Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, GCC, Gulf states, Iran, Khamenei, Muslims, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

On Arab Uprisings and Crazy Illusory Iranian Ideas, Salafi Money vs. Salafi Opium………

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“The recent popular uprisings and revolutions in the region and massive popular protests throughout the world have been inspired by the Iranian nation’s Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said……. In a statement released on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the IRGC said that Iran’s revolution has presented the discourse of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation to human communities, Muslim nations in particular. “The Islamic Awakening and popular revolutions in North Africa and the Middle-East and collapse of tyrants and dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and, God-willing, in other lands and also the waves of awakening in the heart of Europe and the United States and the confrontation between Anti-Capitalism (Occupy) movements with criminal and Zionist rulers in the West are undoubtedly among the achievements of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation’s leadership in promoting awareness (of the other nations) and in the campaign against the arrogant powers,“ the statement said……………..”

Maybe
the Iranian media publicize these incredible reports as propaganda, which is okay, it is normal. The danger is if Iran’s leaders actually believe this stuff they publish, that the Arab revolts look to imitate an Iranian system. Yet that is against all the evidence. The rebellion in Egypt led to a Muslim Brother and Salafi parliament. Salafis are the sworn enemies of Shi’a Iran and of all Shi’as anywhere. Salafis hate Shi’as and Jews and Methodists and Hindus and Mormons and Episcopalians and even pagans. Salafis worship Mohammed Bin Abdulwahhab the Nejdi cleric (not the late Egyptian singer Mohamed Abdelwahab). They also nearly worship Saudi princes (especially the Gulf Salafis do). They agree with the Iranian mullahs on one thing (in addition to the Five Pillars of Islam): they both hate and fear Barbie Doll.
In all other Arab states the uprisings were started by young secularists but were hijacked by Salafis or other fundamentalists who are also not eager to have an Iranian style system. In fact, the Salafis admire the Saudi system more than any other system in the whole wide world (well, the Taliban are a little more puritan now than the Saudis, but they have no money to give away; they only have opium).

I think I shall tweet Ayatollah Khamenei (I follow him on Twitter) and correct this Iranian misunderstanding before they go too far with it. All this does is terrify the Saudi potentates who “might” be naive enough to believe it, then they will redouble their efforts to get their American and Israeli allies to attack Iran. It also makes them crack down harder on the oppressed people of Bahrain and Qatif.
Cheers
mhg


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Libya, Middle East Women, North Africa, Polygamy

Et Dieu… créa la femme: Colonel Qaddafi Playing Sigmund Freud……..

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Green Book: “It is an undisputed fact that both man and woman are human beings. It follows, as a self-evident fact, that woman and man are equal as human beings. Discrimination against woman by man is a flagrant act of oppression without justification for woman eats and drinks as man eats and drinks; woman loves and hates as man loves and hates; woman thinks, learns and comprehends as man thinks, learns and comprehends. Woman, like man, needs shelter, clothing, and transportation; woman feels hunger and thirst as man feels hunger and thirst; woman lives and dies as man lives and dies. But why are there men and women? Human society is composed neither of men alone nor of women alone. It is made up naturally of men and women. Why were not only men created? Why were not only women created? After all, what is the difference between men and women or man and woman? Why was it necessary to create men and women? There must be a natural necessity……..”

I bet there is a “natural necessity”; in fact there are at least two, or three.
No doubt the colonel had women issues: his female guards, his hitting on female Western journalists, his alleged obsession with HIV risks, among other things. But then, which male isn’t? Yet he seemed more obsessed about women ‘issues” than a typical leader (which he was not).
Come to think of it, Qaddafi had many fewer children than, say, rulers of a certain large Arab Democratic People’s Kingdom who usually have tens of offspring from tens of women (often recycled, of course).

Cheers
mhg


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France, Gulf states, Human Right, Syria, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

True Lies in New York: Syrian Hypocrisy Prizes at the UN ………..

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Watched the UN Security Council “debate” on the Syria resolution. A lot of hypocrisy and grandstanding on both sides:

  • No doubt the Syrian regime is killing many people, most likely not as many as the “opposition” claims and reporters like Anderson Cooper immediately accept and repeat. The number of 260 killed for today is most likely exaggerated.
  • (There I just said it: the Syrian opposition lies as the regime lies; no thunder, no lightening has struck me yet. Not yet).
  • First hypocrisy prize goes to the French ambassador. He waxed nostalgic and sad and shocked about the Hama massacre some thirty years ago, about those responsible. A reporter asked the Frenchy why one of the Assads responsible for Hama massacre 1980(1?) has been living free in France even as he talked bout it. His stupid response: “We are a hospitable country”, and a quick exit.
  • Second hypocrisy prize goes to U.S. ambassador Susan Rice, who said with a straight face that the United States government stands with the people of Syria as they seek freedom and democracy. The same U .S. administration that supports the repression in Bahrain and supplies the regime with tear gas and guns and armored vehicles for crowd control. She did not comment on the Saudi regime, which is as repressive, and would kill as many people if need be to stay in power.
  • Third hypocrisy prize goes to the British ambassador waxing indignant about repression in Syria and countries that enable it. Even while his own government has been supporting repression and killings and arrests by the Bahrain regime.

  • The Mother of all Hypocrisy prizes goes to the Arab League, which represents some of the most despotic regressive corrupt regimes on earth. Yet it goes to the UN with a resolution to deal only with the repression in Syria: not in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, etc, none of whose people chooses its regime. The Syrian ambassador made a silly remark about Saudi women not being allowed to attend football (soccer) games while their regime talks about human rights. He was right on that point.


One American academic suggested that maybe now (after the Russian and Chinese vetoes) the Arab League should think of intervening a la NATO in Kosovo. I tweeted my favorite retort: that the Arab League, especially on the military side, can’t organize a piss-up in a brewery (as some Americans would say) let alone a military campaign.
Cheers
mhg


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GCC, North Africa, UAE

Casablanca in Abu Dhabi: Kiss of Death in UAE, of Potentates and Cheeks………

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“You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by……“  Dooley Wilson (Casablanca)

“A teenaged Emirati boy who kissed two sisters was sentenced yesterday to serve time in juvenile detention. MA, 15, was charged with breaking into another’s home and sexual assault after the father of two Emirati sisters, FS and SS, both 13, reported him to the police after finding the boy at his house. After an investigation, it was determined MA did not break into the house, but was let in by the sisters, who he was dating at the same time. FS and SS were referred to court with MA on the same charges…….. Both sisters refused to answer the judge’s questions. They neither denied nor confessed to the charges. The girls were to be delivered to their parents for discipline. The detention centre will determine when MA’s term should end, based on his readiness and whether he is disciplined enough to be released. He can be kept in custody until he turns 18……………”

That kid would have been better off kissing another guy, or some potentates, or a goat for that matter. The potentates in our region love to be kissed (talking male potentates here). I see the al-Nahayan shaikhs kissing each other, and others, all the time (never seen one kiss a real goat, though). I also see many others kissing the potentates on the cheeks, both types of cheeks. After three years in the slammer, the kid ought to learn to save it.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab League, Arab Politics, Humor, Libya, North Africa

Servant of Two Cities: Colonel Qaddafi on Tribes and Nations and Loyalties and WTF else……..

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In his Green Book, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi had some interesting ideas about the role of the tribe in (Arab) society. Remember, he needed the tribes to be with him. His idea of the primacy of the tribe and its role in society would fit in nicely with those of the ruling oligarchs, and many people, of the Gulf GCC states. I am not sure why he claimed he was any different. He could have declared himself king, like the shaikh of Bahrain and given himself the title of Custodian (or Servant or Janitor) of the Two Unholy Cities (Tripoli and Benghazi). Nobody would have dared rise against him.  He could have established his own gaggle of tame Muftis in Bab al-Azizia to justify whatever he did, like other Arab potentates have done.

Green Book: “In the social sense, the familial society is better than that of the tribe, the tribal society is better than that of the nation, and the society of the nation is better than world society with respect to fellowship, affection, solidarity and benefits. Since the tribe is a large family, it provides its members with much the same material benefits and social advantages that the family provides for its members, for the tribe is a secondary family. What must be emphasized is that, in the context of the tribe, an individual might indulge himself in an uncouth manner, something which he would not do within the family. However, because of the smallness in size of the family, immediate supervision is not exercised, unlike the tribe whose members continually feel that they are under its supervision. In view of these considerations, the tribe forms a behaviour pattern for its members, developing into a social education which is better and more noble than any school education. The tribe is a social school where its members are raised to absorb the high ideals which develop into a behaviour pattern for life. These become automatically rooted as the human being grows, unlike classroom education with its curricula – formally dictated and gradually lost with the growth of the individual. This is so because it is formal and compulsory and because the individual is aware of the fact that it is dictated to him. The tribe is a natural social “umbrella” for social security. By virtue of social tribal traditions, the tribe provides for its members collective protection in the form of fines, revenge and defence; namely, social protection. Blood is the prime factor in the formation of the tribe…..………..”

The colonel didn’t need to take so long to reach his point, wtf that was. He makes some common sense on some of the points. That is one thing about Colonel Qaddafi that was interesting: there are nuggets, nay gems, in the middle of the cacophony. That is what distinguished him from other Arab dictators and absolute kings: one never knew what he would say next. As a result, he was never boring to listen to, unlike all other Arab leaders (post-Nasser), who are always boring because we always know what they are going to say, which is nothing.
Cheers
mhg



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Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

The Split Personality of Leon Panetta: Driving the Iranian Mullahs Crazy………

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“Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is one of several administration officials to express concern publicly that Israel is positioning itself for a surprise attack. Last month, the administration dispatched the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, to the Israeli capital for high-level discussions about the possibility of a unilateral Israeli strike. “Israel has indicated they’re considering this, and we have indicated our concerns,” Panetta told reporters Thursday after a NATO meeting in Brussels. Panetta declined to comment on published reports that he thinks the Israelis could carry out a strike this spring, possibly as early as April…………”

 

“US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a “strong likelihood” that Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear installations this spring, the Washington Post said Thursday in an editorial. When asked about the opinion piece by reporters travelling with him to a NATO meeting in Brussels, Panetta brushed it aside…………”


I wonder if the Iranian leaders are as befuddled, as lost in this fog of war and no war, of good cop and bad cop. Their heads must be spinning from all the conflicting statements form American and Israeli officials, named and anonymous. It has become like a war of wits and nerves, similar to the one that preceded the invasion of Nazi Europe at Normandy in 1944.
If Israel starts a war, the United States will get involved: what else can Obama do in an election years with the American Likud Party (GOP) hounding him? Some Arab countries will also have to get involved on the Israeli side: otherwise how can Israeli bombers reach Iranian territory? The most like candidate would be Saudi Arabia, whose semi-official media have been preparing their people for this with years of sectarian propaganda. Pro-Saudi media on the Gulf have also been opining that Iran is more dangerous than Israel as an enemy, for now. Neither Iraq nor Turkey will allow over-flights, if they can help it.
Of course they can be just applying the advice given by Tom Friedman a couple of years ago: make the Iranians think that they will be attacked if they don’t obey, then they will obey. It hasn’t worked yet, and unlikely to do so nay time soon. Or maybe it is just part of a process of desensitization of public opinion, such as it is, for another war.
Cheers
mhg


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9/11, Al-Qaeda, Iran, Islamophobia, Jihadis, Muslims, Terrorism, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

NYPD Keystones Mixing Shi’as and Oranges: Borrowing the Bahrain Tactics………..

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“The New York Police Department recommended increasing surveillance of thousands of Shiite Muslims and their mosques, based solely on their religion, as a way to sweep the Northeast for signs of Iranian terrorists, according to interviews and a newly obtained secret police document. The document offers a rare glimpse into the thinking of NYPD intelligence officers and how, when looking for potential threats, they focused their spying efforts on mosques and Muslims. Police analysts listed a dozen mosques from central Connecticut to the Philadelphia suburbs. None has been linked to terrorism, either in the document or publicly by federal agencies. The Associated Press has reported for months that the NYPD infiltrated mosques, eavesdropped in cafes and monitored Muslim neighborhoods with plainclothes officers. Its spying operations were begun after the 2001 terror attacks with help from the CIA in a highly unusual partnership. The May 2006 NYPD intelligence report, entitled “US-Iran Conflict: The Threat to New York City,” made a series of recommendations, including: “Expand and focus intelligence collections at Shi’a mosques.” The NYPD is prohibited under its own guidelines and city law from basing its investigations on religion……………”After 1,400 years, the Shias are being targeted in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, everywhere,” Imam Malik Sakhawat Hussain said after being told that his mosque was in the NYPD document. “If U.S. authorities become suspicious of the Shias, I would say we are a very oppressed community of the world.”……… At the Masjid Al-Rahman, a prayer hall in the basement of a Brooklyn apartment building, manager Abo Maher was surprised to see his mosque on the NYPD’s list of Shiite locations. “This isn’t even Shia,” he said. “Their information is wrong” ……….”

That would be funny, about the “wrong” mosque. If it wasn’t so stupid and so typical and so nasty. We must all look alike to the Kestone Kops of the Big Apple. They get attacked, people are massacred, by Salafi Wahhabis. There are attempts at terrorism by Salafis from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa (admittedly some of them entrapped). Yet the geniuses of the NYPD seem obsessed that the Shi’as might be building a nuclear bomb in Brooklyn. They are apparently learning from the Bahrain regime agents. Maybe for a change it is New York that has sent their cops for training to Bahrain.



Of course increased surveillance of more mosques, be they Shi’a or Sunni or Episcopalian or Haredim, means more overtime pay for New York’s once finest, no?
Cheers
mhg


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Iran

Iran’s Quasi-Democracy and Funny Elections………….

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“The number of candidates who registered for the 2012 parliamentary elections is at its lowest since the 1996 elections. Only 5,395 individuals registered to run for parliament, a 33 percent drop from four years ago. Women comprise less than 10 percent of those who have registered to run. Mostafa Mohammad Najar, the minister of interior, has attributed this decline to amendments made to the electoral law, such as the prerequisite that a candidate hold at least a master’s degree. Other factors include the prevailing climate of political apathy, the marginalization of reformists, and prospects of harsher disqualifications. In sharp contrast, the number of incumbents seeking re-election is at a record high for the 2012 poll. Of the parliament’s 290 sitting MPs, 260 are seeking reelection. With incumbency rates averaging 35 percent in the last 30 years, it will be interesting to see how many deputies will be reelected and how many will lose ground to freshmen challengers. The elephant in the room, however, is the absence of leading reformists…………..”

Iran is only a quasi-democracy:

  • The parliament is not a rubber-stamp. It often succeeds in rejecting the president’s nominees and have threatened to impeach him personally.  But that is part of the story.
  • People are elected freely, but not everyone can run for office, which reduces the freedom of the elections.
  • The president can run for only two consecutive terms (an idea borrowed from the Great Satan?), but his powers are also limited. (On the positive side, for some, this means Ahmadinejad will be out next year).
  • Reformists in Iran see no reason to contest the elections when the electoral system is distorted against them. Some of their candidates are always blocked by the clergy as ineligible to run.
  • Even when reformists get a majority in parliament, as they did a few years ago, their agenda is usually blocked by the Supreme Leader.
  • This not only discourages them from running and thus legitimizing the odd electoral system, it also discourages their many supporters from turning out to vote. Which in turn makes it meaningless for many of them to run. There is no point in running if the decks are stacked against them from the outset.

Cheers
mhg


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Iran, OPEC, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Algeria Refuses to Help Blockade of Iran, Saudis Pissed……….

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“Algeria said Thursday it will not boost crude oil exports in the event Iran suddenly cuts supplies to Europe after the EU imposed new sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear drive. “We have a programme in place that won’t be modified,” Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi told Algerian news service APS. EU foreign ministers agreed Monday on an immediate ban on oil imports and a phase-out of existing contracts up to July 1, as the West ramped up the pressure over Tehran’s nuclear activities and urged it to return to talks. However, Iran’s parliament is expected to consider next week a bill to ban oil exports to Europe much sooner, a move that could potentially raise prices………”

An article in the Saudi daily al-Hayat (owned by prince Khaled Bin Sultan) called Algeria a shumooliyya “totalitarian” state yesterday. That was the first time they call any Arab regime other than Libya and Syria by that epithet. They don’t do that unless they have a royal or princely green light, as part of state policy. I am not sure if this is related to the refusal of Algeria to join the Western blockade against Iran (unlike the Saudis). Yet it probably is: for a Saudi newspaper owned by a prince (they are all owned by princes or their retainers) to call anyone (bar none, well, maybe except North Korea) a “totalitarian” and undemocratic regime is a stretch. After all, this is the Absolute Tribal Polygamous Democratic People’s Kingdom of (Saudi) Arabia.
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, Israel, Syria, WTF

Israel-Iran-Syria Psych War: a Strange Announcement of a Strange Plane, about Hess……….

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“The Israeli military says a drone that can fly as far as Iran has crashed in central Israel on a routine experimental flight. The military says there were no injuries in Sunday’s crash, and it was investigating the incident. The Heron TP drone is also known locally as the Eitan. It has a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making it the size of a Boeing 737 passenger jet. It is the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel’s military arsenal. The drone figures to be featured prominently in any potential Israeli operation against Iran and its expanding nuclear program………”

This is a strange ‘incident’, if all these details are true. Why would they need a “drone” the size of a Boeing 737? What does it have to do with Iran? Do they plane to drop the whole Netanyahu cabinet over Tehran? Then will it still be a “drone”? And why announce these details by a military that is usually secretive? And was it really an Israeli drone? Was it the Assad cabinet of Syria seeking a deal a la Rudolph Hess?
And how is all this related to the 1994 attempt by James Woolsey (former CIA director) to land a plane on top of Bill Clinton?
Cheers
mhg


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