“A Moroccan court on Friday sentenced a man to six months in jail after he raised the Israeli flag over his home to attract the attention of local authorities and protest the disconnection of electricity and water supplies to his home, Moroccan media reported. Mohammed Jadidi, 42, had drawn the Israeli flag on a white cloth and raised it over his home in the Airport neighborhood of the northern predominantly Amazigh (Berber) town of Nador. He reportedly did so after the electricity and water were disconnected to his home, which belonged to the Auxiliary Forces and occupied by his family since the death of his father, who was part of the paramilitary forces. Morocco’s Auxiliary Forces supplement the military, gendarmerie and the police when needed. Jadidi was arrested last Monday and was charged with “sacrilege” through “undermining the national flag.”…………”
I believe that raising a flag is like raising any other sign. It is one way of expression. Punishing someone for raising a flag, be it Israeli or Saudi or Iranian or Fredonian, is stifling the freedom of expression. I even believe displaying the photos of any Arab leader or potentate, even photos of Saudi princes or Bashar Assad, is not necessarily an obscene gesture (so long as they are fully dressed, and I mean ‘fully’). It is just an expression: it can be tasteless but should not be illegal. Cheers
mhg
“An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned dolls of the Simpsons cartoon characters, who join Barbie and others on a toy blacklist, an independent newspaper reported on Monday. The report said that the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture. But Superman and Spiderman were allowed, because they helped the “oppressed.” “We do not want to promote this cartoon by importing the toys,” Shargh daily quoted Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, secretary of policymaking at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, as saying……… He did not elaborate on what was wrong with the Simpsons specifically ………”
I like the Simpsons. I firmly believe they are more entertaining and more interesting than Press TV (Iran) or al-Manar TV (Lebanon) or CNN (USA) or BBC (Britain). Hell, they are always even more interesting than Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, although not always funnier. All of the above are more interesting than, say, William Hague (aka Yoda) or David Cameron (aka Pierce Morgan). The Iranian decision to ban The Simpsons is a repressive measure. It is more repressive, in my view than, say, the house arrests of opposition leaders like Mausavi or Karroubi, mainly because Homer and Bart and Marge (and even Apu) are fun-ner than those Iranian worthies. On the other hand, I was also pissed that the Western governments are blocking television stations they don’t agree with. Mainly Press TV (Iran) and al-Manar TV (Lebanon). Not because I am a regular fan of these stations, I am not. I am not a fan of any television network. Come to think of it I am not a fan of anyone: I was not a fan of the late Saddam Hussein when most people around me thought the sun shone out of his ass, and now I am not a fan of the Wahhabi princes even when the same many people hink that the sun actually shines out of their royal asses.
I doubt that the ban means anything on the ground. Most Iranian who wish to see The Simpsons do so via satellite television and the Internet. Westerners who wish to see Press TV or al-Manar can do so as well. Cheers
mhg
This new report for 2011-12 by Reporters without Borders has some odd results for the Arab States: 1- Finland 45- Comoros 47- United States of America
78- Kuwait 93- Lebanon 112- United Arab Emirates 114- Qatar
117- Oman 122- Algeria 128- Jordan 134- Tunisia
138- Morocco 152- Iraq 153- Palestinian Territories 154- Libya 158- Saudi Arabia 159- Djibouti 164- Somalia
166- Egypt 170- Sudan 171- Yemen
173- Bahrain 176- Syria
Saudi Arabia (158) is rated better than Egypt (166) for press freedom. So is Somalia. Can anyone fucking believe that (other than the Saudi princes)? In Egypt, even with SCAF military council, the media can criticize the politicians and the rulers more freely than most Arab states. In Saudi Arabia, any negative reference to the king and princes can get one fired and land them in prison. I submit that Saudi press (inside Saudi Arabia, not the offshore-based) is the least free in the Middle East, less free than Iran and Bahrain and Syria.
Then Jordan and the UAE are rated higher than Iraq: the media can and does criticize al-Maliki openly in Baghdad, but can they criticize the rulers of the UAE or the king of Jordan as freely?
The UAE (112) and Jordan (128) are listed as freer than India (131) and Tunisia (134). Now if you so much as look sideways at an al-Nahayan shaikh you’d be charged with terrorism in Abu Dhabi, yet it is rated higher than democratic India!
Frankly, no Arab country should be listed as freer than India (with the possible exception of Lebanon and Iraq and Tunisia).
I have had issues with the RSF reports in recent years. There is something fishy, they read like the kind of watermelon reports we have in the Gulf region.
“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
“Saudi Arabian bloggers and journalists say the arch-conservative Islamic kingdom will find it hard to douse glimmers of more open reporting despite a tightening of media rules after the spread of popular revolts through the Arab world………… The world’s number one oil exporter announced a series of stricter regulations for journalists after “Arab Spring” unrest hit neighbouring countries earlier this year……… In a royal decree issued in March as protests were boiling over in the region in March, Saudi King Abdullah forbade criticism of senior members of the Sunni Muslim clergy. A new media law issued in April then threatened fines and the closure of publications that offended top figures or were seen to jeopardise stability. More recently, a leaked draft of an anti-terrorism law classified “endangering national security” and “harming the reputation of the state” as terrorist offences………..Twenty years ago, newspapers were so worried about upsetting the Saudi government that they waited days before reporting on Iraq’s invasion of the kingdom’s neighbour Kuwait………..” I don’t see that it makes any difference. Nobody inside the Kingdom without Magic has ever openly criticized the princes or the top clergy openly, not unless they wanted to vanish (a few who did, did). Or unless they are in the safety of exile.
As for this part: “Twenty years ago, newspapers were so worried about upsetting the Saudi government that they waited days before reporting on Iraq’s invasion of the kingdom’s neighbour Kuwait ”. Yeah, unfortunately I remember that one: the princes were scared s–tless, to use a vulgar high-school term, from Saddam’s Baathist military which proved to be like a hollow Mexican piñata (sans the candy) when faced with the Americans. It took a visit by Dick Cheney (then US Secretary of Defense) and the promise of US troops to get them to mention the invasion and to cooperate. All this is not mentioned in our ‘genteel’ Gulf media: it is considered un-brotherly, or perhaps un-sisterly, to mention it in mixed company
. All this is a regional phenomenon, not just a Saudi one. From Iran through Riyadh and all the way to Algeria, they all seek ways to stifle free opinion. Their main worry now is the Internet, a newish beast that they can’t seem to figure how to control. Unless they ban it as Saddam did in Iraq. Cheers
mhg
BFF “Iranian police have launched a new crackdown on satellite dishes which, although illegal, are still a common sight on rooftops across the Islamic republic. Tehran police confiscated more than 2,000 satellite dishes in a single day last week in a battle against receivers which let Iranians see a huge range of uncensored entertainment and international news not available on state-controlled channels. “The police’s priority is first to confiscate dishes which are visible … and confront the owners,” Tehran-e Emrouz daily quoted Tehran’s deputy police chief Ahmadreza Radan as saying……..”
Iranian mullahs allow their women to continue driving cars and ride motorcycles. But they hate satellite dishes for the openness to the world that come with them. The Saudis are more open about international media than the Iranians: satellite dishes are not banned anymore (three fourths of the population would go crazy without them and may pour out into the streets of Riyadh and Jeddah and cause major trouble). There was a time when Wahhabi nuts, the religious police, went around trying to destroy satellite dishes, but that was in the past. There a was a time, up to the early 1990s, when satellite dishes were banned in other GCC Gulf states as well. But the Persian Gulf War (1990/91) and the CNN coverage of it put an end to that. In my hometown, I don’t recall any new law allowing satellite dishes after 1991, just as I don’t recall any law banning them before that. It was just government fiat. Satellite dishes, that were once exclusively used by potentates, suddenly became commonplace. The official position seems to be: Iranian mullahs know they can’t ban dishes, they are just trying to make them less visible on rooftops. The logic is not a logical one, since everyone knows they are there, everyone has them, and the mullahs have them as well. Maybe it is the aesthetics they care about. It is a losing battle that they should give up, just as their neighbors on the Gulf did many years ago. After all, anyone can watch television channels over the Internet, and Iran cannot ban the Internet: the mullahs would have a true revolution of the young (and the old) on their hands if they did. So, give it up Ali and Mahmoud: it is a losing battle. Cheers
mhg
My BFF Freedom of the Press rankings (Freedom House): I have my doubts about some of these rankings: for example I think Lebanon (109) has more press freedom than several countries that are listed above it. I am also not sure why the US (22) and UK (29) are ranked lower than some European countries. France is ranked 42. Bahrain (159) has no independent press anymore, and should now be at a lower level than Saudi Arabia (178) or Iran (188), closer to Libya. Saudi Arabia (178) should be lower after now because they just passed decrees and regulations that make a mockery of any concept of press freedom:
Finland (1)- Norway(2)-Sweden(3)……
Israel (62)
Lebanon (109)- Turkey (113)- Kuwait (127)- Algeria (138)
Jordan (142)- Egypt (147)- Qatar (148) – Iraq (151)
As for the rest of the Arab states? The less said the better.
Frankly, I am not sure wtf these rankings mean. In many Arab states the press knows a red line when it sees one and would not cross it. It is called censorship by silent intimidation. How do these rankings account for that? Cheers
mhg
““All those responsible for publication are banned from publishing … anything contradicting Islamic Sharia Law; anything inciting disruption of state security or public order or anything serving foreign interests that contradict national interests,” the state news agency SPA said. Saudi Arabia follows an austere version of Sunni Islam and does not tolerate any form of dissent. It has no elected parliament and no political parties. The tighter media controls were set out in amendments to the media law issued as a royal order late on Friday. They also banned stirring up sectarianism and “anything that causes harm to the general interest of the country.”…… Clerics played a major role in banning protests by issuing a religious edict which said that demonstrations are against Islamic law. In turn, the royal order banned the “infringement of the reputation or dignity, the slander or the personal offence of the Grand Mufti or any of the country’s senior clerics or statesmen.”..……”
Now nobody can criticize the Mufti or the clergy. If the Mufti, Shaikh Abdelaziz Al Al Shaikh refuses to criticize or ban child marriages, then he (Al) is immune from criticism. Actually this is not new: the clergy have always been immune from criticism in Saudi media that are based in the country, and in most media based offshore. The difference is the Internet, where many young Saudis, whether at home or abroad, feel free to express themselves. Those at home run the risk of crossing red lines and getting arrested, those abroad risk arrest upon return home. There will be less tweeting from within the Kingdom without Magic now, less political tweeting. Oh, there will be a lot about Syria and Yemen and Libya, even maybe Iraq (Bahrain? Where is that?), but nothing about domestic politics (the only domestic politics are within the royal family and among their clergy stooges). Last year they started requiring all bloggers to get government permission to start a blog, and to register with the government. Nice reform. As for banning “stirring up sectarianism”: that is ironic, nay laughable, because the al-Saud and their media are the party most responsible for the poisonous sectarian divisions we see in our Gulf region these days. They would do the same in the wider Arab world if they could, they certainly have tried in Iraq for some years, and in Lebanon through their surrogates in the Hariri camp. Cheers
mhg
My BF A group of political activists, human rights activists, academics and opinion-makers in the Gulf GCC countries have issued a proclamation asking for: (a) release of political prisoners in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Oman- (b) an end to arrests and torture by Gulf regimes- (c) stopping the use of sectarianism to divide the peoples of the region- initiating political and economic reforms., amomg other needed steps. I know some of the names on the list of signers, and they are respectable activists and political people and academics (most others I have never heard of). Many of the Saudi prisoners have been held for fifteen years WITHOUT TRIAL.
The contemptible ones: those are the ‘respectable’ ones, which brings me to the subject of the “others”, the not so respectable ones. What is interesting is not who signed this proclamation. It is who did not sign it. There are many known faces and names, academics and journalists and opinion-makers who did not sign it. These are mostly the ‘palace’ academics and journalists and opinion-makers, and there are so many of them on my (Persian-American) Gulf. The vast Saudi media (I can never over-estimate how vast it is; some day I shall list it all) and the nascent official and semi-official UAE media have first claim on many of these. These are the ones who spend a lot of time and “ink” and paper either denying or justifying oppression and midnight raids and mass arrests and torture and sectarianism across my Gulf. Many of them belong on a list of shame.
This proclamation has made the news, but mainly on the Internet or in non-Gulf media. I have not seen any reference to this proclamation in any ’mainstream’ GCC Gulf media, not even in the two GCC countries that are not listed among the oppressive torturer regimes. Not even in my hometown. At least I could not see any when I searched last night. Which makes me think of yet another list.
Cheers
mhg
My BFF “As Middle East regimes try to stifle dissent by censoring the Internet, the U.S. faces an uncomfortable reality: American companies provide much of the technology used to block websites. McAfee Inc., acquired last month by Intel Corp., has provided content-filtering software used by Internet-service providers in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, according to interviews with buyers and a regional reseller. Blue Coat Systems Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., has sold hardware and technology in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar that has been used in conjunction with McAfee’s Web-filtering software and sometimes to block websites on its own, according to interviews with people working at or with ISPs in the region. A regulator in Bahrain, which uses McAfee’s SmartFilter product, says the government is planning to switch soon to technology from U.S.-based Palo Alto Networks Inc. It promises to give Bahrain more blocking options and make it harder for people to circumvent censoring. Netsweeper Inc. of Canada has landed deals in the UAE, Qatar and Yemen, according to a company document. …….”
Now U.S corporations are providing the technology for these unsavory regimes on the Persian-American Gulf to block and possibly identify dissidents and locate them. Ironically they are helping to weaken and kill the Internet, an American invention, one of America’s greatest modern gifts to humanity. Arab regimes have been trying to coordinate the suppression of the Internet for a few years now: they are good at cording suppression. The Saudi have “led” the way this past year with new rules to suppress the internet. The Saudi rules now require every blogger to obtain permission from the ministry of information, answer certain questions, and apply for a license. That and the usual “state security” background check are enough discourage many. But I imagine many bloggers can “base” their blogs overseas. The UAE had issues last year with the Blackberry manufacturer because the regime wanted to be able to spy on users. Eventually the company (Research in Motion) gave in and the users lost. I wonder what technology the Iranian censors are using. Most likely the same.
Cheers
mhg
BFF 
Rattlesnake Ridge 
BFF
