Bloody Tahrir: A Tale of Two Murdered Women……….

January 25, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Shaimaa dying in the New Egypt…..

Remember in 2009, during the Iranian protests after the disputed re-election of former president Ahmadinejad? A young woman named Neda Agha Sultan was shot dead on the street. Western media, especially in the USA, covered her death extensively. She was headlined in cable television and printed media and social media, and rightly so. Oddly some guy who claimed to be her fiance was even shown in Israeli media meeting with president Shimon Peres.

Now back to 2015 (and the photo up there). Just before the anniversary of the January 25, 2011 attempted revolution in Egypt. A known female activist named Shimaa El Sabagh was shot dead by Al Sisi security agents. She died in her husband’s arms. I don’t see her anywhere on the usual cable TV networks. Nor have I seen any of the many thousands who were killed by the current military regime in Egypt………

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arab Revolutions, Cuba, Human Right, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Foreign Policy

From Cuba to the Arab World: America and the Dissidents…….

January 23, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Reports tell us that American diplomats in Cuba met with Cuban dissidents yesterday. They shared a meal together and talked. That is in Communist undemocratic repressive Cuba. The Cuba that restricts its people from coming to the USA even more than the USA restricts its people from going to Cuba.

Now to U.S. allies, non-communist anti-democratic allies:
A few months ago an American undersecretary of state was kicked out of Bahrain because he talked with some opposition leaders. Three years earlier another American diplomat was hounded out of Bahrain because he talked about human rights.
Can an American delegation meet and talk with local dissidents of whom there are many (in and out of prison) in Saudi Arabia? Or in the United Arab Emirates? Or even in Egypt? Would they dare?

Of course it is possible that because Cuba is in the Western Hemisphere, geographically and culturally, we should expect more of her. Which is like saying that Arabs (and Muslims) either do not deserve or don’t want democracy and freedom of expression. Which may not be as bigoted as it sounds. I know that, based on painful experience, most Arabs (outside Lebanon) are wary of the freedom of expression: mostly it gets you prison, torture, premature death, exile, or a combination of the above.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Barack Obama, Chickenshit, Israel, U.S. Congress

A Tale of Two Sieges: Obama in Sana’a on the Potomac……..

January 23, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

It is tempting this week to compare two cities, two governments, and two countries. On the face of it no two countries can be more different than the United States of America and Yemen. No two cities can be as different as Washington DC and Sana’a. But I shall try to blur the sharp differences:
Months ago Houthi rebels swept from the north and took over the capital of Yemen, Sana’a. They had president Generalissimo Abd Rabu Hadi under a friendly siege for several months as they maneuvered to bend the regime to their will. This week the Houthis seem to have succeeded, for now, in taking complete control of the governance of (North) Yemen. For now: Yemen is not easy to tame. Some in neighboring Arab countries claim that the Houthis depended on Iranian support in their confrontation with the regime. They are also reported to depend on Iranian money. A plausible claim, but then a clever skeptic can say that Generalissimo President Hadi and his corrupt supporters depended on Saudi and UAE money.
Two months ago the very conservative Republicans in the U.S. finished their complete control of both houses of the United States Congress, in Washington DC. They tightened their siege of President Obama, hoping to eventually depose him and replace him with one of their own tribe by 2016. There is no need for anyone to claim that the Republicans in DC depend on the Israeli Likud in their confrontation with Obama. That is not necessary. This week we learned that they have secretly invited the head of Likud, Netanyahu, to come to Washington to officially anoint them as true leaders of the city, just as they will officially anoint him the new war president of America when he makes his speech in Washington in February. He, the alleged chickenshit, will get more standing ovations than Obama can even dream of. More than Abe Lincoln would get. That goes for both parties since nobody dares to be seen to rebuff Netanyahu or be tepid about him for the sake of a mere U.S. president.

Many of these congressmen, of both parties, also depend on pro-Likud money encouraged through AIPAC blessings or directly from Likudnik rich tycoons like Adelson.
I know, I know, there are some major differences with Yemen. But the recent similarities are almost shocking when you think about them.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Al Aqeda, Arabian Peninsula, U.S. Foreign Policy, Yemen

American Friends, American Enemies: from Syrians to Al Qaeda to Houthis……….

January 22, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Strange state of American foreign policy these days. There are cases and situations where allies and foes can be exchanged:

The current leader of America’s allegedly closest ally (Israel) and the U.S. president intensely dislike each other. It is obvious they have little respect for each other. Mr. Obama knows that Benyamin Netanyahu bears him ill will, besides being a habitual liar who can’t be trusted (imagine, a politician lying to another politician!). Most Western European leaders also believe the same. Mr. Netanyahu clearly believes that the U.S. president is a weakling who is not willing to launch an attack on Iran on Israel’s behalf. In fairness nor did George W Bush, but Netanyahu would never dare openly defy Bush.

Mr. Obama believes that a nuclear deal with Iran is better than yet another American war waged against yet another Muslim country. Especially given the doubtful outcome, the cost-benefit of that war. America’s closest allies outside Europe, the Israelis, and the ruling potentates and princes of some Persian Gulf states, strongly object to almost any feasible deal.

The Republican leader of the U.S. Congress has invited Mr. Netanyahu to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress, just after President Obama’s State of the Union Speech. Basically they are inviting a foreign leader to respond to the U.S. president. Inside the U.S Congress! Unheard of anywhere in the world.

Mr. Obama also now has problems with some of his Arab allies regarding Syria. He and his advisers and most the American foreign policy establishment have revised their position on the Syrian civil war. Most have realized in the past year or so the real danger in Syria now is not the survival of Bashar Al Assad, but what will come afterwards. They were hoodwinked by Saudi, Emirati, and Qatari potentates into betting on the Free Syrian Army, which also did a good job of selling itself to some gullible and jingoistic American senators like McCain and Graham and the not-so-dearly-departed Lieberman. The Free Syrian Army soon morphed, most of it, into Al Nusra Front and ISIS and other groups of kidnappers and cutthroats.
The Americans and the Syrians and Hezbollah and the Iranians are now fighting the same enemy, the Jihadis. For now. Eventually, the Americans would like for Al Assad and Iran and Hezbollah to go away (I am not sure where they can go since they live in the region). Eventually the Syrians and Iranians and Hezbollah would like for the Americans to go away (also not feasible any time soon).

To complicate matters, there pops up Yemen, hardly felix now. In Yemen, the United States is trying hard to stem and roll back the regional Al Qaeda branch (AQAP) mainly by bombing its Saudi and Yemeni leadership. So are the new power wielders in Yemen, the Houthis who now control the capital. Yet the Gulf states, especially the Saudi princes and the UAE potentates, don’t approve of the Houthis. Besides their faith which is an offshoot of Shi’ism, they are also suspected of being too close to the Iranian regime. You can’t get any more heretical than that from a Wahhabi point of view. The Houthis do sport some silly Iranian-like anti-American slogans on posters in Sanaa, but it is not clear (to me) if their heart is in it. Nor where they stand ideologically regarding an Iran-style theocracy.

So the Houthis fight Al Qaeda. The Houthis are reported to be supplied by Iran, although they don’t seem to carry advanced weapons, unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Americans fight Al Qaeda. Both Houthis and Al Qaeda fight the previous dominant tribal oligarchs of Yemen. Al Qaeda also as usual kidnaps and/or kills any Westerners (or Shi’as) they can get their hands on. Then there are the separatists of South Yemen who would like to regain the independence they lost in 1990. Complicated? Just hang on, it is going to get even more complicated in the coming weeks.

Then there is Lebanon, a place the Israeli military seem unable to stay away from. Once I likened it to the moth unable to resist the light and the fire, and cleverly if I may say so. We shall leave Lebanon, and Iraq, and North Africa for another day.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Israel, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

A Superpower with a Banana Republic Foreign Policy………

January 22, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

The Republican leader of the U.S. Congress, John Boehner, has invited Mr. Netanyahu to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress, just after President Obama’s State of the Union Speech. Basically they are inviting a foreign leader to respond to the U.S. president. Inside the U.S Congress! Unheard of anywhere in the world.
Two foreign policies in the same capital, in Washington. This is the ‘stuff’ of banana republics. Not all banana republics, some of them. It is something you see these day in Yemen. And it is happening in Washington, still capital of the only superpower. it hasn’t moved to Tel Aviv yet.

Here is how I responded yesterday: “Apparently the Republican Congress have invited him, again, to respond to Obama’s State of the Union speech. And his groupies in Washington are trying to help him in the March Israeli elections. Sheldon Adelson and his money be praised!…….”
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Caliphate, Syria, U.S. Senate

Liberators of Syria: a Few Senators, a Gaggle of Absolute Potentates, and Salafis……..

January 21, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Senator Lindsey Graham was on (CNN) last evening, telling Erin Burnett that he just got back from Saudi Arabia where he met commanders and leaders of the Free Syrian Army. Commanders who are allegedly striving to free Syria from bases in the free democratic bastion that is Saudi Arabia.

I did not realize that the Free Syrian Salafi Army still survived anywhere outside the imagination of a handful of senators, and maybe some motels along the Turkish border. The FSA, which is on its last leg, and its Saudi trainers(?) told him that Assad is selling oil for ISIS, or was it buying from ISIS, or something to that effect. Maybe that is so. They also told him a bunch of other “stuff” about the region, especially Syria. They apparently forgot to tell him about the role of Turkey and the Saudis and others in the continued the growth of the terrorist Caliphate of ISIS.

Graham insisted on re-opening the file on U.S. military intervention in Syria. That is his pet project, he and Senator McCain. He seemed to be saying something to the effect that “Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Turkey are ready to send forces into Syria to liberate it“. Turkey? Turkey has so far refused to join the coalition: it still allows Jihadis to cross freely into Syria (including one Hayat Boumedienne). The UAE doesn’t have enough native people to patrol its own streets; unless it lends its foreign mercenaries. Saudi forces were defeated by the ragtag tribal Houthis only three years ago.

The senator added that only no-fly zones are needed from the US. No-fly zones against Bashar Al Assad, not against ISIS. A simple and reasonable demand, no?
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Israel, U.S. Congress

U.S. Knesset Invites Netanyahu to Respond to Obama and SOTU……….

January 21, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“Speaker John Boehner has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress about Iran next month, a move sure to inflame the Obama administration, which is trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. Boehner later told reporters he did not consult with the White House about the invitation………..”

Apparently the Republican Congress have invited him, again, to respond to Obama’s State of the Union speech. And his groupies in Washington are trying to help him in the March Israeli elections.
Sheldon Adelson and his money be praised!
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Al-Qaeda, Arabian Peninsula, Yemen

Yemen War: the Wild Bunch vs. the Hopelessly Corrupt vs. Al Qaeda……..

January 20, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“Yemen’s powerful Shiite Houthi rebels shelled the residence of the country’s embattled president Tuesday and simultaneously swept into the presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa, as a top military commander warned that a full-fledged “coup” was underway. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was inside the residence as it came under “heavy shelling” for half an hour but he was unharmed and protected by guards, officials said. In New York, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting over the chaos in Sanaa. The shelling was a dramatic development that put the U.S.-backed Hadi into a precarious position and represented the starkest challenge to his authority…………”

As of now it is not clear what is exactly happening in Sana’a, except that there is some fighting around the presidential palace today. It has been a relatively wild country outside Sana’a and Aden and a few other larger towns. Regime officials claim today that there is a Houthi coup, the Houthis claim they were attacked first by the ‘other side’.

The Houthis have controlled the capital for several months, although Al-Qaeda and some other tribal groups have tried to challenge their hold and slow their recent expansion south. They are depicted by most Arab and Western media as a wild tribal group from the wild north (of North Yemen). Some are also beginning to stress their new reported ties to the Iranian regime, a fact that worries the Saudis next door since they fought and lost a little war with the Houthis a few years ago.
The regime of Generalissimo Abd Rabu (Worshiper of His God) Hadi, which is just a continuation of every other Yemeni regime since 1962, is as corrupt as any in Yemeni history. Probably more because he has been even more beholden to the Al Ahmar tribal military oligarchs. The regime has completely failed to stem Al-Qaeda to the south in recent years. In fairness, nor has the American drone bombing campaign. The Houthis, who also mostly fight Al-Qaeda, started a surge that was too much for the regime and their Salafi foes, given that much of the military refused to fight them.

The wild looting of some leaders palaces also exposed the degree of corruption in that very poor country. The UN Security Council is reported meeting today in emergency on Yemen. Not sure what they can do. Maybe they will slap new sanctions on everybody. It will not mean much to anybody inside Yemen.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Iran, Israel, U.S. Politics, U.S. Senate

Senator Menendez Goes to War……..

January 20, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“Obama further said that imposing new sanctions would lead international observers to blame the United States, not Iran, if the nuclear talks collapsed before the July 1 deadline. At one point, Sen. Menendez interrupted the US president, saying he took “personal offense” by the notion that Congress was under pressure from donors and lobbyists and was making a move for short-term political gains………..”

He said: “under pressure from donors and lobbyists and was making a move for short-term political gains.” Mr. Obama must have touched a sore spot for Senator Menendez to get so angry. Which might fit in with some points in my last post.

Indignation by a politician is often fake. And not just indignation by a senator from the sometimes great and occasionally clean state of New Jersey. A state that is not always up for sale to the highest bidder. Not always, since its current governor doesn’t look like a highest bidder; not until he starts to run for higher office.

The senator has been pushing for a new American war in the Middle East for some time now. Not directly, but he tries to do enough to derail the current negotiations and pushes for Netanyahu to decide American policy on war and peace. Which would please rich donors in and out of his state. And maybe make people forget about his ‘recent’ past.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

AIPAC, Iran, nuclear Iran, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Politics

An Iranian View of an Unsavory Las Vegas Tycoon………

January 20, 2015 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“Nearly one-third of anti-Iran pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran’s 2013 budget came from the country’s foremost Republican megadonor, a man who invested a reported $98 million to defeat Barack Obama in the 2012 election, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Adelson routed his $500,000 donation to UANI through his family foundation, according to tax documents. Over the past six months, a number of unanswered questions have swirled around UANI. The Justice Department continues to shield information about the group’s internal workings from coming to light; the group hasn’t accounted for a mysterious funder who stands to profit from a confrontation with Iran…………”

Apparently the Iranians also believe that Sheldon Adelson is at it again: that he is funding a mysterious new anti-Iranian group. A major Iranian news site writes about the American right-wing moneybag Sheldon Adelson.

The conservative Las Vegas gambling tycoon and part-owner of many Republican Party politicians once fully owned Newt Gingrich during his hopeless attempt to start running for the party nomination in 2012. The site reports that Adelson is the largest contributor to the GOP and spent 98 million of his own money to defeat Barack Obama in 2012 (it was probably pure politics, not related to race).
Mr. Adelson, who reportedly has very close connections to the Israeli right-wing parties had publicly proposed once in 2013 that Mr. Obama should launch a nuclear attack on Iran. The Iranians remember that he was kind enough to specify a nuclear attack on “sparsely populated” areas of Iran.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Arabia Deserta: MENA Focus

Bloody Tahrir: A Tale of Two Murdered Women……….

From Cuba to the Arab World: America and the Dissidents…….

A Tale of Two Sieges: Obama in Sana’a on the Potomac……..

American Friends, American Enemies: from Syrians to Al Qaeda to Houthis……….

A Superpower with a Banana Republic Foreign Policy………

Liberators of Syria: a Few Senators, a Gaggle of Absolute Potentates, and Salafis……..

U.S. Knesset Invites Netanyahu to Respond to Obama and SOTU……….

Yemen War: the Wild Bunch vs. the Hopelessly Corrupt vs. Al Qaeda……..

Senator Menendez Goes to War……..

An Iranian View of an Unsavory Las Vegas Tycoon………

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