Tag Archives: King Abdullah

Afghanistan, Arab Revolutions, Humor, Jordan

Jordanian King Abdullah to Help Stabilize Afghanistan……….

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Jordanian King Abdullah has had a meteoric rise across American media this past week, after his air raids and especially his “Mission Accomplished“ photographic poses like this one below:

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New Marvel Comics Hero……

Now my sporadically reliable sources report that he is being approached by U.S. officials to lead a joint special team of Navy Seals and Special Forces back into Afghanistan to help defeat the Taliban and stabilize certain provinces of that equally humorless country.
Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

Caliphate, Jordan, War

The Manly Official “Mission Accomplished” Photo of Jordan’s King……….

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Jordanian King Abdullah has had a meteoric rise across American media this past week, after his air raids and especially his “Mission Accomplished” photographic poses like this one below:

JordanKing
New Marvel Comics Hero, and he ain’t even American……

He doesn’t look nearly as goofy as George W Bush did in his famous pose. My source in Amman tells me all the females in the humorless Kingdom of Jordan (ages 12-80) are swooning over this very manly photo of the monarch. As are most anchorwomen (and a few anchormen) in American media. She claims she is not, maybe the only female in Amman who is not, but I’m not buying it.
Do you suppose the king is angling for a movie
role?

Marvel Comics to Recruit the Heroic Homeric King of Jordan………

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

Caliphate, Jihadis, Jordan, Media

Marvel Comics to Recruit the Heroic Homeric King of Jordan………

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“He’s ex-special forces and he cuts a mean figure in his combats, but now the internet is turning Jordan’s King Abdullah II into a warrior-king – a story only very loosely based on the facts. King Abdullah promised a swift reaction to the killing of a pilot by Islamic State – Jordan bombed IS positions and executed two Iraqi prisoners. The news cycle also highlighted the king’s hands-on military background, and one of the most-shared images is a photo (shown above) posted on the official Royal Hashemite Court Facebook page. It has attracted about 5,000 likes – but is actually an old photo that was posted on the the royal court’s official Instagram account eight months ago………..”

American mainstream media always go over the top, overshoot the target at the beginning when they initially focus on a foreign leader. He is either all evil (Putin, Chavez, Castro in past years) or all goodness (Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Netanyahu, King of Jordan). They quickly rush into bestowing accolades or declaring virtual war on foreign leaders.

King Abdullah of Jordan has been raised this week to mythic levels by both the U.S. media and by some humorless Jordanian social media fans, possibly freelancers. Suddenly the cable channels are waxing poetic about this Homeric king, how he ordered quick retaliation, how he led the air raids on ISIS (actually a stupid thing for an authoritarian king to do, but he is too smart to do it). How he tipped the wing of his jet over the tribal home of the murdered pilot Al Kassasbeh.

Even Bibi Netanyahu doesn’t get such accolades nor raised to such mythic levels, not even inside the house of his most avid groupies, the U.S. Congress. Well, I take that last sentence back……
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Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

Arab Politics, Education, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

Arab King May be the Most Educated Human in the World……..

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Egypt‘s Generalisimo Field Marshal Al Sisi has issued a farman decision bestowing an Honorary Doctoral (Honorary Internatonal) degree in Humanities on Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The degree will be from Al Azhar University, at no cost to the king. Egyptian media report that the Al Azhar Board took the unanimous decision to award the king his new degree based on his services to Islamic and Arab causes, and his “principled” stances regarding the recent historic events in Egypt.

Among those principled stances was the king’s famous claim during the January-February 2011 Tahrir uprising that the protesters were “trouble-makers and agents of foreign powers“. That uprising forced Mr. Mubarak out of power, elected Mohammed Morsi, then brought Generalisimo Al Sisi to power in a military coup d’etat, financed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

This new award/degree probably makes the Saudi king among the most educated in the world, at least among humans. On paper at least. So far he has received degrees from several (possibly all) Saudi colleges, from Pakistani and Indonesian and Malaysian and other Arab and Muslim colleges. Without so much as a GRE or Quals Exams or Dissertation or the rest of the bureaucratic steps needed by mortals. The guy is loaded with knowledge. He has never received any degree from the favorite military academy of Arab kings and potentates, Sandhurst in Britain. But no fear, that can be remedied in exchange for a small nominal weapons deal.

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Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Al-Azhar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uncategorized

King Abdullah Earns a Doctorate from Al Sisi University, Morsi Moves from Elba to Saint Helena………

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“Al-Azhar University granted an honorary doctorate degree to the King of Saudi Arabia as a tribute to his efforts to support Egypt and for serving Islamic Dawa , head of Al-Azhar University Osama el-Abd told Youm7 Wednesday. The board of directors of al-Azhar University is seeking an appropriate way to deliver the degree to the king, Youm7 added. King Abdullah Ben Abdel Aziz supported the 30th of June revolution………..”

Al-Azhar University in Egypt has decided to bestow a degree of honorary doctorate on Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz for “his sincere efforts in the service of Islam and Muslims and his brave patriotic stance with Egypt and her people”. The president of Al Azhar University said the board has authorized him “personally” to travel to the Saudi kingdom soon to present the doctorate to the king.

It did not say if he will discuss with the Saudi king his dissertation or if he will administer his written qualifying exams or the orals. Assuming his majesty has already taken his Graduate Record Exams (GRE) long before he earned his doctorate from Generalissimo Field Marshal A. Al Sisi. The Al Azhar statement did not add that his majesty is also being rewarded for encouraging democracy and freedom in Bahrain and the Gulf and for financing and arming the Wahhabi bombing campaigns for free speech and religious tolerance in Syria and Iraq and Lebanon and for his role in keeping the people of Gaza under siege and a target of Israeli bombs.

I suspect this will now open the floodgates for copycats across the region. Other colleges and universities across the Arabian Peninsula and Lebanon and Jordan and Egypt will shower his majesty with honorary, and a few regular, doctorates. The King Doctor Custodian will soon have a resume that is the envy of a whole faculty of a college. He may just get the Nobel Prize for Academic Degrees by default.

P.S.: One of my sources claims that Al Azhar is mulling changing its name to Al Sisi University. Personally, I think it is probably too soon. What if the imprisoned president Morsi managed to do a “Napoleon from Elba” number instead of a “Napoleon in Saint Helena” number planned for him by the generals and their Saudi and Abu Dhabi allies? What if he managed to bust out of his military prison in which the generals and the Persian Gulf princes want him to spend the rest of his life?

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Political Instability and Musical Chairs in Riyadh: Erratic Saudi Royal Chess……

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“Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has tapped the former deputy defense minister to lead the kingdom’s intelligence services and revitalized the political career of a former spy chief and longtime ambassador to the United States by naming him to a new senior advisory post. The moves come as the world’s largest oil exporter watches the rapid military gains made by al-Qaida-inspired militants in neighboring Iraq with growing concern. The king named Prince Khalid bin Bandar to the post of chief of general intelligence in a decree Monday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Khalid was relieved of his post as deputy defense minister on Saturday, barely six weeks after he was appointed. Khalid was previously the governor of the Riyadh region, an important post he assumed in February 2013 that involves overseeing the capital and provides opportunities for direct contact with top officials and visiting dignitaries. He is the son of Prince Bandar, one of the eldest surviving sons of King Abdulaziz……………”

The Saudi government used to be considered one of the most stable in the Arab world. Not anymore: it has become quite unstable in the past two years. The instability among the top royal officials is partly related to the continuous death of the elderly princes (and kings). The kingdom has had three crown princes in about as many years. This also partly reflects a jockeying for position among the rival branches of the Al Saud family (eventually at some point in the future they will be called thighs and bellies and whatever).

The current King Abdullah, possibly on his last leg, has been moving his relatives, nephews, even brothers about like so many pawns on a chess board, (but perhaps more dispensable). The Chief of Intelligence position especially has been moved around a lot, and within short periods. The troublesome Prince Bandar has also been moved around a lot, a reflection of their belief that he might be useful somewhere, in spite of his past failures in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Prince Turki is now also used as a kind of unofficial roving ambassador to send out ‘harder’ messages from the Al Saud family to the outside world. Messages about their positions regarding Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Israel. The quick return of Egypt to the Saudi sphere has been the one singular success in the past year.

Many believe that King Abdullah is positioning things and personalities in order to enhance the chances of his son Met’eb of becoming a future king. Met’eb is reported to be in intense rivalry for the prize with Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, who inherited the Interior Ministry which was the private fiefdom of his late father. No doubt crown prince Salman is also pushing for his own side of the family, but his is perceived as the weaker side.

These internal Al Saud moves are making an interesting game to watch. An interesting subplot of the unfolding Arab history of this decade.

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

[email protected]