Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria, US Foreign Policy

Bandar Goes to Washington, May Seek Syrian Presidency…….

      

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AlQuds AlArabi of London (reportedly still Qatari-financed), reports that chief of Saudi Intelligence Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Al-Saud is heading to the United States for medical treatment. It doesn’t say what ails him, but if afterwards he goes to Morocco for recuperation, that would be an ominous sign. Other princes reportedly have ended their Moroccan recuperation ‘feet first’, as the saying goes.
The daily also reports that the prince, who is the effective leader of the Syrian opposition and Lebanon’s March 14 bloc, will use the trip to smooth over Saudi-American relations. Among topics to be discussed: the Arab Peace Initiative for Israel-Palestine (actually it was a Thomas Friedman Initiative which the Saudis hijacked), Syria (Saudis want to show that they can also selectively side against some of the Jihadis fighting against Al-Assad, even as the opposition continues its happy disintegration). The report claims that relations between Washington and Riyadh warmed up after American officials, finally, announced that Iran will not be attending the Geneva 2 conference on Syria. Having apparently blocked Iran from attending Geneva (on Syria but not on the nuclear issue), the Saudi goal now is to prevent Bashar Al-Assad from running for president next year, presumably for fear that he might defeat Prince Bandar in the election…………

Cheers
mhg

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Arabian Peninsula, History, Islam, Mecca

Breaking News: Prince of Mecca Receives Mayor of Mecca, Holy Town is Doomed……….

      

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“Makkah Emir Prince Mishal Bin Abdullah received at his office in Jeddah on Saturday Makkah Mayor Osama al-Bar. They discussed development projects being implemented in Mecca for the welfare of pilgrims and visitors, unplanned districts, land encroachments, compensation for expropriation of properties, the public transport project in the holy city, the Makkah Gate project and other issues. Al-Bar congratulated the prince on his appointment as the new emir of the province…………”

Okkkkkay. Expropriation of properties indeed. As for the fate of mecca and how the princes and potentates and their retainers and business partners have ruined its heritage, I refer you to the following links, if’n you are interested:

Destroyers of Islamic Heritage, Looters of Mecca……

Holy Greed: Paris Hilton Does Mecca, Takes Over Prophet Mohammed’s Childhood Home………

Saudi Culture: Bulldozing the Graves of Mohammed and Omar into Las Vegas…….

Birthplace of Islam: Where Dogma and Greed Face History………

Buying the Soul of Britain, Raping the History of Islam, Sacking Mecca………

Cement Shortages May not Save Mecca from its Las Vegas Future………

Cheers
mhg

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Culture, Europe, Lebanon

A Nordic Mystery: Stormy Seas, Animal Mutilations, Mutilated Lebanese Cows………

      

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“Fourteen dead cows that washed up on the beaches of Denmark and Sweden were probably dumped overboard by the crew of a Lebanese ship after it encountered bad weather, Danish police said Friday. “The police suspects that (the source is) a Lebanese ship that was transporting live cattle from a US port to Europe,” the South Zealand and Lolland-Falster Police said in a statement. “The ship ran into a storm in the Bay of Biscay, in which a number of cows died,” it added. The ship’s management may be prosecuted since dumping dead animals in the Baltic Sea is prohibited, it said. The puzzling appearance of nine cows on the beaches of south Sweden and five in Denmark has stunned the public, especially after it was revealed that some of them had been shot and had their ears mutilated…………….”

I am not touching this one, just linking to it. It might be cultural, a WTF. You figure it out.

Cheers
mhg

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Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Iran

U.S. Navy Seals and Al Qaeda and U.S. Judges vs. Iranian Money………

      

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“When insurgents shot down a CH-47D Chinook helicopter carrying Navy SEALs over Afghanistan in 2011, it spawned myriad questions about who in the U.S. military and political establishment should be held accountable. But the families of several of the 38 men killed in that mission intend to take it a step farther, suing another entity more removed from the incident: Iran. Problem is, the families don’t at the moment have much in the way of direct evidence to implicate Iran in the shootdown. The families plan to name Tehran, two of its leaders — former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei — and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards among the defendants in a lawsuit seeking $600 million in damages………………”

Imagine if the family of every veteran who was ever wounded or killed in battle or in a terrorist attack decides to sue ‘somebody’ for it. Many thousands who died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. Many thousands of veterans who were wounded. It would be a mess. That ought to keep a lot of lawyers occupied.
This case is one hell of a stretch, but nothing new here. It seems that other parties in the USA have aspire to sue Iran for money, and have done so. And why not, and who needs real solid reasonable sensible evidence? There have been judges in recent years who ruled millions of Iranian dollars for American victims of Al Qaeda terrorism, under the pretext that “Saudi Arabia Iran supports Al Qaeda”! This is as sensible and reasonable as claiming that Jews supported Nazism. But hey, these honorable judges are just doing their job, and there is a lot of honorable frozen Iranian money to be had. There is plenty of easy money to be had.
BTW: How come nobody sues those princes and Wahhabi potentates who created, arm, lead, and finance Al Qaeda? And should the families of all those Afghans and Pakistanis and Yemenis who were collateral damage in the war against Al Qaeda terrorists decide to sue for the drones killing their relatives by mistake? And how much should they ask for? And what are their chances of a judge outside Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen ruling for them?
 
Here are some links to a few of my older posts on similar topics of ‘legal’ absurdity:

Mel Brooks and Oliver Stone of Persia: a Taliban-Hezbollah-Colombian-Iranian-alQaeda-Mexican-Texan-African Network…….

Piling on Iran: Teetotaler Washington Judge Plays Sherlock Holmes, or is it Hercule Poirot, not Stalin…..

The Iran Embassy Plot and My old American History Professor, about the Maine……

Cheers
mhg

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Israel, Racism

Blood Racism in Israel: the Master Race Lives Again, from Moldova to Ethiopia………

      

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                           Video:
A Kenny G Holiday

“In additional case of discriminatory practices, Yesh Atid MK Pnina Tamano-Shata barred from donating blood because she has “special kind of Jewish-Ethiopian blood”……………….” Magen David Adom refused to allow MK Pnina Tamano-Shata (Yesh Atid) to donate blood, saying she had “the special kind of Jewish-Ethiopian blood.” The staff then told her that she could donate blood, but her donation would be frozen, not used. In the past, the MDA’s refusal to use blood donated from resident of Ethiopian descent has inspired claims of racism, the MDA in response claim they are only trying to minimize risks to blood recipients…………….”

Magen David Adom is supposed to be the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross or Red Crescent. It is not supposed to be some ‘institute’ created by some Heinrich Himmler from Moldova or thereabouts to distinguish superior blood for tainted blood.
This Nazi-style irrational racism is apparently something that happens often, refusing blood donations from blacks, be they Jews or others, in order to minimize risks. And these are the most educated people in the Middle East! Even we Muslims know better than discriminate between sources of blood,  know that it makes no difference.
Cheers
mhg

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CIA, Espionage, Iran, US Foreign Policy

From Langley with Love and Mutual Contempt: the Strange Odyssey of Bob Levinson……….

      

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                           Video:
A Kenny G Holiday

“An American man who went missing in Iran more six years ago had been working for the CIA in what U.S. intelligence officials describe as a rogue operation that led to a major shake-up in the spy agency and his family receiving a secret, multimillion-dollar settlement. Bob Levinson, an ex-FBI agent, traveled to the Iranian Island of Kish in March 2007 to investigate corruption at a time when he was discussing the renewal of a CIA contract he had held for several years. He also inquired about getting reimbursed for the Iran trip by the agency before he departed, according to former and current U.S. intelligence officials. …………. But months after Levinson’s abduction, e-mails and other documents surfaced that suggested he had gone to Iran at the direction of certain CIA analysts who had no authority to run operations overseas…………….”

This has always seemed like a baffling case. I had thought there was something odd (rather fishy?) about Mr. Levinson’s case: it was never made clear who in Iran was holding him and why. For years both American and Iranian officials danced around the story of his disappearance gingerly, avoiding details. Odd that the Iranians, if they have him, did not announce it, given the series of assassinations of their scientists and academics in recent years. Given that they must have ‘interrogated’ him and got whatever he knows. And what about that odd picture in an ‘orange’ prison suit and chains and the brief message?
This story may explain part of the mystery, although it may be difficult convincing the Iranians that he was sent by “rogue” elements within the CIA. You see, Iranian officials are as ready to believe American officials as American officials are ready to believe Iranian officials. Hard to believe that the contempt is mutual, almost shocking, no?
Can there be more to this story, another angle not divulged? Some Iranians may think so. I suspect there is and I don’t even consider myself a conspiracy theorist. I just hope for his sake that it is not as bad as it can be.

Cheers
mhg

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Europe, Russia, Sanctions, US Foreign Policy

No Hypocrisy: Obama Administration Mulls Sanctions against Ukraine and Bahrain and Egypt and………

      

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                               Video:
A Kenny G Holiday

“The US raised the prospect of placing sanctions on Ukraine on Wednesday after riot police moved against anti-government demonstrators, seemingly violating its pledges of restraint. Baroness Ashton, the EU’s foreign affairs representative, all but accused Victor Yanukovich, Ukrain’s president, of misleading her in negotiations in Kiev that happened just hours before riot police launched a push to retake opposition-occupied areas of the city, including City Hall and Independence Square. The crowd resisted the police onslaught in temperatures of -11C but Baroness Ashton, who was in Kiev for crisis talks on Ukraine’s rejection of a strategic pact with Europe, said the authorities had crossed the line……………….”

Ukraine has crossed “one line”, has been doing it for a week. Just attacking protesters in the square, not raiding their homes and looting and arresting and torturing them. Bahrain’s regime has crossed many lines, has been doing it for almost three years: tear gassing, shooting, arresting, torturing, and killing. Raiding and looting homes of the majority of its rebelling people at midnight. Ukraine is mild compared to Bahrain. Someone forgot to tell the U.S. government that.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Media, Syria

Journalists and Syria’s Liberator-Kidnappers………

      

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                           Video:
A Kenny G Holiday

“Thirteen international news organizations, including the BBC, The Associated Press and The New York Times, have written a letter to the armed opposition in Syria asking for assurances that their reporters will not be abducted. Over the past year, the letter says, the organizations have “witnessed a disturbing rise in the kidnapping of journalists while on assignment within the northern provinces of Aleppo, Idlib and al-Raqqa,” and elsewhere in Syria. The organizations estimate that more than 30 journalists are now being held, the letter said, and that as a result many of them have “decided to limit their coverage of the war.”…….. “We understand that, as in any war zone, reporters face great risk of injury and death,” the letter says, “and we accept those risks, but the risk of kidnapping is unacceptable……………….”

What a polite letter to the Jihadis. They
worry about the risk of kidnapping. The risk of being shot and getting
beheaded is apparently not so bad.
For more than two years Western media ignored the role of the Syrian opposition groups in the deaths and kidnappings of journalists and other civilians. Headlines were given only to journalists who were killed by regime forces; some others were killed by “unknown” parties and blamed on the regime. The major media fell in line with government policy in such a smooth transition that the old Pravda would have envied, that the Syrian daily Tishreen would envy. But that could go on for only so long, especially now that kidnapping rather than ‘liberation’ seems to be the major avocation of some of the armed groups. They re even kidnapping each other now, including each others’ wives.

Cheers
mhg

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Africa, Apartheid, Israel, U.S. Congress

Netanyahu Skips South Africa, Puts ‘Both’ His Eggs in U.S. Congressional Basket…………

      

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                            Video:
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“Mandela, in both life and death, symbolized the idea of equality among all human beings and opposition to the apartheid regime, which subjected people to different laws based on race or ethnicity. Israel under Netanyahu’s leadership, in which segregation, racist legislation and discrimination on the basis of nationality are flourishing virtually undisturbed, cannot say it respects Mandela’s heritage, nor can it join the family of nations whose flagship values are the striving for civil equality and the fight against racism. Mandela spoke out in the past in favor of the Palestinian struggle – something that earned him no points with Netanyahu, who sees the Palestinians as demonic enemies with whom there is no possibility of dialogue. It’s also possible to infer that the core of Mandela’s struggle – the war on racism against blacks – doesn’t burn in the Israeli prime minister’s bones, since just this week Netanyahu and his coalition partners were busy passing the so-called Infiltration Law, which allows people to be jailed for up to a year without trial, and is aimed primarily at African migrants………………..”

Also sprach Israel daily Haaretz.
Netanyahu is increasingly depending on two kinds of allies: his own domestic extreme rights wing supporters and the U.S. Congress (both houses, both parties). He probably feels that he needs no one else: he can get elected and he can outmaneuver President Obama with his own houses of Congress, including the Democrat-controlled Senate. It is true: both houses of the U.S. Congress are now more likely to do Netanyahu’s bidding than that of Obama. After all, when Netanyahu spoke to a joint session of Congress, his old tired predictable rhetoric got many more standing ovations than Obama’s State of the Union addresses.

In fact, even as I write this post, Congressmen and senators facing elections next year are pushing through new Iran resolutions that would derail Mr. Obama’s peace attempts. They are doing the bidding of a foreign leader who is no doubt lobbying and campaigning by phone against the policies of the president of the United States. Some Arab media have reported that the White House is allegedly reduced to sending emissaries to Tel Aviv to help moderate a U.S. Congress that is eager for war (both houses, both parties) on behalf of the Israeli right wing.

We can say Mr. Netanyahu is putting both his eggs in the Congressional basket. Congress, of course, has fewer eggs than it used to, or maybe just has smaller ‘eggs’ than before, but that probably has nothing to do with taking any testosterone.
FYI: I was translating literally from Arabic in the last paragraph.
Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, Iran, US Foreign Policy

Under Knesset Pressure: Obama Expands Blockade of Iran before Talks………

      

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                              Video:
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“Under pressure from Congress to demonstrate that it is not easing up on sanctions on Iran’s oil sector or on its nuclear and missile programs, the Obama administration on Thursday announced an expanded list of Iranian companies and individuals that it said it would target to block their trading activities around the world. The administration’s announcement came shortly before Wendy Sherman, chief American negotiator on the Iran agreement, was scheduled to testify on the nuclear accord with Iran and the sanctions issues to the Senate Banking Committee…………….”

No profile in courage here, but then politics is not about courage, it never is. On the eve of expanded nuclear negotiations, the Obama administration tightens the blockade of Iran. Just to keep the hawkish Knesset in Washington (both Republicans and Democrats) at bay. To keep Ben Netanyahu’s groupies, his fan club, happy.

Cheers
mhg

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Multidisciplinary: Middle East, North Africa, Gulf, GCC, World, Cosmos…..