Category Archives: GCC

Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, Corruption, GCC

Arab Forum on (Selective) Asset Recovery: Gorillas and Chimps and Grand Robberies…………..

   

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“Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman and Attorney General Eric Holder will lead a high level delegation consisting of officials from the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and the National Security Staff to Doha, Qatar from September 11-13, for the inaugural Arab Forum on Asset Recovery. The United States is co-organizing the Forum with the government of the State of Qatar………. Corruption has been a core public grievance in the region, and the United States has worked closely with the new governments and citizens of Arab countries in transition as they fight corruption and seek justice by recovering stolen assets….…………..”

“The inaugural meeting of the Arab Forum on Asset Recovery will be hosted in Doha, Qatar on September 11 to 13, 2012. The meeting is co-organized by Qatar and the United States presidency of the G8, with technical support from the StAR initiative. The Forum will bring together the G8, Deauville Partners and Regional countries for a multi-faceted effort that raises awareness of effective measures for asset recovery, provides a forum for regional training and discussion of best practices on cases, and identifies country-specific capacity building needs………. The primary objective of the Forum is to start a process of collaboration on the issue of asset recovery in the region, through periodic meetings and other activities……….. provide regional training to practitioners engaged in tracing, freezing, and
recovering the proceeds of corruption.……………..”


Are they serious? Is the purpose to help recovery of stolen assets or is the purpose to teach the attending regimes and rulers how to better hide the assets they have stolen, are still stealing, from their peoples? They invite regimes from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Russia, Lebanon and others to discuss recovery of assets stolen by other despots and oligarchs.
What about billions stolen by absolute tribal ruling clans and their retainers in the Gulf GCC countries? Por ejemplo, just one example, the (very) late Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud left a fortune reported (check my past postings for sources, and also here earlier) at around US $ 220-230 billion (BILLION), give or take a few billions. Forbes Magazine would call it “self-made”: as if he made that fortune from his piggy bank change or from flipping falafel in Riyadh? How about recovering the many other billions stashed by the princes, potentates, and shaikhs?

Are these people out of their collectivefuckingminds? Meeting with the biggest Arab thieves to discuss recovery of money stolen by the smaller Arab thieves of poorer places like Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Libya? The international bureaucrats and Western governments (including the European Union, Canada, and the USA) can sit with straight faces with the grandest thieves of history in the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian-American Gulf and discuss recovery of a few millions or maybe a billion stolen elsewhere. What about right there within a short distance from their forum where the potentates of the UAE and the shaikhs of Qatar and other states continue to usurp the people’s wealth? That, the robbery of the peoples of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula by their rulers, is almost certainly the grandest robbery in history.

Yet these organizations and governments ignore the huge smelly gorillas sitting with them in the same room and search for the little chimpanzees and their peanut stash. In that they, the Western powers and the international financial organizations they control, are accomplices in the grandest of robberies.
Maybe it is true: it takes a (big) thief to catch a (smaller) thief.
Cheers
mhg
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GCC, Jordan, North Africa

Morocco and Jordan and GCC Constitutional Monarchy……

   

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Remember the Saudi plan of last year to have Morocco and Jordan join the Gulf GCC? So what happened to that Saudi plan? Are they working hard in Riyadh on modalities for Jordanian and Moroccan membership? Does the complete silence on this issue relate to the fact that Morocco is now more of a constitutional monarchy that it was last year? Is it related to the fact that the Star Trek king of Jordan is being pressured to allow freer elections? But that is exactly what the Bahraini opposition is demanding: to have a constitutional regime like Morocco. Yet the whole GCC establishment and the Wahhabi-tribal-liberals rose against the Bahraini people and their demand. That is what some of the Gulf tribal-Islamist opposition claim to be seeking, but selectively: they strongly oppose a constitutional monarchy for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. They must think the al-Saud princes and al-Khalifa kleptocrats are fonts of wisdom that can’t be replicated through any election.
As for Qatar and the UAE and Oman, they claim that they already have the most unelected unrepresentative democracy that money can buy (actually can’t buy in the case of Oman). The al-Saud princes are slightly different: they have the least democratic and least representative and least free system that oil money has a hard time buying.
Cheers
mhg
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Arab Politics, Egypt, GCC, Iran

President Morsi to Skip NAM Tehran Summit, will Tantawi Attend?………..

   

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“Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast expressed Iran’s hope that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi attend the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Tehran, describing him as a principal guest in the event. Egypt currently holds NAM’s presidential seat. Press TV, an Iranian channel, quoted a statement made by Mehmanparast to Iran Daily Saturday that confirmed the invitation, mentioning that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had personally invited Morsi to the summit via telephone earlier this month. Mehmanparast said it is natural for Egypt to be concerned with the movement at this time of change in its history…………..”

Morsi (or Mursy, wtf) is technically the president of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) now. It is a NAM meeting in Tehran, not an Iranian meeting. I could never figure what are they Non-Aligned about anyway? There is no more cold war, no two nuclear camps. Unless they are non-aligned between the Iranian camp and the Saudi camp. Or maybe nonaligned between the Sunni camp and the Shi’a camp? Possibly nonaligned between the Hatfields and McCoys.
Back to Morsi: he has to decide whether to attend the summit and anger the Saudis and the Qataris and the al-Nahayan and the Salafis and the Muslim Brothers who basically got him elected OR not attend. I guess he will not attend: so far he has not shown much guts in the face of our Gulf potentates or the Saudis (he groveled at the Saudi embassy when there were protests outside in support of detained Egyptians, and he groveled to the princes in Riyadh two weeks ago).
Joke of the day: will Tantawi attend?

Cheers
mhg
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Death Penalty, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Swords and Sorcerers: Of Elites and Peons and Fun in the Gulf GCC………….

    

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“A Saudi man has been beheaded on charges of sorcery and witchcraft, the state news agency SPA says. The man, Muree bin Ali bin Issa al-Asiri, was found in possession of books and talismans, SPA said. He had also admitted adultery with two women, it said. The execution took place in the southern Najran province, SPA reported. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned executions for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia. Last year, there were reports of at least two people being executed for sorcery……… No details were given of what he was found guilty of beyond the charges of witchcraft and sorcery. Amnesty International says the country does not formally classify sorcery as a capital offence…… Some, he explains, have repeatedly called for the strongest possible punishments against anyone suspected of sorcery – whether they are fortune tellers or faith healers…………”

The Saudi law enforcement system, of which the late Prince Nayef was the boss for decades, is an eager pursuer of all kinds of crime except one. They are especially avid pursuers of all kind of opposition to the regime, and that includes any call for “reform”. Reform is strongly opposes because it will inevitably bring down the regime, hence political prisoners are often tried as “terrorists”. That keeps the Western powers happy and content that the al-Saud are keeping their end of the bargain and working hard to protect life, liberty, and the American (and French) way of life.
Next in line are those who seek to have fun (aka fun seekers) but are not among the royals or their close retainers. (Real fun is supposed to be reserved for the elite in Saudi Arabia and in a couple of other Gulf countries. The peons are deemed beneath such suspicious activity). After that come those who try to add some magic to life in the Kingdom without Magic. Magicians, sorcerers, witches, warlocks, fortune tellers, charlatans (other than the Wahhabi clergy), and others including Ronald McDonald and your typical Pagliacci clown.
Oddly, and in spite of the severe sentence of beheading, many such characters pop up in the kingdom. Several magicians, sorcerers, witches, warlocks, fortune tellers, and charlatans are arrested every year; most are sentenced to beheading. This is a result of the interaction of two factors: (1) Desperation and poverty in what is supposed to be a very rich country. People fall for anything or anyone who promises to improve their lot in life. (2) Sheer boredom in a country where the only legal fun is in eating, drinking (soda pop), and driving round creating traffic jams while using up cheap gasoline. Some people try to break the monotony by attending mosques and funerals (one can spend a whole day, each day, offering condolences to the bereaved and accumulating heavenly merits for the future).
As someone might have said: “No worry. There are more heads where those that they chop off come from”. And that is a comforting though to the average citizen and to the executioner swinging the sword.
Cheers
mhg
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GCC, Gulf states, Saudi Arabia

Lion of Sunnis, King of Falafel, Pious Prince of Baba Ghannouj………

    

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When Saudi crown prince (for 8 months) Nayef Bin Abdulaziz died last week, Saudi and Salafi media started calling him “assad al sunna”, Lion of the Sunnis (or Lion of Sunna). Post-mortem, post-very-mortem. When some irreverent citizens in the GCC states started mocking this title on Internet social media, the Saudi Embassy in Kuwait reportedly retained lawyers to sue them. Other lawyers volunteered their services to suppress free expression and free speech.
Now Prince Abdulaziz Bin Fahd, son of late King Fahd has taken to calling himself Khadim al Sunna (Servant of the Sunnis or Custodian of the Sunna or Janitor of the Sunna or Housemaid of the Sunnis). He is allegedly a former (and occasional current) play-prince who reportedly spends around $7 million per day when on European vacation. I expect some prince will soon be calling himself Lion of Shish Kebab or Servant of Machbous or a future Falafil King (not the one near UCLA).

More seriously
, Saudi media, almost totally owned or partly owned or controlled by the ruling family and their retainers and in-laws, has gone viral about the sectarian thing. It is their main defense against popular resentment and anger: to divert it toward others. Implicitly they are warning the faithful that the “enemy” is waiting in the wings to “get” them. The enemy are the Shi’a Muslims of the Gulf and beyond. At some point last year or the year before there were reports that Saudi online media and supporters were campaigning in a Scandinavian country against permitting a Shi’a mosque, claiming it will be a hotbed for “terrorists” (it was like the pot calling the kettle black). I think it was probably in Norway but I need to check my older posts here.
Cheers
mhg
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Bahrain, Culture and Sports, GCC, Saudi Arabia, UAE

WTF UAE: Shaikhs Bin Technocrat and Manchester City Club, from King to Wali……..

 

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“She said: Kings, when they enter a land, they ruin it, and make its noble people its meanest, thus do they behave…….”  Holy Quran (Saurat al-Naml: The Ants)
 
“Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed (Bin Technocrat) al-Nahayan, Head of State, congratulated Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed (Bin Technocrat) al-Nahayan on the occasion of the victory of Manchester City Club in the English Premier League. His highness also congratulated all managers of the team and the technical staff as well as the players as the players………….”

Wow! Verstehen?

I can’t think of anything else the people of the UAE, the 15% of them who are native citizens and the 85% them who are foreign laborers and housemaids, needed to boost their morale better than this. They didn’t even need all their bought JDAM Bunker Busters or high-tech fighter
jets or their Blackwater-led foreign mercenary brigade from Colombia and Australia and other faraway places to achieve it.

Now
 I imagine the GCC summit  in Riyadh tomorrow will take time to congratulate Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Technocrat al-Nahayan, on this victory. That will come after they congratulate the current king (former shaikh and future satrap or wali) of Bahrain on giving his countgry to the al-Saud princes without the consent of most of his people.
Cheers
mhg


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Bahrain, GCC, Kuwait, Oman, Persian Gulf, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE

GCC Summit: a Salafi Tribal Dream Team, Taqiyya and a Real Existential Threat……

 

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“Some in the al Khalifa elite appear to be willing to be subsumed into such a union and this is a startling reflection of their heightened concerns. Given the lack of oil and gas resources in Bahrain, the exodus of European banks seriously damaging confidence in this key industry, the profound socio-economic problems that lie mostly unacknowledged at the root of Bahrain’s political troubles, and the hardening political crisis, there are concerns as to Bahrain’s longer term viability as an independent economic entity. Saudi Arabia already gives Bahrain’s elite huge subsidies and support and there is no sign that this could be reversed soon. From the al Khalifa perspective, therefore, if those in Riyadh are not willing to simply continue the economic support without deeper political concessions, with no end in sight to the political and economic crisis, securing guaranteed long-term backing from Riyadh to maintain the status quo may seem sensible. Overall, while Saudi Arabia taking on Bahrain as a loss-making, politically unstable appendage with a majority Shiite population may seem to be unattractive, it is preferable to the alternative. They could conversely see the slow implosion of a fellow Sunni monarchy and the potential ascendance to power of the Shiites next door to Saudi’s Eastern province, which contains not only a majority-Shiite Saudi population but also most of the kingdom’s oil fields and facilities……….”



The Gulf GCC leaders are scheduled to meet in Riyadh next week. The Saudis and their supporters are trying to market the half-baked idea of a GCC “confederation”. They have been at it for months, ever since the al-Saud realized that inviting Jordan and Morocco into the GCC was a stupid idea (from their point of view not mine: I knew it won’t get anywhere). Morocco and Jordan have been toying with more democracy, something the Saudi princes could not allow (an elected government would release prisoners and pack some of the princes to prison). Saudi-paid journalists and affiliated tribes and Salafis in some Gulf states are encouraging the idea of closer ties to the Wahhabi kingdom. The Salafis especially, being advocates of the Saudi royals, are pushing for it. The pressure is being applied, but they won’t get anywhere.

In Kuwait

, for example, the Salafis claim they want more freedom from the (divided) ruling family, but that is a phoney argument, a Salafi-tribal taqiyya or deception. The Salafis and local Muslim Brothers and their tribal supporters, now a majority in the assembly, are advocating for the Saudi regime, the most repressive Arab regime in modern times. It is an oddity of the Gulf Salafis that they admire both the al-Saud princes and they admire the al-Qaeda terrorists. Their Dream Team would be to rejoin the two Wahhabi sides (al-Saud and al-Qaeda) and live happily ever-after. But Kuwait still has some sort of civil society and the people, most of them (at least the city folks) will not accept getting too close to their former Wahhabi invaders. The only invasions of Kuwait in modern times have come from Saudi Arabia and from Iraq (both in the 20th century). People don’t forget where they were invaded from.

Bahrain

was a shaikhdom not long ago. It became a kingdom a little over a decade ago. Now it is a full-fledged state of rebellion, has been so for some time. The rulers of Bahrain have tricked the people several times: at independence when they voted for a “constitutional” monarchy, then again over a decade ago when they voted again for a weaker version of the same system. The rulers are trying to do the same again, promise reform while they tighten the screws some more. In Bahrain, the al-Khalifa and their small core of supporters would do anything to keep the old corrupt prime minister in power and to keep their ill-gotten privileges, even at the cost of handing the once-progressive island to the repressive Wahhabi princes.

The Qataris

have been bitten before by their “current” Saudi allies. There was a Saudi coup attempt against the current Shaikh of Qatar in 1998. It failed, but several high-ranking Saudi intelligence officers spent ten years in a Qatari prison and some border-straddling tribes were implicated.

Oman

is suspicious of Wahhabi ideology which does not look kindly on the religion of most of its people. Besides, the Omanis have always preferred to face the sea (Gulf of Oman, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea): less trouble from those directions in recent years.

The UAE has had border disputes with the Saudis since the days before independence from Britain (before there was a UAE). The al-Nahayan are highly unlikely to hand over any iota of their independence to the “sisterly” neighbors they have never fully trusted. The UAE has a dispute with the Iranians over Abu Musa and Tunb in the Gulf, but the real “existential” danger to all the smaller Gulf GCC states does not come from across the Gulf, not from beyond the Western fleets, it comes from across the land border. The rulers realize his, as do most of the people.

In the end

, they will all pay lip service to the idea of an “eventual” move to closer cooperation or coordination or whatever. With all the usual committees, commissions, councils, etc. My guess is they will form a body or a council for foreign policy that will be meaningless, an advisory council to the existing council of foreign ministers.

Cheers
mhg


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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 Counterrevoltion, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Human Right, Saudi Arabia

Kangaroo Trial: Secret Saudi Court Sentences Human Rights Activist to Prison………

    

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“The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) has received information concerning the sentencing of human rights defender Mohammed Albajady in Saudi Arabia, to four years in prison imprisonment followed by a five-year travel ban. The sentence was handed down following a secret trial in flagrant breach of fair procedures and in total disregard for his right to a fair trial. Mohammed Albajady co-founded the Saudi Civil & Political Rights Association (HSM), in October 2009. He was previously the host of a weekly on-line forum called “The citizen and his rights”. The GCHR issued an appeal on his case on 10 April 2012 (http://gc4hr.org/news/view/116). On 10 April 2012 the Special Criminal Court in Riyadh, established to try terrorism and security-related offences, reportedly held a secret session during which the four-year prison sentence was handed down. According to information received, soldiers in military uniforms and representative of the governmental National Human Rights Commission attended the trial. However, neither Mohammed Albajady‘s family nor his legal representatives were told of the court session…………”


This was a classic Saudi kangaroo court: his lawyers and his family were not aware of the court session that sentenced him. That means Mohammed al-Bejady was alone in a room facing some sycophants of the al-Saud princes calling themselves “judges”. In the secret trial, he was sentenced to two prison sentences. The first sentence is four years in a small al-Saud cell. The second sentence is five years travel ban: in effect five years in a larger al-Saud cell.
Arab regimes, especially on the Gulf, love to sentence people to travel bans (it is probably against the laws and against human rights to do so, but who cares). A reminder of the old Soviet Union. I guess our potentates on the Gulf look at it this way: four year not traveling means four years staring at the pictures and videos of the princes all over the media. Not only do they oppress and rob you, but you are forced to watch them honored for it everyday. Just adding some insult to the injury. That ought to be punishment enough.
Mr. al-Bajady will now serve nine years: a sentence passed by faceless Wahhabi Salafi judges appointed by the al-Saud princes. Many others have been sentenced the same way, some to prison, some to flogging and beheading in the Kingdom without Magic. Many thousands are in prison, many of them have yet to be charged and sentenced.
Cheers
mhg


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Al-Qaeda, Arab Politics, Arabian Peninsula, GCC

A Gulf GCC Dilemma: Tribes without Flags……..

    

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I was intrigued by a tweet from a Saudi demanding “Freedom for Hamza. If it weren’t for racism he’d be at home now”. It was of course about Saudi journalist Hamza Kashghari who was arrested in Malaysia through Interpol and sent to Saudi Arabia to face death by beheading based on a sick Salafi definition of “blasphemy”.
It took me a few seconds to realize what they meant by “racism”. It has to do with tribes, they meant “tribalism“. In our Gulf GCC states, the tribe is the most important thing to many people, the only true loyalty of many is to the tribe. The tweeter meant that if Hamza belonged to one of the large Saudi tribes, he would be out. He is not of a tribal background, as his name clearly indicates, hence he has no tribal advocates.
This is a phenomenon in our Gulf states where some people profess loyalty to country but they are practicing deceit (tribal taqiya) because they have shown that their true loyalty is to the tribe. In one Gulf state, in my own hometown, tribal members stormed and trashed a television station last February because someone criticized the tribe in an interview. Another tribe also attacked and ransacked a television studio because they did not like what someone said about their tribal leader last month. One tribe sent hundreds, maybe thousands, out to the street when members were arrested. Tribal members spring each other out of prison and there are cases where journalists were shot for ‘disrespecting” a tribe.
Tribalism also explains why next door in Saudi Arabia they have a system of soft rehabilitation for suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, but only for tribal terrorists. This means it does not apply to others like Hamza Kashghari or to Shia suspects because they are not tribal. They have no tribe advocating for them.
This tribal system is all over the Gulf GCC states and it is like a disease that eats the social and political fabric. The ruling potentates usually like it because they used to believe that tribes were more loyal than city people. That is not always true, although it may be true in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for specific reasons. The Qatari ruler had serious troubles with some disloyal tribe that backed a Saudi plot to overthrow him during the 1990s.
In the end tribal people are mainly loyal to their tribes. The tribes, on their part, are often loyal to more than one ruling dynasty, often depending on who pays more. Yet several tribes have their main branches inside Saudi Arabia, hence their deeper loyalties may be to the Saudi princes rather than the other potentates. This can happen in one or two other GCC states that host large cross-border tribes.
Cheers
mhg


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