E Tavares: Dr. Alyami, thank you for your being with us today. Last October we spoke about the socio-political situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”), a hugely important country, and implications for the wider region. It seems very little has changed as far as policies and governance are concerned, other than perhaps the current rulers becoming more entrenched in power. Do you agree?
AA: Thank you for this opportunity and more so for your patriotism and understanding of the unprecedented Islamist ideological threats facing us and the international community, including the majority of Muslims. This is a fact that cannot be denied, ignored or belittled as the action of a few perverted groups.
Since our interview, Saudi Arabia under its current Islamist King, Salman, has been more mired in political and economic turmoil than at any time in the desert kingdom’s history. Domestically, the country is suffering from royal discord and economic hardships, due to the drastic decline in oil prices, which constitute more than 90% of the state’s revenues. Regionally, Saudi Arabia is stuck in a consuming and costly war in Yemen, the continued occupation of Bahrain and dangerous events which the Saudis cannot control or stop, such as the recent superpowers’ rapprochement with Iran, the destabilizing conflicts in Iraq and Syria and the loss of like-minded dictatorial allies in other Arab and Muslim countries.
ET: Indeed, Iran is consolidating its influence across the region, much to the detriment of the KSA. Their alliance with Russia seems to be paying off in Syria, with the Islamic State (“ISIS”) in retreat, arguably in Iraq as well. The Houthis, their allies in Yemen, are giving the Saudis a run for their money. The Iranian regime recently got a lot of money back as a result of the nuclear deal with the US, and quick on the heels of that it has been testing ballistic missiles and related defense systems.
AA: As mentioned above, the superpowers’ reconciliation with the Persian theocracy in Tehran has given Iran more leverage regionally and globally, which the Iranians are using to strengthen their influence in the region, slowly stripping the Saudi oligarchs of their domination over US and western policies and economic interests in the Middle East. Notably, Western interest in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran is not limited to concerns about nuclear weapons.
The West recognized that the fast and widely- spreading extremism and terrorism are inspired by the globally detested Saudi/ Wahhabi Sunni doctrine; therefore, continuing to rely on and to protect the Saudi rulers unconditionally are no longer in the best interest of Western societies. Furthermore, the US and its Western allies may have concluded that it’s only a matter of time before the Saudi autocratic ruling family faces the same fate as its counterparts in other Arab countries. This does not mean that the West is bolstering the Persian theocrats in Tehran to become the guardians of the Gulf’s economic and strategic resources. In reality, the West is playing Iran off against Saudi Arabia to protect Western interests.
ET: However, that alliance of Iran and Russia is gaining prominence and effectively undermining US interests in the region. The latest “casualty” appears to be the once close relationship between the US and Turkey, with President Erdogan publicly courting Russia – quite an achievement after the two countries almost came to blows last year because of the downing of a Russian jet. In your opinion, is the US making the right moves in the region and how is this being perceived within the KSA?
AA: The recent rift between the US and Turkey is not the result of changes in US policy toward Turkey as much as it is due to the unpredictability and sudden turns by President Erdogan, who has been veering Turkey toward Islamist authoritarianism since his party acquired power in 2002. It’s worth mentioning here that the US/Turkey relationship began to erode more rapidly after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited Turkey in 2006 and committed to investing $400 billion in the Turkish economy, a commitment that was finalized in 2010. President Erdogan’s recent visit to Russia to cultivate the goodwill of like-minded President Putin has very little to do with US policy moves and more to do with Erdogan’s unpredictability and blackmailing habits, especially since the failed military coup against him and his unsuccessful demands that the US extradite the Turkish cleric who Erdogan blames for the coup.
In my opinion, continuing to support absolute dictators whose policies are posing imminent threats to our democracy and national security is neither feasible nor prudent, especially when the future of the Middle East is being determined by its diverse peoples. Our government’s “hands off” policy in the region is based on two factors: one, very little can be done by outside military interventions and two, the American people will not tolerate sending hundreds of thousands of young men and women into an unwinnable war in a region most Americans loathe. The Saudi regime views the lack of deep US involvement in the Middle East as a betrayal of an historical relationship, especially the protection of the ruling family from external and internal threats.
ET: We often talk about the UK having a “special relationship” with the US. But some commentators argue that the world’s only special relationship today is the one between the KSA and the US. For one, Obama would never dare to propose a domestic course of action (with an “or else” attached to it) in Saudi soil like he did in the UK regarding the BREXIT vote. In light of what you detailed above, what is the status of that relationship today and how critical is the forthcoming US election in that regard? It appears that the two main candidates have very different views on how that relationship should look like.
AA: I am not so sure that US/Saudi relations are that special. For one, it’s based on a tit for tat arrangement, US access to oil in return for defending an absolute and reactionary system whose values are totally antithetical to everything America was founded on and stands for. The US/UK relationship is based on strategic, cultural, religious, ethnic, transparency and above all, democratic values, rule of law and freedom of all forms of expression. Due to this fact, US presidents can express their views publicly without fear of inciting British citizens to overthrow their government by force. I know for a fact that our presidents demand actions by the Saudis in private in order not to give the impression that the US is abandoning its commitment to protect the Saudi regime, especially from its oppressed population.
US/Saudi relations have been deteriorating since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US by mostly Saudi nationals on the watch of President George Bush, who responded forcefully both politically and militarily. However, Bush’s rhetoric and actions wound down during his second term. President Obama’s first term started with an apologetic and appeasing (humiliating, even) approach to the Saudis and the Muslim World in general. Conversely, Obama’s second term can be characterized as the period in US/Saudi relations when the US has the upper hand economically, politically and strategically. Empowered by a recovering economy, falling oil prices (thanks to fracking) and shifting alliances, while the Saudis are weakened by domestic, regional and global events, Obama used America’s strengthened position to put the Saudis in their place.
Given the current state of affairs in the Middle East, continued Saudi support for extremism and terrorism and increasing Islamic terror attacks on Europe and the US, US/Saudi relations will continue to deteriorate or remain in flux, regardless who wins the US Presidency in November 2016.
ET: As ISIS retreats in Syria and Iraq it is spreading into Afghanistan and many African countries, as well as increasingly resorting to terrorism across much of the West. There have been persistent rumors of Saudi and Turkish support to ISIS, a fact that has been confirmed by US Vice President Biden. Moreover, Christian and Yazidi women who were fortunate enough to escape their enslavement at the hands of ISIS reported being brutalized by Saudis. So the ties are there and at various levels. However, ISIS is now behind terrorist attacks in both those countries. Is this another example of “blowback”?
AA: It’s no secret that ISIS is inspired by and based on the Saudi/Wahhabi doctrine and practices employed by the Saudi/Wahhabi allies, especially in the 18th to the 20th centuries. ISIS’s objective is identical to that held by most Muslims, including former Saudi King Abdullah: spread Islam and the Shariah worldwide. Although the Saudis and the Turks have supported and used ISIS, especially in Syria and Iraq, ISIS is turning against the governments of Saudi Arabia and Turkey for two reasons: one, ISIS felt betrayed by the Saudis and Turks, whom ISIS considers proxies for the West, which is waging a war against the Caliphate State; and two, ISIS’s immediate goal is to establish a Caliphate that includes all Muslims, headquartered in Islam’s holiest site of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Those familiar with the perfidious practices and mindset of Arab and Muslim despots understand that by supporting ISIS, the Saudis and Turks expect the terrorist group to turn against them. This is a tactic these regimes use to empower themselves, suppress their populations and convince the West that they are likewise victims of terrorism when, in fact, they continue to support and use extremists and terrorists against each other and to extract concessions from the international community.
ET: What’s happening around the KSA provides some context for what is happening internally. As far as human rights are concerned, it appears that things are getting worse, as recently evidenced by a courageous – and shocking – documentary by ITV in the UK. What do you make of this?
AA: After King Salman inherited the Saudi Crown in January 2015, my organization, the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, wrote an analysis predicting human rights would suffer under the new King reign. Of all his predecessors (6 Saudi kings), Salman is notorious for his support of extremists in and outside the country and for his belief that the extremist Wahhabi interpretation of Islam and its arbitrary Shariah law is the true Islam. He considers the country his family’s private property and opposes any political reforms including his predecessor’s cosmetic gestures. Given these documented facts, it’s not surprising that King Salman purged the government of all less rigid members of his family and replace them with his like-minded sons and nephews. Given the Saudi’s economic hardships and the costly war engagement in Yemen, deteriorating situation in Syria, Iraq, continued occupation of Bahrain, frequent terrorist attacks in different parts of the country, human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia are likely to worsen.
ET: Another surprising fact is the abject poverty that many Saudis are living under. How is this possible given all the petrodollars floating around the country?
AA: All state revenues are controlled and treated as property of the royal family. Only the king and a few high-ranking royals have direct access to the state’s income. Since there is no accountability, transparency or public scrutiny, this small clique of royals decides on the distribution of funds. The top spending priorities are internal security, namely the safety of the ruling family, stipends for the thousands of members of the extended royal family, the armed forces and maintaining the institutions of the religious establishment (universities, mosques, religious police and thousands of clerics.) Given this arrangement, little of the national revenues is spent on citizens.
It’s estimated that between 30-40% of Saudis live at or below the UN designated poverty level. This is due to high unemployment, where it is estimated that between 70-80% of Saudi women and about 20-30% of Saudi men are unemployed. Given these numbers, it’s culturally customary that those who work support those who don’t.
ET: There are over 9 million immigrants living in the KSA, representing more than a third of the population. Those are not small figures. Yet many complain of abuse and violation of human rights. Why is this so?
AA: It’s ironic that millions of Saudi men and women are unemployed, yet the public and private sectors import millions of expatriates to do jobs that the Saudi people need and could do if women were allowed to work and if the Saudis were paid decent salaries to feed their families. By importing poverty stricken laborers who are willing to live in appalling conditions, accept subsistence wages and have no benefits or rights under the Saudi judicial system, the Saudi employers make huge profits. The maltreatment of migrant workers by their Saudi employers has been compared to modern slavery by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many governments’ agencies, including our Department of State, have decried abuses of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.
ET: Last time we spoke you mentioned that Saudi women are the most marginalized people on the planet. The KSA has contributed between $10-25m to the Clinton Foundation, possibly more. While we may never find out how much of that can actually influence US politics, as suggested by emails recently disclosed, if Hillary Clinton is elected US President can she do anything to truly help Saudi women as a result? There could be a conflict there, it seems (not that the men who preceded her have done much about it anyway).
AA: Despite her pronouncement that “women’s rights are human rights,” it’s unlikely that Saudi women will fare any better under Hillary Clinton if she were elected President of the United States. Given the Saudis’ generous gifts of $41 million to the Clinton Foundation and millions to various universities, including the University of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was President, Hillary Clinton is unlikely to deviate from the Saudi appeasing policies she pursued as a Secretary of State.
Although promoting Saudi women’s rights is unlikely to occur under a President Hillary Clinton, empowering Saudi women not only promotes human rights, but would represent a major victory over extremism and terrorism. Even under their current oppressive and inhumane conditions, Saudi women are intensely engaged in fighting the zealot Saudi religious establishment. Empowering and liberating Saudi women from the constricting chains of religio-male guardian systems would resonate throughout the Muslim world, given Saudi Arabia’s status as the birthplace of Islam and home to its holy shrines toward which 1.5 billion Muslims pray 5 times a day.
ET: Why are Western leaders so permissive, even accomodating, of these repressive policies by Saudi leaders? They are quick to condemn the likes of Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gadaffi and Bashar al-Assad, all perhaps with good albeit not too dissimilar reasons. But despite lingering perceptions of ties with terrorism – as poignantly highlighted by a cover of Time Magazine a few years after 9/11 (above) and more recently the controversy around the missing 28 pages of the official report on that attrocity – earlier this year France awarded the Legion d’Honneur to a Saudi prince for the fight against terrorism. In fact it almost seems that the West is too hesitant to do anything but when it comes to Saudi Arabia.
AA: Despite the Saudi support for Sunni extremists and terrorists worldwide, the Western powers continue to treat the Saudis with velvet gloves. The reasons for this sheepish approach to the Saudi rulers are oil, money and threats of using terrorism against Western countries, as exemplified by former Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar’s ultimatum to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
ET: It is well known how in recent decades the Saudis have been actively promoting their version of Islam worldwide, much of it through the establishment of mosques and cultural centers. The effects are very visible across several Muslim societies. Recently, a Pakistani blogger lamented how the burqa and the niqab were quickly replacing the traditional (colorful and open) dresses of women in his country, as well as in Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere. Sensing some discord, the Saudis are maneuvering through international organizations to ban any criticism of their religion – even in the West. In addition to being a clear violation of freedom of speech rights, it seems that this is the absolutely the worst thing we should do for those who suffer from this ideology, since change can only come about through open debate. Should we all be concerned if the Saudis prevail here?
AA: Yes, not only should we be concerned, but must do everything we can to defend our democratic values that make America the most advanced, powerful and envied country the world has ever known. The Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been trying to impose an anti-defamation of religions measure on the international community through the UN for years, with the support of Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. This is one of the many deceptive moves the Saudi rulers have employed at home and elsewhere to silence freedom of expression and to silence critics of harsh domestic Saudi policies such as flogging, beheading, religious intolerance and marginalization of women.
ET: In light of the foregoing, it seems that positive societal change in the KSA can only come from brave Saudis and organizations like yours, especially as our governments will likely not want to do anything to “rock the boat” with the KSA. Do you agree?
AA: Excellent summary with which I agree. Recent events have shown that enduring positive change can and must spring from within a society, with support from other concerned people who understand the value and benefits of democratic change in Saudi Arabia.
ET: What do you think will result from the ongoing socio-political turmoil in the KSA?
AA: In light of the current and projected economic downturn in Saudi Arabia, we are likely to see more societal discontent and harsher responses by the Saudi oligarchy. Some signs are already evident, especially among large numbers of unpaid migrant workers who, for the first time, are demonstrating in some parts of the country. Many Saudis are also airing grievances against the government’s imposition of taxes on foods and services and the elimination of subsidies for utilities and other social programs. Furthermore, the rarely discussed issue of the power struggle within the royal family, especially since King Salman inherited the throne and disenfranchised many of the influential royals like Prince Bandar and Crown Prince Migrin, could potentially destroy the unity of the royal family that kept it in power thus far. The result of upheaval in Saudi Arabia could have a far-reaching implications for Saudi Arabia, the Muslim World and the international community at large.
Davy on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 6:42 am
The KSA is a canary for the ME and the global system. They will soon be going down the path Venezuela is. This is a uniquely an oil producing country situation when those countries have been mismanaged for multiple years. Oil makes it possible to do macro-economic damage. These societies have been destroyed from within because of oil. Oil has allowed these countries to grow for beyond their consumption and population levels that are sustainable and balanced. This is really a further reflection on our global system which is a mirror of this. The worst of the worst is coming to KSA. Horror is ahead for them and many in that country deserve it. They have a petroleum dominated society. This has created too many people. It has created too much consumption of those people in an inhospitable desert. These people have the further poison of radicalization from religion. There is absolutely nothing positive about KSA. There is complete destruction ahead for them. It is just a matter of when.
Some of you hate these people but you better worry about them because you are in fact worrying about your survival. Places like KSA cannot collapse without all of our collapse. Many here don’t want to acknowledge this. They are happy and gleeful of the coming destruction of KSA. The love the idea of what it will do to the US. They dismiss the consequences and see a positive outcome. I am laughing at you. There end is our end. They are a grotesque people in a grotesque region but we created this mess by being a people that embraced oil completely. We are grotesque so look in the mirror.
joe on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:05 am
Yeah, but their just peace loving muslims, they just want to live in freedom and practice religion as is their freedom rights. Freedom.
Liberalism is the puss of a wound made by oil.
David Kuperman on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:34 am
Saudis rulers are the terrorists.
From the Messenger of Allah (pbuhaf): Hijaz (Saudi Arabia) will be ruled by a man whose name is the name of an animal(Fahad/leopard), when you see him from a distance, you would think he has a lazy eye, and if you get close to him, you do not see anything (wrong) in his eyes. He will be succeeded by a brother of his, named Abdullah. Woe to our Shia (followers) from him! Woe to our Shia (followers) from him! Woe to our Shia (followers) from him! – he repeated it three times – Give me the good news of his death, and I shall give you the good news of the appearance of the hujjah (Imam Mahdi). Reference: Two Hundred and Fifty Signs, sign number 122
2. From Abi Baseer who heard from Imam Sadiq (pbuhaf): Whoever guarantees for me the death of Abdullah, I will guarantee for him the Qa’im (Imam Mahdi). When Abdullah dies, then people will not gather/agree on anyone after him, and this matter will not except for your companion (Imam Mahdi) inshallah, and the kingdom of years will be over, and it will become the kingdom of months and days. So I asked: Will that be prolonged? He said: No. (Biharul Anwar, Volume 52, page 21)
shortonoil on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:57 am
As the price of oil continues to fall over the next few years the Middle East will explode:
http://www.thehillsgroup.org/depletion2_022.htm
Not only will the dictatorships that oil supports begin to fail, but one producer will turn on the other to reduce production. Starving Iranians will have no restraint in attacking Saudi oil facilities. We will likely find out if anyone in the Middle East does have nuclear weapons.
Robert G Eckert on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 10:44 am
#SalafistWahhabism spread by the #SaudCrimeFamily poses an existential threat to America.
Fouadenan on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 12:05 pm
It may enlighten your readers to know that Yami is shiit. Judging from your interview with him both of you are obviously biased against Saudi Arabia to the point of leading readers to wrong assumptions
Sissyfuss on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 4:04 pm
Foundnobrain, why don’t you shuffle off to your 72 virgins and leave reality to those who follow it. We’ve been lying with the Wahhabist dogs so long that the fleas they have given us are now carrying the Black Death. If those 7th century cretins hadn’t by dumb luck found themselves sitting on an ocean of high potency easy to extract sweet crude they would be pounding sand and bitching at their hermetically sealed wives.
Cloggie on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 4:47 pm
Before you read a text, any text, first get a picture of who is writing and what is his agenda.
Dr. Ali Alyami
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Alyami
Saudi born, visited US academic institutions. The flirtations with the code word “human rights” are already a strong indication that Alyami is a tool of the US empire.
His club:
Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Washington
If you study the “about us” at site of the organisation itself…
http://www.cdhr.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=57
…you immediately verify that Alyami is merely the Saudi face of an organisation that is run by Americans only, who have a background with the CIA and State Department backed socalled “NGOs”.
There we go again: socalled “moderate Muslim” front, who the US intends to use for regime change, secularization, wimmins and homo rights and all that jazz. We have seen how well that worked in previously secular ran Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, who now are fine archaic fundamentalist shit holes, courtesy Clouseau’s in Washington and their impossible dreams of global empire.
And it will be exactly the same in KSA.
Local ISIS types can be trusted to be even more fundamentalist than the already conservative champ #1 iin the Islamic world KSA.
While I write these words I am looking with “half an eye” to a discussion on German television, about Burkha, veil, etc.
Again, all these German lefties trying to “liberate” Muslim women, where in reality these women don’t want to be liberated at all.
The insane leftist=globalist West believes that it can define a value system (“human rights”) that should apply to all, Europeans and Arabs alike, a complete futile undertaking.
peakyeast on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:07 pm
@Fouadenan: How the f is anyone with a sense of reason and justice going to feel biased towards KSA?
I even find it hard to believe that the citizens can be so corrupted by money and indoctrination that they cant see how grotesque their country is.
It is a really really sad and depressing case that country.
If it wasnt for the riches found under their soil they would be even more fucked up than North Korea – even then they might actually be.
Abraham on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:13 pm
Simple-minded people pretend that audis and Arab Emirates are living in Dark-Ages. Even if that’s true, so what ?
Israel together with our ally US, we should do our best to keep the political situation unchanged in the Sunni Arab world.
Democracy in the Arab countries will be a catastrophe for Israel and the West. The present kings and strongmen of Sunni Arab countries are in fact friends of Israel and friends of the US.
Look at Saudi-Arabia, look at Bahrein, look at Emirates. These countries’ rulers won’t survive and stay in power without the US and Israeli protection.
The good thing for US-Israel is that these Sunni countries are real Shiaa killers and viral enemies of the Iranians, which means the enemies of our enemies are our friends.
It’s vital to remember that If one day these inferior-race, camel-driver Arabs really open their eyes and get rid of
their corrupt rulers, Israel would be encircled totally by its worst enemies.
That would be the beginning of the end for Israel.
*
PS : Nobody should blame Saudi Royals for the recent beheadings and the resulting political tensions. These “Royals” are really innocent.
Saudi Arabia and its oil are the properties of the USA.
The only thing that the members of the present Saudi “royal” establishment can do is throwing away oil money in Las Vegas casinos and bribing big weapon provider firms, buying “ghost” weapons and war planes that no Saudi can use !
Sissyfuss on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:15 pm
Hey Cogsucker, maybe the women don’t want to be liberated because they’ve been brainwashed since birth that they are nothing more than chattel in their sick Theocracy’s rules. Much like the 12 yr old suicide bombers now being utilized by the mongrel caliphate. To paraphrase you, I see no structure in your arguments.
Apneaman on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:24 pm
clogged up, what are you going to do about it? Do you think anyone gives a shit? Obviously you do not understand human nature nor Americans. No one cares. Don’t you know what the most important thing in most white americans lives is right now? The black QB wouldn’t stand for the national anthem. Some are so mad they are burning their jerseys. So called adult men who wear sports jerseys – that’s like little kids dressing up like their favorite superhero. Real important stuff. National Anthems are government created propaganda tools. Simple minded tribal sheeple love them. You should see them get all teary eyed in merica. That is the desired effect. The modern nation state borrowed that off religion. National anthem at a sporting event – a double dose of tribal brain washing. See, to have a successful empire you need a handful of smart folks to design and run it and a whole shit load of easily emptionally manipulated sheep to support it (based on their “feeling”) and go marching off to war. Merica has a tribal trifecta with the pledge of allegiance, which I always thought sounded rather communist. I mean if it’s a free country why are you forcing small kids to chant like the Red Chinese during the cultural revolution? Are they not free to decide their allegiance based on evidence? Shouldn’t that truth be self evident? Nope. Shouldn’t their allegiance first and foremost belong to their family? Nope, the flag and all it stands for (corporate state) is who they are devoted to. Well, at least as long as the corporate dopamine hits keep coming.
peakyeast on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:27 pm
The funny thing about people is that they compare one country to the other at how bad they are doing – instead of accepting all the flaws and trying to do better than everybody else.
Its not acceptable to just say: we are not the worst.
What is acceptable is: How do we give people more freedom, better health, more liberty, better education and more self-guidance.
Nobody – and especially not governments should tell people how to behave, think or do – outside not hurting each others and destroying the earth.
And – yes – the entire effing earth is governed a big effing bunch of sick psychos… And that it all is like that doesnt make it better. Its all grades of bad.
Get it now – pro KSA people and other patriots?
peakyeast on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:31 pm
But anyway… all those things are a for a time long gone… Now we are looking at the end game – there is no way to turn the Titanic away from the iceberg – simply not physically possible.
Which I believe the ape man has documented ad readitum.
Cloggie on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 5:48 pm
Sissy says: “maybe the women don’t want to be liberated because they’ve been brainwashed since birth that they are nothing more than chattel in their sick Theocracy’s rules”
So we basically agree, they don’t want to be liberated, regardless of the reason.
Next.
Sissy is yet another example of those who don’t take no for an answer and insist that we should engage in social engineering and “fix these 7th century retards” because Sissy likes to think that he has the recipe to bring these people to happines.
My kind advice to Sissy: go back to the farm and attent the cows and leave these people in peace and don’t try to change them. And for Christ sake, keep them out of the West, unless you like civil war and genocide.
And since I don’t like civil war and genocide I say: fences and Fortress Europe, c.q. Trumps wall now.
peakyeast on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 6:00 pm
I agree with the clog.
Boat on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 6:19 pm
You could pick the Shiite, Sunni or Kurd and still end up with the same types of problems. It’s difficult to find enough moderates in any of those cultures. Since the world needs their oil modern day politicians do their best in an impossible situation.
I for one am happy to see Russia, India and China finally showing some interest in the are. The US and it’s allies have shouldered the burden to long.
onlooker on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 6:24 pm
Yeah what a burden Boat. The burden of insuring we ie. US gets the lion’s share of the oil
moe on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:19 pm
Alyami iran son,
JuanP on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:34 pm
Apnea “National Anthems are government created propaganda tools.”
When I was in elementary school during the military dictatorship I was sent to detention every Saturday morning for more than two years because I refused to sing the national anthem. Every morning at eight all the school’s students, teachers, and employees were forced to sing it. The Christian Brothers who were Irish citizens and exempt from singing would walk around making sure everybody was singing it. I refused to sing it because one of the lines said “Uruguayans, the fatherland or death”. Since I had decided to leave my country I didn’t believe in that choice so I kept quiet and just stood there. Eventually they gave up, but the argument lasted a very long time and cost me a couple hundred hours of my life spent sanding desks to get rid of graffiti. I have hated national anthems ever since.
Sissyfuss on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:39 pm
Cologarithms, I live in the forest attending to my raccoons, skunks and wild turkeys. And no, I don’t think we can bring democracy to a culture within a theocracy that forces role modeling from infancy. But you can’t say women that have never been given a choice wouldn’t choose freedom and equality. American women certainly chosen these conditions. Also, I am against immigration from the standpoint of overpopulation and resource depletion. I want a self sufficient country for those that follow me,irregardless of the rest of the worlds’ folly.
JuanP on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:41 pm
Boat, the USA has sown pain, misery, and suffering everywhere it’s gone killing, raping, and plundering. The real burden is what the rest of us have to put up with from deluded arrogant American pricks like you. If you could understand how full of shit you are and how much you stink you would hate yourself as much as the rest of the world hates you.
JuanP on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 8:46 pm
People like this AA are the scum of the Earth!
Boat on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 9:17 pm
onlooker on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 6:24 pm
“Yeah what a burden Boat. The burden of insuring we ie. US gets the lion’s share of the oil”
We get most of our oil from Canada and Mexico. You should know that.
Boat on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 9:24 pm
There is no law that forces the pledge of allegiance. It’s a local/teacher choice of which a child can opt out.
makati1 on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 10:18 pm
Boat, try to not pledge your loyalty one time and see the results. Laws mean nothing in the Fascist States of America.
“49ers Fans Burn Kaepernik Jerseys After ‘Black-Oppression’-Protesting QB Refuses To Stand For National Anthem”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-28/49ers-fans-burn-kaepernik-jerseys-after-black-oppression-protesting-qb-refuses-stand
Yes, try it and see how much “protection by law” you receive.
peakyeast on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 11:22 pm
@JuanP: I can identify with your national anthem problem.
Btw. I had almost the same problem in school..
Our national anthem we were forced to sing said words to the effect of:
” there is a beautiful country”. But I felt that they had ruined the country. Chopped up everything natural, all animals gone, empty oceans and now they kept praising the beauty they had destroyed instead of waking up to the fact.
I also had many arguments with my teachers about that. Luckily there was no severe punishment besides having them standing looking angrilly at me and reprimanding me verbally.
http://www.ugle.dk/der_er_et_yndigt_land.html
In the old days our king decreed that workers could not be paid in Salmon since it had no value. It was so abundant – even in copenhagen. Today danish trawlers go to SE africa to find fish.
peakyeast on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 11:23 pm
I mean: steal fish, of course.
Boat on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 11:29 pm
mak,
So if you buy a shirt you shouldn’t be able to burn it? What kinda freedom would that be. You have a twisted sense of logic. In the US the Supreme Court says you can burn the American Flag as an expression of free speech. Try that in Russia, China or the Philippines.
onlooker on Sun, 28th Aug 2016 11:50 pm
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2df94184-fb2c-11e4-9aed-00144feab7de.html#axzz4Ih3G9jy3
The kingdom has been compensating for the loss of sales by accelerating its pivot towards Asia, with China vying with the US as one of the biggest buyers of Saudi crude.—-
They the US was the top oil importer of Saudi crude for many years until recently
makati1 on Mon, 29th Aug 2016 1:26 am
Boat, the shirt means nothing, it is the mindset that burned it that matters. When a member of the herd dares to be different he/she is punished. Maybe by death. Try it sometime.
Martin on Mon, 29th Aug 2016 2:14 am
I am not reading any further to even place Great Brother Leader Colonel Gaddafi, HE RT Pres Al Assad and HE RT Saddam Hussein in the same category as those bastards in Saudi Arabia, the in in Fake Isreal Natanyahu and Erdogen even is an absolute insult to their wonderful character and leadership of high calibre and to their legions of supporters in millions in their countries and around the world.
theedrich on Mon, 29th Aug 2016 3:55 am
Since the sociopathic MSM is prettyfying the Moslems nowadays so we can let more of them in, and we are told how “peaceful” they all are (except for the ones who, they say, are “not true Moslems”), it might be of interest to look at a bit of Mohammendan history. In reading an old book, Mohammedis Filii Abdallæ Pseudo-Prophetæ Fides Islamica, i.e., AL-CORANUS, with an introductory synopsis of Mohammedanism in it, I came across a passage (pp. 94-97) describing process of penance practiced by a Turkish sultan three centuries ago. The book was written by a Catholic priest from, of course, a Christian perspective, but ignoring that perspective, one finds many juicy parts, especially the following one. For those who may not be able to read the Latin or German in the book, I here translate into English:
From Chapter 3, “Aberration from the True Faith,” section § 16.13 On Conversion and Penance, paragraph № 6:
From the Latin (by Reinecke):
I cannot do other than present here a recent example of the great and public Mohammedan penance from the Leipzig Reports of the year 1697, week 51, p. 816:
From the German (from the Leipzig Reports [written by the Austrian embassy in Turkey to the Austrian capital, Vienna, and relayed from there to the authorities in Leipzig, Germany]):
Vienna, from December. We see hereabouts a mandate of the Turkish Grand Sultan, in which he confesses that God is very angry with him and his people because he has relied too much on his own great power, and that this had been the cause of the fact that not only had his armies in general been losing hitherto, and so many lands, cities and fortresses lost, but that he had recently suffered such a bad and dangerous defeat of his best troops, so that now, in accordance with his superstitious opinion, in order to again reconcile himself with his angry God, he is ordering various days for fasting and prayer each month, and also a huge procession to Mecca which must travel twenty Turkish miles every day, and in the following way:
A chest with the bones of dead men, broken sabres, bound-up hand-pipes, smashed arrow-quivers and the like is to be carried and accompanied by 6000 people without turbans, barefoot, clothed in sackcloth and with ropes that go around their necks and bodies.
3000 Turks are to be sprinkled with blood and ashes, and also walk with cries, howls and yelling, and with their clothes torn.
6000 others, half-naked, are to flog their shoulders and breasts with thorns so that their blood flows onto the ground, which, however, they must not be allowed to dry off.
3000 Sipahi (Ottoman cavalrymen) without turbans, with drooping mustaches are to carry the chest of the prophet Mohammed around in the midst of this procession, in which there are to be 300 pashas (military officers) under orders to kill those who look at the chest with open eyes and to throw their bodies to the dogs.
Each and every mile a Christian slave and a Jew are to be beaten to the ground and are to lie in their blood and be left thus to die.
There are to be 30 pashas (military officers) from the provinces, without purple, with their turbans, thus with simple, black linen which is seen to have been previously dipped in the blood of Jews and asses, and without sabres, in whose place they are to have one hand bound at their backs, holding in it a camel-tail which is to drag along the ground behind them.
3000 Janissairies (elite infantrymen), without armor and weapons, holding staffs in their hands and dragging them on the ground behind them, are to follow and constantly cry out, “Allah, bize rahmed cile,” or “God, show us thy mercy!”
A chest with asper coins (small coins of silver) that they strew on the ground is to be carried along, but under penalty of death by the spear no one may pick them up before the procession has passed.
The mass of the people is to bring up the rear, and in their midst are to be 100 “Sankoni,” or hermits who cut their faces, eyes and breasts with knives, crying out, “Allah Jekfah, ja Allah erhaman,” that is, “Enough, o God! O thou merciful God!”
From the Latin (Reinecke’s reaction):
What blindness! Does this kind of penance comport with the Word of God? Is this kind of process prescribed in Sacred Scripture? Does blood flowing from the scourgings, thorns and knives of Turks, and the gore of asses, purge the bloody consciences of the Mohammedans? Is pardon from God sought and achieved through the superstitious homicides and extremely cruel murders of Jews and Christians? Is this the way to find grace from an angry God and not, rather, a means of whetting the sword of divine anger and provoking Him to immediate vengeance? O bloody penance, to be detested in every way!
Kenz300 on Mon, 29th Aug 2016 6:23 am
Does KSA support radical Islam ?
Does KSA support religious extremism?
Boat on Mon, 29th Aug 2016 12:48 pm
Niger Delta Red Squad Strikes Oil Pipeline In Imo
“We have crude oil, gas, palm oil, rubber estate, which we use to put food in the basket of Imo State, yet we don’t benefit anything from Imo State or the oil companies in our commu-nity.
We have seen enough marginalization and it has to be stopped.” Continuing, the group said, “To Imo State government and their security agencies, we ask you to give our people what rightfully belong to them.
You think the best thing you can do is to plan on how to deploy security men to our area. No problem, Rochas Okorocha, we are assuring you that no security agent will come to any part of Awarra and go without being beheaded”.
http://thestreetjournal.org/2016/08/niger-delta-red-squad-strikes-oil-pipeline/
Boat on Mon, 29th Aug 2016 1:09 pm
Under Russia’s New Extremism Laws, Liking My Writings On Ukraine Could Mean Jail Terms
Recent convictions are of “extremists,” who question the legality of the Crimean annexation and who believe that Donbass “separatists” are directed by the Russian state. Condemned extremists include a 46-year-old single mother sentenced to 320 hours of corrective labor for reposting an “insulting and degrading” Putin look-alike, holding a knife over a map of Ukraine’s Donbas region. An engineer was sentenced to 27 months in prison for reposting “Crimea is Ukraine.” The director of a Library of Ukrainian Literature was charged with extremism after “anti-Russian” books were allegedly discovered in its collection.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2016/08/29/under-russias-new-extremism-laws-liking-my-writings-on-ukraine-could-mean-jail-terms/#73c0c9293f09
Alas, no trips to Russia or jail time for me. Why is that little feller so paranoid. To protest against something you don’t agree with is human nature. To try and control that person is begging for trouble.