Saudi King Changes Personnel. Iran, Bahrain, and Three Islands. Israeli ‘Winners’ Flirt with Lieberman- NY Post Goes Ape: Dead Chimp and a Vast Political Wilderness. Hugo Chaves vs Ayn Rand

Middle East: of elections, reforms, personnel changes, and fuel alcohol:

Saudi king Abdullah announced reforms that involve mainly changes of personnel rather than institutional or “constitutional” changes. Even so, these changes are quite unusual for Saudi Arabia, and would not have been expected a few years ago. The king changed the head of the very powerful religious police (Society for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice), the head of the judiciary, as well as some cabinet members. He also appointed the first female undersecretary, predictably in the Ministry of Education. She will be in charge of “female” student affairs. It is still easier for a woman in the kingdom to ride an ass than drive a car.

The changes are touted as momentous reforms, but in fact they are not: they involve mainly changes in the personnel rather than institutional, legal, or political. Real reform would call for disbanding the religious police and making the advisory council membership by election, among many other measures. Personnel changes usually reflect internal struggles rather than basic reforms. Still, by Saudi standards they are, well, changes, if mainly of personnel.

Saudi media and their satellites have not yet called King Abdullah the Arab Obama: after all he has been around forever, and he is an absolute king, and he doesn’t need to find a couple of Republican senators to pass a stimulus deal. But they are sending strong signals.

On the other hand, a leading Saudi cleric, a professor at the high judicial institute and member of the Supreme Theological College, has warned Saudis living abroad, especially students, from resorting to the use of alcohol fuel instead of gasoline. He quoted the Prophet Mohammed as putting ten curses on alcohol, including buying, selling, and carrying it. Except that they did not have cars in those days- camels always make their own gas, as the shaikh probably knows very well. Besides, the human body probably ferments its own alcohol through the digestive system.

A political prisoner released:

Egypt’s president Mubarak has released Ayman Nour, the man who ran against him once and paid for it with three years in prison on trumped up charges accepted by a state kangaroo court. Some Arab commentators speculate that maybe now he (Mubarak) will have a chance now to enter the new White House for a chat with you know who.

Iran and Bahrain-a shot in the foot:

Iranian officials have a knack for shooting themselves in the foot. Recently a “high” official has revived the old claim to Bahrain as an Iranian province. This is not the first such claim in the past year or two. In the early 1970s, at the end of British rule, the Bahraini people, most of whom are Shi’a, voted for independence. That should have settled the issue- it did.

Iranian claims do not help the people of Bahrain, who have some legitimate grievances against the ruling oligarchy. Such claims also do not help ease tensions in the Gulf region which is now highly polarized and some like to see even more polarized along ethnic and sectarian lines. They also do not help Iran’s position in the region. Perhaps the claims are related to Iranian elections, or perhaps they are in retaliation for public Arab claims to three Gulf islands that Iran holds and considers its territory. The UAE also claims those islands.

Israel scrambles to form a cabinet:

In Israel, Tzipi Livni’s Kadima came ahead by two seats, but the more right-wing Bibi Netanyahu has a better chance of forming a coalition. Avigdor Lieberman (no direct relation to Joe), who is further to the right of both, is more likely to join the Likud than Livni in a coalition government. Lieberman is reported to want to evict all Arabs from within Israel’s recognized borders: that is some chutzpah for a guy who arrived from Russia as an adult to want to expel people who have been there for over fifteen hundred years or so. One The Nation magazine article calls him virulently anti-Arab- that means anti Israeli Arabs.

The combination of Netanyahu-Lieberman, if it comes to that, is dreaded by the moderate Arab governments who have tried to push the settlement agenda in order to reduce Iranian influence in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon. It almost certainly will be a setback for the prospects of a settlement. Of course, with a hostile fundamentalist Hamas in Gaza and the Israelis own fundamentalist settler crazies clogging the West Bank, peace prospects were never that good during the past two years. This whole jockeying for power leaves Ehud Barak and Labor in the dust, an unfortunate development in recent years. It looks like both Israelis and Palestinians veer to the right whenever they have a chance to vote these days. I think they are somehow related?

On asinine economics, a dead chimp, and political wilderness: Lessons from the Gulf?

The dead chimp cartoon in the New York Post (Feb 18) shows how unhinged the right wing has become after its well-deserved election defeats. The prospect of many years in the political wilderness of minority status is painful. Listening to Rush Limbaugh on the car radio has convinced me that he sees the prospect of a long time in the political wilderness. At least he strongly suspects it- it comes through the bravado that he needs to show for his $50 million/year contract.

“It may be necessary to nationalize the banks temporarily in order to save them…” An almost-repentant Alan Greenspan (Financial Times)

“Greenspan backs bank nationalisation: Temporary government-control may be necessary…” FT

“Bank nationalization gains ground with Republicans: Long regarded in the US as a folly of Europeans, nationalization is gaining rapid acceptance among Washington opinion-formers – and not just with Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman. Perhaps stranger still, many of those talking about nationalizing banks are Republicans….” FT Feb 18

Have they all now become disciples of Hugo Chaves instead of Ayn Rand?

Actually one advantage of ‘partial’ nationalization is that it may be the only way to get rid of the old failed management that seems to cling to power even as the results of their overpaid genius are out in the open now.

The state of the US financial industry now reminds me of another financial industry I am quite familiar with-outside the US of course. Maybe they/we have influenced the American financial CEOs in some ways: as in how to screw up real good, lose billions, ask the government for aid, get the public aid, and cling to corporate power. Then do it again every few years.

Cheers

Mohammed