[DAWN] IN Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the punishment of crucifixion results in the victim's decapitation, and the public display of his body. This is what the teenaged Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr has been condemned to.
His crime? He was tossed in the clink Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in 2012 at a pro-democracy demonstration, but under torture, young Ali was made to confess to being part of a plot to overthrow the government. Another young pro-democracy Saudi, Raif Badawi, is in prison for 10 years; his sentence includes 1,000 lashes, of which he has received 50.
And this is the country that has been elected to chair a committee of the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Human Rights Council. No wonder so many states question the credibility of the UN's human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... body. Israel openly rejects its reports because it can say, with some justification, that the Saudis have no right to lecture others on human rights.
As for international law, we have the appalling bombing campaign against Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... being carried out by the kingdom and its Gulf allies over months. Thousands of unarmed civilians have been killed, including 130 members of a wedding party a few days ago. Schools, hospitals and market places have been indiscriminately targeted by incompetent pilots. And the ongoing blockade of the impoverished nation has put millions at risk of starvation. A shortage of lifesaving medicines is also causing untold misery.
Had a coalition of Western forces inflicted so much death and destruction in a Moslem country, believers from Indonesia to Tunisia would have been rioting and attacking the embassies of the 'infidels'. And yet when the custodians of the holy sites slaughter fellow Moslems, there's not a squeak from the ummah.
This is entirely in keeping with our tradition of maintaining a discreet silence over Moslem-on-Moslem killings, while accusing the West of targeting the Islamic world, and of Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... in its treatment of Moslem migrants. And yet it is the West that has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict. The Saudis have offered to build mosques (hallelujah!), but have not taken any refugees. Ditto the Gulf states.
Against this backdrop, the callous attitude displayed by Saudi officials and princelings about the hundreds of deaths at the recent Haj is easy to understand. One blamed the pilgrims for 'indiscipline', while another made racist comments about African hajis.
Considering the kingdom benefits to the extent of 7pc of its GDP from Haj and umrah, one would have expected a little sympathy, if not a better-managed pilgrimage. The truth is that when it comes to such needless deaths, the Saudis (and most other Moslems) tend to shrug their shoulders, look skywards and mumble: "It was the will of Allah."
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... incompetence and stupidity can hardly be laid at the Maker's door. After all, He gave us brains to think with, so surely Saudi Arabia should accept the blame for its mistakes that cause so many deaths over Haj. The toll this year has been worse than usual, but is hardly abnormal.
But slowly, the chickens are coming home to roost. As oil prices refuse to rise above $50 per barrel, the House of Saud is feeling the pinch. Given the vast subsidies the ruling family hands out to keep the population quiet, as well as the mounting cost of the Yemen misadventure, oil needs to be around $107 per barrel for the kingdom to balance its books.
With thousands of royal relatives, the squeeze is getting real. Already, the Saudis are drawing down on some of their vast overseas holdings. How much longer they can live with low oil prices remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his face ... dissent is simmering in the ranks. Quoting a letter circulated by an unnamed prince, the Guardian reports that there is talk of regime change, with important members of the royal family wanting King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... and his son Mohammed bin Salman to be ousted.
But while such rumbling indicates dissatisfaction with the aggressive policies being followed by the present king and his son, these royals only call for the replacement of one Saud by another. There is no hint here of any democratic transformation of a backward, autocratic society.
More and more, though, the world sees through the pious mask worn by the ruling aristocracy. Its recourse to an extreme ideology to appease its clergy, and its export of a violent version of Islam, has destabilised much of the Moslem world. The sectarian violence we see in Iraq and Syria is largely due to the takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... philosophy used by turbans to justify their mindless cruelty.
Thus far, Saudi Arabia has relied on its vast oil reserves to buy Western support. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... as the nuclear deal with Iran showed us, the Saudis are no longer indispensable. Cheap oil and gas have eroded Saudi clout. Surely the day of reckoning is coming. For me, it couldn't be soon enough.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
The thing about Vladimir Putin is, it really doesn't matter what he says.
When the Russian president took to the tribune at the UN General Assembly earlier this week, he did so amid rampant expectations that he would say something extraordinary--something capable of either ending his standoff with the West, or else sending it to new heights. In the end, he did neither. He said what he's said countless times before: that the West is full of itself and hypocritical, that the world needs no policeman, and that Russia will do what it pleases.
Nothing in what he said on that UN podium suggested that he was about to bomb Syria, or that he was about to pull his guns back from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. But that's what he did. Two days later. Both on the same day. For good measure, he confiscated another year of his citizens' pension savings, too, but we'll get to that later.
Experts will debate what Putin is really after in Syria, pointing, perhaps, to the fact that in his battle against ISIS he's bombing territory that ISIS doesn't hold. Once they figure out what he's up to, Western leaders can decide whether they can, or should, try to stop him.
But while we don't yet understand Putin's plan in Syria, we do know what he's after in Ukraine: a permanently frozen conflict that leaves the Ukrainian government in Kiev eternally less than sovereign, depriving a country of 45 million people of any real purchase on its own political or economic future. If European leaders think they've got a problem with refugees and economic migrants now, they might want to imagine how that Ukrainian scenario plays out a few years into the future.
We know this from paying attention not to what Putin says, but to what he does. The current Russian president didn't create the "frozen conflicts" that dot the post-Soviet space, but he was grateful to inherit them and has exploited them masterfully. He has manipulated the Transnistria conflict to prevent Moldova's integration into the European Union for years. When Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in Georgia, Putin used Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Adjara to keep Saakashvili in line; when that failed, a short, victorious Russian war did the trick. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict suffices to keep Armenia loyal and Azerbaijan off balance. And since 1991, the Crimean peninsula has been the thorn in every Ukrainian president's side--that is, until Putin plucked that thorn away and stuck it in his own foot.
War in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, then, was the price Putin--together with the people of Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, Russia--would have to pay for a new source of leverage. War would open unbridgeable chasms, making conflict-resolution difficult, and would push Kiev to capitulate and cede de facto, if not de jure, control of its territory. It would be a harder fought thing than in Moldova or Georgia, of course, because the Ukrainians would know--unlike their neighbors in the early 1990s--that the conflict could be frozen for decades. But Russia would win.
By all accounts, Russia has, indeed, won. The same day that Russian jets flew their first bombing runs in Syria, news came that forces were being pulled back from the frontlines in the Donbas, and that resupplies would not be coming, replaced only by humanitarian convoys. Pro-Russian separatist leaders began declaring that the war was, for all intents and purposes, over. Because the Ukrainian military is unlikely to fire unless fired upon, the territory currently outside Ukraine's control will remain that way until a political settlement is reached. This puts Russia in line with the Minsk ceasefire agreements and gives it grounds to appeal for an end to international sanctions against the country, because that's what the Minsk agreements were designed to do: to end the fighting, not to solve the conflict.
The problem is, the Ukrainian government is the only party that wants to reach a real peace settlement. For the separatists in eastern Ukraine, a settlement means losing power and, perhaps, their freedom. For the Russians, a settlement means losing leverage.
Now--right when the focus is on Syria, right when Ukraine has slipped off the radar screen--is when Western leaders will have to decide not what Putin is after, but what the West is after. Were the sanctions they imposed on Russia and the economic and military assistance they delivered to Ukraine designed to stop the fighting, or, as U.S. President Barack Obama said at the UN, to restore Ukraine's sovereignty? If Obama was telling the truth, if Ukrainian sovereignty is the goal, then a frozen conflict cannot be accepted.
If a frozen conflict cannot be accepted, then sanctions, which were imposed in response to the fighting in the Donbas, will have to be kept in place even after the violence has stopped. In fact, Western leaders may find that sanctions have to be increased, if the message is to be driven home to the Kremlin.
And this is where the pensions come in. Putin's foreign adventures get a lot of attention, but they shouldn't obscure the fact that he is, first and foremost, a Russian politician. As the reality of the Russian economy's protracted recessionsets in--the result of cheap oil and a cheaper ruble, the latter of which has at least something to do with Western sanctions--Putin's post-Crimea-annexation popularity could fade. And so he finds himself telling Russians, both rich and poor, that Russia's future is bright just as their own futures are looking increasingly bleak. His citizens and elites want butter, and he offers guns. But no pensions: He had to take last year's contributions by workers to the state pension fund and plow them into the budget, to help cover the burgeoning deficit. And this year's. And now next year's.
Propaganda and patriotic fervor will suffice to make the guns-for-butter tradeoff work for a while, but if Putin is to stay in power he needs to show people that things will get better. Deescalating the fighting in eastern Ukraine--moving from a hot war to a frozen conflict--was supposed to do that by inducing Western leaders to lift sanctions. As a result, playing along and dropping those sanctions will have profound consequences both for how Russia is governed, and for how Ukraine isn't. But who has time for that, when Russia is dropping bombs on Syria?
#1
Again, iff the OWG Globalists miscalculate, instead of OWG + Global Secular Marxist-Commie-Socialist Order ALL THEY ENDED UP DOING WAS HELPING RADICAL ISLAM + GLOBAL JIHAD CONQUER THE WORLD.
US-LED ANTI-US OWG-NWO + GLOBALISM = US IS DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY HELPING ITS ENEMIES + WANNABES BECOME MILPOL OR GEOPOL STRONGER RELATIVE TO ITSELF - WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!?
* To paraph CHUCKY KRAUTHAMMER = SAY IT WID ME, AMERIKA, OOOOOOPPPPPPPSSSSSIES!
[OWG GLOBAL "ERKEL/URKEL-ISM" = OOOOOOPPPSSS, DID WE DO THA-A-A-T?]
China may deploy her navy to Syria in the coming days, but there are no reliable indications that any Chinese navy arrivals are imminent.
Taking the reports one by one:
1. The web has exploded in the last few days with relays of a vague report from Al Masdar News that Chinese military personnel are expected to arrive in Syria in the next six weeks. That could happen. Now that it's clear U.S. power will not be used in any decisive way in Syria, China may indeed see utility in putting down a serious political stake in the outcome there. More on that at another time.
Continued on Page 49
#1
IOW, the "Liaoning" may be heading in the nominal or "strategic direction" of Syria = East Mediterranean, But may not actually dock or patrol in or near Syria per se???
By most China Blogs, the "Liaoning" has been ordered to Syria.
* OTOH see WORLD MILITARY FORUM > SINA: EXPERTS: CHINA AIRCRAFT CARRIER "LIAONING" MAY NOT BE CAPABLE OF MASS OR ROUTINE AIRSTRIKES AGZ SYRIA MILITANTS DUE TO AIR GROUP AND REPLENISHMENT LIMITATIONS.
The PLAN CV-16 "Liaoning" is a mostly a dedicated "brown water" CVT, NOT a dedicated, multi-role, "blue water" CVA [Attack = Strike Carrier] in the US-Euro Navy sense.
STILL, "LIAONING" PILOTS AS FUTURE AVIATION CADRES COULD USE THE EXPERIENCE.
#2
Silly story...the Chinese aren't getting involved and even if they did they have no logistic ability to project forces so far. This is just wishful thinking on someone's part. The smartest thing the Chinese can do is stay out of Syria while watching everyone else spend blood and treasure.
[DAWN] GIVEN its vast reach, radio has often been the most practical means of connecting with the people. A certain mullah even became a cult personality in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... some years ago on the strength of his radio broadcasts. But while religious figures frequently use the airwaves to increase the size of their flock, it is not often that one hears of a paramilitary force taking to that medium to communicate with citizens. But then, nothing is beyond the energetic custodians of the law in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , the Pakistain Rangers Sindh. Senior officials of the force are set to be on air twice a day, five days a week on an FM radio show called Rangers' Hour to engage with residents of the city who can call in with suggestions or to lodge complaints. Four years ago, the Rangers had set up a helpline for citizens but this is the first time they are venturing into such a mode of interaction.
Governance, like nature, abhors a vacuum. And it is in a vacuum of governance that the Rangers have expanded their footprint. When the Karachi operation began in September 2013, the federal paramilitary force had a clear-cut mandate -- to purge the metropolis of murderous Moslems holding its citizenry hostage. Over time, however, the force broadened its ambit -- with the overt support of the military -- to tackle Lion of Islam wings of political parties as well as white-collar crime, thereby stepping on some very sensitive toes in the provincial government and the opposition. Fierce allegations ensued from the affected quarters that the Rangers were exceeding their authority and "violating provincial autonomy". Sadly, the sound and fury was largely about self-preservation, and many citizens of Pakistain's largest city -- witness to the brazen loot and plunder of its resources by those who should have been its custodians -- are likely to resoundingly welcome the paramilitary's foray into 'solving' their problems, with nary a thought for the decay of civil institutions that lies therein. It seems as if every day is Rangers' day in Karachi.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
We need a terrorist state. Where the politicians are terrorists, the police are terrorists and even the men sitting at the desk when you come in to drop off a form are terrorists.
There are states that support terrorists, and give safe harbor to them, but that's not good enough. We don't want another Pakistan or Iran. We're not half-assing it this time. What we want is the genuine article. Terrorists from the top down. Terrorists everywhere. A state where every branch of government and the entire country is nothing but terrorists.
Terroristine has been an ancient dream since 1973 or was it 1967. A generation of keffiyah draped thugs, KGB operatives and human rights activists have looked out into the darkness and called it into being. It is a vision of a country where everyone is a murderer and children are taught from a very young age that their purpose in life is to die killing people who don't share their religion.
And now after decades of negotiations, treaties, suicide bombings, mutilations, billions of dollars in vanishing into Swiss bank accounts and the death of its Egyptian born leader of AIDS-- Terroristine is closer than ever to coming into being.
#9
Just who are the "intelligentsia"? Can we have some names and faces?
Get the donor list for Hildabeast's campaign.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/03/2015 16:41 Comments ||
Top||
#10
You could also look at the RNC beltway 'elites'.
The federal elections cash flows through them and they suggest and vet the individual GOP candidate's 'message'.
If you don't want someone in the game, suggest to them a 'terrific' message and 'unique' avenue for them to follow (one that everyone will love, don't you see).
Jeez, tell me that I'm not jaded or something, but I've seen this technique too many times.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/03/2015 17:45 Comments ||
Top||
#11
"The New World Order" is a leftist dream. They hold the naive notion that the NWO will do away with wars. The only problem is that it cedes our sovereignty to the U.N. A NWO goes against our constitution and takes power away from our citizens. Since it embraces open borders and multiculturalism, it tends to destroy our culture, country and nationalism. The NWO attempts to blur the lines which define us and it tries to makes us like a myriad of other countries.
#12
Th so-called 'New World Order' will make everyone a slave - under conditions much, much, worse than the 'old south'.
The lefties of course believe that they will be the 'masters' - they always were the party of slavery.
Some people _want_ to be slaves. They don't want the responsibility of owning their own lives and would rather have a 'master' who tells them what to do and where to go.
#13
They don't want the responsibility of owning their own lives and would rather have a 'master' who tells them what to do and where to go.
There was a lady at my church that turned down a higher paying job because she was afraid that she would lose her welfare. My attempts to explain that she would be better off with a higher paying job than being dirt poor on welfare just bounced off her head.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/03/2015 20:52 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The thing about Vladimir Putin is, it really doesn't matter what he says.
