If it is up to Western governments and Saudi Arabia, this terrorist organization will be leading Iran. Of course, its chances of leading Iran are smaller than my chances of being crowned King of the US.
Saturday, July 01, 2017
Why is the West ignoring them this time?
Syrian rebels have been claiming all day that the Syrian regime attacked them with chemical weapons. Why are the Western media ignoring them this time around, I wonder? What gives? When do you decide to believe them and when do you decide to ignore them?
Muhammad bin Nayif and the Ministry of Interior
Nayif bin Abdul-`Aziz was Minister of Interior from 1975 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, Muhammad. In those years and decades, they established an intelligence network inside the kingdom. Such a shift will certainly create a vacuum. This is like the Deuxième Bureau of Lebanon: the Shihab and Hilu administrations ruled through it but then it was dismantled in 1970 by the Sulayman Franjiyyah regime. How will Muhammad bin Salman trust the intelligence order of his rival?
Some remarks about Muhammad bin Salman
I wrote about this at length in Arabic but here are some remarks:
1) I went to the text of the allegiance statement in 1964 when Faisal was crowned. It is interesting that the decision against Saudi was announced "unanimously". No such unanimity was declared in this historic announcement this year.
2) In 1964, Faisal was also declared "Imam of Muslims". They don't say that anymore but Fahd added the title of Servitor of the Two Holy Sites (and the various McDonald's restaurants in the kingdom).
3) Muhammad bin Salman is the first potential king who does not represent a faction within the royal family. He has no alliance to back him up, with his father alive or after his death. Also, the King and his Crown Prince always represented different factions within the royal family: Faisal and Khalid; Khalid and Fahd; Fahd and Abdullah; Abdullah and Salman, etc. There is no such arrangement. By not announcing a Deputy Crown Prince (usually it was said as "the second deputy of the prime minister). The reason that there was no such announcement is because bin Salman has no factional alliances. Worse, Muhammad bin Salman does not even has allies among his own half-brothers. Salman's educated (and relatively able sons) were shunted aside by Muhammad. So don't count his half-brothers as his allies.
4) By disregarding seniority of age and lineage and of generation, Bin Salman established a precedent. This very precedent may be used against him and cause his undoing.
5) The man lacks legitimacy of any kind. Fahd for example, particularly because of his lifestyle, spent lavishly on propagating radical Jihadi Islam around the world, and funding the Jihadi terrorists of Afghanistan (heroes of Western governments). Salman has no legitimacy whatsoever. He has alienated the clerical establishment--many of whom have either been silenced or had their twitter accounts shut down--and does not have credential as a pious Muslim, say like `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd (after he came to grips that the Bay Watch actress, Yasmeen Bleeth, was not into him). And his desire to appease the West will lead him to make further concession in the areas of education and religious indoctrination will further alienated the Islamist audience. Remember that most Saudi youth are really close to the Turkey-Qatari alliance than to the policies of this guy. One silly article in some US news site said that among the accomplishments of Bin Salman is the visit by Trump to SA. This hardly will keep his throne stable. His Yemeni war and the current war against Qatar will most likely go down as terrible fiascos. So he has remained the promise of prosperity. How will he reconcile the propensity to please Trump with arms deals with the desire to impose what Western governments call "austerity" measures?
6) Bin Salman will most likely rule but not for "50 years"--as one silly article in Foreign Policy predicated. His style may unseat him--even before he assumes power.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Human Rights Director wants a massive invasion of Syria: he won't settle for less
The real lesson of Srebrenica is don't send lightly armed troops to protect civilians from murderous forces. #Syria
Muhammad bin Salman, as king
My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Muhammad bin Salman as King---even for a period".
Thursday, June 29, 2017
How smooth was the transition in Saudi Arabia?
It was so smooth that Muhammad bin Nayif was put under house arrest to guarantee smoothness.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Mustafa Tlas
Mustafa Tlas, who has just died, represents all that is rotten and corrupt and incompetent about the Syrian regime. Wish I have time to write more. When a buffoon like him was made as Minister of Defense by Hafidh Al-Asad you know that the liberation of the Israeli-occupied territories was never a serious endeavor.
What is Saudi/UAE regime's real beef with Qatar?
In this article in Arabic, the Saudi regime advocate, `Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashid, reveals that Saudi regime's real beef with Qatar has nothing to do with terrorism and its combat. It is all about Qatari support for dissidents and opponents of the Saudi regime. The article concludes with a threat of violence.
Where do Western correspondents and "experts" find those Arabs?
"Many in Lebanon say, “Lebanon is the front line for the West.” (thanks Basim)
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
The brilliance of US intelligence agencies
US intelligence agencies could not predict or anticipate the collapse of the Soviet Union. They missed the story of Arab uprisings, and they had no clue that ISIS was emerging but: they are capable of telling you that next week at 3:00PM the Syrian regime will be using chemical weapons because a barrel with a banner saying "chemical weapons" was spotted by US satellite.
Monday, June 26, 2017
How Washington Post reports a survey of public opinion
This is the headline: "A majority of Russians don’t trust Putin to solve corruption." (they later added to the headline)
This is the content: "The survey, by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, finds Russians generally confident in their country’s direction, enthusiastic about Moscow’s growing say in world affairs and increasingly sanguine about the economy. A whopping 87 percent of those surveyed said they trust Putin to represent their country’s interests on the global stage."
This is the content: "The survey, by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, finds Russians generally confident in their country’s direction, enthusiastic about Moscow’s growing say in world affairs and increasingly sanguine about the economy. A whopping 87 percent of those surveyed said they trust Putin to represent their country’s interests on the global stage."
You may be surprised but I agree with the Saudi regime that supporters and funders of terrorism should be punished
Look what the human rights poseur faults Netanyahu for
Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth)
Netanyahu gives reluctant praise when Booker Prize goes to Israeli author known for criticizing the occupation. bit.ly/2u4Jq5F
Princeton's Center for Middle East Studies on Muhammad bin Salman's great achievements
"MBS’s second great achievement has been in foreign policy, where he has been able to prove his capabilities to his father. MBS took the initiative to reach out to US President Donald Trump and his team immediately after the US presidential election in November 2016, and his efforts paid off, culminating in Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May 2017. Trump’s visit was a major victory for Saudi Arabia. US-Saudi relations had reached a nadir during former US President Barack Obama’s tenure, but they have now been reset. During his visit, Trump emphasized the importance of the US-Saudi strategic relationship, offered his full support in Saudi Arabia’s rivalry with Iran for regional primacy, and signed various business and investment deals worth many billions of dollars." What great achievements. No wonder Muhammad bin Salman likes to refer to himself as Alexander the Great.
Oh, please. Don't be so horrified. Americans would pick George Washington and Ronald Reagan (or Trump).
Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof)
Asked to name the greatest personality in world history, 38% of Russians pick Stalin. Putin is a runner-up. Sick. rbc.ru/politics/26/06…
Sunday, June 25, 2017
The dissent of a Saudi prince: `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd
In his own way, `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd still expresses in his own ways his disagreements with the Saudi government. Here, he disputes the categorization of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The case of Radwan Ziadeh and the lies of Ambassador Robert Ford (the known Zionist propagandist for House of Saudi)
On the article on Syrian Cicero in the Times. Several things about this impudent Zionist article: "Mr. Ziadeh is a prominent political opponent of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. He has received fellowships at Harvard, Georgetown and the United States Institute of Peace". And these academic fellowships were bestowed on Mr. Ziadeh (who is a dentist) due to his advanced research in dentistry, I wonder, or due to his scholarship in Middle East studies, or were they bestowed for the same reason that an architect (who never finished his degree, Kanaan Makiya) was made a chair professor at Zionist Brandeis University, i.e. due to the political convenience of their political views? And then: "Mr. Ziadeh said he was shocked. He and his wife have lived in the United States for 10 years on a series of temporary permits, the latest of which expires next spring. Their children were born here." Oh, spare me your Zionist outrage. There are Arabs who are deported to their deaths in the Middle East especially if they are Palestinians and they never receive this sympathetic coverage in Zionist media. There are Arabs who were jailed in this country because they gave money to Palestinian hospitals. This is the only injustice that you were able to see? And don't forget that Saudis (men and women) are never granted asylum in the US due to a Faustain bargain between the US and Saudi regime. And then ambassador Robert Ford lies (which is not rare in his case): "The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Ford added, has no “administrative connection” to Muslim Brotherhood factions in other countries." He is either ignorant (which he is on matters of the Middle East despite his promotion by the think tanks of Saudi and UAE and Qatari regimes) or he is lying on purpose. Of course the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is tied to other branches of the Brotherhood. You may defend the asylum rights of Mr. Ziadeh but you don't have to lie. The story of the email is entirely the account of Ziadeh: "he received a frightening email telling him to be “careful” about his mother, still in Syria." And look at this dumb case he makes: "“What will happen? I have three American kids. I love, actually, the U.S. I visited all 50 states, even U.S. territories. I visited all the presidential libraries.”" Visiting presidential libraries makes you a patriotic American who deserves asylum? But what about this: " the Islamic State has him on a list of Syrians it wants dead." Can we see evidence of this please? When did ISIS put him on a list? This has become a common claim made by Americans and non-Americans alike. Lastly, asylum cases can be legitimate in the case of Syrians as there is a real reason for fear of persecution by Syrian regime against dissidents but there is a similar fear in countries like UAE and Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Israel where the US quickly send people to persecution or death. And I wish Zionist media would show sympathy for other cases.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Western leniency with Arab princes and princesses: Imagine if this was an average Arab convicted
"Eight princesses from the UAE have been convicted of human trafficking and degrading treatment of their servants by a Brussels court. They were given 15-month suspended jail terms and ordered to pay €165,000 (£145,000; $185,000) each, with half the sum suspended. They were accused of holding more than 20 servants they brought with them on a 2008 visit in near slavery." (thanks Basim)
What is Arab "reform"?
For US and West, Arab reform means one thing and one thing only: cozy up to Israel. Nothing else matters.
Saudi/UAE list of demands
The list clearly revealed that the crisis is not about fighting "terrorism" but Saudi/UAE regime attempt to ban any alternative or dissident or opposition views to their rule. It is all about that plus the attempt to impose Dahlan in Palestine on behalf of Netanyahu.
Atlantic Council on Muhammad bin Salman: indistinguishable from crude Saudi regime propaganda
Atlantic Council propagandists weigh in.
Friday, June 23, 2017
All kidding aside, do you deny that Saudi princes are really thrilled with the new Crown Prince?
The propaganda of Ben Hubbard for the Saudi regime
Look at this article. For an objective source on the new Crown Prince, he goes to a fellow at the King Faisal Center. And three of the experts cited belong to think tanks funded (partly at least) by Saudi or UAE government (or is it two out of three?). Also, he says that Muhammad bin Nayif was "respected" by Saudis. He and his father were the two most hated Saudis by far. Notice that Hubbard have a policy: to never talk to Saudi dissidents or opposition figures. Also, do you know that Hubbard's articles get translated and covered in Saudi regime media?
Can you imagine this human rights poseur using this language about Iranian or Syrian rulers??
To show he represents more than the king favoring his son, new Saudi crown prince should begin real rights reforms. http://bit.ly/2rV02zW
Nicholas Blanford always finds a way to justify Israeli crimes
"Fighters from Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah organization routinely fired mortar rounds at the outpost or scaled the mountain to launch close-range attacks. The resulting retaliatory Israeli artillery fire often hit the village and its outskirts, killing and wounding residents and causing damage to property." (thanks Basim)
Social mobility and perceptions of social mobility
Saudi Wahhabi (most senior cleric of the 20th century) Bin Baz says this about the Muslim Brotherhood
At this rate of Saudi regime progress....
Saudi Arabia is changing!
Who knows. Maybe Saudi regime can--say in a decade--catch up with North Korea and have its own movie industry. This could happen.
Syrian regime and Hizbullah are not on the same page regarding the assessment of the Arab uprisings
Hasan Nasrallah just said: "What happened in the Arab world [in the last few years] was a popular authentically patriotic movement and not the product of an international conspiracy". This runs counter to the view of the Syrian regime and some of its allies.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Saudi regime lobbyists in DC
Do you notice that all US newspapers pages and TV screens have been widely opened for Saudi regime lobbyists to make their case?
I am not making this up: McDonalds Saudi Arabia pledge allegiance to the new Crown Prince
How did Muhammad bin Salman broach the topic of his appointment as Crown Prince with his dad?
There must be an awkward conversation which took place between Muhammad bin Salman and his father. I mean, there certainly was a moment in which Bin Salman went to his father and said: look dad. You don't look good and you are not getting any younger. I have a hunch you are leaving us soon. I see that you issue the royal decrees at once. I don't want you to die before attending to this matter otherwise it will all be over for me.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
`Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd is clearly not into the new rule
`Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd has been posting items which are clearly intended against the regime. He criticized the vulgarity of the media campaign against Qatar and said that his father, Fahd, would not have allowed that. Look what he wrote today about the new Crown Prince: He did not say I pledge allegiance. He said: Muhammad bin Salman: you have from us all sincere prayers for what God likes and approves.
صباح الخيرات لخادم الحرمين,وأقول محمدبن نايف جهوده مشكوره,ومحمدبن سلمان لك منا جميعآالدعاء الصادق بمايحب الله ويرضى
Middle East Institute in DC: a reliable source of crude pro-Saudi propaganda
The article promises to show how the elevation of Muhammad bin Salman "raised alarm in Iran". Here is his evidence that alarm was raised:
"The promotion of bin Salman has raised alarm in Tehran. The most alarmist reports and opinion pieces were published in outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.). Tasnim News Agency, for example, called the succession announcement in Riyadh a “soft coup” and claimed it was approved by Washington, adding that the Trump administration is pleased with bin Salman’s anti-Iran stance. Fars News Agency, also an I.R.G.C. mouthpiece, called it a “political earthquake in Riyadh.” Another Fars article said President Donald Trump and bin Salman have developed a close rapport – citing the latest arms deal between Riyadh and Washington and the creation of a U.S.-backed “Arab NATO” to counter Iran’s regional ambitions. “Trump’s footprint is apparent in these decisions,” it alleged." But even Arab media carried such stories and even headlines. Does that mean that they too were raising alarm?
"The promotion of bin Salman has raised alarm in Tehran. The most alarmist reports and opinion pieces were published in outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.). Tasnim News Agency, for example, called the succession announcement in Riyadh a “soft coup” and claimed it was approved by Washington, adding that the Trump administration is pleased with bin Salman’s anti-Iran stance. Fars News Agency, also an I.R.G.C. mouthpiece, called it a “political earthquake in Riyadh.” Another Fars article said President Donald Trump and bin Salman have developed a close rapport – citing the latest arms deal between Riyadh and Washington and the creation of a U.S.-backed “Arab NATO” to counter Iran’s regional ambitions. “Trump’s footprint is apparent in these decisions,” it alleged." But even Arab media carried such stories and even headlines. Does that mean that they too were raising alarm?
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