BFF Alarabiya network reports that the powerful Committee for the Propagation of Vice (religious police, the Wahhabi inquisition) has started a new campaign to get its message, wtf that be, across the country and eradicate certain types of behavior. The shaggy denizens of the Committee are now using large trailers equipped with latest technology in terms of multimedia to travel around the provinces and save souls. They trailers will be also chasing holiday crowds, meaning that wherever there are public festivities in that distinctly non-festive kingdom, the religious police will show up to make things even less festive (if at all possible).
The report
says they will focus on things like prayers and sorcery (magic, witchcraft) and women. Not necessarily but most likely in that order, since sorcery and magic are usually attached to women in Saudi Arabia these days (sounds familiar huh? But almost four centuries later).
This is odd, since from my travels I know that the ones whose souls really need ‘saving’ are the Saudi men, just ask any hotel manager in Beirut, Bahrain, Cairo, Dubai, Bangkok, Manila, etc, etc. A few years
ago the Committee surprised everyone by banning the acquisition of dogs and pussy (as in cats) in Saudi Arabia. They allegedly also toyed with the idea of banning women anywhere outside the bedroom but changed their minds for some reason. Cheers
mhg
“These words mean that the al-Assad regime is trying to win over the minorities by scaring them of the dangers posed by the majority. Yet the real problem here is not the al-Assad regime, but rather what the minorities themselves have done in our region; the Christians in Lebanon and Iraq, even the Shiites in Iraq and Bahrain, who are committing a grave mistake by sliding into the quagmire of supporting dictatorships, under the pretext that they will be protected against the majority. It is important here to repeat what I heard from a rational, liberal friend, who is far removed from sectarian views, about his reaction to the actions of minorities these days in our region. My friend’s opinion reflects the view of a substantial portion of the rational liberals in our region……….This is the mistake which befell the Shiites in Bahrain, and although they are not a minority in their own country, they are amongst their Arab surroundings. The same thing happened with the Shiites in Lebanon, given their surroundings, especially because they believe that there are embers [of an uprising] under the ashes in Iran…..” Asharq Alawsat(Saudi daily)
This from one of the chief editors of the semi-official Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat. His masters’ voice. He is blaming the people of Iraq for again not letting the remnants of the Ba’ath regime, those who would not even defend Baghdad against the invaders, maintain power. He is blaming the people of Bahrain for resisting the Wahhabi-inspired policy of discrimination and Apartheid applied by the Al Khalifa rulers. He is drumming up that old sectarian and racist nonsense that his Saudi masters and their paid Salafi agents and fifth columnists have used effectively around the Gulf. He is urging the oppressed people of Bahrain to co-exist with others, meaning that they should accept second class status under an unelected minority regime (he might add: worse than the one in Syria which is repressive and dictatorial but does not apply a policy of Apartheid). He is also taking a swipe at Christians and a few other minorities in the Arab world, perhaps because they are not allied enough with his Wahhabi masters. Cheers
mhg
BFF Yusuf Al-Qardhawi represents some of the worst aspects in a certain class of Islamic clergy. He is a loud demagogue, and his dogma is quite flexible, depending on who wants him to be flexible. Which makes him, like the rest of us, inconsistent. That flexibility presumably comes at a price. He supported the uprising in Egypt toward the end. He supported the uprisings in Libya and Syria after the fact and especially after his Qatari masters started supporting them. He is against any uprising in Bahrain and has said so, and certainly in Saudi Arabia, for the same obvious reasons. Some might say that is because the Saudis and Qataris can pay him well, better than anyone else can.
Some of his opinions can be found on his website, but only some of them. Others he would not revisit, like his pro-Nazi ranting about Hitler being the instrument of God to punish the Jews. He opined that Hitler was part of God’s punishment of Jews and expounded on how Jews are enemies of God and how they exaggerate the Holocaust. All these anti-Semitic remarks within two minutes in this video. Cheers
mhg
“Chief of Public Security Major-General Tariq Mubarak Bin Daina
on Monday ordered a ban on forming human chains, a notification
for which was submitted by three citizens to the General Directorate
of the Capital Governorate Police in view of Al Wefaq National Islamic
Society’s plan to form a human chain along a vital road in Manama
tomorrow.
Major-General Bin Daina said that the ban had to be imposed since
the notification does not fulfil the criteria laid down in Decree Law
No. 18 of 1973 on public gatherings, rallies and processions……….”
The people of Bahrain are planning what they call “the Deluge of Manama” or “Manama Tsunami” while the regime calls it by other names. They have drawn a map of the “human chain” route they plan on taking tomorrow. The regime forces, mostly consisting of imported foreign mercenaries and possibly Saudi forces, will be waiting for the people with the best weapons that the freedom-loving West can produce and export.
(This worthy is not even of the ruling family, just a retainer. He is one of the very few top fuckheads I have seen whose last name is different. Must be some in-law). Cheers
mhg
““Il n’est pas possible de donner une date pour la réalisation de ce projet. Dès que nos scientifiques annonceront qu’ils sont prêts, nous le ferons savoir”, a déclaré le responsable de l’organisation spatiale iranienne, Hamid Fazeli, cité par le site internet de la télévision d’Etat. Hamid Fazeli n’a pas donné d’explication sur l’ajournement de ce projet. Le responsable avait annoncé en juin que l’Iran allait envoyer un singe dans l’espace en août, à bord d’une capsule de 285 kilos portée par une fusée Kavoshghar-5, dernière version du lanceur déjà utilisé en 2010 pour envoyer dans l’espace une petite capsule contenant un rat, des tortues et des insects…………” Sending one a monkey into space is only bound by technical issues, and maybe some simian-itarian (as in human-itarian) considerations. Now sending a human requires other considerations, especially for the Iranians. I recall when NASA sent a Saudi prince into space with one of its teams he returned professing puzzlement about one main issue: he could not tell which way to face for prayer; he could not tell where Mecca was located from space. I would not have had any problem locating where Mecca was: it is exactly where it has always been, on the big blue marble. Even a spaced out prince should be able to see that. Now the Iranians may face another thorny issue as well, in addition to the Mecca direction. Will they or will they not send a cleric, a mullah, out into space (with the human astronaut)? In that case, why not train a cleric for the mission and launch him?Then there will be the thorny issue of the cleric being accused, like that Saudi prince, of being spaced out. Cheers
mhg
“Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan, one of Saudi Arabia’s most senior clerics, said he was not consulted about King Abdullah’s decision to grant women more political rights, one of the first signs of discontent from powerful conservatives since the reform was announced. In a speech last week the Saudi monarch announced that women would vote and run in future municipal council elections and serve in the appointed Shura Council which advises the king on policy. King Abdullah said his decision was made after consultation with the country’s most senior clerics, who have extensive political and social influence……..” Apparently the absolute king has his own “kitchen clergy” also called “palace clergy” that he consults. This old chap is clearly not part of it. I suspect that the various princely factions may have their own “ulema” or cleric factions. Imagine, each senior prince has his own kitchen full of pliant clerics; it is possible. Yet this Salafi cleric also knows that 1915 is a long way off, depending on one’s age. It may be a race with time between this cleric and the absolute king. Besides it is a meaningless vote for “advisory” municipal councils. Cheers
mhg
BFF “When King Hamad came to power in 1999, he initially sought to put an end to the violence and sectarian tension that had characterized much of the 1990s by releasing political prisoners, expanding freedoms for the press and civil society, abolishing the most repressive aspects of the security apparatus, and encouraging dialogue with the opposition to help draft a new constitution that would devolve authority to an elected parliament. These efforts gained overwhelming support from most Bahrainis who yearned for more political and civil liberties, and particularly from Shi’a who faced systemic discrimination in the political, economic, and social spheres. Despite initial expectations, however, the resulting 2002 constitution failed to deliver on the King’s promises, dashing hopes and creating deep mistrust between the ruling family and the political opposition. Tensions were exacerbated when an alleged government report was leaked in 2006 detailing a plan to weaken the Shi’a community politically and alter the country’s demographics through the systematic naturalization of Sunni expatriate workers…………..” Not only did the al-Khalifa fail to fulfill their contract with the people of Bahrain, the one agreed at independence. (Their failure to democtratize as promised did not much bother the elite who were not victimized and it certainly was welcomed by the other oligarchies of the Gulf states). It was, it is, the apartheid system that they and their retainers of the elite have insisted on keeping in place. Of course getting rid of the apartheid system would mean a more open political system and more freedoms. More important, it would mean the election of an effective legislature and accountability for corruption by the ruling dynasty. That is why the rulers of Bahrain and their masters and protectors in Saudi Arabia, the absolute tribal princes, insist on keeping the discriminatory system in place. That is why they have resorted to fanning the flames of sectarian fears and passions among the people of Bahrain and the people of the Gulf GCC region. That is why they are willing to foot the bill for the importation of foreign mercenary thugs and torturers by the regime. What they don’t understand is that the people of Bahrain (and one or two other Gulf states) are not like the people of Saudi Arabia who have been trained and terrified over several generations to silently bow and accept the writ of the princes. Even the people of the Arabian Peninsula are stirring now against the restrictions imposed by the potentates and their Salafi lackeys among the clergy. Cheers
mhg
BFF “In a tense showdown above the East River, the police arrested more than 700 demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street protests who took to the roadway as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday afternoon. The police said it was the marchers’ choice that led to the enforcement action. “Protesters who used the Brooklyn Bridge walkway were not arrested,” Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department, said. “Those who took over the Brooklyn-bound roadway, and impeded vehicle traffic, were arrested.” But many protesters said they believed the police had tricked them, allowing them onto the bridge, and even escorting them partway across, only to trap them in orange netting after hundreds had entered………..”
Somehow the Arab Spring overflew Saudi Arabia and landed in New York City. It must be the power of that old fear: it was vanquished in Tunisia and Egypt and Libya and Syria and Bahrain and Yemen, but it still rules supreme in Riyadh. Cheers
mhg
BFF Al-Qaeda calls Ahmadinejad ‘stupid’. They advised him to be “logical” not “ridiculous”. The Salafi terrorist group is pissed at the Iranian president for disseminating conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks at the UN. Ahmadinejad was probably just trying to needle the U.S. government with his talk, but he also got an unintended benefit by pissing off the Salafi terrorists. Castro calls Obama ‘stupid’
. Castro maybe at least half right about that. The whole Cuban blockade by the United States is stupid. It has nothing to do with freedom for the Cuban people; it has to do with winning elections in Miami and some other congressional districts. If freedom was the goal of these boycotts, Saudi Arabia would be the first country on the American boycott list (and Bahrain would have NATO planes bombing it). Cheers
mhg
The clock is ticking and time is running out for the combatants to position themselves. Here is a summary of the turf wars and how the Saudi pie is being split now among the “next” generation (meaning those in their 70’s and up):
The crown prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz is seriously ill and highly unlikely to become king. He spends his time between an undisclosed location at home and American hospitals and Moroccan recuperation. He has appointed his son Khaled as deputy defense minister, meaning he is to inherit the ministry as well as becoming the minister of aviation and inspector general (recalling Danny Kaye now).
Prince Nayef Bin Abdulaziz is next in line and almost certainly the next king. He is a seriously conservative man and is against any type of elections. He famously said a couple of years ago that “Elections can never produce good people of the quality that we appoint” (and that was long before the Tea Party gained control of the U.S. Congress!). He is the minister of interior, in charge of police and security and secret police and terrorism and arrests and prisons and prisoners without charges and whatever goes in the dark cells. He has appointed his son Mohammed as a deputy minister, meaning he is to inherit the ministry when the father either becomes king or dies, whichever comes first.
Then there is the king himself and he is no slouch when it comes to his interests and the interests of his children. Abdullah was head of the National Guard, a parallel army, since forever. Last year he appointed one of his sons to replace him as head of the Guard. Thus the king has staked the permanent claim of ‘his’ branch of the al-Saud clan.
That leaves the Foreign Ministry, forever headed by Prince Saud al-Faisal. He is reportedly ailing without a clear heir. At one time there were two apparent claimants competing for the ministry, or at least there seemed to be, until King Abdullah appointed his son Abdulaziz as Deputy Foreign Minister, thus staking the claim of his own ‘branch’ of the al-Saud clan. Now Abdulaziz has the inside track as compared to Prince Turki al-Faisal brother of the current minister (and the wittiest prince, at least in public) and Prince Bandar Bin Sultan (of the famous BAE Systems bribery case that Tony Blair covered up). The foreign ministry is interesting because has become an area of unexpected competition and turf war. I had assumed it was the private reserve of the al-Faisal clan until Bandar made his move and then Abdullah appointed his own son. Apparently Bandar is a restless type, for he has reportedly made many moves inside and outside the kingdom and was allegedly involved in some palace plots. Apparently all the BAE Systems bribe money has given him more time and funds to pursue his ‘hobbies’. He was even reported at one time to be active in Iraq (not physically, but financially among the Sunni tribes and others). The foreign ministry truly reflects the current territorial infighting among the al-Saud branches: if Abdullah dies before the minister leaves, his son is not guaranteed the top job.
What is at stake is: (a)the future of the throne, (b)the allocation of the petroleum loot among the hungry numerous princes, and (c)power within the top leadership that control the various ministries/fiefdoms.
That is on the ministry or ‘functional’ level. Then there is the real estate, the various provinces, each presided over by a senior al-Saud prince. A prince is the absolute ruler of his province even as he claims allegiance to the king in Riyadh. Does it remind you of Europe in the Middle Ages? Yes, I have read Ivanhoe more than once, read it the first time in Arabic when in ninth grade (Isaac of York, the Jew, would probably be some wayfaring Shi’a from the Eastern province).……. Did I hear you mention something about “the people” of the Arabian Peninsula? OH, yeah, they were once among the freest peoples of the whole world………. Cheers
mhg
Rattlesnake Ridge 
BFF