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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Iran, Israel, Muslims, Religion

Of Iranians, Eschatology Issues, the Mahdi, End of Time Films, and Drones………..

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“Q: What are the main reasons for producing “end of the world” films in the West? Do these films show the whole truth?
A: I think there are several reasons why there are a number of “end of the world” films in the West. One reason has to do with Christian eschatology (the theological study of the end times). Many Christian theologians and pastors and priests have taught and do teach that Jesus Christ will one day return to the Earth to rule humankind in righteousness. On some widespread interpretations of the last book of the Bible—the book of Revelation—there will be a great battle between good and evil in the eschaton and this battle will usher in the end of the world as we know it.
Another reason has to do with the fact that on the Western calendar, we are now at the beginning of the second millennium (the Western calendar is based on the birth and death of Jesus). In biblical chronology, it seems that major events occur every couple thousand years, so many people have concluded that the time is ripe for something significant to happen—something of biblical proportions. Added to this was the Y2K scare in which many computer engineers and others believed that computers would crash when the year 2000 CE occurred, and in some quarters there was widespread panic about this. This fueled an end-of-the-world hysteria………..Taken together, these add up to the predicted doomsday date of 21 December 2012. Though these are simply fables, the truth is that apocalyptic films do well at the box office. In fact, the recent film 2012, which graphically depicts the end of the world next year, was enthusiastically viewed in the West.
Most serious Christian scholars maintain that the Bible does not predict a specific timeframe for the end of the world………….” Mehr News Agency (Iran)

Nothing here about the appearance of our long-awaited Mahdi nor about the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel. Without the “Rapture” and the hoped for conversion of all the Jews, many of the Christian right would have no hope, and no reason to hitch their horses to the Likud wagon. The Iranians here are not saying what ‘they’ think of all these eschatological issues. They do, however, claim to have shot down an American drone in the eastern part of the country.
Cheers
mhg


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Culture, GCC, Gulf states, Persian-American Gulf, UAE

Offshore Country on my Gulf: UAE Minority Culture, Bollywood Hits…………..

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“Young Emirati filmmaker and American University of Sharjah student Sarah Alagroobi introduces herself to the regional film scene with an enticing short movie that is sure to make an impression. The Forbidden Fruit, which cleverly studies the undertones and conflicting values of modern Emirati society, will make its premier at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival in the Muhr Emirati section. Alagroobi, who directed, wrote, produced, edited and did everything short of putting herself in the film, said of the experience, “I’ve always been fascinated with the ‘inside scoop’ on what’s happening behind closed doors in Emirati society. My mother always said ‘what’s kept in the dark will always come to light’.” And that’s what this film is about, bringing a delicate topic to light. The Forbidden Fruit is unlike other Emirati films in that it exposes an aspect of a culture so remarkably polished that people might never see it for themselves. The film is based around two young Emirati adults, Alia and Rashed, who live in a modernized society that is still very much absorbed in its traditions and cultures. Viewers follow Alia and Rashed as they go about their lives carelessly partying, drinking and having a good time……………”

This is a good effort but it is funny, or would be if it weren’t so sad and serious. Talking about UAE films and UAE culture: they mean the film and culture of a ”minority” in an “offshore country”. The UAE has a population that is overwhelmingly Asian (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, etc). Most are Indians, with some Arabs and Iranians and Africans, then a few thousand Westerners. At least 85%, possibly more, are non-citizen expatriate laborers who are in the country temporarily. This is a truly “offshore country”, as I called it a year or so ago. The ruling potentates can’t even police the country, they rely on foreigners. For protection, they have formed a special mercenary force led by former Blackwater leaders, composed of Colombians, Australians, white South Africans, and possibly Mexican drug cartel veterans.

Yet they talk of an exclusive “Emirati” society as if it represents the “country”. I beg to differ. I would assert here and now that these millions of Indians and other Asians represent the true UAE society. They are a huge majority of millions among a few hundred thousand original citizens. If you want to see a film about the “real” UAE, especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai, go see an Indian film (or a Bengali or Philippine film). Hell, yeah, go see a Bollywood hit (it would be a bit more ‘native’ if it starred the Bin Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahayan brothers).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Cairo, Egypt, GCC, Gulf states

The Other New Masters of Egypt and the Guardians of the Constitution…………………

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“He backs “resistance” against the “occupiers” in the Middle East – America and Israel. In his ideal Egypt, the sale of alcohol would be banned, beaches would be segregated and thieves would have their hands cut off – though, he says “it would not happen because no-one would steal”. Until last week Islamists like him were at the radical fringe, but the first results from last week’s election have shown a staggering success for Islamist parties like Mr Zumour’s…….. What has been counted so far amounts to a crushing blow for the middle-class revolutionaries, both Christians and Muslims, who filled Tahir Square in January and February to force former president Hosni Mubarak from power. They wanted more freedom, yet are now faced with the prospect of newly-confident Islamist parliamentarians determined to enforce Sharia, ban alcohol, and banish many of the rights Egyptian women take for granted. The cause of their fear is men like Mr Zumour, no longer just another militant but one of a string of Islamist radicals once banned and jailed who have thrown themselves into electoral politics……….. Gamaa Islamiya’s allied party Nour, representing Salafis who follow the puritan Saudi-style version of Sunni Islam, won more than 20 per cent of the vote. It was not clear how much of the vote Gamaa Islamiya had won last night but it appeared to be on course to win several seats. Together the hardline parties beat the liberal Egyptian Bloc into third place, a result profoundly depressing to secular and Christian Egyptians……….”

These election results will give everyone pause. The military junta, SCAF, now knows that its “popularity” will now improve among a certain segment of Egyptians. They can play the “guardians” of the constitution. The secular and liberal young, who started the revolt against the dictator back in January, in fact before that, now face a majority of Islamists, possibly controlling at least two thirds of the new legislature. 
A big majority of seats for the Muslim brotherhood and the Salafis and the smaller Islamic Jihad (Ayman al-Zawahiri’s old pals). The military probably think their lot has improved, that they will now be courted by others, of both sides. We shall see.
This is also good news for the Arab oligarchies in the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, etc. They have always felt more comfortable with the Islamists, especially the Salafis, than with secularists. The potentates have a bitter history of struggle with the secularists, from the early days of Arab socialism under Nasser. The potentates know that the young secularists would push them on issues of accountability and freedoms. The Salafi and some Muslim Brother Islamists usually oppose freedoms, and would normally turn a blind eye to corruption as long as they share in the spoils (the examples of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are good ones).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Libya, NATO, Salafi, Saudi Arabia, US Foreign Policy

The Not Yet Democratic but Polygamous Libya and her Salafis, a Holy Las Vegas………..

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In the new liberated Libya there is a struggle between rival factions of the new regime. The main struggle is between “moderate” Islamists and “radical ”Islamists. The former are represented by some regime figures, such as NTC leader Mustafa Abduljaleel who says that the new Libya will remove the Qaddafi restrictions on polygamy (I expect the US Congress to invite him to address a joint session just for that, and to honor him with rousing standing ovations). He also says that Libyan law will be Islamic Shari’a law, although he has not bothered to ask the Libyan people yet.

The less moderate Islamists are the Salafis who want an even stricter Islamic society like Saudi Arabia or the Taliban. They have been clamoring to imitate the Saudi Wahhabis in tearing down ancient mosques and monuments as “haram” or taboo. In Mecca, some of the most ancient Islamic monuments from the days of the Prophet have been erased and replaced with five star hotels and shopping malls. Homes of the Prophet and his early sahaba supporters lost to the greed of princes and potentates. I have written here in the past about the transformation of Mecca as the new Las Vegas without the legal “diversions” of the one in Nevada. An unforgivable and irreversible crime.

Arab media reports
 tell us the Libyan Salafis are already eying some mosques and shrines that are centuries old, with plans to tear them down and erase all traces o them. In their place, they might want to erect murals of the king of Saudi Arabia and all the senior princes.

All sides of the new Libya are fully armed and ready. I expect the secular exiles who rushed home when the dictator seemed about to fall to be thinking of their plans B and C.
Cheers
mhg


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Egypt, GCC, Gulf states, Persian-American Gulf, UAE, Yemen

Abu Dhabi: Adventures of Shaikh Shakhbut with Nasser of Egypt and the Saudi Bins………

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“Yemen has become a microcosm of the whole Middle East struggle between Socialist and Conservative forces—a struggle that is not going at all well for Nasser. The latest blow was Saudi Arabia’s scheme for an anti-Nasser Islamic Alliance, which has rallied open support from Jordan, Tunisia and Iran, and tacit backing from Kuwait and Morocco. Nasser is also locked in a struggle with the Red Chinese, who are sharply extending their influence in Republican Yemen. Already Peking has reportedly sent some $45 million in aid, put 3,300 Chinese technicians to work for the Republican government, and is designing a technical training center that will accommodate 800 students. Meantime, Yemen’s Royalist forces are just as determined. They recruit retired officers from France, Belgium, Britain, Pakistan, Iran and Jordan, receive arms and financial help from Saudi Arabia, Britain and Iran. Even the tiny Persian Gulf sheikdoms are unstinting. Recently, a Royalist Yemen emissary visited Sheik Shakhbut, ruler of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf, and asked for a contribution of 5,000 pounds sterling. He walked away with £100,000. “You are all astonished?” the sheik shrugged to his advisers. “Do you know how many cases of ammunition £100,000 will buy, and how long they can keep Nasser from me?……….”

Shakhbut did not have to worry about Gamal Abdel Nasser for long. He had more vicious enemies closer to home. His own brother, Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, soon overthrew him and became the rules of Abu Dhabi. As promised, his brother did not murder him, possibly because of British influence. But Shakhbut and his sons vanished into thin air.

The Saudis were intriguing even then, even long before then, against anyone who threatened their feudal kingdom of absolute tribal Wahhabi polygamy. That has not changed: the princes are more corrupt than ever: there are more of them and there is more of the people’s money to steal.
It is unfortunate that Nasser did not manage to sweep all these ‘Bins” into the dustbin of history.
Cheers
mhg


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GCC, Gulf states, Persian-American Gulf, UAE

Gulf History: Shakhbut, Shaikh Jackpot of Abu Dhabi…………..

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“Five times a day for the past 30 years, thin, threadbare Sheik Shakhbut bin Sultan faced west, bowed low, and prayed for an oil strike. His realm of Abu Dhabi was desperately in need of some good luck. Up and down the Persian Gulf……….This has all been rather unsettling to Abu Dhabi, whose 15,000 Bedouins have got along for centuries on piracy, pearl fishing and intertribal raids. In the 19th century, the swift pirate dhows were swept from the gulf by Britain, which established “a perpetual maritime truce”hence the name Trucial States, given to Abu Dhabi and six other sheikdoms. Pearl fishing became unprofitable when the Japanese cleverly introduced cultured pearls to the world. There was nothing left to Abu Dhabi but intrigue: of the twelve predecessors of the present sheik, only three died peacefully in their palace beds. The rest were either murdered or violently deposed, usually by close relatives. Sheik Shakhbut took over in 1928 when his uncle was assassinated, after having earlier killed Shakhbut’s father who, in turn, had come to power by killing his older brother. Shakhbut is said to have ruled so long and safely only because his own two brothers swore a solemn oath on the Koran not to murder him…….. He installed an air conditioner in his bedroom but seldom used it because he disliked the noise. He also put in a flush toilet………….”

Little did Shaikh Shakhbut bin Sultan al-Nahayan know that he will soon meet a similar fate as his predecessors. His brother Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan was biding his time.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, GCC, Iraq, Libya, NATO, North Africa, Syria, US Foreign Policy

On the Western Liberation of Iraq and Libya and Syria and………….

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“Al-Asaad told us that despite being grossly under-resourced, he is getting more and more recruits every day. The latest reports put the size of the armed opposition force at anywhere between 1,000 and 25,000. In his interview, the colonel told us that he unequivocally is not seeking a coup and supports the Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the people. He also stressed that the force he is assembling is inclusive and non-sectarian. Finally, he makes a plea to U.S. President Barack Obama to offer quick and decisive support for the resistance and underscores that the establishment of a buffer zone, as proposed by Turkey and France, could accelerate defections and change the course of the conflict……….”

The Syrians who did not like American intervention in Iraq are now eager for American and French and British (and possibly Israeli) intervention in Syria. That is after the NATO intervention in Libya, which was aided and abetted by the Arabs. The hypocrisy some Arab leaders, and some opinion-makers of the Wahhabi faux-liberal stripe, especially in the Gulf GCC, is breath-taking (I like this last word more and more these days).
These Arabs cheered and helped and participated in the invasion (or liberation) of Iraq, only to turn around and bitterly criticize it when things did not go their way. They even pushed for a second American liberation of Iraq, a retake, just to set things right from the Wahhabi point of view. They practically pushed (an eager) NATO to intervene and liberate Libya from its ruling dynasty even as they helped chain the people of Bahrain to their repressive and corrupt dynasty of thieves.
Now they want to the USA and NATO to liberate Syria from its ‘current’ despotic rulers. Some claim they want the West to liberate Syria from the Assad regime, others that they want NATO to liberate Syria (politically) from Iran, some say they want it liberated from both. Some of them also want to liberate Syria fully by aligning it with the royal theocracy of the People’s Democratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I wonder if they also want to liberate the Golan, and from whom.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Culture, France, Human Right, Islamophobia, Muslims, Religion, Salafi

France’s Jeannette Bougrab: Why She May be Right about Islam and Christianity and Judaism and……………

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“La secrétaire d’Etat à la Jeunesse Jeannette Bougrab réagissait dans un entretien au journal Le Parisien aux succès électoraux des islamistes au Maroc, en Tunisie et en Egypte. Elle est elle-même d’origine algérienne, fille de harki, le nom donné aux supplétifs algériens de l’armée française pendant la guerre d’indépendance. “C’est très inquiétant”, a-t-elle déclaré. “Je ne connais pas d’islamisme modéré”. “Il n’y a pas de charia +light+. Je suis juriste et on peut faire toutes les interprétations théologiques, littérales ou fondamentales que l’on veut, mais le droit fondé sur la charia est nécessairement une restriction des libertés, notamment de la liberté de conscience“, a-t-elle ajouté………………”


She says there is no such thing as “Sharia-light”, that religious law leaves no room for freedoms. On some level she is right, of course: once you apply the religious laws, any religious laws, be they Muslim or Christian or Jewish, you are pushed to go ‘all the way’. Freedoms are inevitably restricted. Salafis and Muslim Brothers who say they will apply “limited” Shari’a are playing for time. Limited Shari’a is like limited ‘virginity’ or limited ‘death’: it doesn’t exist, doesn’t make sense (at least I don’t think so). Religion can be moderated on an individual level: you pray, you fast, you lead your life the way you want within the law. Once the state starts to apply the Shari’a, or the laws of the Old Testament, the Bible and the Talmud, then there is no moderation. This applies to Muslims and Christians and Jews. Americans, more than  all other Westerners, are still grappling with this now that Christianity has become part of Republican political platforms. Jews in Israel are trying to fend off an aggressive Jewish-Salafi onslaught on civic society.
In some places, Saudi Arabia and Iran, they are mixing up Caesar with God, usurping power, and in the Saudi case wealth, in the name of Allah. Caesar was deified after he died.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Bahrain, Human Right, Mercenaries, Saudi Arabia, UAE

Heading to the Persian Gulf: Yates & Timoney, vandenHeuvel & Cheney, Mexican Killers, Jordanian Goons……

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“Former British police boss John Yates and US ex-cop John Timoney will oversee reforms to Bahrain’s security force after a report found it guilty of human rights abuses, the Daily Telegraph reported Friday. Bahrain’s King Hamad has asked Yates, who quit as head of Britain’s Metropolitan police force in July over a phone-hacking scandal, and Timoney, former head of Miami police, to modernise its force in order to meet international human rights standards. “Bahrain’s police have some big challenges ahead, not dissimilar to those the UK itself faced only a couple of decades ago, but I have been impressed that the King is doing the right thing by pressing on with big reforms,” Yates told the British newspaper. “This is a big challenge which I will undertake with a great reforming police officer like John Timoney,” he added. A special independent commission probing Bahrain’s March crackdown on Shiite-led democracy protests said ………”

About Bahrain: what will they do with all the humorless Jordanian interrogators and torturers the ruling al-Khalifa had imported from the sisterly king of Jordan? Will they send them back or will the Brits and Americans try to train them to better identify terrorists protesting for their rights? What about all the Pakistani mercenaries they have imported to help pillage villages, beat up people, threaten women with rape, and arrest the innocent? And all the Syrian and Iraqi Ba’athist mercenaries?

What Next for the Gulf region?


  • The Iranian mullahs could hire Katrina vandenHeuvel to help develop democratic institutions and help on women issues.

  • The Saudi princes may hire Liz Cheney to help the kingdom democratize and also to help improve the image of Islam and Muslims on her “Keep America Safe but Stupid” website.

  • The al-Nahayan potentates of Abu Dhabi, who also rule the United Arab Emirates, have decided on a different approach. They will finally take my advice and hire some veterans of the Mexican drug cartels to join their mercenary army. That army was announced last spring and is led by Blackwater bosses and composed of Colombians, Australians, white South Africans, among others.

Cheers
mhg


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