Arab League, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations

Arab Joke du Jour: Chutzpah! Arab League Blasts “Failed” UN…………

      

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“Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi Sunday backed Saudi Arabia’s rejection of a seat on the UN Security Council, saying the diplomatic body had failed in its responsibility towards the Arab world. Arabi told reporters that Saudi Arabia was right to object to the Security Council’s management methods and the fact that it failed in its responsibility to secure international peace, “which it is not doing at all.” He said Arab states, including Palestine and Syria, were the worst affected by the Security Council’s weakness in the last six decades. His remarks come a day after Arab nations urged Saudi Arabia to reverse its decision to reject a seat on the 15-nation Security Council. Arab ambassadors to the UN said it was crucial for Saudi Arabia to represent the Arab and Muslim world on the council “at this important and historical stage, specifically for the Middle East region.”…………….”


Talk about chutzpah: the Egyptian secretary general of the useless, ineffective, Saudi-owned Arab League calls the UN a “failure”.
It is almost funny, almost, this stance by Nabil al-Arabi, the Arab League’s top ineffective bureaucrat, a man effectively in the pay of the Al Saud princes.  He says the UN “had failed in its responsibility towards the Arab world”. As if the corrupt putrid Arab League of Absolute Kings, Princes, and other Despots and its bureaucracy are a glittering success. Truly a case of the kettle and the pot.
Cheers
mhg

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Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations

WTF? Egypt Supports Saudi Rejection of UN Seat, Arabs Declare Unilateral Victory……

      

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Al Shourouk daily from Cairo reports that the Egyptian regime has declared its full support of the surprise Saudi decision to refuse taking a seat on the United Nations Security Council. It is likely general Al Sisi called the Saudi King, or whoever speaks for him these days, and congratulated him for his rejection. My Cairo source reports that it is not true that Interim semi-President Mr. Adly Mansour Al Zombie has asked if he can take the abandoned Saudi seat on the UN Security Council.

As a reaction, the King of Jordan is said to have made the “right noises”, the nature of which have not been divulged. Not to be outdone, the government of Bahrain has declared a three day holiday in celebration of the Saudi rejection of the UN SC seat. Other Arab potentates are sending messages of congratulation to Riyadh. One Lebanese journalist who writes in Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat is getting ready to call this Saudi move the “true Arab Spring”. Another Arab journalist, J Al-Khazin, who write for Saudi daily Al-Hayat is comparing this rejection to Anwar Sadat’s audacious visit to Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, and in that spirit of support, I have decided to declare my support for Turkish leader Erdogan for calling the President of France and asking him to get tougher on Syria, or was it Mali……….

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Iran

Life and Death Penalty in Iran: Clash of an Ayatollah with Himself………

      

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“An Iranian grand ayatollah who issued a fatwa ordering the re-execution of convicts who come back to life has said his religious ruling should not be applied in the case of the man who revived in the morgue earlier this month. Alireza, a 37-year-old father of two, was hanged two weeks ago for possessing a kilo of crystal meth and was certified as dead by medics after lingering for 12 minutes from a rope tied around his neck. He was sent for burial but a day later morgue workers realised he was still alive after spotting steam in the plastic cover he was wrapped in. Following his arrest three years ago, a revolutionary court had found Alireza guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced him to death….……….. Golpaygani reacted after a number of people contacted his office asking him to intervene or clarify his position over Alireza’s case. The state-run Jam-e-Jam newspaper, the first media organisation to break the news about Alireza’s ordeal, said many of its readers had asked for his life to be spared….……….”

The mullahs, being dour mullahs, are attached to the death penalty. As attached as anybody in the Middle East is, almost as attached as Texans are, it seems.
Remember the old days when the American overlords eliminated the death penalty in Iraq right after the 2003 invasion? Oddly, very few seriously support eliminating capital punishment in the USA itself, at least not openly, certainly not any major politician. Anyway, the moratorium on the death penalty did not last long in Iraq: the Salafi terrorists made sure of that.
Still, they’d have fun with a case like this in Texas, another place where executions are liked and evading them is seriously frowned upon.
(FYI: I am against all forms of capital punishment, be they by hanging, beheading, shooting, clubbing, watching TV, or needling. Clearly they do nothing to stop crime. Otherwise the USA, Texas, China, Iran, and Iraq would be crime-free heavens. They are not. They don’t do much to reduce sorcery and witchcraft either, otherwise Saudi Arabia would be footloose and witch-free).

Cheers
mhg

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Arab League, Arab Politics, GCC, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

Syrian Fallout: Saudi Tantrum over the Security Council………

      

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“Saudi Arabia on Friday rejected its freshly-acquired seat on the U.N. Security Council, saying the 15-member body is incapable of resolving world conflicts such as the Syrian civil war. The move came just hours after the kingdom was elected as one of the Council’s 10 nonpermanent members. In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the Foreign Ministry said the Council has failed in its duties toward Syria. This, the ministry said, enabled Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime to perpetrate the killings of its people, including with chemical weapons, without facing any punishment. The kingdom, which has backed the Syrian rebels in their struggle to topple Assad, has in the past criticized the international community for failing to halt the civil war in Syria…………..”

This is a surprising and uncharacteristic public royal tantrum. Something has pissed off the Saudi princes. Or maybe now Prince Bandar has unbridled control over foreign policy. Earlier, they canceled their annual speech at the UN General Assembly meeting, not that anybody actually listens to it beside the flunkies. Now they refuse to take a seat at the Security Council.
It could be the frustration from the setbacks to their allies and proxies in Syria and Lebanon. It certainly can’t be the Security Council’s failure to react to their own invasion and continuing repression of Bahrain. It could be the failure of Mr. Obama to wage war in Syria and possibly Iran (all options still being on the table and all that). It could be the prospect of resolving the Iranian nuclear “issue” peacefully.
There is another possible angle here. A Security Council member will have to vote on issues, or abstain. Even abstention is a form of voting. Maybe the Saudis are going back to their old foreign policy mode of avoiding confrontation on sensitive issues.
The Saudis want no part of the Security Council until it is reformed to their liking. Which reminds me of the League of Arab States (Arab League), apparently now under Saudi financial control and quite reformed, thank you very much……….
And no, I would not be so crass as to suggest it is a form of royal PMS……….

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, GCC, Human Right

New ABS Strategy for Bahrain: Regime to Naturalize Tear Gas Canisters………..

      

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“[Manama] Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior is planning to import 1.6 million tear gas canisters and 90,000 tear gas grenades, according to a leaked document, published today by research and advocacy group Bahrain Watch. The document — apparently a tender issued by the Ministry of Interior’s Purchasing Directorate — shows that Bahrain’s security forces are stockpiling massive amounts of tear gas, despite serious concerns of international NGOs and the United Nations Human Rights Council. These groups have called Bahrain’s use of tear gas “unnecessary and indiscriminate”, and “lethal”. This planned new shipment will supply Bahrain with more tear gas canisters than the entire population of the country. The document, signed by “Assistant Undersecretary Abdulla Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa”, calls for all proposals to be submitted “not later than 16th July 2013”. Ministry of Interior tenders are typically not available on the Government’s Tender Board website. This is the first time that an apparent tender for tear gas has been made public. The tender calls for arms companies to supply Bahrain with the following items:……… Bahrain Watch understands that no shipment related to this tender has yet been made, however, such a shipment could begin at any time………………..”

His excellency the Bahrain shaikh who controls these imports claims that the tear gas canisters will be used in case Bahrain is invaded by Iranians or Qataris or Klingons, or anyone else who is not part of the Saudi military and security services.
Bahrain’s ruling family and their tribal allies have been notorious for trying to alter the demographics of the country by recruiting and naturalizing mercenaries with military, security, and interrogatory and torture experience. The mercenaries come from select Arab countries and select South Asian countries, and the key criterion is called ABS (Anybody But a Shi’a).
Bahrain has limited resources and mercenaries and their families are a costly drain, even if they come from very poor countries, even with all the money other GCC potentates send over to prop up the ruling family. Now they may have found a solution: millions of tear gas canisters. They can naturalize tear gas canisters at hardly any cost. They can even get them to vote in the strange elections they occasionally have in Bahrain. And the best part is: nobody inside or outside Bahrain can tell the difference between these canisters and the current members of the funny legislature, mostly appointed and selected by the rulers. Come to think of it, nobody inside or outside Bahrain should be able to tell the difference between these canisters and the Bahrain Council of Ministers. As we say on the Gulf: one goo’ti looks like just another goo’ti.
Not a bad idea, huh? And they did not need to pay Tony Blair millions of dollars in consulting fees for the idea. Or maybe they did.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Politics, Islam, Islam and Elections, Saudi Arabia

Revolutionary Mufti Urges Muslim Leaders to Repress their Peoples with Respect ……

      

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Saudi Mufti Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh has gone revolutionary, or so it seems. He has warned leaders of Islamic countries against imposing “restrictions” or insulting the “dignity” of their peoples. He urged leaders to build bridges with their peoples. He did not specify polygamy, taking many wives from many tribes, as a form of bridge-building either. He was apparently talking about something deeper.

Interesting, since in the past Shaikh Al has usually urged the people to obey and respect and love their leaders (except in Libya and Syria and Iraq and possibly Belize). The shaikh also called for some half-assed Islamic “union”, to be led by his princes, the very same princes the Caliph Omar, and two others, would have ordered publicly whipped for corruption on earth, and rightly so.
If the Saudi case is an example, then he has no worry. The princes and their retainers rob and repress the people with the utmost respect. Those who object to being robbed and repressed are made to vanish with the utmost discretion, so discrete that you never ever hear a Western leader criticizing them, which is one way to show you’re being respectful.

Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, Mossad, Turkey, US Congress

Turkey vs. the Mossad in Iran, Davalued Joint Session in DC………

      

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“Officials in Ankara described the Washington Post article claiming Turkey deliberately blew the cover of an Israeli spy ring working inside Iran in early 2012 as part of an attempt to discredit Turkey by foreign powers uncomfortable with its growing influence in the Middle East. A senior official from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party said such accusations were part of a deliberate attempt to discredit Turkey and undermine its role in the region following election of Iran’s relatively moderate president Hassan Rohani. “Turkey is a regional power and there are power centers which are uncomfortable with this … …. Stories like these are part of a campaign,” the official said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. “It’s clear the aim of some is to spoil the moderate political atmosphere after Rohani’s election … and to neutralize Turkey, which contributes to solving problems in the region and which has a relationship with Iran.”…………….”

So the Iranians were correct when the announced the busting of an Israeli espionage and terrorism cell almost a couple of years ago. Which also means some of the Israeli agents (be they Israeli or Iranian exiles) probably went through Turkey to enter Iran, perhaps also through part of Northern Iraq. I am not sure why the Turks are upset that this is out now, they did the right thing from their point of view. Unless the Mossad has some inalienable right to spy and kill civilians in other countries with impunity. Maybe the Turks worry about the reaction in the U.S. Congress in the future. Let me put it this way: Erdogan now has as much a chance to be invited to address a joint session of Congress as Mr. Rouhani has. Which is about as much of a chance as Hassan Nasrallah has, probably somewhat lower than Fidel Castro’s chance.
Imagine being denied the honor once accorded Winston Churchill (and King Abdullah of Jordan and Benyamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ayad Allawi, among others). Wait a minute, did I say Churchill AND Netanyahu and King Abdullah and Ayad Allawi, all in one sentence? Is the world coming unhinged? Is the unique honor of addressing the U.S. Congress been so devalued? Could it be all of the above? You betcha………….

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Middle East Nuclear, Syria, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Twenty Five Years Later: Natanyahu, the Ayatollahs, Elderly in Syria, and Nuclear Obamacare…….

      

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Imagine how things will possibly be about 25 years from now:


  • Benyamin Netanyahu will still be either prime minister of Israel or running to become prime minister of Israel.
  • Netanyahu will still be announcing every two weeks that the Iranians are still only six months from developing a nuclear bomb. He has been claiming the same for the past twenty years. An extremely long six months indeed.

  • The U.S. Congress (both houses, both parties) will still be voting on and passing new resolutions and bills tightening the economic blockade on Iran, asserting Israel’s “right” to attack Iran at will, insisting that the United States support any such military attack. All will pass irresponsibly unanimously, of course.

  • Mr. Obama, or whoever is in power at the time, will keep insisting that “all options are on the table” and will remain so. No mention of red lines anymore.

  • Iranian politicians will continue to predict the demise of the “Zionist Entity”. The more moderate ones will continue to predict the demise of “Israel”. Crossing your fingers is frowned upon by the mullahs, might be considered some sort of “flipping gesture”.

  • Nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 will be continuing, with frequent Geritol breaks.

  • The Iranians will keep announcing more centrifuges operating as they keep negotiating with P5+1, all in good faith by both sides, by all sides.
  • The GCC Gulf potentates will still be funneling weapons and money and occasional Salafi volunteers to the Aging Free Syrian Salafi Army along the Turkish border, in its quest to depose Bashar Al-Assad. Bashar will still be ruling Damascus from his wheelchair, with the help of his army of nurses and his IVs.
  • Saad Hariri will still be trying to become prime minister of Lebanon, insisting he can run things from Paris and Riyadh.
  • Republicans will still be promising to cancel Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act) as soon as they control all three houses in Washington.

Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Syria

Syria’s Northwest Passage………

      

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“The face of the rebellion has changed since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began nearly 1,000 days ago. Black flags with white calligraphy are increasingly common — a sign of the growing influence of Islamist extremists. Since Assad’s regime lost control of the northern borders in the summer of 2012, they have been streaming into the country. Now, foreigners are fighting alongside Syrians. They include Chechens, Libyans, Tunisians, Belgians and Germans — all jihadists fighting a war for Islam against what they believe is an infidel regime. Some already fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, and bring their valuable combat experience with them. Still others have spent time behind bars for their jihadist past, and from there they have found their way to the Syrian front……………………”

Yes, they come in from the North, mainly through Turkey but some through northern Iraq and some through Jordan. They are gaining valuable experience, using Saudi money and Western training and arms. And when it is all over in Syria and Iraq and Lebanon and Turkey, they will head to their homes in other Arab lands and in Europe. The oil potentates may yet regret again their dabbling in this new Afghanistan Jihad.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Bahrain, France

France is Sober in Bahrain………..

      

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                          This French diplomat in Manama looks sober, I think. Maybe that
                          is why he also looks unhappy, for a Frenchman in Manama.

“France supports the reforms taking place in Bahrain and backs the invitation by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for a national dialogue as the best means to overcome obstacles and political differences, the French ambassador to Bahrain has said. “Paris also strongly condemns the acts of violence and stresses that terrorism is not a political tool,” Christian Testot said, adding that His Majesty’s call for the national dialogue, launched in February, is a significant step in the history of Bahrain. “We hope that the five coalition parties that have recently suspended their participation in the Dialogue will come back and resume their participation. It is necessary for Bahrainis to find a way to agree because there is no alternative to the dialogue to reach an agreement on a formula that allows the coexistence and satisfaction of all parties no matter how different their views are. Such a goal is achievable only through dialogue,” the ambassador told Bahrain News Agency (BNA)…………….”

To which I add, as I often do when I read a Bahrain BNA report, a hearty and loud: Hahahahahahaha………….

Cheers
mhg

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