Category Archives: Corruption

Bahrain, Corruption, GCC, Qatar

Qumquat of Qatar is Homeless in Manhattan: Too Many Al-Thanis, Sources of Money, Reichsführer Himmler of Bahrain………

 

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“But for one New York co-op, a $31.5 million bid wasn’t even enticing enough to merit an interview with the potential tenant. The prospective buyer also happens to be the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. He made an offer to purchase and convert two apartments in the co-op belonging to the late heiress Huguette Clark……… His cousin, Qatar’s hereditary ruling leader Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, lives down the block. And the prime minister himself is also the owner of a 436-foot yacht, Al-Mirqab, which reportedly cost several hundred million dollars……….”
 
“But today, the New York Post puts the kibosh on those rumors. The Prime Minister’s bid for the apartments was rejected, largely because of his 15 children, two wives and large staff, the Post reported. But the kids weren’t the only thing that made the building’s co-op board squeamish….. In addition to the kid factor, the uptight co-op board put the kibosh on Hamad’s bid — which had been backed by Clark’s estate — because it was jittery about where his money was coming from, sources said. Board members were also concerned because, as a foreign head of state, the 52-year-old sheik couldn’t be held accountable for anything…………..”


Maybe it was nothing personal. After all, they probably would have rejected even Muammar Qaddafi as a close neighbor. Possibly even the Saudi mufti Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh. But then again, these co-op, condo, or condom boards are finicky about who resides among them. I especially like that part about “because it was jittery about where his money was coming from….”, which tells me these co-op denizens in NYC know more about the Arab world, especially the Persian Gulf region, than we think. They all know these potentates get their money through very sticky fingers, that maybe possibly could be the money really belongs to the people of Qatar and not necessarily to the ruling Qumquats of Qatar. And this potentate will be moving in with fifteen kids? Which also means maybe three to four wives! Not exactly your normal NYC co-op family type where polygamy hasn’t been practiced legally since the Dutch purchased Manhattan four hundred years ago.
Imagine if a Bahrain ruling al-Khalifa potentate applied to live in that co-op? It’d be like having a hybrid of Al Capone and Heinrich Himmler moving in next door (and I am especially serious about the Reichsführer Himmler comparison). At least the Goldman Sachs guys don’t shoot and arrest and torture people. Come to think of it: imagine if any of our thieving Gulf potentates were to move in………
Cheers
mhg


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Arab League, Arab Politics, Baghdad Summit, Corruption, Iraq

Baghdad: A Sleepy Arab Summit in an Explosive City……………..

    

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This week, the only interesting news in Baghdad will be unwelcome type: it will most likely come in the form of terrorist bombings by foreign Salafis from across the sisterly Arab borders.
The Arab summit in Baghdad is hardly worthy of its name. Most top Arab leaders are either staying away or haven’t taken office in their own countries yet. Others like Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain are still trying to put down popular uprisings. In fact most Arab summits in recent decades have been frustrating affairs. The only redeeming value used to be the entertainment provided by the predictably unpredictable speeches of the late Mu’ammar Qaddafi and occasional reactions to them. With Qaddafi gone, Arab summits will now probably become as boring as GCC summits (can’t get more boring than that now that the Brezhnev Politbureau is gone). I hope I am wrong, but early signs are not encouraging.
This editor of Asharq Alawsat
 (Saudi semi-official daily) ties the success of the summit with internal Iraqi politics, with how the al-Maliki government deals with pro-Saudi elements inside Iraq. This is not to say that al-Maliki is right: nobody in Iraq is right these days and corruption is as rife there as in Saudi Arabia, except it is not as organized and with less decorum. Besides, the new Iraqi potentates had been in exile for years and need to make up or lost time: that may explain the quick spread of corruption and at different strata of society. I imagine spending decades in exile in Tehran or Damascus wasn’t much fun (these cities are not at the top of my list even for someone who is not in exile).
Under the Baath regime corruption was confined to Saddam Hussein’s family and friends and upper party leaders. Sort like it is in Saudi Arabia now where major corruption is confined to princes and potentates and their retainers and agents. The new Iraqi corruption is more in the open and more “egalitarian”, it has seeped to the lower levels of society. In Reagan-esque terms; it has trickled down to the middle classes. What is dangerous about that is that it is becoming a sort of entitlement for a wider swath of society and harder to get rid of.
As for corruption at the top: that can be stopped by an order from the king or dictator. Unless he is overthrown first.
Cheers
mhg


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Britain, Corruption, Culture, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Buying the Soul of Britain, Raping the History of Islam, Sacking Mecca……………

    

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“He (David Cameron) did not understand that the readiest alternative to public money is not the free market. If a public servant needs a fortune fast, he can turn to Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and the other oil-rich dictatorships……… All the dictatorships ask in return is that Britain’s cultural institutions sell their souls. They are more than happy to haggle………..Saudi Arabia provided exhibits. The Saudi royal family’s King Abdulaziz Public Library partnered the museum. HSBC Amanah, a bank that issues sharia-compliant loans, sponsored the show. By negligence or design, nothing in the exhibition offends the Saudi state, which derives legitimacy from its control of sacred sites and income from pilgrims. You might have thought that of all people the museum’s director, Neil MacGregor, would deplore cultural vandalism. The author of A History of the World in 100 Objects would surely deprecate the destruction of buildings of historical significance. He must know that Saudi’s monarchical dictatorship has wrecked Mecca with an abandon worthy of the Taliban. It has destroyed the remnants of the 7th-century city, most notably the houses of the prophet, his first wife and Abu Bakr, father of Aisha, one of Muhammad’s other wives. According to the Wahhabi monarchy’s puritanical and iconoclastic version of Islam, anything that generates idolatry – images of the prophet, homes associated with him – is dangerous. So medieval Mecca had to go………..”

This piece does not cover all factors behind the crime of destruction of historical Mecca. I have written more than once on this subject, as have others. It is not all Wahhabi ideology that doomed the monuments of Mecca. Historical Mecca was destroyed by a combination of Wahhabi Salafi dogma against history and the greed of the princes and developers. You see, land in Mecca has become too valuable, a result of the explosion of the Hajj pilgrim tourism. The closest to the Holy Mosque a location is, the higher the rent and hotel costs. Historic houses of the Prophet Mohammed and the early Sahaba were replaced with 5-star, 6-star and 7-star hotels and condominiums. Greed by the potentates used the Wahhabi doctrine against history to take over some invaluable property and rape the very history of Islam. That was robbery of something that belonged to the whole Muslim world, not just the princes.
As for David Cameron, he is no different than that other corrupt prime minister, Tony Blair who bent British laws and institutions for the benefit of the al-Saud princes and Muammar Qaddafi and other despots. This is buying the soul of British institutions. It has been going on for some years, and it will accelerate under the Tory PM.
Cheers
mhg


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Bahrain, Corruption, GCC, Gulf states, Saudi Arabia

Watermelon Country: Kings and Princes and Stolen Lands on the Gulf………

 

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“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has agreed to name Northern Waad Mining City after him, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi said yesterday. In his acceptance letter following a proposal made by Al-Naimi, the king expressed hope that the Waad City project would bring about remarkable economic progress to the Northern Border Province…………”

A heart of gold, accepting to bear the heavy burden and awesome responsibilities of yet another city to be named after him. What a nice guy!


In most Gulf states whole new cities are named after the ruling potentates and their many relatives. Most Saudi universities are named after kings and princes as well as many roads and now some towns and cities. But it is mild in Saudi Arabia; the prize goes to the ruling al-Khalifa clan of Bahrain. Every other frigging city, almost every road and highway is named either Hamad or Salman or Issa or Khalifa. 
What is truly offensive on my Gulf, what adds insult to injury is this: Some potentate takes over (steals) public land by claiming ownership, and as usual gets away with it. Eventually he sells the land to the government at a high price. The government parcels the land into a new town and often names it after the potentate who stole the land and sold it. There are whole towns on the Gulf now named after thieves who stole the land on which they are built! Talk about solid foundations.
Corruption, Economics, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Extreme Poverty in a Democratic People’s Kingdom of Arabia…………..

 

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Woman begging in Riyadh (Source: Deutsche Welle)


“In spite of the image of prosperity in which Saudi residents are supposed to live, the past tow decades have seen high inflation in prices by about 400% while the average income increased by only 66%. Ahmad Doud works as a security guards for a company and he used to make $533 a month until King Abdullah ordered that minimum wages be established and that he now makes about $800. His salary is not enough to cover the rent and living expenses of his family and he has taken a second job, although he refuses to say what it is. Saeed is another victim of the poverty in Saudi Arabia whose painful details are lost among the bright image of luxury and prosperity in the kingdom. He secretly makes alcoholic drinks secretly and sells them to make money to cover his family expenses. When asked about a job with the oil and petro-chemical companies that are within tens of miles of his place, he says that he has to be satisfied with inhaling the poisons they emit.
Latest data indicate that the average annual per capita income in Saudi Arabia exceeds $ 20,000, while the average monthly wage of a Saudi citizen in the private sector is about $927….. A short film produced by Badr al-Humood is titled “The Graveyard” and tells about a family of 11 persons that lives in a Riyadh graveyard……… “ Duetsche Welle Arabic

Now compare this to my earlier posting here about the lifestyles of the Saudi princes.
(The lousy translation from Arabic is my own).
Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

A Crime in Manhattan: Plaza Hotel, Saudi Oger, and Lebanese Rumors……..

   

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“Yet the prince’s name was uttered during the trial only once, and only in part, by his butler. His full name is Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd. He is the youngest and assumed favorite son of King Fahd, who died in 2005 after 23 years leading Saudi Arabia. The prince’s wealth is thought to be in the billions. He has few, if any, official responsibilities and appears to focus mostly on bouncing around the globe with his large entourage, said Simon Henderson, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who has written about the royal family……… “We’re not talking about the top 1 percent,” Aaron Mysliwiec, a defense lawyer, said. “We’re talking about Michael Bloomberg kind of wealth.” One of the Plaza’s owners is Prince Walid bin Talal, Prince Abdul Aziz’s more famous cousin, who is among the largest single shareholders in Citigroup and in News Corporation, the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch……… Testimony revealed that some part of that entourage was supplied by the “V.I.P.” unit of Saudi Oger, a large construction and telecommunications company. The unit exists to travel with the prince and cater to his desires, the head of the unit testified………… The ties between Saudi Oger and Prince Abdul Aziz are well known in Saudi Arabia. The company was founded by Rafiq Hariri, who built Saudi Oger into a large company by winning the trust and business of King Fahd………”

I wrote here that Lebanese media reported a couple of weeks ago that the Saudi king gifted, “gave”, Saad Hariri US$2 billion, just like that. Maybe a gift for Valentine’s Day. Hariri denied it, but in Lebanon, a secret doesn’t last long. Like this old saying that I just made up: “A secret doesn’t remain a secret in two places, one of them is Lebanon”. You can try and guess what the other place is but then someone, possibly your spouse, might ask “How did you know?“


Hariri was reportedly unwelcome in his hometown of Riyadh for some time. He had angered the Saudi princes by describing Prince Nayef (Interior Minister and now Crown Prince) as a “bloodthirsty butcher” behind his back. That was during a meeting with some European bureaucrat related to the STL Hariri tribunal. Unfortunately for him, that meeting was recorded and televised by al-Jadeed TV last year.
As for the allegations of rape, I have no idea.
FYI: Saudi Oger is pronounced like “O Jay” not like “Ogre”.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, Corruption, GCC, Human Right, Saudi Arabia

A Bahrain Think Tank and the Joys of Tribal Wahhabi Liberalism…………

    

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“Manama: Countries keen on boosting cultural and intellectual relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries should appreciate that they are dealing with a new elite of thinkers, the head of Bahrain’s main think- tank has said. “They have received their education in the world’s outstanding universities and have become remarkable contributors in strategic studies and international studies,” Dr Mohammad Abdul Gaffar, head of the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies and Special Adviser to King Hamad Eisa Al Khalifa, said. “This new elite of intellectuals from the GCC states are different from the previous generation at the cultural and educational levels Britain dealt with during the early stages of the formation of modern Gulf states…………..”

Oh, yes: a special adviser to King Hamad al-Khalifa, the acting Saudi governor of Bahrain. I suspect
 that by “new elite of thinkers” he means the Wahhabi tribal faux-liberals who are filling Gulf media and academic institutions with writings and opinions of glorification of the Saudi princes and their sidekicks in Bahrain and around the region.
By
 “new elite of intellectuals” he is probably also referring to the fundamentalist tribal alliances that dominate whatever passes for politics on the Gulf these days. The only real politics in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are done in prison and in exile. The only true politics in Bahrain are done at the people’s protests and barricades and in prison and in exile (with armed regime thugs and imported mercenaries playing the incumbents). As for the Wahhabi “so-called” intellectuals, in some places they correctly call them tribal and sectarian sycophants.
Cheers
mhg


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Britain, Corruption

Ugh: More on Tony Blair………..

   

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“A short note on the presidential website stated that Mr Blair discussed a speech Mr Nazarbayev was due to make on employment, industry and housing issues in the former Soviet state. “I agree with your message and the large scale tasks which need to be put into practice” the Russian-language version of the presidential website quoted Mr Blair as saying. “We’re ready to work and present to you recommendations on successfully implementing these tasks.” For an £8 million a year fee, Mr Blair reportedly set up a group last year to advise Mr Nazarbayev. Mr Blair’s spokesman has previously said that he is not profiting from the deal. The spokesman also said that Mr Blair’s only involvement had been to set up the group and that he was not personally advising Mr Nazarbayev………..”

Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, Gulf states, Israel, Palestine, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

The Tony Blair Israeli-Palestinian Barbershop Quartet……….

 

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“Yet another deadline passed late last month in the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process,” this time over the initial exchange of proposals on border and security issues. Palestinian negotiators were (and remain) under pressure on a number of fronts. The Quartet still holds to a resumption of talks under the current guise and a recent visit from Ban Ki-Moon called for “a gesture of goodwill by both sides” in order to create a positive atmosphere for continuing negotiations……….”

This looks like just a way to keep Tony Blair doing something other than making a lot of money serving various Middle East potentates and Central Asian petroleum dictators. He is right here: it is time for Tony should to form a new quartet, a barbershop Quartet of Persian Gulf potentates and Central Asian dictators. (I don’t think Tony is on the payroll of J P Morgan anymore; that was during ‘the deal’ with Qaddafi). Then he, and they, can sing their hearts out away from the media. Then we won’t have to see his deceptive sanctimonious face and his asinine statements and platitudes about world affairs.
Moony at the UN should declare the Quarter dead and done with because in fact it is deader than a doornail.
Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, religious police, Saudi Arabia

Arabian Peninsula: the Condemned Sorcerer and the Free Prince……….

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“A Saudi court sentenced an African man to 15 years in jail and 1,500 lashes with the whip for embezzling money from many people through sorcery. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested the unidentified man, in his 50s, following complaints by many of his victims in various cities in the Gulf Kingdom. “They seized him red handed after setting a trap for him in Riyadh…they found talismans, herbs, hair and other items used in his fraudulent activities,” Ajel Arabic language daily said……..”

Another poor African entrapped by the Commission for the Propagation of Vice.
He is lucky: only a few weeks ago they beheaded a fellow magician in public somewhere in the Kingdom without Magic. Normally they sentence sorcerers, witches, and magicians to have their heads chopped off in Saudi Arabia. Surprising hat this one was sentenced to only 15 years in prison and 1,500 lashes. If he survives the 1,500 lashes (miracles do happen), then he can keep his head and go to prison. If he lasts 15 years in prison, then he will be out free. Now what is more just than that?

I was puzzled by the light sentence, that he was not having his head chopped off in public, until I read the charges carefully. The key word is “embezzlement”: that is what must have saved him. In country ruled by a kleptocracy, where the potentates get away with looting billions, embezzling a few rials is peanuts. The man may merely have some potential; as a true embezzler he is not there yet. That may explain the ‘mercy’ shown by the Wahhabi judge: fellow embezzlers stick together. Now all he needs is survive the 1,500 lashes and live long enough to taste freedom again. Many years from now, he can be out as free as, say, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan who allegedly received US$ 2 billion in bribes from BAE Systems for a huge weapons deal.
Cheers
mhg


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