Category Archives: US Foreign Policy

Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Persian-American Gulf, Saudi Arabia, US Foreign Policy, Wahhabi, Yemen

Of Iranian Mullahs, Saudi Princes, the Old Ikhwan, and Walled Cities on the Gulf…..

“For, since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, US and Saudi foreign policy has been almost single-mindedly dedicated to destabilising Iran. Indeed, there is a way to understand the post-1979 political history of the region stretching from Pakistan to the Red Sea as permutations of an ongoing and devastating battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The export of the battle keeps expanding: sectarian violence has become ubiquitous in countries where it had been non-existent. Colonial powers may have engineered sectarian strife into the geography of countries like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, but what of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and even Bahrain? The expanding battle field tells us something about shifts in Saudi ambitions, and the anxieties that shape them. The Kingdom that exports terrorism is also the Kingdom of the terrified………. Saudi Arabia has never fought a war. In fact, as the embarrassing flight from Al Khafji well ahead of a badly battered Iraqi brigade demonstrated, the Saudi army is not capable of managing even a scrimmage. However, the government has been engaged in proxy wars more or less continuously since 1962……………..”

She says: “US and Saudi foreign policy has been almost single-mindedly dedicated to destabilising Iran….“  Yet that is also what the USA and the Saudi regime accuse Iran of doing around the Middle East. My humble guess: they are both doing it to each other. But the weapon of sectarian divisiveness and hatred is a specialty of the Saudi regime, and they have used it effectively in the Gulf region in the past few years.

Actually the al-Saud clan and their fanatical Ikhwan Wahhabi tribal troops initially waged wars to expand their domain and bite off big chunks of other countries early in the 20th century. They focused on countries that were not part of the British or other European empires. They preferred to attack and invade neighboring countries that were not under any foreign protection. They tried briefly to conquer one country that was part of the British Empire, Kuwait, but were disabused on the notion quickly. (For a long time the Kuwaitis had to build a wall around the old city for protection).
They conquered and annexed big chunks of Yemen, invaded Hashemite-ruled Hijaz (Mecca and Madinah), and occupied and annexed al-Ahsa’a (now part of the Eastern Province). That was early in the 20th century, before the “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” was announced.


But all that was then. The Ikhwan fanatics are long gone, disbanded long ago when their usefulness to king Ibn Saud ended. If they were around, the Ikhwan would be fighting against the princes whose corruption and opulent lifestyles would be abhorrent to them. The regular Saudi army is not a force capable of fighting wars. It is one of the best-armed, or most expensively armed, military forces in the world, but that is all. Advanced weapons alone do not make a capable military force, otherwise the UAE would be a superpower. Two years ago they were soundly defeated by the Huthi tribal clans of northern Yemen.

Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Salafi, Syria, US Foreign Policy

On Syrian Casualties: Caught Between the Free Syrian Army and Hezbollah………….

 

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I knew this was coming. I knew this would happen, but I didn’t expect it so soon. The Saudi semi-official Alrabiya network reports that now more than 10 thousand Syrians have been killed by the Assad regime during the past year. The network quotes ‘unofficial’ statistics of Syrian ‘activists’ that the number of those killed suddenly jumped from 7 thousand two days ago to more than 10 thousand.
I remember the days a few weeks ago when it was only 3,000 or was it 4,000. They claim that the 7,000 were only those whose death was recorded “by video” or otherwise proven (by the activists of course). The report notes that the figure does not include the thousands of regime soldiers and officers who were killed (or perhaps died of natural causes).
I expect the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is in deep discussion with the brotherly, or is it sisterly, Arab intelligence services trying to decide when is it convenient to up the figure to 20 thousand. The Salafis are probably all for pushing the number to 40 thousand, but the Muslim Brothers are probably balking: unlike the Salafis, they believe in moderation, even in lying. I a not sure that even upping the figure dramatically will get NATO to start bombing unilaterally.

On the other hand, actually on the other extreme, both Iran and Hezbollah are beginning to ‘suspect’ what they had known all along: that ‘something’ may be happening in Syria after all. They are beginning to note that life is not going on as usual, that people are actually dying in places like Homs and other towns. After all, it can’t all be made up by CNN and Anderson Cooper and Arwa Damon, can it? They haven’t yet decided on who is doing all that killing, but give them some time.
Cheers
mhg


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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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AIPAC, Iran, Israel, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Brainwashing America: the Eternal Bogeyman under the Bed, of AIPAC and 9/11………..

 

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“The United States has been down this squalid road before, in regard to Iraq, and it doesn’t end well for America. Obama was made to trek to AIPAC (which should have to register as the agent of a foreign state) because it is a very effective lobby and raises money for political campaigns, as well as raising money to punish politicians that do not toe its line on knee jerk support of Israeli policy. We saw this with Iraq, and now it is the same with Iran. A weak, ramshackle, ineffectual bogeyman is set up, like Saddam Hussein or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Americans are kept talking about the “threat” emanating from that country. It isn’t a real threat. It is manufactured by the Israeli intelligence agencies and promoted by their cells in the US. With regard to Iraq, we were told that it had among the more powerful armies in the world, that it possessed frightening weapons of mass destruction, that it was a threat to Europe and the United States. None of these things was true………….”

The Communist bogeyman may have been real, but he wasn’t under every American bed, certainly not under Joe McCarthy’s bed, nor under J. Edgar Hoover’s allegedly mysterious bed.
The Ba’athist Iraqi bogeyman was an ally of the Reagan administration and a bosom buddy of his eventual victims on the Persian-American Gulf. He wouldn’t have survived the war with Iran without GCC money and Western weapons, including the WMD which he used liberally against the Iraqi Kurds and the Iranians. Saddam turned from Western ally into Western bogeyman as soon as his war with Iran was over, as soon as his usefulness expired late in 1988. With the amiable Mr. Gorbachev in the Kremlin, it was time for Saddam to resume his natural role of the favorite bogeyman.
In recent decades America has always ‘needed’ a foreign bogeyman during elections cycles. The problem is that election cycles never end these days. The next American election cycle starts as soon as those elected are sworn in. This election cycle we are seeing now started in January 2009 and continued right through 2010. It will probably pause briefly between next November and January. So there is a perpetual need for a permanent supply of national bogeymen.
It is the turn of the Iranians again, highly and insistently recommended by the unregistered Israeli government lobbyists of AIPAC. They get some help from the neighborhood; the medieval tribal Saudi despots have made a tacit common cause with the Israelis and their allies.
Yesterday on CNN Rep. Peter King of New York (Gauleiter of hearings on local Islamic terrorism last year) kept mentioning that Obama should coordinate with and or talk to the Israelis and the Saudis. Now when was the last time you heard a New York congressman mention the Saudi princes both favorably and in the same breath as Israel?
Now, back to September 11: I wonder when will they finally tie the Iranians to that terrorist act. Miracles do happen when people go stupid: they tied Saddam to it in the minds of millions, didn’t they? Like I said, miracles do happen when people……..
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, Israel, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Cocky Mr. Netanyahu Goes to Washington, Blackmails Mr. Obama…………

 

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“Two years ago, Barack Obama reportedly left Benjamin Netanyahu to kick his heels in a White House anteroom, a snub delivered to show the president’s irritation over Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank. In May, the Israeli prime minister struck back, publicly scolding his purse-lipped host for the borders he proposed of a future Palestinian state. When the two men meet in Washington on Monday, Mr Obama will find his guest once more at his most combative. But this time, perhaps as never before, it is the Israeli who has the upper hand. Exuding confidence, Mr Netanyahu effectively brings with him an ultimatum, demanding that unless the president makes a firm pledge to use US military force to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb, Israel may well take matters into its own hands within months. The threat is not an idle one. According to sources close to the Israeli security establishment, military planners have concluded that never before has the timing for a unilateral military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities been so auspicious………….”

“Obama has been too harsh with Netanyahu…. He has hurt Netanyahu’s feelings…… Obama has done to Netanyahu what……….. “ Rep. Peter King (GOP Gauleiter -New York)

“Obama has disrespected Netanyahu………“ Mitt Romney, on the verge of tears.

It says: “Never before has the timing for a unilateral military strike been so auspicious.”
I say: “Auspicious my eye.”
The Likud and its right-wing surrogates are worried that Obama will get re-elected next November and that he will rightly forget the nonsense about a “military option”. They know now is their best chance to get him entangled in a war against Iran, a war that probably has little to do with nuclear weapons but has much to do with two things: (1) eliminating the only regional power that can compete with Israel. Most Arabs also see it as an attempt to deal with the last Middle East country that is not toeing the Western line; (2) Pushing the Palestinian issue way back the list of priorities, as has happened, while expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu’s hand is now strong because of the election cycle in the United States. The Republican Party has effectively become a local branch of the worst elements of the Likud coalition and it is keeping Obama in line. 

Watch the body language today when they appear together on television, and see who is in “control”.

Cheers
mhg


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Arab Politics, Racism, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Arab Voters vs. the American Political Class: Deep Mutual Contempt…….

 

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“All I want you to do (Ooh) for me
Is give it to me when you get home (Re, re, re ,re)
Yeah baby (Re, re, re ,re)
Whip it to me (Respect, just a little bit)
When you get home, now (Just a little bit)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T……..” Aretha Franklin (Respect)

Alajazeera reports on a poll of Arab “voters”, even in countries where they are not allowed to vote. The results indicate that Arabs mostly trust their armed forces (probably not for winning victories). It also shows that Arabs overwhelmingly consider the United States and Israel the biggest threats to the security of the Arab world. The survey, done by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, shows that 77% of respondents trust their armed forces but that only about half trust their police forces and 57% trust the courts.
About 73% of Arabs consider the United States and Israel the biggest threats to the security of the Arab world but only 5% believe that Iran is a threat.
 

This 5% for Iran is interesting and represents an Arab dichotomy. It shows that in most of the vast Arab world, especially in countries where the mass of the Arab populations are concentrated, Iran is not seen as a threat. On the other hand, media of the Gulf GCC states are full of warnings of an Iranian or Shi’a “threat”. This indicates the degree of success of Saudi and Salafi sectarian propaganda in the tribal societies of the Persian Gulf states. Meanwhile, the bulk of the Arab world, in terms of area and population, has quite different views on this point. This is partly because the non-Gulf Arabs are not as swayed to Saudi propaganda as so many are in the Gulf and partly because of the absence of sectarian and tribal allegiances outside the Gulf region.

I still wonder about the unexpectedly (to me) high negative percentage for the United States; how accurate it is. It is possible that the negative view of America has shot up in recent months due to public statements of U.S. congressmen and senators and other candidates against Muslims and Arabs and the loud war threats being issued almost daily. These war threats are mostly aimed at Americans voters, but they are heard in the Middle East where they give the impression of an aggressive and contemptuous American political class in the mold of the old European imperialists. You can say that there is deep mutual contempt between most Arabs and the American political class. This also means that the views of the average Arab toward the American political class do not differ much from the views of the average American citizen toward the U.S. Congress. It can be summarized in “C-O-N-T-E-M-P-T”, and Aretha Franklin never sang that one.
Cheers
mhg


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Ali Khamenei, Iran, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Iranian Elections, Ahmadinejad’s Loss, Western Blockade…….

 

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“Pro-reform political activist Elahe Rastgou told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday that former president Mohammad Khatami voted in the March 2 parliamentary election to tell the foreign-based opposition that the pro-reform camp will continue its political activities within the framework of the Islamic system. Rastgou said, “With participation in the election, we wanted to prove to everyone that the reformist current is still alive and is doing political activities within the framework of the system of the Islamic Republic.”………..” Mehr News (Iran)

Many reformers in Iran were disappointed that former reformist president Khatami voted in these elections. The opposition, the true reformists in Iran, had been squeezed and demoralized since 2009. Many of their candidates, had they decided to try running, would probably have been disqualified by the regime. Their supporters saw no reason to vote, nobody acceptable, from their point of view, to vote for. This showed in the turnout in the large cities, especially Tehran, where early voter turnout was reportedly about 52%.

It was a battle between the partisans of the president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They have different visions of the future of Iran, although both seem uncompromising vis-a-vis the West on the nuclear issue, as is the real opposition inside Iran. The more conservative party, the Khamenei side, seems to have one against the less conservative party, the Ahmadinejad side. Even the president’s sister lost her election bid. Ahmadinejad will most likely be replaced by someone more conservative after his term expires in 2013. But it is not a foregone conclusion: Iranian politics, even now, are quite complex. In the elections of 2005 the favorite candidate of the clergy lost to Ahmadinejad. In 2009 Ahmadinejad was widely reported to be the favorite candidate of Khamenei, yet within months there was a power struggle between the two sides.
The tighter Western blockade are as likely to weaken the opposition further as they are to weaken the regime. But the blockade will be tightened because the Obama administration is squeezed between the Israeli regime and their American extreme right wing lobbyists. Between them, they’ve got the Obama administration in a tight vise by the cojones.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Syria, US Foreign Policy

The Agony of Syria: More on Ghalioun, SNC, FSA, KSA, GCC, KGB, XYZ……..

 

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“Meanwhile, the head of Syrian National Council (SNC) announced on Thursday at a press conference in Paris, the launch of a military council to support the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Burhan Ghalioun who said that SNC will be seeking advice from consultants and experts on how to support, organize and oversee FSA, added that the formation of the military council came after consensus among all armed oppositions in Syria. Ghalioun said that the military council was also created after some countries announced that they were ready to arm the FSA. He said it is a step to bring together one Syrian umbrella all armed groups in a bid to reduce foreign influence in the country. ………….  But the Arab League chief, Nabil al-Arabi, said on Thursday that the Arab group has nothing to do with the decision to arm the Syrian opposition………”


Mr. Burhan Ghalioun may be somewhat naïve. He has stepped into the middle of an uprising that is being hijacked by absolute tribal Arab potentates and their fundamentalist surrogates. I wonder if he doesn’t realize that he is stepping into a snake pit that might be more venomous than the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his Baath. I wonder if he does not realize that he will be a temporary tool for his domestic and foreign “partners”. That is the way it often goes: all exiles who deal with dogmatic and fundamentalist allies are at a disadvantage. Just look back at France after 1789, Russia after 1917, and Iran after 1979.
If and when (probably more when than if) the Assad regime departs, Mr. Ghalioun will be effectively brushed aside. I hope I am wrong, but I think not. He may temporarily return to Syria as a figurehead ‘leader’ of some initial use to the Salafis and Muslim Brothers, but not for long. The example of Libya and Tunisia (and probably Egypt as well) are quire relevant here. Especially relevant is Tunisia, where a secular opposition figure was brought back to legitimize what is becoming a fundamentalist takeover of a secular revolution.
Cheers
mhg


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CIA, Iran, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

From Baghdad to Tehran: Deception, Fear-Mongering, Murky Waters……

 

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“Even as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said in a new report Friday that Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies. ……..At the center of the debate is the murky question of the ultimate ambitions of the leaders in Tehran………..”

It is possible that the Iranians don’t like Western “experts” poking around in their facilities: after all, when was the last time the French or British allowed some Iranian inspectors to poke around in their facilities?
So there is no evidence, no smoking gun, that the mullahs are building a bomb. No Dick Cheney to swear that Saddam had a beer with Bin Laden as they plotted 9/11. Only a judge (George Daniels) in New York or was it DC who seems to believe that Ali Khamenei plotted 9/11 with Bin Laden over a pitcher of Mojito (Islamic no-mojo style). But it all helps in the West Bank, as the settlements keep expanding and the prospect of two states dims into a distant future.
Odd how Western officials and media, especially in the USA, assaulted the IAEA under Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei when they cast doubts about Bush and Cheney and WMD in Iraq, yet they hang onto every word of it about Iran. So what has changed other than the new man doing their bidding?
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Iran, Syria, US Foreign Policy, Yemen

Hillary Clinton and Democracy Hypocrisy: Yemen and Syria and Iran……

 

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“Syria’s authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as a “sham.”…..” AP

“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday hailed the presidential election in Yemen, offering continuous support to the Arab nation as it confronts challenges ahead. …..”
Only one candidate allowed in Yemen and he “won” 99.8% of the vote, and there were many dead. Clinton must think Arabs are stupid. Here are my rantings on Yemen yesterday.

“On June 14, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement on repression in Iran and Syria to mark the second anniversary of the disputed 2009 presidential election in Iran….“
Ahmadinejad had three candidates running against him, he claimed less than 60% of the vote, I think about 58%. Arab SpringMuch more democratic than the travesty in Yemen, wouldn’t you say? The difference is that he was not sponsored by the Saudi king and the absolute potentates of the GCC and the Western powers.

So, the new definition of democratic elections is simple: they are the elections that are approved by the absolute tribal polygamous Saudi king and the absolute shaikhs of Qatar and UAE and Bahrain. And they are hailed by Western media (CNN, Fox) as true elections. Cute.
Cheers
mhg


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