Category Archives: Saudi Arabia

Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia

The Coming Brawl for Saudi Succession: a Kingdom of Principalities…..……….

   

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“Sons of Princes Sultan and Nayef hold the main posts in the ministries of defence and interior, respectively. The National Guard, which protects oil installations, is a purview of King Abdullah’s own branch; the governorship of the Eastern Province, a giant territory that contains nearly all the kingdom’s hydrocarbons, has been held by a son of King Fahd (Abdullah’s predecessor) for three decades. The recent reshuffle among King Abdullah’s siblings went more smoothly than many had feared; the shift to this next generation will surely be trickier. The kingdom is now a complex, diverse country far removed from the Al Sauds’ Bedouin origins. Lineage and loyalty cannot trump competence for ever. “The Al Sauds’ central nervous system has grown weak,” says a Riyadh lawyer. “They can respond to pain, but not to stimuli like complaints or new ideas.”……… There was no Saudi spring …….…”

Last year I wrote here on Saudi succession in a posting titled: “Saudi Legs and Bellies: Roots of Instability, the Coming Age of Warlord Princes”, sagely noting that:
“All this is part of maneuverings by various branches of the vast Al-Saud clan to position themselves for the coming death of the sons of old king Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud). Besides the various ministries, the senior princes have also staked out the various provinces as their personal fiefdoms. This province system also creates the potential for an eventual “soft” division of the country among the various branches (fukhooth “legs” and butoon “bellies”) of the al-Saud clan. Even the armed forces, the traditionally unified force within the Arab states, are divided into spheres of princely influence (Defense vs. National Guard). The Saudi system of power transfer is inherently unstable, and is very likely to become more so. The “commission of allegiance” (Bay’a) that was supposed to select the rulers reflects the rivalries within the family, which means it is as unstable as the family relations and rivalries. Once the last…….”

This is an ongoing process, with the balance of power shifting with each death of an old king or an octogenarian prince and his replacement with another octogenarian prince. With time the turfs are solidified, the borders of the fiefdoms become semi-permanent. The Arabian Peninsula will eventually become like a confederation of principalities each ruled by the sons and grandsons of one of the sons of the late Ibn Saud. Assuming they will last in power, of course (perhaps a big assumption beyond the medium term). Yet who will dominate the two biggest prizes: the oil-rich Eastern Province on the Gulf and the Hijaz, homeland of the prophet and birthplace of Islam?
Cheers
mhg
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Death Penalty, Middle East Women, Saudi Arabia, Slavery

Unholy Human Trafficking in a Holy Land………..

    

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“And the storybook comes to a close.
Gone are the ribbons and bows.
Things to remember, places to go,
Pretty maids all in a row………..”   The Eagles

“The Kenyan government has barred its citizens from becoming domestic workers in the Middle East, notably the Gulf region, after an increasing number of reports of violence and abuse have been reported. Women from the country have returned to Kenya with horror stories of sexual violence at the hands of the employers, mainly in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates……. Until the new rules are ready, Kenyan citizens are barred from seeking work in the Middle East as domestic workers. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia sent a team to Kenya to discuss the issue. The Saudi government insisted their laws protect foreign workers. Maids from across the globe often complain of horrible treatment in the Gulf, singling out Saudi Arabia as the main culprit of violations, including rape and sexual abuse……….”

As I posted here at an earlier date: Indonesia stopped sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia because some of them have been beheaded over there and there are many others on death row waiting for their heads to be chopped off. There have also been cases of foreign housemaids being tortured and killed by their employees. Apparently the Saudis can’t do without foreign housemaids, even though local unemployment is in the double digits (and over 30% for young adults). Their national motto seems to be borrowed from an old American campaign slogan: “Two cars and two maids in every house“. They also can’t do without beheading people.
I have also posted on this issue this past year:
Here,
as well as Here, and Here, and other dates.

Cheers
mhg
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Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian Royal Foreplay: Money and Power but No Glory……….

    

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Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz died in Switzerland where he had gone for medical treatment. He was also minister of interior and his son was deputy minister of interior. Previous Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz had died eight months earlier while abroad for medical treatment. He was also minister of defense and his son Khalid was deputy minister of defense while his other son Bandar was chief of National Security. Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz is the new Crown Prince and Minister of Defense, one of his sons runs the Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat for him. Look for other sons of his to rise in the hierarchy. King Abdullah was lucky in that he did not go abroad for medical treatment while crown prince (I believe he went as king which apparently makes a difference). Salman was overseas in Europe when Nayef died and had to rush back home. I bet Salman will never go overseas for medical treatment, not until after the mandatory dangerous first eight months have passed.
This is all a warm up, the foreplay for the real engagement to come. That is when all the older sons of Abdulaziz have died off and the next generation of these thousands of princes face off over who gets to control the money and the power (sorry, no glory there).
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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Death Penalty, Iran, Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia and Texas: Hungry for Executions…….

    

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“Ann Harrison, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, has severely censured the Saudi Arabian government for the execution of a group of Iranian nationals. On May 30, the Persian service of Tabnak news website reported that Saudi officials in Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, executed 10 Iranian citizens for alleged involvement in drug trafficking. In an analysis published on June 15, Harrison said that foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia face discrimination in relation to the death penalty, and executions are on the rise. As Amnesty International has documented for many years, it is true that a large number of people are executed in Saudi Arabia after grossly unfair trials, Harrison stated. ………….”


This was Iran’s Fars news agency gloating over the Amnesty International reaction to Saudi Arabia’s sudden execution of 10 Iranians. That is a HUGE number at one time, even allegedly for drug smuggling; but there have been larger “batches” of beheadings: one was in 1989 when they announced the execution of 16 young Kuwaiti men after a quick secret trial, then there was the aftermath of the Juhayman uprising in Mecca in 1979-80. It is true, Saudi courts, rather judges, pass sudden execution (by beheading) sentences often without benefit of defense and other “normal” court procedures. Yet Amnesty International has also often criticized Iran’s easy death sentences, including the recent sentence of several Arabic-speaking Ahwazi-Iranian men from Khuzistan Province. Two or three of these men were reportedly hanged this week, rather quickly and I never heard of any appeal of the sentences. This is what one AI official wrote about that:

“I must admit that I had to blink and look away for a moment when I saw the Iranian news agency headline: ‘Execution of Iranian citizens in Saudi Arabia was a medieval act’. As Amnesty International has documented for many years, it is true a large number of people are executed in Saudi Arabia after grossly unfair trials. Foreign nationals face discrimination in relation to the death penalty and executions for drugs offences are on the rise .…………However, it is bizarre for an Iranian news source to state so blatantly that “executing a foreign national for a crime less serious than murder is a sign of barbarity”. International standards do indeed prohibit the use of the death penalty except for “crimes with an intention to kill which resulted in the loss of life”, but we shouldn’t forget that Iran is second only to China…………”

Something about our region: it is in love with capital punishment, whether by beheading or by hanging or otherwise. Our region probably beats even Texas in its love for executions, and Texans are known to truly love executions be they fair or unfair. In Texas, as long as someone is executed for a crime, then Texans are happy feeling that justice was somehow done. Even if, as it sometimes turns out, the person executed is innocent of the crime for which he or she was executed. As some Texas reporter once commented: “Texans just like executions”.
I think executions should be banned, and not just in Texas or other Middle Eastern countries.
Cheers
mhg
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Arab Revolutions, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Syrian Fallout: South to Tripoli, North to Tripoli……

 

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“Like a Tango, it takes two, or more, to do battle” Me

“For a third day in a row, the violence of Syria spilled into the northern city of Tripoli in Lebanon. The AP reports that the Alawites, who support the regime of Bashar Assad, and the Sunnis, who support the Syrian uprising, traded fire in Lebanon using assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. Five people were killed and 100 were wounded in Lebanon’s second-largest city…………”

This is not the first armed conflict in the area since the Syrian protests started. The ground had been set for trouble in Tripoli long before the Arab uprisings, since 2008 or thereabouts. The Hariri bloc has strong supporters in the predominantly Sunni city, and there are some Alawite residents in the area. Hariri himself cautioned against escalation today, presumably warning his supporters (on Twitter), but it is not clear yet if he still has as much influence. Besides, Saad Hariri is a Saudi first and he will not say or do anything that does not have the approval of Riyadh: the princes can bankrupt him if they get angry enough. Besides, Lebanese officials had complained in recent months of movements of men and weapons across the Syrian border. Besides, al-Qaeda and affiliates see a chance to merge the two ghazwas (holy battles, actually raids) of Syria and Lebanon (and maybe even Iraq in their view). Besides there has been talk of possible Saudi and Qatari weapons being supplied to the Syrian opposition militias, some of the arms no doubt remain in Lebanon. Then there are some defectors from the Syrian military who may also be armed. Besides, the local Alawites are also apparently armed now (like a Tango, it takes two, or more, to do battle).
It is all a formula for an extended conflagration, given that Hezbollah and allies are well-armed and well-trained and dominate in Beirut and the south.
The Tripoli region is now well-armed for the foreseeable future, with fundamentalist groups gaining sway. There are plenty of people on the Arabian Peninsula and in Lebanon with deep pockets who can finance these groups, possibly with the ambitious goal of eventually blocking and severing the link between Syria and Beirut and south Lebanon.
This is one thing the Israelis will not want to touch or manipulate, if’n (if’n) they are smarter now than they were in 1982 and 2006 as far as Lebanese matters are concerned.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Politics, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Regime Dodged a Bullet: Nasser’s Missed Great Chance…………

 

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“In 1958 he wrote a proposed constitution for Saudi Arabia which would have created a constitutional monarchy and expanded civil rights. He began to assemble an elected advisory committee, but his ideas were rejected by the king, and religious leaders in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa declaring his constitution to be contrary to Islamic law. In 1961 the kingdom revoked his passport and attempted to silence him, but he expatriated to Egypt and declared himself a socialist. There, influenced by Gamal Abdel Nasser, Talal continued to push for reform and criticise the leadership of the Kingdom. In 1964 Talal agreed to temper his criticisms in exchange for permission to reenter Saudi Arabia. He is now a successful businessman and prominent philanthropist. Though a senior member of Al Saud, his past political forays may have diluted any hopes of a future claim for the throne, though he denies it. Prince Talal resumed his push for reform in Saudi Arabia in September 2007, when he announced his desire to form a political party (illegal in Saudi Arabia) to advance his goal of liberalizing the country……………..”

The Egyptian media in the Nasserist era called them the “free princes”, a name similar to the Free Officers who overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in July of 1952. Talal and his supporters escaped to Egyptian exile for a few years, under the protection of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Of all the Arab regimes of the 1950s, the Saudi regime was the least endangered by the Nasserist tide. The secret was in the ‘people’: the Saudi people at that time were easily among the least educated and least open Arabs (possibly less than Oman or Yemen but it was a toss-up). They were also shackled then, as they are now, by the ideology of the Wahhabi sect which warns that disobedience to the ruler, no matter how corrupt he is, is a sacrilege and would send you to the “other” hell beyond the current Wahhabi hell. Maybe Nasser got too busy and did not try hard enough to overthrow the al-Saud dynasty. His involvement in Syria and Yemen probably distracted him. That was a pity: overthrowing the Saudi clan would certainly have been Nasser’s greatest gift to Arabs and Muslims.

As it happened, the plots and counter-plots continued in the House of Saud. In 1964 crown Prince Faisal plotted and succeeded in overthrowing his brother King Saud, who also went on to spend some time in Egyptian exile. The story does not end there: in 1975 King Faisal himself was shot and killed by one of his nephews. That nephew wanted to avenge the death of his father who had been killed during a previous uprising against the al-Saud regime. You can bet the farm that there are many plots and counter-plots these days among the princes of the ruling regime. There are fights over turf, eventual power, and money that rightfully belongs to the people.
Talal bin Abdelaziz is still a little bit of a rebel among the tight al-Saud princes. That is partly because he knows he has been passed for top jobs like Minister of Defense or Interior and that he has no chance of ever becoming crown prince or king. Yet being a prince, he is not doing too shabbily, nor is his son al-Waleed. With these people, liberalism goes only so far, they can mouth rhetoric about openness and moderation but they are as corrupt as the rest of them, and as despotic.
Cheers
mhg


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Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Qatar, Salafi, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Al-Qaeda Terrorism in Syria, Yoda and the Salafis…………

 

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“Two suicide bombs exploded in Damascus yesterday, killing at least 55 people and wounding hundreds more in the single worst atrocity since the start of the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule last year. The massive rush-hour car bombings, which targeted a notorious branch of the Syrian secret police, sparked a round of claims and counter-claims, with the government blaming “terrorists”………..”

“William Hague condemned suicide bombings that killed at least 55 and injured 300 in the Syrian capital Damascus today and urged the regime to implement a full ceasefire. The Foreign Secretary said civilians continued to pay the price for its failure to end repression and violence despite agreeing to a United Nations peace plan. In the deadliest such terror attacks since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s government 14 months ago, two explosions tore the front off a military intelligence building. The government and opposition blamed each other for the bloodshed but there were growing concerns that it was a sign that al Qaida-inspired terror groups were beginning to exploit the chaos…………….”

Would anybody commit suicide for the sake of keeping Bashar al-Assad or the Baath Party in power? The answer is clearly a resounding “nyet, nien, non, nope, na, la wa kalla”. On the other hand, Wahhabi Salafi youth, backed by the right fatwas of hate and financed by suspicious sources of money, and aspiring for rivers of wine and renewable energizer-bunny virgins, would go for it. Just as they did and still do in Iraq and before that in New York City.
This is something that others had warned about, as I did, over the past months. This is what happens when the Wahhabi princes and their money and their clerics get involved. The Syrian opposition started with legitimate grievances, they still have legitimate grievances, but once they handed their fate to the fundamentalists backed by Saudi and Qatari money, the die was cast.
William J Hague, pal and enabler of the butchers of Bahrain, is wrong here. Yoda is wrong. Whether the Assad regime stays or goes is now beside the point. Al-Qaeda will be around, terrorizing the towns and cities for as long as it can. The American withdrawal from Iraq has not stopped them, the fall of the Assad regime will not end their terrorism. The so-called Syrian opposition is so fragmented and uncontrollable, that this campaign of terror will escalate and continue no matter who rules in Damascus.
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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