Қазағым мықты ғой!……...” Kazakhstan National Anthem
“Kazakhstan’s shooting team was taken by surprise when a spoof national anthem from the film Borat was used at a medal ceremony in Kuwait. The team demanded an apology after Maria Dmitrienko was played the obscene song, which features lyrics about prostitutes and potassium exports, as she received her gold medal……. The blunder apparently occurred after the event’s organisers downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake. They also got the Serbian anthem wrong. An apology was issued and the ceremony staged again. The incident was the second in the space of a few weeks involving a slip-up over Kazakhstan’s anthem at a sporting event. Earlier this month, stunned officials opening a ski event in northern Kazakhstan were blasted with a few bars of Ricky Martin’s Livin’ la Vida Loca instead of the national tune……….”
No big deal, but it is funny, straight out of a film by you know who. It’s a good thing the Israelis don’t compete on the Gulf. Some meshugenah in Bahrain might mistakenly play “Deutschland Über Alles”. An uberfaux pas. Apparently the Kazakhs are having trouble getting their national anthem played properly, and not just in Kuwait; even at home. These things happen, it happens. I recall some years ago back home when the national television surprised everybody one night by playing a bunch of Israeli dancers and singers doing a hearty rendition of “Hava Nagila”. It was not supposed to have been broadcast, but at least it wasn’t “Hatikvah”. There were a few lame explanations by the media, including that Mossad may have been behind it. In retrospect, they could have done worse, sometimes they did. Cheers
mhg
“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 andwatched 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
BFF Breaking News: the government of Bahrain has not announced the discovery of any new Iranian or Hezbollah terrorist plots today. They have not identified any installations or individuals who may have been targets of today’s uncovered plot. This is an unusual development for Bahrain.The regime and its imported mercenarise are slowing down On the other hand, the Kuwaiti-Saudi daily rag alseyassah is taking up the slack. (I find alseyassah entertaining, although not as humorous as, say, The Onion). It reports that Hezbollah has put its sources on alert around the region, and that there was in fact a terror plot in Bahrain and added an extra-credit bonus: that the latest Bahrain plotters got financing from some Kuwaitis, meaning Shi’as in Kuwait (apparently the Iranians and Hezbollah ran out of money!).
Alseyassah, like a couple of other rags in my hometown, fits well into its Saudi patrons’ propaganda drive to divide the Gulf region along sectarian lines. It also dropped a bombshell that only our overfed “faithful” would believe: it reported that Iranian and Syrian agents were plotting to assassinate three Gulf GCC foreign ministers, no less! Alseyassah has not yet report that Hezbollah and Iran are planning an invasion of Mecca to take over the Kaaba, after blowing up the Vatican. Not yet, but stay tuned. Saudi media are not as dumb as their Gulf surrogates. They have become smarter, more subtle, with the exception of Alarabiya which is openly sectarian on its Arabic website. Cheers
mhg
“A commander of the Revolutionary Guard killed in an explosion at an ammunition depot west of Tehran was a key figure in Iran’s missile programme, the elite military force said. General Hasan Moghaddam was killed alongside 16 guard members on Saturday at a military site 25 miles south-west of Tehran. The Revolutionary Guard said the accident occurred while military personnel were transporting munitions……..”
Time Magazine reports, quoting intelligence reports, that the Israelis were behind the explosion. Meanwhile, the tit-for-tit of espionage and arrests continue. Bahrain has announced yet another of their weekly Iranian plots. I think soon they will start discovering Iranian plots on a daily basis (maybe even more often if Hezbollah is thrown in as well). WTF of the week: Iranian authorities have arrested an Iranian who reports for the BBC. They must consider correspondents for foreign media as spies now. The shocker is that the Iranians also claim they have arrested two Kuwaitis (reportedly journalists for a Kuwait TV network) who they claim were spying in the oil center city of Abadan on Shatt al-Arab. It is hard to believe: Kuwaiti spies? Highly unlikely. The charge is almost as ridiculous as the weekly (soon to be daily) Bahrain regime claims. Cheers
mhg
“Meshal al-Zaidi says he was drawn into Kuwait’s protest movement by political ideals, not the economic grievances that helped spur revolts in poorer Arab countries. “My friend drives a Porsche Cayenne, another a Porsche Panamera, you’ll see the best cars at Kuwaiti protests,” said al-Zaidi, a 25-year-old who runs a public relations firm and attends rallies seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah. “It’s not about money, it’s not about oil, it’s about real democracy.”………” Bloomberg News
No, it is not all about real democracy. It is hardly about democracy. God knows there is plenty of corruption and mismanagement in Kuwait, although not nearly as much as in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. Hell, they even hired Tony Blair as a consultant: now that can’t reflect any true commitment to honesty and clean management, can it? But then all that is really lowering the bar. Although some, a few, of the protesters want more freedom and accountability, there are many more among them who have no desire for democracy. Just ask almost anyone who shows up at these small events about Saudi Arabia, and they’ll either praise that country’s regime or get evasive. Unfortunately most of the so-called protesters are either of the local Wahhabi faux-liberals or the Islamists (die-hard Salafis) with a few bored-to-death others thrown in. Some may be part (pawns) of an intense power struggle within the ruling elite.
The Wahhabi faux-liberals are already tweeting and ‘column-izing’ against the currents protests in Saudi Arabia, labeling them an “Iranian” plot, just as they do in Bahrain. I don’t think they are stupid, nobody can be that stupid (or can they?). The Salafi Islamists among them have no desire to have any form of enhanced democracy, but they are great opportunists. Some of these Islamists seem to be the loudest, more media-grabbing among the “protesters”. They failed to get rid of the current prime minister through a parliamentary vote since most members voted against them (either out of conviction or for self-interest). That is when they tried the street. Many of these same Salafis have pushed for more restrictions on the freedom of expression in the legislature. They mostly look toward Salafi Wahhabi corrupt Saudi Arabia as the “model”, to the extent of pushing for some form of political ‘consolidation’ presumably under some form of Saudi rule (perhaps a satrapy like Bahrain?). This local columnist here gives a glimpse into some of the “Saudi” loyalties at work. He is too shy to mention the country’s name directly. He points out that the government is guilty and responsible for past policies that created the current atmosphere of corruption and unrest. Cheers
mhg
BFF “An investigation into the bank accounts of several members of parliament has been expanded, it was reported yesterday. The politicians are under suspicion of possibly taking bribes. Dharar Al Asousi, the acting attorney general, said he would freeze the bank accounts of 14 of parliament’s 50 members yesterday, the daily Al Jarida reported, quoting unnamed sources…… The scandal began two weeks ago and could mean the Gulf’s most powerful parliament is heading into a crisis when it reconvenes after the summer recess next month. The report in Al Jarida estimated that the number of MPs embroiled in the scandal could rise to 20 as banks refer MPs’ accounts with suspicious transactions to the public prosecution… Ahmed Sadoun, a member of parliament’s Popular Action Bloc, has said the amount of money involved in the scandal is about 96 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh1.28 billion)………Some Kuwaitis suspect the payments have been made by members of the royal family in a bid to secure support. Others have suggested that the source of the money is elsewhere…………” There is something that is not kosher about this whole thing, and I mean it may not be what it looks like, (or it may). Suddenly depositing 96 million dinars (more than US $ 325 million) in a few accounts is a very stupid act. Anybody who knows anything about the country would know that such huge transfers cannot be kept secret, not in Kuwait, no way, no how. Unless it was intended to draw public attention.
Either someone in authority was stupid enough to do it, or someone else was clever enough to do it knowing that it will soon be news. That amount of money, if the reports are true, could only come from a government or some potentates with deep pockets. It can be domestic potentates or foreign potentates. Possibly very rich domestic potentates as part of a campaign for political power, part of an ongoing local political infighting within the elites. Or possibly a foreign government bent on interfering in the political life of the country. It can be a big ‘sisterly’ country or a big brotherly country, or it can be some other country. I can name one such government, but I won’t in order to protect the innocent. Now, what government (and its potentates) of what country in our region has such deep pockets and is able of spending money without supervision? I know of one, or maybe two.
Or maybe these guys won the Lottery and don’t know it yet. Already this ‘report’ is being used for political purposes. Which makes me very suspicious indeed. But anything is possible in the watermelon politics on my Gulf. Cheers
mhg
