Category Archives: GCC

GCC, Gulf states, Persian-American Gulf, Saudi Arabia

GCC to AGUC: Camel Gives Birth to a Mouse, Arabizing the Leaders……….

 

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تمخض الجمل فولد فأرا

تمخض الجبل فولد فأرا
“The Camel (mountain?) went into labor but gave birth to a mouse” Succinct Arabic saying


“The GCC consultative committee met here yesterday and proposed to change the name of Gulf Cooperation Council to Arab Gulf Union Council. Muhammad Al-Rasheed, chairman of the committee, proposed the new name and hoped the new move would speed up integration of GCC states. He commended Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for making his proposal at the last GCC summit to transform the council into a powerful union to confront growing challenges. The GCC leaders have instructed the consultative committee to study a new strategy for youths, ways to enhance the spirit of citizenship, a strategy for employment in the public and private sectors, formation of a united commission for civil aviation, tackling noncontagious diseases and a GCC confederation. He commended the committee for conducting studies on global warming, climate change, unification of efforts in translation and Arabization, promoting the Arabic language and alternative energy resources. He thanked GCC leaders for appointing him chairman of the committee. He commended the achievements made by the committee in the past, adding that some of its proposals have already been implemented. Al-Rasheed emphasized the need to implement the resolutions taken by the Supreme GCC Council as many of them are still awaiting execution…………”


“Still awaiting execution”: yadda yadda yadda.……..
The Arabic language is one of the most beautiful languages. It has great literature that goes back many centuries: great poetry, great prose, great old films, lousy new films, lousy newspapers, but many great and wise and clever sayings. One of these great Arabic sayings is:“the Camel went into labor but gave birth to a mouse“.
I am not sure what these sub-potentates, the flunkies of the potentates, who met in Riyadh meant by “Arabization and promotion of the Arabic language and alternative energy sources”. This is odd: all GCC citizens speak Arabic, most of them speak it much better than their leaders. The only people who do not speak Arabic are the majority of the population of the GCC who are laborers and housemaids who hail from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, Ethiopia, and other faraway lands. That means only 85%+ of the population of the United Arab Emirates don’t speak Arabic, that only one third of the people in Saudi Arabia don’t speak Arabic, that only……….. etc, etc.  But these expatriate people, the majority, are in the Gulf on a temporary basis.

Which leads to my four unavoidable WTFs:


  • WTF1:     is it possible the Mufti off Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh, was behind the language?


  • WTF2: what the hell did they mean by alternative energy sources? Could they mean corn ethanol or grain alcohol (100-200 proof)?
  • WTF3: now that they have promised it, how do they presume to tackle the issue of “global warming”? I mean it can’t be handled through more extensive air-conditioning.
  • WTF4: do these council members even know what they are talking about? I mean in a technical sense. I hope so, because I sure don’t. On the other hand, maybe it is better if they have no clue: they can do less damage.

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.
Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Libya, Persian-American Gulf, Saudi Arabia, US Foreign Policy

Libya and the GCC: a Garbled Speech, a King’s Urge to Merge……….

 

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The late Muammar Qaddafi was famous for his ‘urge to merge’ with nations (as well as with women). He tried merging Libya with Egypt, Tunis, Chad, Algeria, Morocco and other assorted African states. Qaddafi became a legendary advocate of Arab mergers, before he gave up on Arabs and faced the rest of Africa. Saudi kings and princes normally have restricted their ‘urge to merge’ to women, multiple wives among others. But nowadays they are getting into the political side of ‘merging’ as well.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in another one of his unintelligible speeches a couple of weeks ago, again brought up the issue of a “confederation” or “union” among the Gulf GCC nations. Hard to believe that Arabic, one of the most beautiful languages, originated from the same place as these barely intelligible princes. Jordan and Morocco have not even joined the GCC yet, at the invitation of Saudi King Abdullah. But the princes are now distracted, they have other plans.
Saudi officials and media of course have started now to echo the king. They are saturating their vast outlets with calls for more “integration”. Their agents and trolls are all over the internet encouraging it. True to form, Wahhabi faux-liberal media and tribal academics in one or two Gulf states, and the Salafi fifth column in one or two Gulf states, have taken their cue and are treating the king’s speech as the equivalent of the Sermon on the Mount. They are pushing for Saudi hegemony over the GCC nations through this half-baked “confederation” idea.
Bad idea. But I shall have more on this, and soon.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, GCC, Qatar, UAE

On Qaradawi, the UAE, Syrians, and Qatari Border Tribes ……..

 

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“All we needed was for someone like Qaradawi to insult us. Qaradawi has insulted everyone, left no one untouched. He has forgotten when he ran away secretly with a girl, committed terrible foolish acts….. Why didn’t he criticize the Qataris when they took away the citizenship of hundreds of people………He belongs to the Muslim Brothers, some of whom have been caught with prostitutes……….”

This Gulf ranting
 was reported by Al-Watan. It reports on this dispute between Shiakh Yusuf al-Qaradawi of Egypt (now belongs to Qatar) and Dhahi Khalfan, chief of police of Dubai in the UAE. Both men love nothing better than being in front of a television camera, or any other camera, preferably with several microphones to opine through.
Qaradawi has criticized the UAE regime for reportedly arresting many Syrian residents who demonstrated against the al-Assad regime. He also griped that he was banned from the UAE. The Dubai official has now threatened to arrest Qaradawi if he sets foot in his country, adding that he will seek to arrest and extradite anyone who insults the UAE.
 
The reference to the Qataris taking away the citizenship of Qatari citizens refers to the coup that the Saudis tried to engineer against the current Emir, around 1998 or thereabouts. The plot failed and a bunch of high-level Saudi security officials were caught in Doha and imprisoned for about ten years. Some Qatari tribal types whose tribes straddle the Qatari-Saudi border were also involved in the plot and the Qatari rulers canceled their citizenship for alleged disloyalty and sent them packing back to Saudi Arabia. Other Gulf countries also have tribal citizens whose tribes straddle the Saudi border.
(I never knew Qaradawi had run away with some girl. I guess even he was young at one time. Hard to believe.)
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab League, GCC, Gulf states, Iraq, Saudi Arabia

Gulf GCC Gemütlichkeit: Expanded Membership and Wahhabi Rah Rah Rah……..

 

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So what happened to the Saudi plan to have Morocco and Jordan to join the Gulf GCC? I said at the time the invitation was issued last year when the Arab revolts were raging that it won’t get anywhere. It is not getting anywhere. 


The Saudis, in a moment of warmth and gemütlichkeit with the SCAF marshal and his generals, even spread the report that Egypt will also be invited to join the kingdom without magic. At the time I suggested Iraq for membership, since it is more of a Gulf state than any other Arab country. They don’t all have to be Wahhabis to qualify: Bahrainis are not Wahhabi (although their rulers and the small elite may have converted by now or at least going through the motions), nor are the people of the UAE or Oman, nor are MOST Kuwaitis (the Salafis and local Muslim Brothers are definitely Wahhabis as are some among the tribes).

Egyptians may have taken a step closer to Wahhabi conversion by electing Salafis to control at least 25% of their parliament. Tunisian Salafis are agitating with their Ennahda cousins, as are the armed Libyans. The Syrians may become eligible if and when Bashar al-Assad is overthrown and Damascus is taken over by the Islamist militants (whether pro-Saudi or pro-Qatari, or even pro-both). Before you know it, the whole ficking Arab league would be chanting: “Give me a W! Give me an A! Give me an H or two! Give me an A! Give me a B! Give me an I! What do we have? Wahhabi! Wahhabi! We are Wahhabis! Rah rah rah………..”
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Saudi Arabia

A Rhetorical Arab Question: Where is the Oil Money………..

 

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“But the general trend is toward a hardening of rules. Prince Nayef, the crown prince and power behind the throne, believes this is no time to show weakness. Dissidents are detained or given travel bans, a favourite tactic of the regime in Syria until it started to use harsher methods in the past year. Media rules have also become tighter. No fly appears too small to warrant swatting. Hamza Kashgari, a young blogger, fled to Malaysia after posting provocative comments about the Prophet Muhammad. The government applied all available diplomatic pressure to have him returned. Emboldened senior clerics are asking for Mr Kashgari to be executed for blasphemy. Religion is at the heart of many conflicts. The volatile but oil-rich Eastern Province, home to many of the Sunni kingdom’s sizeable Shia minority, has witnessed frequent bouts of violent unrest in the past year. Two men were killed and several injured when police opened fire on a demonstration in February. In Qatif, the provincial capital, the walls of the main street are covered with graffiti insulting members of the royal family and asking, “Where is the oil money?”…………”


That graffiti question was rhetorical, no doubt. For whoever wrote it on that wall knows as well as I do where most of the oil money goes. The oil comes from the Eastern Province, Qatif and other areas, from the belly of the ancestral land of the same people who are treated like third or fourth class citizens in the Wahhabi ‘kingdom without magic’. But the money goes mostly to Riyadh, to a few thousand princes and their retainers and tribal sycophant. If in doubt as to who gets the oil money, this link here will clarify matter.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, GCC, North Africa, Salafi, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia

The First Arab Revolution Dies: Frenching Saudi Princes in Tunisia………….

 

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“Non-religious individuals and groups ignited and then brought into being the Tunisian revolution. Mohamed Elbouazizi, who was not a religious man and whose act of self-immolation was condemned by many religious authorities, is the iconic figure of the Tunisian uprising that started the Arab Spring. But when the dust settled and the first elections were held across Tunisia, Islamists and their allies took the biggest share of the votes – not the likes of Elbouazizi. Although more than 58% of the voters did not endorse Ennahda, leaders of the Islamist party have acted as if they had an absolute public mandate to govern. Using the institution of the Constituency Assembly, the leaders of Ennahda cobbled together a coalition government headed by a former political prisoner and a historical figure of the Islamist movement. Members of Ennahda controlled the main ministries, including foreign affairs and interior. But the first decisions of the government have shown the speed with which religious idealism has given way to practical realism. One such decision is Prime Minister Hammadi Jebali’s first state visit to Saudi Arabia: a good example of decisive, even cynical, realism. Saudi Arabia is a wealthy clan-ruled Arab state in the Gulf region…………..”

It looks like the visit of Tunisian leader was a formality, to seal the deal. Tunisia is a resource poorer Arab state, meaning it has no petroleum. It has had some Gulf GCC investments, especially in the tourism industry. Tunisia also has had a certain culture and a cosmopolitan atmosphere that is almost certain to be finished now, damaging the tourist industry. From now on it may be quasi-Salafi chic. This visit is to tell the Saudi princes that Tunisia’s revolution is done, that it is open again for business.
To show that he is serious, Tunisia’s regime is making the correct Saudi-style noises about Syria and it is silent about Bahrain and Yemen (very Saudi-style and Western-style). Any day now I expect the Islamist regime in Tunis to issue a Qaddafi-like fatwa banning French in public places, replacing it with short Salafi Gulf  dishdashas (Saudi thobes) and the Saudi red shmagh ghutra. (Also encouraging Saudi style stag French-ing among the elites).
Who knows, once Bin Ali is done with his Wahhabi re-education in the Saudi Gulag, once all his secular misconceptions have been cleansed by the royal Salafi muftis, they may rehire him as an adviser in Tunis.

Cheers
mhg


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Anti-Semitism, Arab Revolutions, GCC, Israel, Religion, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

Another Saudi Killing Fatwa: on Assad and Hezbollah and Israelis and Jews…….

 

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The prominent Saudi cleric Shaikh ‘Aayidh al-Qarni has issued a fatwa that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad should be killed. He is quoted that killing Assad now has priority over “killing Israelis” under current circumstances. (Netanyahu may feel comforted by that small favor). He fatwad that obeying Assad is like disobeying the creator (God, Allah, Yahweh). He did not say it in so many words but his silence implied that obeying the absolute al-Saud princes is like obeying the creator (God, Allah, Yahweh) and that obeying the rapacious shaikhs of Bahrain is the next best thing to obeying the creator (God, Allah, Yahweh). …. … Shaikh al-Qarni added that Hassan Nasrallah (of Hezbollah) is a heretic sinner and that his testimony in defense of the Syrian regime is as worthless as the testimony of a Jew. The shaikh is quoted to address Assad “Aren’t you ashamed? Even Jews didn’t do as much to Syrians as you have done”.

Media Wahhabi faux-liberals and Salafis along the Persian-American Gulf are all excited, going orgasmic, over this Wahhabi masterpiece of bigoted fatwa (is there any other kind?).
Cheers
mhg


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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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Al-Qaeda, Culture, GCC, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

Pakistan Army Demolishes the Alamo of al-Qaeda, Gulf Jakhoor Outside the Soor………

 

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“Pakistani authorities have begun to demolish the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that Osama Bin Laden used as a hideout until he was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in May 2011. “The action was taken to keep the compound from ever becoming a shrine for Bin Laden’s followers,” a Pakistani military official told CNN. “It’s a message that Pakistan doesn’t want to keep anything connected with this terrorist.” CNN affiliate GEO-TV showed video of dust flying into the air from the compound as troops stood and watched from outside……….”


Santa Ana of Mexico never thought of destroying the Alamo after he subdued Texas (briefly). Maybe Sam Houston didn’t give him enough time. It survives in San Antonio de Béxar (now shortened by illegal Anglo immigrants to San Antonio).
The Islamic world has a knack for destroying monuments, especially the parts of the Islamic world that are Salafi Wahhabi or are influenced by that barbaric ideology. From Mecca and Madina to Bamiyan to Abbottabad, monuments to the Prophet and to ancient leaders and to modern terrorist leaders are destroyed. If the Pyramids were in Saudi Arabia, they’d be torn down by the greedy princes to make room for luxury hotels. If they were in Afghanistan or Pakistan, they’d be torn down to make room for a goat herd. If they were in a certain place on my Gulf, they’d be torn down to make room for some jakhoor (look it up or ask some schmuck from the outskirts of my hometown, but it is related to goats and such things).
Cheers
mhg


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