In 2005, a few months after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, I met with one of the closest advisers of Hariri wanting to know more about the political orientations of the family. He told me that after Rafiq`s assassination, the Saudi King appointed then Prince Salman in charge of the political management of the Hariri family. Bahaa at the time wanted to succeed his father as prime minister of Lebanon and leader of the family. But Salman overruled him and chose his brother, Sa`d: he argued that Bahaa is less kind and less amicable than his brother and that he left a negative impression among Saudi royals. He recounted that Bahaa would leave the court of a prince if the prince is too late for a meeting with him.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Bahaa Hariri, as Saudi regime choice for Lebanon
I wrote this article several months ago about how Bahaa Hariri is entering Lebanese politics through the Zionist gates of DC.
The Plight of Saad Hariri and the plight of Muhammad bin Salman
The influence of Saudi/UAE money over the DC think tank, government, and media scene is such that you find people denying the obvious. There are people who are still saying: but Hariri was seen greeting the King, which means he is free. But did they forget that Muhammad bin Nayif was made to bless the appointment of MbS as Crown Prince while the former was under house arrest?
The Fiasco of Saudi policies toward Lebanon: has MbS ever succeeded in a war or a policy?
How Saudi regime tried to organize mass protests in Lebanon against Iran and in support of Saudi kidnapping of Hariri
In 1967, the Lebanese immigrant community in Saudi Arabia was threatened with explosion if they didnot sign this petition
In 1967, all Lebanese residing in Saudi Arabia were forced to sign this petition, basically criticizing the Lebanese government because a Lebanese newspaper published criticisms against the Saudi regime. Hizbullah was not even born, and Iran was ruled by your beloved Shah.
Friday, November 10, 2017
It seems that Western media are only confirming what Al-Akhbar had published two days ago
""Désormais, Riyad chercherait à remplacer Saad Hariri par un de ses frères. «Une proposition a été faite à la famille Hariri de désigner Baha, un frère de Saad, pour reprendre le flambeau politique», confie une source française à Beyrouth.""
Realism and Democracy: the case of Elliott Abrams
This is the 3rd (and last) installment of my critical review of Elliott Arbams's new book on "Realism and Democracy".
Huthi Strike on Riyadh
"Yet lost amid the regional dynamics is the Yemeni political context. The Huthi/Saleh alliance didn’t fire the missile as part of the Iranian-Saudi conflict; rather, they did so for domestic reasons. They view their missile program, rightly or wrongly, as the best way to retaliate against Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, which have devastated parts of north Yemen over the past two and a half years, and also as the best bargaining chip in future negotiations. Tellingly, the missile attack came on the heels of two Saudi airstrikes in the Huthis’ home governorate of Saada, which reportedly killed 38 people, eight of them children."
hypocrisy of French policy
In one day, the French government said that Saad Hariri is not detained but a few hours later it called for his freedom of movement.
Comrade Joseph Massad on Balfour
"Zionism’s enmity toward communist Jews would become a longstanding tradition. When official American anti-Semitism targeted Jewish communists as Soviet spies, and tried and executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 on flimsy evidence, Israel did not utter a word in protest. (Israeli rabbis, excluding the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, sent a plea to President Truman appealing for clemency for the Rosenbergs, though some of them later expressed public regret that they had signed it.)
When Hungarian fascists and Hitlerites were smuggled into Budapest from the Austrian border by the CIA during the regime of Imre Nagy and began slaughtering Hungarian communist Jews and Hungarian Jews as “communists” in 1956, Israel and other Zionist Jews remained silent and remain so today. Even when leftist Jews were targeted by the anti-Semitic Argentinian generals in the late 1970s, Zionist Argentinian Jews and Israel disavowed them, and Israel maintained its close alliance with the military regime.
Churchill’s explanation clarifies the connections between Protestant and Jewish Zionism, between racialist nationalism and anti-racialist communism, and between Zionist settler-colonialism and communist anti-imperialism. The imperial racism shared by the British and the Zionist movement toward the Palestinians and other Asians and Africans rendered their presence on their lands, let alone their opposition and resistance to settler-colonialism, of no import."
How the DC foreign establishment: Natives are wanted
The American foreign policy establishment in DC loves to find Arabs who are willing to write in English what they themselves write to validate their own conventional wisdom but in the guise of native opinion.
New York Times
New York Times today for the first time admitted that Saad Hariri is not free but buried this most important element of an otherwise long dispatch from Lebanon in the story. The headline does not mention it.
This has nothing to do with Corruption in Saudi Arabia
My sources in Saudi media tell me: this has nothing to do with corruption. Big media moguls are being pressured to surrender ownership to Muhammad bin Salman, who has been pressuring them for months to sell him their media. Al-Walid Ibrahim surrendered a big bulk of his ownership of MBC empire. Sources say that Al-Walid may have been released in return for surrendering control of properties and estates. There is also a petty element: Saudi regime wants to oust singer Ahlam from the program "The Voice" because she didnot support that Saudi-orchestrted song against Qatar.
Thursday, November 09, 2017
You may follow me on Twitter
As it is easier for me now to express myself with more wordage on twitter, I am writing there more.
Defeat of ISIS is not important anymore
The defeat of ISIS in Al-Bou Kamal city is not even being mentioned in the media. I guess the defeat of ISIS is not important, especially when at the hands of forces not aligned with Saudi Arabia or US.
For an English translation of Al-Akhbar reporting on the Hariri matter, read Robert Fisk here
He does not add any original story or angle. It is all derived from Al-Akhbar coverage.
PS I am mocking Robert Fisk here, not recommending him.
PS I am mocking Robert Fisk here, not recommending him.
Wednesday, November 08, 2017
This is why the Saudi regime sacked Saad Hariri
The very next day after Hariri met with Ali Akbar Wilayeti in Beirut, the Hariri mouthpiece, Al-Mustaqbal, came out with this big headline: "Tehran clarifies from the Serail: We Support Lebanon's Independence." Within hours, Hariri was sacked. I went back to this issue in order to see how the paper covered the visit by the high-ranking Iranian delegation (and Wilayeti praised Hariri after the meeting) and the coverage was most favorable. It surprised me because the Saudi propaganda machine in Lebanon has started to fabricate and say that Wileayet threatened Hariri in the meeting.
Another stupid Western survey of Arab public opinion
Look at this one: " In places such as Lebanon and Morocco only half as many Muslims listen to recitals of the Koran today, compared with 2011." How is that a measure of anything? And how can one escape the recitals with the loudspeakers of mosque blasting all around you?
FLASH: Muhammad bin Salman may be declared King in the next 36 hours
I am hearing that he will be declaring himself king in the next 36 hours and that recent arrests paved the way.
Of all the bombing and shelling in the Middle East, Robert Malley found only the one Huthi missile to be reckless
"Yet Lebanese, whether affiliated with Hezbollah or others, also seem persuaded that some form of action has become virtually inescapable. The Houthi missile strike was too reckless". Are you sure that those were Lebanese affiliated with Hizbullah? So basically all Lebanese are of the Saudi opinion? And have you talked to anyone outside of the small circle of Hariri contacts among Western correspondents in Beirut, or did Nicholas Blanford introduce you to one of his secret Hizbullah contacts who is willing to bash his own party to any passing Zionist in the Middle East?
The next US budget devotes $7.72 billion to peace and security
I don't want to reveal Orwellian skepticism, but why does the US budget combines expenditure for "peace and security"? How much goes to peace and how much goes to security? And why do I suspect that "peace expenditure" by US budget is rather military in nature?
The many wars of Muhammad bin Salman: These are the wars that Muhammad bin Salman has launched since he took office in 2015
His war on the Saudi royal family to exclude all members from decision-making.
His war on Qatar.
His war on Yemen.
His war on Syrian regime.
His war on Iranian regime.
His war on Hizbullah.
His war on Iraqi Shi`ite establishment.
His war on all allies of Hizbullah in Lebanon.
His war on Muslim Brotherhood.
His war on Hamas.
His war on Salafites and liberals inside the kingdom.
His war on Wahhabi clerics who don't toe the line.
His war on Oman.
His war on Kuwait (Saudi regime press media has become increasingly vocal against Kuwait).
His war on Qatar.
His war on Yemen.
His war on Syrian regime.
His war on Iranian regime.
His war on Hizbullah.
His war on Iraqi Shi`ite establishment.
His war on all allies of Hizbullah in Lebanon.
His war on Muslim Brotherhood.
His war on Hamas.
His war on Salafites and liberals inside the kingdom.
His war on Wahhabi clerics who don't toe the line.
His war on Oman.
His war on Kuwait (Saudi regime press media has become increasingly vocal against Kuwait).
Al-Walid bin Talal fell: Western journalists now has bad stories to tell
Now that Al-Walid bin Talal has fallen, some Western journalists have finally found the courage to badmouth him when they used to produce the fawning glamorizing profiles of him when he was free.
Nicholas Blanford sources never identify themselves--not even when they are part of the Hariri camp
"A senior source in Hariri’s Future Movement justifies the resignation by saying that Hezbollah had never shown the same willingness to compromise as shown by the prime minister, the alleged assassination plot being the final straw ... says the source, requesting anonymity in order to speak freely. " Why would not they be able to speak freely? What is so secretive? I mean, they are not like his "Rony"--the Hizbullah source who bashes to party to every anti-hizbollah Western journalist who passes through Beirut. (thanks Basim)
Two Arab leaders under house arrests in Riyadh
The US media has not been reporting that Saudi regime has also been placing Yemeni "leader", `Abd-Al-Mansur Hadi, under house arrest in addition to Sa`d Hariri. Can you imagine if a non-ally of the US has been doing that? The Security Council would have met in an emergency session, and Western human rights organizations would have held vigils.
My blog has been down: and I have been receiving treats from accounts in Saudi Arabia
My blog has been in terrible shape in the last two days. I hope this is unrelated to the fact that I have been receiving threats from Saudi accounts on Twitter.
Martin chulov in Riyadh
Martin chulov got too excited. He got to travel to Riyadh to cover the “Saudi revolution”. He talked to anonymous people who showered praise on the despot and he didnot know that speaking agianst the despot will get you in jail, even if you are a royal. This is the real revolution going on: a revolution in tyranny. But Chulov is perfect for the job because he has been covering Syria and Lebanon exactly the way the Saudi regime and its Hariri allies have wanted. I am not making this up, Saudi regime media are thrilled with the Guardian’s lastest endorsement of Saudi regime “reforms”.
Mossad and Harvey Weisntein
By the way, have feminist groups in the US responded to the New Yorker story about Weinstein's reliance on Mossad agents to fight against women who came forward with complaints about him?
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Poor Genghis Khan
Come to think of it, Genghis Khan was a reformist but did not have paid Western think tanks to say that at his time.
What Israeli-US-Saudi-Hariri conspiracy?
| Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) | |
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1 \ I published on channel 10 a cable sent to Israeli diplomats asking to lobby for Saudis\Hariri &against Hezbollah news.nana10.co.il/Article/?Artic…
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Harvey Weinstein and the Mossad agents who spied on women accusers: Israel's dirty hands in every dirty story
"Black Cube, an enterprise run largely by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies. Black Cube, which has branches in Tel Aviv, London, and Paris, offers its clients the skills of operatives “highly experienced and trained in Israel’s elite military and governmental intelligence units,” according to its literature." You would think that this should be a big story. A foreign intelligent agency is spying on American women who accused an American businessman of rape and sexual assault. Imagine if an Arab-American accused of rape and assault were to hire "former" intelligence agents from Syria or Egypt to spy and harass and intimidate American women. Will feminists in the US speak about this dirty role of Israel here?
Monday, November 06, 2017
Do you know that Saudi regime media have cited the Guardian's praise for MbS?
How much the Guardian has changed (just like Liberation in France). Saudi regime is very pleased with the Guardian's coverage of the kingdom as they have been thrilled with the paper's coverage of the Syrian war.
CONFIRMED: Hariri is under House arrest in Riyadh, and his resignation was forced on him
Read the full account by Ibrahim Al-Amin. Don't you like it when March 14 still invokes the slogans about sovereignty of Lebanon?
What is unique about the rule of Muhammad bin Salman
This is the first Saudi ruler who is ruling without alliances within the royal family. Remember that even the powerful Faisal relied on Abdullah bin `Abdul-`Aziz to counter the influence of the Sudayris. Muhammad bin Salman does not even rely on his own brother in his one-man-despotic show.
Victims of sexual assault and rape in the New York Times
So there have been scores of cases of US celebrities accused of rape and sexual assault recently. Of the scores of cases, guess which case led the New York Times to devote a whole Saturday profile of the victim of such case of sexual assault? The Times only devoted a whole profile of one victim only: the victim of the Swiss Muslim professor. The Times did not think that the victims of the US media and movie types (who are not Muslim) deserved the same coverage.
As if there is doubt that Saudi Arabia is an absolute despotic monarch: far more repressive than China
"While accompanied by the rhetoric of reform, this weekend's purge resembles the approach of authoritarian regimes such as China." As if before this weekend, there was doubt whether Saudi Arabia is despotic.
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