Category Archives: Tunisia

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Salafi, Syria, Tunisia

Salafis of Tunisia: All Roads Lead to Syria and Iraq and Mali and…………

         

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“The cradle of the Arab Spring is increasingly looking like the birthplace of jihadists. Long before Tunisia ousted its dictator and inspired the North African pro-democracy movement, the small, relatively prosperous country had the more dubious distinction of exporting Islamic militants. Experts say the flow of fighters is getting worse……….. Though no one knows for sure just how many Tunisian fighters have traveled abroad, evidence suggests it remains one of the top exporters of jihadists per capita. Tunisians have turned up on the battlefields of Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Mali. The 32-man militant strike team that seized a gas plant in Algeria and took dozens of foreign workers hostage was more than one-third Tunisian………………”


“The left accuses these groups of affiliation with the ruling moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, and say it has failed to root out the violence. The party denies any link or control to the groups. But it is the rise of Salafist-associated political violence that is causing the most concern in the region. Banned in Tunisia under the 23-year regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which ruthlessly cracked down on all forms of Islamism, Salafists in Tunisia have become increasingly vocal since the 2011 revolution………… Indeed, when an al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb cell was broken up in Tunisia last year, all its members were also found to be active in another Salafist grouping – Ansar al-Sharia…………Tunisian jihadists are said to have left for Syria..….……”

“Alquds Alarabi quotes Tunisian newssources that at least 50% of those Jihadis killed near Aleppo airport the other day were Tunisians………”

Odd that the most secular Arab state, actually what was the most secular Arab state, is now a major source of Salafi Jihadi terrorists. More than Saudi Arabia or other places closer to the heartland of Salafism in the Arabian Peninsula. Only a few years ago, France was the favorite destination for most young Tunisians fed up with things at home. It probably still is, only now many of them head east and south, to the killing fields of Arab and Muslim lands. To kill and massacre other Arabs and Muslims, based on warped doctrines and teachings of Wahhabi clerics.
For Salafi jihadis, almost all roads lead to Ba’athist Syria now, that is the prize these days. To Islamize the last remaining secular state in the Arab world, albeit a repressive police state. Preferably with the help of the hated heathens of NATO who also liberated Libya and Iraq before. These same Tunisian and other Arab Jihadis who flock to Syria to fight against the repressive regime would also flock to Bahrain to fight FOR the repressive tribal Al Khalifa dynasty. Some roads lead to the terrorist killing fields of Iraq, some to Libya, Mali, Algeria. Egypt does not need to import jihadis yet: it has plenty of the home-grown variety. They just need outside money, plenty of which they seem to be getting from “somewhere”.
Cheers
mhg

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Culture, Religion, Tunisia

America and a Song of Persepolis: A New Tunisian Hypocrisy on Freedom………………..

 

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“Burn this city to the ground
Take a torch and spread the fire”

Persepolis / Now a pile of dust

A blackened carcass / A land of ash

Persepolis / You lost your crown

Persepolis / Burned to the ground

Consumed by hate / Ablaze by pride

Persepolis / Naked as the sand……..”  Persepolis (Septic Flesh)
 
“Tunisia on Tuesday denounced “American interference” in judicial affairs after the U.S. ambassador criticized a ruling that fined a television station boss for showing a film that depicted God. The U.S. ambassador in Tunis, Gordon Gray, last Thursday expressed “serious concerns” after a court fined the Nessma station’s chief executive Nabil Karoui for broadcasting the Franco-Iranian film “Persepolis”. “The declarations of the American ambassador to Tunisia constitute interference in Tunisian justice,” the foreign ministry announced in a statement reported by the official TAP news agency. “The Tunisian government declares itself to be deeply astonished” by these statements. The film, which looks at the Iranian revolution through the eyes of a little girl, features a controversial scene showing a depiction of God. Muslims consider portrayals of Allah to be blasphemous. Karoui was fined on May 3, 2,400 dinars (, $1,700) in a high-profile trial on conviction of “broadcasting a film that disturbs public order and threatens proper morals.” Gray then issued a statement saying that the verdict “raises serious concerns about tolerance and freedom of expression in the new Tunisia.”……..”

When the politicians currently ruling Tunisia were in opposition and in exile, they railed against the United States and the West for not opposing (and for supporting) the dictatorship of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. They also complained about repression and not allowing the freedom of expression under the old dictator. Now that they are in power, they have made a 180 degree turnaround about the freedom of expression: now they rail against the United States for asking them to allow freedom of expression.
When out of power, they wanted world powers to seek more freedom of expression in Tunisia; now that they are in power, they want world powers to stay out and not push for freedom of expression. That is ‘somewhat’ hypocritical. Somewhat.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Politics, Economics, North Africa, Salafi, Tunisia

Fundamentalists of North Africa on the Rise………….

    

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“Yesterday, the Islamist party Ennahda declared on national evening television that it would keep intact Article 1 of the 1959 Tunisian Constitution. Article 1 of Tunisia’s first constitution explicitly states that Tunisia is a free, sovereign, and independent state, whose “religion is Islam, language is Arabic, and regime is republic.”………. This decision came in a very delicate political context, as an ongoing debate over the place of religion in post-revolutionary Tunisian society and government continues to evolve. The past two weeks alone have seen several demonstrations, some calling for the implementation of Shariaa, law based on the Koran and other Muslim holy writings, in the constitution, and others calling for a civil state……………”

The more ‘moderate’ Tunisian Islamists of Ennahda have decided to keep their promise and not try and transform the country into a theocracy. Not yet. Media reports indicate that a few thousand, no doubt mostly Salafis, have demonstrated for a full application of the Shari’a. That would have transformed Tunisia into a Saudi-style Salafi regime. In that case, Tunisia would be transformed into the Democratic People’s Salafi Republic of Tunisia, just as the Arabian Peninsula is now the Democratic People’s Salafi Kingdom of Arabia. That would have been a disaster for the country, given the strong secular streak among many of its people, and given the heavy economic reliance on tourism, and given the proximity to Europe.
 
Even some of the Gulf GCC countries that apply strict Islamic rules at home would not want that to happen in Tunisia, for two reasons: (1) They have invested heavily in the Tunisian tourist industry (hotels, resorts, etc), and (2) Where else would the potentates go for their long peaceful (and I might add ‘fun-filled’) holidays? You never read about any Saudi princes and other Gulf potentate vacationing in Afghanistan, do you? Not even during the rule of the Taliban. Come to think of it, you never read of any of these potentates ever vacationing in Saudi Arabia either. Maybe it has to do with the ambiance, or maybe it is that “whatever happens in Tunisia and Morocco stays in Tunisia and Morocco’. Most of it, from what I hear.
Cheers
mhg


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Anti-Semitism, Arab Counterrevoltion, North Africa, Salafi, Tunisia

Salafi Party Time: Tunisia’s Minority Communities not Imperiled, Yet………

    

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“The President of the Tunisian Jewish Community Roger Bismuth has expressed deep concern over the security of Tunisia’s Jewish Community, and has called on the government to take immediate action against those who incite hatred against others. During Sunday’s Salafist demonstration on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, one Salafist preacher shouted “young people rise up, let’s wage a war against the Jews,” to a cheering crowd chanting “God is great.” Bismuth announced that he will be taking legal action against the Salafist preacher. “We can’t have this violent speech in our country… it is not the first time this has happened… it is totally unacceptable and I am going to take him to court,” said Bismuth. While Bismuth told Tunisia Live he has been unable to meet today with Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, he paid a visit to the President of the Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar, who strongly condemned the Salafist preacher……….”

These f—cking Salafists, all they talk about is destroying the ‘other’, killing the ‘other’. They are mostly probably fifth column agents of despotic absolute monarchs, yet they are superb at taking advantage of situations. Just as they did after the Arab uprisings.
Their aim wherever they are in the Middle East is to create a totally homogeneous Salafi society where everyone looks alike, talks alike, thinks alike, prays together, and grows their dyed beards to the same shaggy length (using the same brand of Islamic black dye or Henna). Possibly even marry the same regulation four wives (appetizers until the end of time, what the Christian Evangelicals await as the Rapture and the Salafis see as ‘party time’). A society where everyone is as ignorant and stupid as everyone else. They will continue to agitate in Tunisia, as they are doing all over, especially on the Persian Gulf, until they either get their way or are sent to the Ile du Diable in the desert where they belong. Over there, they can worship absolute kings and polygamous robber princes to their hearts’ content. Without bothering decent folks.

Of course once the Salafis are in control, everybody else will be in danger, not just minorities. Many Muslims and Arabs will be in danger as well.
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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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Iran, Muslims, Salafi, Syria, Tunisia

Arab Revolts and Islam: Iranian Illusions, Saudi Machinations…….

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“Former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati says the use of the term ‘Arab spring’ is an attempt by the West to liken uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa to ‘color revolutions’ in East European countries. By using such a term the Westerners have been seeking to deny the significant role of “Islam” in inspiring revolutions in the Muslim Arab countries, Velayati said. The Westerners use the term “Arab spring” to convey their desired “view” of the revolutions in the region, the scholar-turned politician noted. Western countries seek to convey this view that “Muslim nations have got rid of Hosni Mubarak and Bin Ali ….to embrace Western approaches,” Velayati told the Mehr News Agency. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that the uprisings in Arab countries are inspired by Islam because it contravenes with their approach, explained Velayati, the senior foreign policy advisor to the Supreme Leader. “If Muslim nations who have risen up (against dictatorship) accept Arab spring they will have no alternative other than following the Westerners; however, the reality is that regional nations have cried Allahu Akbar (God is great) ……………”

The Iranian mullahs insist that the Arab uprisings were motivated by Islamist zeal. I have tried to explain to them many times that all these revolts started as secular movements and that the Muslim fundamentalists joined later, when they showed some success. Now, with the clear shift of political power in all these states to the Islamist fundamentalists, the Iranians may know something the rest of us don’t.

One of the most secular Arab states ‘was’ Tunisia, Bourguiba and Bin Ali made sure of that, and it is going Islamist. So is Egypt and Libya. Syria was absolutely the most secular Arab state of our modern times. Yet if the revolt against the Assad regime succeeds, as it looks like now, then Syrians will have a choice of alliances between: (1)Pro-Saudi Muslim Brothers, (1)Other Muslim Brothers, (3) Salafis (bought, signed, sealed, and delivered), (4) a weak minority of watered-down secularists. In the end the new Syrian regime will be dominated by Islamic fundamentalists of one stripe or another.
That is why I may humor the Iranians and say they may have a point. Still, the outcome may not be what the Iranians would have liked. Probably not.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab League, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Tunisia

Illusions of Arab Independence: Mohamed Bouazizi vs. the Arab League……..

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“The real story at hand is about the revival of Arab sovereignty — expressed obliquely in the slow steps the Arab League is taking ………. The Arab League has long been a cross between the forces of fiction and futility, a largely meaningless organization that has enjoyed neither impact nor respect in the Arab arena it is supposed to represent. ………… By engaging with Syrian opposition groups to plan a transition from the current conditions, it firmed up that which the Libya decision had only touched on gingerly: It is permissible now for Arab countries to meddle in the internal affairs of other Arab states, when there is a clear moral or political reason to do so that reflects the sentiments of a majority of Arab public opinion………. The other fascinating new development we see before our eyes is the continued rebirth and reassertion of Arab sovereignty, will and influence within the Arab world, after decades during which the incompetent and politically derelict Arab states largely surrendered their regional security and ideological functions to foreign powers, especially Israel, Turkey, Iran and the United States. The Arab League is now making decisions whose consequences are ricocheting around the region and the world …………….”

This piece above is giving too much credit to the still decrepit Arab League and to the potentates controlling it. Here is my take on how things happened and are happening:

  • Mohamed Bouazizi, a desperate young Tunisian, sets himself and our region aflame (December 17, 2010 and died January 4, 2011). Hundreds of thousands march in Tunisia, millions march in Egypt, thousands are killed from Egypt to Libya to Syria and Yemen and Bahrain.
  • This piece is giving credit to the very same people who tried desperately to crush the Arab Spring (and still are). He is writing as if the Arab League was responsible for the Arab uprisings. He is writing as if the Arab despots, absolute tribal kings, princes, and dictators, were behind the Arab uprisings. Remember when the Saudi king claimed last February that Egyptian protesters at Tahrir were “foreign infiltrators”? (Thank God Egypt doesn’t have many Shi’as).
  • Yet the Arab uprisings are not done, and not only in Yemen and Syria and Bahrain. They are not done in Egypt and Libya (and even in their birthplace of Tunisia). They are not done in other places, they have not even started in the most repressive Arab state: Saudi Arabia.
  • The Arab League has not really changed: it is still dominated by the same despots who have dominated it for a quarter of a century. The uprising in Libya was aided by NATO with an air campaign and a covert ground campaign (so much for more Arab independence). The uprising in Yemen is being ”controlled” by the same Arab despots with the help of a Western air campaign, at least. The uprising in Bahrain is being “controlled” by the same Arab despots with their tanks. The uprising in Syria is being aided (gradually) in part for reasons of regional power politics. Hardly for the Syrian people. Absolute royal princes would probably kill as many people, nay more, to remain in power if they faced the same uprising as Bashar al-Assad and the Ba’ath Party (just look at Bahrain). The Arab League , since it could not stop the uprisings, is working to contain and control them.
  •  So much for independence from foreign powers like the West and Turkey and Iran and Israel: the region is far from that. Turkey is looked to for a Syrian solution (and a Palestinian role). Iran is crucial for a Lebanese (and possibly Palestinian) solution. The West (USA, France, Britain), well the West owns most of the region and more than ever before, like it or not. The Western powers are being gradually invited back by the Arab regimes to “reclaim” Syria for the first time since 1946, just as they were invited to “reclaim” Libya for the first time since 1969. As for Israel: some of the same Arab leaders who now run he Arab League are no doubt still praying for an effective Israeli strike against Iran. Just as they did in 2006.
  • The Arab League represents the lowest common denominator of its members, its ruling potentates. It will not change until these Arab regimes are changed.

Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, Palestine, Tunisia

Lara of Palestine and Paris, Zhivago of Palestine………..

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                                                Lara and Yuri
“The Tunisian government has issued an arrest warrant for the widow of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in connection with a corruption investigation into the “International School of Carthage”, the Tunisian state-run news agency reported on Monday. The International School of Cartage was founded by Suha Arafat – wife of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat – and former Tunisian First Lady Leila Ben Ali Trabelsi, wife of ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In 2007, the Tunisian authorities withdrew Suha Arafat’s Tunisian nationality…………..”

Interesting: Yasser Arafat spent many years flying around Arab capitals like a King Lear, kissing kings and potentates and dictators (he had no choice; these were the only kinds of Arab leaders available). He did end up in an enclave or hamlet in the West Bank. His widow prefers more amenable pastures to the available bit of “Palestine” she talks a lot about.
Somehow the Palestinian leadership, the PLO and Fatah, caught the usual Arab ruling-classes bug: they got fat and rich and distant. As corrupt as any other Arab potentates, dictators and absolute tribal monarch. After Oslo, once the aid money started flowing again.
Cheers
mhg


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