West Asia News and Discussions

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deejay
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by deejay »

He is back in Beirut.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

persia, egypt and the levant are a layer of islam overlaid on what are old mature civilizations with trading and learning roots.
its no surprise given the right env they continue to produce people of high caliber in all fields incl stem.

about the arabian peninsula I guess the nabateans in petra was as close as they got to a indigenous high civilization. the romans under trajan destroyed it around 100AD and things moved back entirely to desert roots.

one thing is entire arabian peninsula lacks a single perennial river, big or small. no high civilization in history has risen without a life giving river. egypt would be like mauritania or chad without the Nile. the tigris euphrates region is said to be birthplace of organized grain farming.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

Al Waleed hung upside down: American mercenaries blamed
Source in Saudi Arabia says American private security contractors are carrying out'interrogations' on princes and billionaires arrested in crackdown
Detained members of Saudi elite have been hung by their feet and beaten by interrogates, source says
Among those hung upside down are Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an investor worth at least $7 billion who is being held at Riyadh's Ritz Carlton
Arrests were ordered three weeks ago by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Source claims mercenaries are from 'Blackwater', a claim also made by Lebanese president
But its successor firm denies it has any operations in Saudi Arabia whatsoever and says its staff abide by U.S. law
'They are beating them, torturing them, slapping them, insulting them. They want to break them down,' the source told DailyMail.com. The Saudi crown prince, according to the source, has also confiscated more than $194 billion from the bank accounts and seized assets of those arrested.
All the guards in charge are private security because MBS (Mohammed Bin Salman) doesn't want Saudi officers there who have been saluting those detainees all their lives,' said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
'Outside the hotels where they are being detained you see the armored vehicles of the Saudi special forces. But inside, it's a private security company.
'They've transferred all the guys from Abu Dhabi. Now they are in charge of everything,' said the source.
The source said that Salman, often referred to by his initials MBS, is conducting some of the interrogations himself.
'When it's something big he asks them questions,' the source said.
'He speaks to them very nicely in the interrogation, and then he leaves the room, and the mercenaries go in. The prisoners are slapped, insulted, hung up, tortured.'
DailyMail.com's source claims the crown prince lulled Alwaleed into a false sense of security, inviting him to a meeting at his Al Yamamah palace, then sent officers to arrest him the night before the meeting.
'Suddenly at 2.45am all his guards were disarmed, the royal guards of MBS storm in,' said the source.
'He's dragged from his own bedroom in his pajamas, handcuffed, put in the back of an SUV, and interrogated like a criminal.
'They hung them upside down, just to send a message.
'They told them that "we've made your charges public, the world knows that you've been arrested on these charges."'
After the arrests, a picture was given to DailyMail.com of the Saudi royals sleeping on thin mattresses in the ballroom of the five star Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

The Mad Bull Salman-uddin is surely fast tracking his appointment with his "72s".Not that he needs them at all!
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

deejay wrote:He is back in Beirut.
From moonofalabama article

Hariri's two youngest children, 16 and 12 years old, are kept hostage in Saudi Arabia. After the recent trip to Paris his wife also returned to Riyadh. The French President Macron had intervened and Hariri was allowed to leave Saudi Arabia. But Macron failed (intentionally?) to free him from Saudi influence. Hariri's financial means and his family are under control of the Saudi tyrant. He is not free in any of his political, business and personal decisions.

Hariri is pressed to now drive a political hardline against Hizbullah in Lebanon. He knows that this can not be successful but his mischievous Saudi minder, the Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer, does not understand this. His boss, MbS, believes that the whole world can and should be run the same way he wants to run his country.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

France is the crusader era ruler of lebanon and palestine and has links to mid east jews and christians. I think some of the elites of that region are french nobles blood in part.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

Reuters excerpt

DUBAI (Reuters) - The vast majority of about 200 businessmen and officials implicated in a sweeping crackdown on corruption are agreeing to settlements under which they hand over assets to the government, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the New York Times.

“We show them all the files that we have and as soon as they see those about 95 percent agree to a settlement,” which means signing over cash or shares in their companies to the Saudi Treasury, the newspaper quoted Prince Mohammed as saying.

“About 1 percent are able to prove they are clean and their case is dropped right there. About 4 percent say they are not corrupt and with their lawyers want to go to court."

Prince Mohammed repeated a previous official estimate that the government could eventually recover around $100 billion of illicit money through settlements.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

"Nobles?" Pirates, adventurers, and invaders more likely!
But yes, layers of empires and civilisations one over the other.Iraq/Sumeria was the birthplace for our era of post-Diluvial civilisation after the great Flood.There was a migration from Sumeria into Egypt a v.long time ago which is depicted in a remote valley in Egypt showing hundreds of paintings of Sumerian boats and occupants.They waited for the annual Nile flooding to use their boats across the desert.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

there's even a elite political family Franjieh or Frangieh in lebanon whose surname might come from Franks(france)

the french nobles and warlords established colonies on the coast and ruled these prosperous trading cities along the Med coast. later the sword of islam evicted them all.
UlanBatori
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

OK, Egypt is not in Asia, but what's with the excitement in the Sinai? 235 killed inside mosque, ambulances ambushed... Did the ISIS get confused? No Coptic churches left to hit?
ramana
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Shia [/strike Sufi ]mosque hit in Cairo.

So now it's Arabs vs Turks.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by SSridhar »

UlanBatori wrote:OK, Egypt is not in Asia, but what's with the excitement in the Sinai? 235 killed inside mosque, ambulances ambushed... Did the ISIS get confused? No Coptic churches left to hit?
The ISIS also attacks its own if they are Sufi. That is what has happened. The extreme ideology of the salafists, wahhabis, deobandis & kharrajis
don't tolerate any other sects of Islam. We have seen in our neighbourhood dozens of attacks on Sufi shrines in Pakistan.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by disha »

^^ The Cairo mosque is a 'Sufi mosque'. For peace to prevail., there should be more Sufi Mosques in Saudi Barbaria.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

Reminds me of 1999, when Mohterma Christianne Amanpour, then of CNN, stood inside an L-e-T mosque in LaHore on a Wednesday and pointed to the empty interior. "Because the Gentle Sufis are more of less secular and don't even come to the mosque".
Buggers brought FORTY sh1ts with machine guns, and took their time finishing off the faithful during fridin noon brayers.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by rsingh »

There is an very old synagogue in Cairo old quarters. It was heavily guarded by mean looking guards. Three rings of security. That was before IS. So Egyptians are not naive. But green on green is something new for them. Police was highly trained and well equipped. They are very visible.....on every corner (at tourist places at least).
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

This looks like a hit orchestrated by the godfther/s of ISIS, the Soothi Wahaabis of Barbaria,who've just taken over the country by a clown prince. The new war against thd Shiites and Iran has begun.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Philip, Sufis are Turkish mullahs.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Malayappan »

In Egypt, Furious Retaliation but Failing Strategy in Sinai
Egypt under (broader) West Asia? Taking that liberty and posting here!
The twitter comment that directed to this article is worth quoting - by Richard Haas -
Hard to read this without a strong sense of foreboding about Egypt. Large fast-growing population, lack of prospects for many, heavy-handed security forces, little space for political opposition, dependence on foreign subsidies. future looking grim - Tweet by Richard Haas
“Many Egyptians west of the Suez don’t consider the Bedouin to be fully Egyptian,” Mr. Miller, the analyst, said. “They have poorer educational and employment opportunities, and they are largely shut out of government jobs and the security services.”

Another interesting one -
Some speak nostalgically of more effective governance when the peninsula was under Israeli control
The article itself contains interesting observations on counterinsurgency - most of it BR folks are familiar with!
Also present are some insights into the cracks in the society there. Anyone who might have interacted with Egyptians living and working in that part of the world could easily relate to.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/senior- ... eststories

prince Miteb has been released after admitting to corruption charges and paying a fine of over $1 billion
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Karthik S »

Singha wrote:https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/senior- ... eststories

prince Miteb has been released after admitting to corruption charges and paying a fine of over $1 billion
According to Forbes, he was worth $100m in 2013. How he could pay $1B fine?

https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/en/lis ... arab-2013/
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by JE Menon »

>>According to Forbes, he was worth $100m in 2013.

A potential candidate for kingship in Saudi, worth $100m less than 5 years ago! Really. Sometimes the incompetence of magazines like Forbes, Fortune, the Economist, and the rest, is bewildering.

Whether he paid $1 billion is another matter. As was predicted in this thread some few pages ago, most of the detained will settle. The rest, won't be many, will be incarcerated or killed. You won't hear much of them, except in an article or two a couple of years down the line with titles like "Prince ABC - The Forgotten Royal", or "Shaikh XYZ - A Tycoon's Tragedy"... Nobody will give a sh1t.

To get a taste of what I mean, please read this. It is in the Russian context, but neither the dynamics nor the accuracy of the forecast can be seriously challenged:

https://swarajyamag.com/world/the-killi ... face-value
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

So endeth the Saleh lesson. He double-crossed his people.embraced the Soothis and forsooth,his new venture was indeed shortlived! (if the reprt istrue). The Yemen War will only escalate with Clown Prince of the KSA,Mad Bull Salman-udoin set upon jousting with the Iranians ,his mortal Shiite enemy.With so many of new enemies created at home,many languishing in the Saudi ,Riyadh version of Abu Ghraib,the Ritz-Carlton,the would-be Sunni latter-day pretender to the reputation of Salau-ud-din-the-great must remember that "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown".


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... h-fighting

Former Yemen president Saleh 'killed in fresh fighting'
Houthi rebels blow up home of erstwhile ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, prompting unconfirmed reports he has been killed
Ali Abdullah Saleh
Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh severed his alliance with the Houthis at the weekend. Photograph: Hani Mohammed/AP

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Monday 4 December 2017 14.13 GMT Last modified on Monday 4 December 2017 14.14 GMT
Saudi-led coalition war planes bombed Yemen’s capital on Monday as Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, blew up the house of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, prompting unconfirmed reports that he had been killed.

The radio station of the Houthi-run interior ministry said Saleh – a former ally of the rebels who switched sides in recent days – had been killed by militiamen after his house was destroyed in fierce fighting in the capital, Sana’a.

Unverified video footage circulated by Yemeni social media users and a Houthi-run TV station appeared to a show the corpse of a man resembling Saleh.

More than 125 civilians have been killed and 238 injured in clashes in Sana’a in the last five days, in the latest disastrous turn for Yemen’s three-year civil war. The fresh violence comes after the sudden collapse of the political and military alliance between the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Saleh. The two groups had held Sana’a for the past two years.

The high casualty figures were given by the International Red Cross, which also warned it was struggling to keep the hospital functioning in Sana’a and access its warehouse of medical supplies.

The distribution of humanitarian aid across the country is already fraught, with seven million people dependent on aid in what the UN has described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. The civil war has so far claimed 10,000 lives.

On Saturday, Saleh gave a televised address in effect announcing that he was swapping sides in the civil war, and would be seeking a dialogue with the Saudi and United Arab Emirates-led coalition that he had been fighting alongside the Houthis since 2015. The Saudis have sought to reinstall the UN-recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and defeat the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a Middle East-wide power struggle that has the potential to envelop the whole region in a war.

It is widely thought that UAE diplomats persuaded the 75-year-old Saleh to swap sides.

“Yemeni citizens have tried to tolerate the recklessness of the Houthi over the last two-and-a-half years but cannot anymore,” Saleh said in his TV address, and ordered forces loyal to him in the capital to stop taking instructions from the Shia Houthi rebels.

The alliance of convenience between Saleh and the Houthis has been close to collapse for months, with claims that Houthis tried to kill Saleh’s son.


Hadi also ordered forces loyal to him – mainly based in the southern city of Aden – to capitalise on the disarray in the opposition and advance north to Houthi positions. Hadi’s staff also said they will offer an amnesty to anyone that has collaborated with the Houthi regime.

Saleh’s conversion was immediately welcomed by the Saudis and the UAE.

It is widely thought that they had been engineering his conversion for months after they became disillusioned with Hadi’s leadership, and looked for a new way to break the political and military deadlock. Hadi has been living in exile in Riyadh, and there are reports that he now has little independence from Saudi control.

Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia foresaw that their intervention in Yemen would prove so costly or protracted, so Saleh’s volte face could represent a political breakthrough if his forces do not capitulate to the Houthi militia in Sana’a.

Saudi-led coalition planes have been targetting Houthi-held positions in the capital for two days in a bid to force the Houthis back. Targets have included Houthi bases near the airport and the interior ministry. But the loss of Saleh’s house suggests Saudi air power is not enough to win the battle in the streets.

Riyadh’s determination to crush the Houthis hardened last month after an Iranian-made missile was fired from Houthi positions at Saudi Arabia’s international airport in Riyadh, the first attack so close to a large civilian population in the Saudi capital. Saudi Arabia responded by mounting a three-week long blockade of commercial goods entering Houthi-controlled ports, prompting widespread shortages.

At the weekend, the UN secretary general, Antonio Gutteres, again called for the Saudis to fully lift the blockade. Some humanitarian food aid has been allowed to the enter the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah.

US and UK ministers met foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE last week to discuss Yemen, and to press for an end to the blockade. Riyadh has so far been unwilling to lift restrictions and critics claim it is part of the Saudis’ desperate push to end the war.

Since the elevation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has taken up more aggressive foreign policy positions on Lebanon, Syria, Qatar and the Palestinian territories in what it sees as a much over-due push back against Iranian expansionism.

Iranian support for the Houthis is part of a pattern of interference in Syria on behalf of President Bahar al-Assad, and in Lebanon in support of Hezbollah forces.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

i wonder if some mole in his chain of command was activated, else he would be heavily guarded and reside in protected sites only.

houthis seem to be a resilient lot.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

SIngha, What does this mean to the Yemen?

Houthis have eliminated the KSA negotiator amidst them.

I read his convoy was shot at in a checkpoint manned by Houthis.

Who controls Sana now?

---
Reading Philip's post looks like
- KSA reached out to Saleh via UAE as they are disillusioned with Hadis who is living with them.
- Hadis controls South Yemen Aden etc.
- Saleh controls Sana.
- Looks like Saleh killing eliminates the KSA card in Yemen and Iran gains.
_ Expect UAE to get hit once Houthis consolidate Yemen.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by IndraD »

^ from what is understood....
Saleh had an understanding with Houthis.
This was broken by him when he seeked Saudi help (hence US) to achieve a truce in Yemen,
Flash point was Yemen al Youm mosque controlled so far by GPC (party led by Saleh).
This mosque was at centre of contention and rivals (Houthi vs rest) fought street to street battle in Sanah
It was eventually captured by Houthis.
Houthis also raided the state TV office the same day, soon after Saleh was assassinated.
Yemen since long has become land of proxy war between Saudi & Iran.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by IndraD »

Before UAE, Oman will get involved in flash burn as well , no?
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

Oman has been keeping out of this fight. they are the most pragmatic and trade-friendly/semi-indic of the arabs. they are also close to UK which might have tipped them off to avoid getting into the ground war.

Saleh had the army's republican guard on his side who presumably controlled the SSM and ASM holdings. if missiles are still flying toward KSA, it means the houthis have some holding and the trained people (deserters?) to operate such complex weapons.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

https://muraselon.com/en/2017/12/breaki ... eh-report/

body of saleh wrapped in a blanket back of a pickup truck
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by SSridhar »

UAE, Saudi Arabia forming new group, separate from GCC - Economic Times
The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday announced it has formed a new economic and partnership group with Saudi Arabia, separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a move that could undermine the council amid a diplomatic crisis with member state Qatar.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry announcement, just hours ahead of a GCC meeting in Kuwait, said the new "joint cooperation committee" was approved by the UAE's ruler and president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately report on the new partnership.

It wasn't immediately clear how the development could affect the six-member GCC meeting, which is expected to focus on the Qatar issue. Half of the GCC members are boycotting Doha in a dispute that's cleaved the Arabian Peninsula.

The Emirati ministry said the new ``committee is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the interest of the two countries.''

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have cultivated even-closer ties in recent years. Emirati troops are deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nayhan, also is believed to have a closer relationship with Saudi Arabia's young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Emirati announcement did not say whether any other Gulf Arab countries would be invited to join the new group but the development puts pressure the GCC, a group of American-allied Gulf Arab nations formed in part in 1981 as a counterbalance to Shiite power Iran.


The United States and its European allies all have told the council's members that the region remains stronger with them working together as a whole, while the countries themselves still appear divided over their future.

The fact the GCC meeting in Kuwait was to take place at all is a bit of a surprise, given the unusually sharp criticism among the typically clubby members of the GCC pointed at Doha.

"This is the most important annual summit the GCC has held for more than two decades,'' said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. "The GCC needs to illustrate its relevance after having been bypassed at every stage of the Qatar crisis.''

The dispute began in June, following what Qatar described as a hack of its state-run news agency that saw incendiary comments attributed to its ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Soon after, GCC members Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates closed off their airspace and seaports to Qatar, as well as the small peninsular nation's sole land border with Saudi Arabia.

The boycott initially reeled Doha, though it soon replaced food products with those flown in from Turkey and Iran.

However, Qatar's foreign reserves have dropped by some $10 billion _ a fifth of their value _ since the dispute began. Those reserves are crucial in supporting the nation's riyal, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar, as well as funding the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup that Doha will host.

For boycotting nations, they allege Qatar funds extremist groups and has too-cozy ties to Iran. Qatar has long denied funding extremists but it restored full diplomatic ties with Iran during the crisis. Doha shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran that gives its citizens the highest per-capita income in the world.

A similar dispute involving Qatar erupted in 2014. But this time positions have hardened against Qatar, whose support for Islamist opposition groups has angered the Arab nations now boycotting it. The UAE in particular views Islamists as a threat to hereditary rule in its federation of seven sheikhdoms. Egypt, angered by Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood and the nation's deposed President Mohammed Morsi, is also boycotting Doha.

The U.S., which has some 10,000 troops stationed at Qatar's sprawling al-Udeid Air Base as part of its campaign against the Islamic State group and the war in Afghanistan, also has sought to end the crisis. Its military has halted some regional exercises to put pressure on the GCC to resolve the crisis. However, President Donald Trump in the meantime made comments seemingly supporting the Arab nations' efforts at isolating Qatar, complicating those efforts.

A Trump-prompted call in September between Qatar's Sheikh Tamim and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that offered a chance at negotiations also broke down in mutual recriminations.

Kuwait's 88-year-old emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, has tried to mediate the dispute, so far without success. However, Kuwait appeared in recent days to secure promises from the GCC to attend its annual high-level summit.

It remains in question who will attend from each member state. Bahrain had sworn it would not attend any meeting that featured Qatar, though a lower-level official attended a meeting of GCC foreign ministers on Monday in Kuwait City. Qatar's Shiekh Tamim already committed to attending, while Oman said another official would represent Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

But the GCC meeting also represents more than just the Qatar crisis. The long-stalemated Saudi-led war in Yemen suffered a new setback with the death Monday of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who recently defected from the Shiite rebels holding its capital.

Meanwhile, a new generation of Gulf leaders is rising, like Saudi Arabia's assertive 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed, who launched the Yemen war and has been more confrontational with Iran.

``The Saudi camp is seeking to commit the Gulf states to a hard-line anti-Iran policy and adherence to Saudi leadership,'' Ayham Kamel, the head of the Middle East and North Africa division of the Eurasia Group, wrote in an analysis published Tuesday. ``While the UAE believes its interests are best served by an alliance with Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain is compelled to follow Riyadh's lead, the other Gulf states are much more hesitant to do so.''
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

"What's -his-name",the former Paki army chief must be polishing his bootstraps in anticipation of a nod from the pretender to Salauddin-the-great,MB Salman-uddin,to take up his sword and in true Paki fashion lead the motley bunch of GCC camel drivers (remember the Paki "tribals" who were routed in Kashmir?) towards the enemy. But which enemy? The Houthis? Syrians? Turds? or perhaps the Persians?! While MBS would love it,even Saddam couldn't defeat the Shiite hordes.Fat chance Salman and his Paki catamite will!
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Philip, The world news segment was reporting that Saleh and his followers all killed.
Houthis now dominate Sana and declared end to the civil war in Yemen.

I guess we should read this with new GCC being formed that SS posted above.


I think of the two KSA and UAE, the Houthis will go after KSA as its nearer and striking at the heart of Sunni system is more profitable.
UAE is periphery.
I think the Houthis are now battle hardened.

S Sridhar
``The Saudi camp is seeking to commit the Gulf states to a hard-line anti-Iran policy and adherence to Saudi leadership,'' Ayham Kamel, the head of the Middle East and North Africa division of the Eurasia Group, wrote in an analysis published Tuesday. ``While the UAE believes its interests are best served by an alliance with Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain is compelled to follow Riyadh's lead, the other Gulf states are much more hesitant to do so.''
So other than the KSA, UAE and Bahrain who are in the GCC?

I thought demographics wise, UAE is Shia population ruled by Sunni chief.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by IndraD »

I see it this way...
GCC is Sunni Islamic club.
Qatar tried to be pal with Iran (Shia) hence was kicked out.
Interesting that Doha is HQ of GCC (long live for it is effectively dead).
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

If Saleh is dead, isn't that victory for Hadi? My sense is that Salman The Brilliant will now arrange an accident for Hadi. But it looks like Iran may boost help to Houthis and assume greater role. No Iranian/Russian air power in sight though - so I don't see how Houthis can make KSA back off, short of destroying several air bases - and then US-Poodlestan raids may continue.
SSridhar
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by SSridhar »

The GCC started off as a military alliance against a Shia Iran and to support Iraq in its war against Iran. The Shia fear is at the heart of current dispute also. But, how ironical it is that the same Shia factor has now dismantled the GCC!
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by periaswamy »

So now Trumperoonie has throw in a molotov cocktail in West Asia by supporting Israel's claim to Jerusalem -- will all the Arab states and Turkey gang up against Israel or will their internal conflicts take precedence?

Iran has always wanted to stake claim to being "leader of the islamic world" and makes nuclear threats against israel. KSA and Israel work together in places like Syria, and Erdogan makes threats against some other country, whether it is USA or Russia, depending on the day of the week. So plenty of divisive agendas at work.

It is also clear none of the Arab states really give a damn about Palestine all that much (they would allow palestinians to migrate to their lands freely if they actually cared) -- their "concern" for palestine is just a convenient mask for they hatred for Jews and Israel. So chances are the palestinian issue will not take precedence until this whole shia-sunni rivalry is resolved on way or another. Houthis are probably itching for some payback to KSA for KSA's recent actions in Yemen.
UlanBatori
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

Beat me 2 it. DT has really thrown a long Molotov Cocktain touchdown pass with this - but after seeing that the opposition is nicely tangled up in their own mijjiles.

On the one hand it should shove a nice wedge between the Jewish populations in Noo Yoik, New Jersey etc, dividing diehard Democrat Trump-haters from swooning Zionists adoring the NaranjaBandar for enabling a centuries-old dream. He's kept a MAJOR election promise, taking a huge risk - and as periaswamy says, there's diddly-squat that the Ummah can do about it. OTOH, it gives Eyeran a huge boost as leader of the Ummah and shows KSA in VERY poor light: absolutely no influence in DupleeCity, cowardly etc etc. Philistines will be out for blood even more than usual - and going by the fate of the Yemeni neta, the consequences for the rulers of Jordan and KSA seem dangerous.

So 3 down (actually 4 because DT never agreed with T-Party rants against ObamaCare): tax cut, now Jerusalem, and the SCOTUS has completely approved his Moo Travel Ban. If I were NoKo I would reach for the Rolaids and PeptoBismol. Da Man means what he says.

BTW, OT but the tax reform as passed by Senate seems actually pretty good. $24K standard exemption for M-F-J and effective 12-15% cut in taxes beyond that!

Added later: SeeEnnEnn reports that DT is now declaring that he will broker an Israel-Philistine Biss deal :rotfl:
Last edited by UlanBatori on 06 Dec 2017 08:21, edited 1 time in total.
ramana
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

This Molotov will also set fire to locals in US.
UlanBatori
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

Well... travel ban looks wiser by the second if u think along those lines. The soosai lines will be getting longer. I am shocked :eek: Doesn't this call for a lot of buses to be burned in LaHore this fridin afternoon, hain? Maybe in B'luru too.
UlanBatori
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

Just a thought: Is Mueller a Jewish name I wonder.
Philip
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

Trillion $ Q.Will the Muslims ever combine and unite against Israel/US over the Jerusalem status? The "Arabs" never united even when "Orenz" led then into Damascus!
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