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

Valentine and Equus Asinus in the Middle East- Damascus: Ancient City of Asses- The Revered Donkeys of Egypt- On George Washington, Women, Cars, and Jackasses


Jordanian Valentine?

This gruesome photo of animal abuse from Jordan on al-Jazeera TV (on the left) focused my attention on the life and times of Arab jackasses. Jackasses, a k a donkeys, a k a asses, have been an integral part of the economic life of the Middle East for thousands of years. They are perhaps more important in politics these days than ever before. The social and political power of asses in Arab countries cannot be over estimated. This is the case in both the moderate New Middle East and in the radical old Middle East. Like it or not, the Arab peoples are stuck with their asses (and donkeys) today as much as they have ever been in their long history. The same can be said of other Muslim countries. The only exception to close political association with donkeys probably was a period spanning a few decades from the end of the 6th century to the early part of the 7th century A.D, the first few decades of Islam.
The asses took over after that. It is interesting that the political ascendancy of Arab asses started in Damascus, after the era of the First Four Caliphs. Damascus at some point was called the city of donkeys. Maybe it still is a city of asses, but it now has tough rivals for that title across the Arab Middle East, and in Israel and Iran. Nowadays in the Middle East: asses rule but the people don't drool.

“There is consensus that the most probable ancestor of the domestic donkey (Equus asinus) is the Nubian subspecies of African wild ass.... The earliest known remains of the domestic donkey date to the fourth millennium BC from a site in Lower Egypt. It is probable that cattle-raising peoples in Nubia, in the distribution area of the Nubian wild ass, first developed the domestic donkey as a beast of burden....

“Damascus, known as the city of asses through cuneiform writing and a center of the caravan trade, became famous for its breed of large, white riding ass. At least three other breeds were developed in Syria. This is the first indication of specific mammoth breeding, 3200 years before introduction and importation to North America. In Arabia the Muscat or Yemen ass was developed. This strong, light-colored donkey is still used in caravans and also as a quality riding animal…..

“George Washington was one of the first American farmers who imported several male (jack) and female (jennet) donkeys from Europe in order to develop a strong work mule…..” The Red River Donkey Company of Manitoba

Donkeys have been prominent in Arab media this past week. As they should be every day for several reasons most of which I shall not divulge here with the aim of protecting the innocent.
In Jordan, citizens protesting against any signs of Valentine’s Day celebration painted a donkey with the color of a red rose (above). I never though Jordanians had much of a sense of humor, but this really takes the cake. I guess lack of humor is closely related to stupidity- and I am not talking about the donkey either.

Donkeys are reported to have acted as suicide bombers in Afghanistan: which makes sense to me although it is still surprising. I didn’t realize a donkey can be stupid enough to take up the Taliban cause. I guess there are enough Salafis everywhere, even in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A Yemeni website prides itself in the intelligence of local asses (donkeys), noting that some of them act as smugglers of hashish into Saudi Arabia. Saudi border guards now thoroughly inspect all Yemeni donkeys crossing their border. It is not clear what they mean by a “thorough inspection” of a donkey, but I can’t help but feel bad for the poor asses. When a donkey refuses to stop at the border, he is promptly shot. Some of these donkeys are especially raised and trained as smugglers. A good ass is reported to fetch a price of $100.
That is probably more than the Queen of Sheba (Saba') cost King Solomon.

Recently a Saudi dissident writer complained that women in his country are not allowed to drive cars, but they can ride donkeys. He thought that was an odd thing. I am still trying to figure out what he meant.
Another Saudi Shi'a dissident uses the ass to complain. “We are the donkeys of the Two Holy Shrines: this was the title of an article by a Saudi Shia writer who has asked King Abdullah to punish an extremist religious shaikh who called Shi’as ‘donkeys (asses) that are ridden by the Jews’…..” Aafaq

At a new ancient tomb complex, overlooking the ancient town of Abydos on the Nile about 500 km south of Cairo, archeologists this year found the skeletons of 10 donkeys that had been buried as if they were high-ranking officials. These are the first animals to be found in an Egyptian burial site. To me, this indicates that asses were as revered in ancient Egypt as they are obeyed in modern Egypt.
Which brings us to the next quote: "A study by the Egyptian government concludes that 89% of the Egyptian people are happy and content with their situation….” Alarabiya

Asses, as in jackasses or donkeys, are appreciated in the Middle East, even though they are verbally abused as stupid creatures. I grew up with donkeys all around me, and not just figuratively. In those days some donkeys, those of the hammara that carried water, were important for the local economy- more important than many people I've known and worked with, and much less harmful. I have read that a vice principal of my old high school has even titled a chapter of one of his books “How I have found my happiness with donkeys”. A friend of his, who is also a former high school (secondary school) teacher of mine, claims in al-Watan that this man has a rare license to ride donkeys, a license he claims he got in Spain during a festival of donkeys. No, he doesn’t live in a communal stable now.

For some reason I could not find much about jackasses or donkeys of Iran. I don;t think they are banned; so maybe they have moved into the cities. I am sure they have their fair share of asses in various positions in Tehran and other places. I know at least one I can mention, but not right now.
Cheers
Mohammed

Facebook of Arabia: Pairing Off Leaders Online. A King, Kosher Razorbacks, A Palindromic Mufti, Tzipi Livni, Ahmadinejad, and Ann Coulter

(I cannibalized this posting from the most recent piece of my other website)

I was exploring Facebook this evening and I discovered some interesting potential friends. I discovered that many Middle East leaders, oligarchs, and plain crazies have Facebook accounts in their names. I also found out that even some of the dead leaders have accounts as well. Some have been dead for years, yet they keep in touch, and possibly plot coups, through the network. Even the Arab Baath Socialist Party has several accounts, and not just the Syrian Baath.

Saudi King Abdullah has a Facebook account under the name: King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz (al-Saud, of course). It has a nice official photo of the king. Oddly, he lists his address as Little Rock, Arkansas. Maybe he is a secret Razorback supporter although I doubt he went to college there. Still, deosn’t have to eat them to be a fan. It is kosher to support them.

There is a link on his page (wall) asking me to ask his majesty to add him as a friend. Dutifully I clicked on the link and now the king has a request from this humble person asking to add him to my empty list of friends. After all, I haven’t been near a monarch in many years, and the last one wore a cocktail dress and pearls. I may do the same with Carla Bruni (Sarkozy for now).

I took a peek at his majesty’s friends and was surprised that not many of them look royal or even kingly: some look downright stoned out of their heads, like the weeders of yore that I knew. And a couple of the female friends are appropriately skimpily clad, (if you are the type that looks at the glass as half-empty, which I am usually not, especially in a case like this).

Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, in power for 28 years, has over 20 accounts, two of them carrying his full name, Mohamed Husni Mubarak. Most of his accounts don’t list Egypt as his location: maybe that is for security reasons?

There is, however, a Husni Mubarak Fan Club, with only 360 members: a surprisingly small number for a leader who has never lost an election, one who doesn’t even need to hold elections. Maybe these are the only people who have benefited from his rule. I wonder if Ayman Nour, who is rotting in Maubarak’s jail on trumped up charges, has more fans. He was the only man ever to run against Mubarak, and somehow I don’t think anyone will, ever again.

The Dauphin, his son Gamal (Jamal in non-Egyptian Arabic), has several accounts one of which lists his supporters at 401. Probably those who benefit from his father’s rule plus others who expect to benefit from his rule when he takes over. There was one account for Gamal Mubarak Lovers, with 265 members only. Which means that not all those benefitting from his father’s rule love the son also.

Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Salih, president for over 30 years, has an account listed as: United Happy Yemen without Ali Abdullah Salih: I think they meant “with” rather than “without”. He has another account listing him as residing in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where there is no qat to chew but plenty of Jim Beam.

Bahrain’s king has an account listed as: King of hearts - King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. This first reminded me of Las Vegas for some reason, then I remembered that Valentine’s is upon us, even though it does not specify what kind of heart. His fan club has 810 members only, although the ruling elite in Bahrain numbers much more than that, I think. Maybe they left out a few zeros.

Syria’s Bashar al-Asad has his account as well, under the title: Bashar Al-Asad, and he has 7,564 fans exactly, which is surprising. He couldn’t be more popular than the other oligarchs and potantates. These must be the only ones that have been officially asked to admire him.

His Most Royal Highness Prince al-Waleed Bin Talal al-Saud has several accounts under his name. One of these accounts is a joint one with a woman. He is listed as having 1,681 fans, which made me somewhat jealous: I have no fans, not yet. I wonder how many of these fans are Citigroup executives and CNBC anchorwomen, and possibly a few anchormen.

Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr has more than six accounts in his name, but two of them are suspicious because they are located in Winnipeg and Stockholm. No militias are listed.

Iran’s Mohmoud Ahmadinejad has many many accounts, and, and many more carry his fan club and hate club names. Apparently he shares one Facebook account with Ann Coulter, another conservative icon, which makes sense. The other one I really liked was for the “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Appreciation Society”, but I declined to join it.

His boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenai has an account that lists 903 fans only. I guess it has been a long time for many Iranian.

Usama Bin Laden about 8 accounts in his name (there are more under Osama), but none lists the Pakistan, Saudi, or Afghanistan networks.

On the dour side, the Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Abdul-Azeez Aal al-Shaikh (a k a ash-Shaikh), has no account. FYI: he is the great great grandson of Mohammed Abdelwahab (the late Najdi freak not the late Egyptian singer). I call him the palindromic sheikh for obvious reasons (check the dictionary). Maybe he can double with Israel’s Tzipi Livni: double not couple to the old man’s chagrin. Tzipi has many, many, accounts under her name. More than any Arab leader, and she has many fans and supporters. She also has many detractors. Anyway, the sheikh can do much worse- as for Tzipi, she can’t do worse. That’s for sure.

Libya’s Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi has 15 accounts and boasts 835 fans, one in the name of his son Hannibal.

Even Saddam Hussin still has his account under his full legal name: Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي. He is listed as a politician, and he has 280 supporters, which is more than I do, and I am still alive.

Abu Musaab Al Zarqawi still keeps 5 accounts open, from the beyond, presumably keeping an eye on his former fans in al-Anbar and Samarra.

Che Guevara is the most popular dead person, based on Facebook accounts, even more than Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov or Stalin.

The most popular among all, dead or alive, are President Barack Obama and Governor Sarah Palin. Their friends and fans count in the millions (Obama) and hundreds of thousands (Palin). Those Arab rulers need to improve their image some more.

Most of the Arab oligarchs are not really active on Facebook; they are probably even less active than me. However, I bet they are active when the moment is right, as they say on television. Still, it is not as potentially dangerous for them as it is for their subjects to post on the network. Many people have ended up in jail or worse, and I am not talking about mere waterboarding here, simply for giving in to the temptation of venting off online.

Maybe they, the oligarchs, do it because they think it is important to save face, even when your flank is completely exposed.

There are many more world oligarchs and potentates on Facebook than I mentioned, but I shall refrain from commenting now, with the admirable goal of protecting the innocent.

Cheers

Mohammed

What Muslim and American Theocrats Share- Vultures of Palestine, Unite- The Popes of Arabia Try Multitasking- How to Thank a King in American

“Iran makes BBC Persian language TV channel illegal”.
This was the headline early this morning (CNN) and it reminds me of 2006, when the Bushies issued a fatwa making al-Manar TV of Lebanon (Hezbullah) illegal, making marketing the satellite channel in the US an act of terrorism. That was a post-First Amendment moment for Mr. Bush.

“Palestinians: ‘our leaders have let us down and they are fighting over the Gaza War booty’.” Aafaq
Just as I expected in one of my last postings. The $ 1-2 billion talked about for Gaza by the Arab petroleum states at one of their three summits last week are already being fought over. The Saudi king alone promised $1 billion. Hamas would like access to the money, but they are not likely to get any of it unless they break away from Iran and embrace the Saudi axis. The Fatah potentates of Mr. Abbas in Ramallah are salivating at the prospect of access to the money. I bet their offshore bankers are also salivating at the prospect: they recall the last bonanza of the 1990s, when their predecessors under Arafat, the ministers and leaders, got rich from all the post-Oslo aid funds. That was when Hamas saw its opportunity, took up the slack and provided the public services the Fatah boys would not.

Maybe the two Palestinian factions can get together for a while for a very good cause: they can join in a sting to get access to the petro-money. Afterwards, having split the money, they can go their separate ways. Until the next oil boom: petroleum prices are certain to rise again after the world recession ends sometime in the next two to three years. Then the whole circle can start again.

Just think of it, Arab oligarchs and potentates last week managed to do what no other group of leaders has ever done. They held three separate summits at three different locations. Various and often overlapping groups of them held summits in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait- all within the same week. These guys can multitask, they can walk and chew gum, or better yet: they can walk and play with their....misbahs. The Europeans have never achieved anything quite like it- they came close once when they had two popes at Rome and Avignon, but that was a long time ago.

A Brown-backed Logic in Kansas:
“If detainees of Gitmo are brought to the Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas, the military trainees in Kansas of allied Muslim countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have said that they will leave. They will not stay in Kansas if these people are there…” Sen Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) on MSNBC.

And to think that this man was once a candidate for president of the United States. But that’s okay: it was only for the Republican nomination. Now that B.S is a Brownbacked logic.

“Gaza war fallout: Barak describes Olmert as a chameleon, and OLmert calls him a failure…Israel’s Haaretz daily calims that the tunnels at Rafah are being rebuilt quickly and that a ticket for crossing costs about $400…” Elaph

“Jim Thorpe startled the world in 1912. As part of the U.S. delegation competing at the 1912 Summer Games in Stockholm, he pulled off one of the most impressive sporting feats in history, simply destroying the world's best in the decathlon and pentathlon. Perhaps the greatest all-around athlete of all time, Thorpe, a Sac and Fox Indian (Native American), bested his competitors by enormous margins, finishing first in nine of the 15 separate track and field events that made up the two competitions.
Thorpe was a track and football star at a vocational school for Native Americans, before and after his trip to Stockholm. On the boat trip over to Sweden the naturally gifted Thorpe mostly napped while his teammates trained.
At the Games' closing ceremonies King Gustav V told him, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world!" To which Thorpe reportedly replied, "Thanks, king." “ Infoplease
Clearly Jim Thorpe was ill-mannered: oddly, he did not dedicate the gold medals, or attribute them, to any American leader, or to the Swedish king, or even to any of the many Arab kings, oligarchs, and dictators for life….
Cheers
Mohammed

There is a battlefield in the War on Terror that Western powers are studiously ignoring- especially the Bush administration.
Many ships, including huge tankers have been hijacked off the Horn of Africa by alleged Somali pirates- in polite company they are Frenchified and called corsairs, but not in Swahili.
So, why are these pirates ignored, not attacked or threatened? Is it because they are sort of kindred souls to the robber barons of the current administration? They are a sort of free market supply-siders, these pirates who are not really new. I recall my late father telling us long ago, when we were children on the northwestern shores of the Gulf, old tales about Somali pirates' misdeeds. At that time, even my child's wandering mind wondered if there was, right then but far away, some old Somali father telling his Somali children old tales about the fearsome pirates of the Gulf states.

Perhaps their ideology fits in perfectly with the idea of unregulated, the current word is deregulated, markets. Piracy on the high seas is the ultimate unregulated/deregulated market, the better test tube for Commercial Darwinism- better even than some corporate headquarters.
Actually I have heard reports of the Indian navy confronting some pirates, but nothing about others. Who else can confront them? The Somalis have no navy, don't even have a defined state. The Yemenis across the gateway to the Red Sea can't do much: they can't send a flotilla because they don't have a flotilla: camels don't float, not even Yemeni camels.

But help is on the way: alarabiya and other media report that Islamist militias, the al-Qaeda type Salafi groups that the US earlier urged Ethiopia to send troops into Somalia to destroy, have intervened on the side of the good guys. The network reports that the Islamists are searching for the pirates who hijacked a ship owned by an "Islamic" state, i.e Saudi Arabia. Maybe it is a turf war: maybe they want that $100 million tanker and all those Ukrainian tanks on the other freighter for themselves. Maybe they have heard that the pirates are demanding $25 million for the oil tanker.

Meanwhile, even more help is on the way, but of the dubious kind: representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and other Arab countries have met in Cairo and announced that they will increase cooperation among them to deal with the matter and to prevent piracy from spreading into the Red Sea. King Abdul of Jordan may even send units of his crack security agents in rubber dinghies, once they learn how to swim, just to frighten the pirates away from the Red Sea. But they won't spread into the Red Sea: they'll have strong navies waiting there, including the US Navy and others.
Cheers
Mohammed

In this posting: Palin Wins the Afghan Grasshopper and the Pakistani Widower- A Candidate and Arab Leaders on Steroids- Kissinger As Elder Statesman?

Alaska's Sarah Palin and Iran's Ahmadinejad failed to convert other UN leaders to their respective faiths. In the Iranian's case it is hard to imagine him converting anyone to anything. He even has less charisma and makes less sense than Senator McCain. He is not as shifty-eyed, though (read the next paragraph).
Palin did win over the new president of Pakistan, the moderate state where the omnipotent ISI plays both sides of the War on Terror, straddling the fence between its former Taliban protegies and its neocon paymasters in Washington. Mr. Zardari, recent widower and former jailbird, properly corrupt in the fashion of all elected Pakistani leaders, was clearly impressed by most of her.

She may even have won over the president of metropolitan Kabul in his green grasshopper coat. Mr. Karzai seemed amused by the meeting, but unlike his Pakistani neighbor he did let go of her hand.

Why did McCain look so shifty-eyed at the first debate? He would not look at Obama, never made eye contact with him, even when they shook hands. It was likely a tactic by his advisers with the aim of making Obama look small, unimportant. It only made McCain look odd, with a silly smirk/grin/grimace pasted on his face that made him look like an advanced resident of one of those homes where they turn off the lights at 8 PM.

Someone asked me late last night as we crossed the SR-520: are politicians allowed to take steroids?
There probably are no rules against them doing so- unlike in sports. The only downside for politicians is that it shrinks their gonads (cojones) down to hazelnut size- a terrible price to pay for any man, especially one with a politician's ego (or his girlfriends).
In that case many Arab leaders should take more steroids than Viagra or Cialis or whatever it is they take. That way they can multitask adequately and, more important, equitably, as required by the rules of polygamy, while continuing to run their countries to the ground. It is not only about walking and chewing gum, nor about running a campaign and suddenly appearing to be busy at Capitol Hill.

“So he theatrically suspended his campaign and rushed back to get in the way of a bipartisan solution to the economic turmoil. When the two macho guys of the Republican Party — W. and McCain — took extreme measures not to look emasculated, they ended up emasculating themselves.” M. Dowd, NY Times.

Henry Kissinger helped open up Chinese-American relations in the early 1970s. After that it was downhill for him as a policy adviser and maker. He was wrong on Southeast Asia. He expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia and Laos, and thus caused the US to lose all three countries instead of just one, and ushered in the era of Khmer Rouge mass genocide. That is what an elder statesman is: someone who is looked at more fondly, or at least with much less disdain, AFTER they leave office.

Watched Bill Clinton talking about Obama and McCain. This man sure holds a grudge. I can see 2012 written all over his face- but then again, 2008 was also written all over his face four years ago. How about 2016? In any case, it is almost obvious that he fervently wishes for McCain to win.

A Cairo appeals court has passed a two month prison sentence on Ibraheem Issa (Abraham Jesus) the chief editor of the opposition newspaper al-Dustour (which ironically means The Constitution). He has been convicted of spreading rumors about the health of President Mubarak, who is nearly 200 years old. I imagine the editor of the National Inquirer would be beheaded in the moderate New Middle East with its neo-democratic leaders.
Cheers
Mohammed

Is the Reagan 'Counter-Revolution' Dead?, Gulf Investment Blues, A Financial Banana Republic, A Financial Potemkin Republic

Was the financial crash of the past three days one more nail in a deregulated system that had spun out of control?
The system was never actually 'deregulated'. It was allowed to be 'self-regulating', which meant that it was regulated by an incestuous group of CEOs who were often recycled as they corporate-hopped, essentially changing jobs whenever they failed in one place, moving to other leadership positions in other firms as they left behind wreckage.

Some twenty years ago, at the peak of Reagan's power, market 'guru' Ivan Boesky, soon to be arrested and convicted for securities fraud, went to speak at UC Berkeley, that one time bastion of Free Speech Movement, Mario Savio, Bettina Aptheker, among others. He is reported to have started his lecture by stating that: "You know, greed is good..." And hundreds of young MBA throats cheered their approval.
Soon after, "the Russian" was in jail, proving that at some point of the greed process diminishing marginal returns kick in (but all MBAs are not that big on Econ, not even Micro-econ). But the 'revolution' from the top continued, taking on gaudy and absurd features under George W Bush and the neocons who thought they could run a country as a corporation.

In the bad old days some banana republics used to be run as corporations, they were often run by corporations or their surrogates. (Whatever happened to that Ante-bellum plantation on wheels: the United Fruit Company?). What the Reagan counter-revolution and the Bush sequel have done is to convert the US financial sector into a banana republic, albeit a very powerful one with highly productive and hard-working people. A nation more in debt to the Chinese (the rightwing loves to call them Chicoms)and oil producers.
So far, McCain has not provided any sign that he will be any different if he wins. I am not sure he knows what he will do if he wins.

Mr. Bush is flying to Houston to check on the results of the latest natural disaster, Ike. He is heading away from the bigger disaster created by his own party. And the even bigger disaster created by his re-election in 2004.

In the Persian-American Gulf region, stock markets also declined sharply (the index declined 6.5% in Saudi Arabia, 7.4% in Qatar yesterday). The Saudi market also lost the equivalent of $27.3 billion of capitalization on Monday. State investment funds are already intevening to stem the bleeding.
Many of the Gulf 'sovereign' funds have sustained huge losses in international markets as well, especially the US market. Kuwaiti media report that the US investments arm of Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), which invests for the state, had lost over $5 billion in investments in Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, and that was before the recent crash. That $5 billion loss has certainly increased greatly by now as a result of recent events and the huge decline in shares of these two financials. (I believe whoever is in charge of US investments for KIA should be looking for a new job, and soon). Only last November, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority reached agreement to purchase $7.5 billion in Citigroup. It is not clear how much that is worth now, but it is easy to calculate- you do the math. They must have followed the exhortations of that other investment genius, Prince al-Waleed Bin Talal who called Citigroup's decline a 'mere hiccup' and that was when the share was over $40. Now, it is about $15.

It is not clear how much these funds have in AIG, possibly the next Potemkin corporation to topple, or how much they have (had) in Lehman Bros. AIG under Hank Greenberg was one firm being pushed for some time by Jim Cramer of CNBC, along with CountryWide under Angelo Mazzolo. He also pushed Wachovia when it was worth about $50+. That is what happens when you decide investment policy by looking into the eyes of CEO's and seeing through to their souls- especially if they are your pals.

"According to results of survey, in which over 4,500 people participated, 75% chose McCain while only 22% preferred Obama." Jerusalem Post, Sept 16. Damn, the old codger is more popular in Israel than in Arizona or Texas. More popular than even in Alaska. That's what happens when you get more Russians than 'other' ethnics.

The Seahawks are still as wussy as ever, as their falling apart at home against the 49ers last Sunday proved. Next time they face the St Louis Rams, again at Qwest Field. This is the bottom o the barrel for this season, and if they can't scrape it...well....
Cheers
Mohammed

"John McCain will win the war in Eyeraq and prevent Eyeran from going nuclear..."
Thus spake the Republican candidate for vice president, ex-beauty queen, ex-reformer, uber-Darwinist but only in social and economic and market matters not in matters related to the origins of the species.

"She is the governor of Alaska, and that is near Russia, so she has foreign policy experience (or something to that effect)." Steve Ducey, anchorman and commentator for Fox News TV.
Ergo: it proves that I am more ignorant and dummer than I have let on.
BTW: does this mean that anybody who lives along the US-Mexico border, including John McCain, has foreign policy experience? The fence should not reduce that foreign policy experience, since apparently the very wide Bering Strait does not.

"Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, has revealed a major scandal in the FIFA Soccer World Cup of 2006. It reporta that a Ghanian player was involved with a betting operation in Asia and may have helped Brazil win against Ghana...." Alarabiya.
So, alles klar: that is why Saudi Arabia never made it past the first round and had no chance to win the World Cup.

"How the old goats of petroleum practice the game of love in London nights: Every August of every year London , the land of Shakespeare, Dickens, and Wellington, among others, undergoes a great change. Rich Gulf Arabs congregate in Knightsbridge, where the British aristocracy hangs out. The method of these old rich men of the Gulf is to walk around with a retinue of sidekicks and flunkies, the larger the retinue the more importance is implied. Many are influential leaders in their countries, yet they behave recklessly where women and sex are concerned. Some do not hesitate to throw their cell phone at any woman who attracts their interest, with the expectation that she will enter her own cell number into the phone and throw it back to the petro-lover. This mini-Olympiad often ends with a meeting that involves much liquid money. Sometimes, a few of the women end up retaining a lawyer's services and threatening a lawsuit for sexual harassment, and they get some hush money. Older Gulf Arab women also have their share of adventure in the world of love, but they do it more discreetly. They often discard the abaya and hijab, and die their hair to change their identity. Unfortunately for them, these women are quickly recognized as Gulf women from the way their bodies are too full in certain parts." Elaph.
It is a wonder the old goats don't get sued for violence and assault: a thrown cell phone can be awfully painful when it meets any part of a human body. Also, I recall that the poorer ones hung around Edgeware Road.
Cheers
Mohammed