal Farm: King Welcomes Some Foreign Intervention in All Arab States……….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

Arab media report the King of Saudi Arabia said in a speech that he was happy about the return to “normality and peace” in Bahrain. The low level sectarian civil war now going on in Bahrain is considered a “return to normality and peace”, although I am certain the king has never read 1984 (Orwell), never even heard of it. He forgot to add that he was also happy about the return to peace in Afghanistan and Waziristan and Libya and Gaza. The report did not specify what the King and his speechwriters had been smoking before his speech.
(Actually some ‘tribal liberals’ on my Gulf had declared the situation in Bahrain to be “back to normal” from the day Saudi troops invaded in March: apparently the situation is still quite normal and getting even more normal by the day).

The report also said that that Saudi Arabia announced its complete rejection of any “foreign interference” in the internal affairs of Bahrain. They said it is okay for foreigners to interfere in Libya and Yemen and Syria and Egypt and Tunisia and Iraq and even in Saudi Arabia. But not in Bahrain, unless the foreign intervention is in the form of Saudi forces shoring up the regime and its imported mercenaries against the people. Which brings up that other Orwell book, Animal Farm.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Human Right, Muslims, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Counterrevolution: the Hadith Loophole, the Salafi Alibi………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“The Saudis are afraid of the Arab spring, because they don’t want anti-Saudi forces, including such enemies as Iran and Al Qaeda, to increase their influence in the Middle East, and they believe the revolutions in the region might have just this effect. Some of the older Saudi leaders have seen this movie before. The nationalist revolutions of the 1950’s and 1960’s, inspired and galvanized by Gamel Nasser’s Egypt, nearly toppled the House of Saud. Nonetheless, today’s Saudi princes appear to recognize that something has genuinely changed in the Middle East: The younger generation of Arabs is no longer prepared to accept unaccountable, corrupt, and brutal governments. Saudi Arabia, a self-proclaimed bulwark of Islamic conservatism, where popular democracy has never been considered a legitimate form of rule, has been more aggressive in some arenas than in others. Domestically, the royal family struck quickly, adopting a ban on public demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience. The Kingdom’s traditional interpretation of Islam construes political legitimacy in terms of a ruler’s proper application of Islamic law. In return, his subjects owe him obedience within the constraints of Sharia religious law…………..”

There is a Hadith that purports to indicate that Prophet Mohammed urged Muslims to obey their “Muslim” rulers as long as they allowed and facilitated the practice of Islam, no matter how lousy the rulers are. This Hadith has been at the center of Salafi alliances with despotic Arab rulers. It has supplied the rulers with a “loophole” to get away with all kinds of corruption and injustice. It is used by absolute Arab monarchs as an alibi, with the Salafis as allies.  Of course there are other Hadiths against corruption and thievery by rulers, and against despotism, but these are ignored.
I have never believed in the veracity of that Hadith, not even as a kid. Needless to say, I still have strong doubts about its veracity. For 1400 years this particular Hadith has been just too convenient, too useful for ruling tyrants of our region.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, Corruption, ethnic cleansing, GCC, Human Right, Saudi Arabia, UAE, US Foreign Policy

Delusional Bahrain: Despots and Miscreants and a Precocious Schmuck Minister………….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“MOI: Groups of miscreants were out in various areas of Bahrain today in response to calls made through social media websites. Since their movements were illegal, security forces dealt with them and some of the miscreants were arrested and legal actions taken against them.
With regard to incidents at City Center, at around 4:00pm a group of miscreants and lawbreakers broke into the shopping mall to create chaos and spread terror among the public there. As a result the security forces, including women police, had to interfere and deal with them and some of them were arrested and legal actions taken against them.
The Ministry of Interior apologises to the mall management and the public for any inconvenience caused and affirms that the situation everywhere has returned to normal……….”
Ministry of Interior of Bahrain, the body in charge of police, midnight raiders, looters, imported foreign mercenary thugs, politically nationalized foreign goons (from Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and former Iraqi Ba’athists), torturers, and all round nice guys of the al-Khalifa team. All presided over by a precociously schmuck minister of interior. The country is now a ghettoized occupation zone and these ruling schmucks talk about “normality”.

“The people of Bahrain have won a victory for democracy by their very high participation in the ‘supplementary’ elections……” Regime Spokesman

The rulers of Bahrain are holding another phony election which most of the people of Bahrain have decided to boycott.
Nobody in the whole wide world believes what the regime says on this issue except the governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, a couple of other GCC potrntates and some experts in the United States State Department (okay, the latter pretend they do, like the lady in bed who only “thinks of England”).
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Cairo, Corruption, Egypt, Gulf states, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE

Arab Absolute Monarchs Funding Democracy in Egypt? Democratic People’s Republic of (Saudi) Arabia………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“A mini-crisis of sorts erupted between Egypt and the United States over foreign funding. The spark was probably the congressional testimony of the new US ambassador to Cairo, Anne Patterson, in June, in which she said that the US was earmarking $40m for USAID democracy and governance spending…………..Fast forward to this month, and the question of foreign funding is changing tack. A few days ago, the Egyptian press revealed (from government sources) that several of the largest transactions to civil society organizations have come from the Gulf, not the West. The numbers are quite telling. According to these reports, over LE181m ($30m) was given to the Ansar al-Sunna association, a very conservative religious group, by Qatar’s al-Thani Foundation. Kuwaiti and Emirati religious associations also donated significant sums, ones that dward(sic) what secular human rights groups might be receiving at the moment…….…”

Last time I looked, neither the al-Thani nor the al-Nahayan were on the verge of changing their own quasi-feudal fiefdoms (Qatar and the UAE) into model democracies. Anymore than than al-Saud are about to declare a Democratic People’s Republic of (Saudi) Arabia. I mean these are the same people who tried to keep Mubarak in power, they even got pissed off at Obama for not ‘somehow’ keeping him in power (Qatar excepted in this case). Last time I looked, they were all clinging to power and inherited privilege at all costs, and I mean ALL costs. Now their Salafi allies are trying to influence the elections in Egypt, nay trying to buy the elections in Egypt.

(Come to think of it, how about a Great Jamihiriya Socialist “Emirates” Republic of Al-Nahayan?)
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Apartheid, Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Gulf states, Human Right, Persian-American Gulf

Civil War in Bahrain? in everything but name………….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“IN THE villages inhabited by Bahrain’s Shia majority on the outskirts of the capital, Manama, protesters battle with police every day. Seven months after demonstrators called for democratic reforms by Bahrain’s Sunni rulers, prompting a harsh crackdown, there is still no sign of sectarian reconciliation. A set of by-elections on September 24th for 18 of the 40 seats in the lower house of parliament is meant to convey a sense of progress but may well do the opposite. Pro-democracy campaigners, nearly all of them Shias, have called for the villagers to unite in a mass march back to Manama to reclaim Pearl roundabout, the hub of the protests until government troops routed demonstrators there in March. Since then at least 35 people have been killed. Any march back to the capital will be blocked by a large-scale security presence. Another violent confrontation is quite likely. The elections are unlikely to improve matters. The 18 seats were abandoned in February by Shias who walked out of parliament in protest at the government’s repression. Bahrain’s main opposition party, Wefaq, is boycotting the poll…………“People are not afraid any more,” says Mr Matar, who was beaten in prison and spent 45 days in solitary confinement, sometimes hearing the screams of other inmates. “They have seen the worst that the government can do and they have kept coming back.……”….”

Also sprach The Economist. The harsh crackdown by the Bahrain regime is probably seen now by some sane members of the ruling al-Khalifa clan as a big mistake. The regime threw what it thought were its best cards on the table. It threw everything in its arsenal at the people: security forces, snipers, foreign mercenaries, Saudi and Emirati troops, killings, beatings, prison, torture, sexual assault, mass firing from jobs, expelling from schools and colleges. It has not been enough: so what else can they do, other than the logical obvious they refuse to do? As the man said: people are not afraid anymore, they have seen what the despots can dish out, and they are not impressed.
What Bahrain has experienced since last February is a low level civil war, with each side using the best weapons it perceives at its disposal. The protesters are not using lethal weapons, but they are battling the well-armed regime and its local goons and foreign mercenaries and foreign occupation forces. The regime clings to its policy of apartheid and disenfranchising most of the people. The people now insist on nothing less than full rights: political and economic. It is a low level civil war that risks spreading, a direct result of the foolish policies of the Al Khalifa kleptocracy and their closest allies, nay their masters, across the Gulf.
It is a low level civil war that has no end in sight unless one of two things happen: the people give up their rights and accept despotism and apartheid or the rulers see where all this is leading their small country and give the people back their rights.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]