Caviar and Coups

Just remembered that when I left Bahrain last and returned to London in March 1981, I had a tin of iced Iranian caviar with me. It was a gift to me from a merchant in the Suq, that I'd hunted up specifically as a gift for my upstairs neighbor at the grotty garret. 

I had to laugh today thinking that it was so easy to get Iranian caviar at the very time when you chaps were practicing your fictional terrorist operation (which I used to call your phony coup) and cooking up some blame for Iran. It's funny, that.



#FalseFlag #Coup #FictionalTerroristOperation #Bahrain #Caviar #BlameIran #London #Helpfromspecialfriends 

Is Trump's Syria Withdrawal Order a Quid Pro Quo for Russian Election Help? Really?

This is hard to understand, how a well-educated and widely read and respected reporter puts forth a ridiculous Russian conspiracy. Man, oh man, this seems like something one would hear in a small old-fashioned coffee shop in the old suq of Manama where the wi-fi is somehow interrupted. The thing is: 1000's of well-educated and important people read the extensive coverage given to certain events she provides. 

I daily read a substantive, somewhat progressive blog about politics and security led by an expert document analyst who links directly to sources for facts, and a team – each with his/her own expertise -- who has worked together for years in different online formats and venues. I think it’s one of the best blogs using documentary evidence in narrow scope within their areas, with a sophisticated narrative.

 However, it is not the only academically expert independent blog about politics and security and it’s become apparent to me that the lead blogger is not an expert in the complexities of the Middle East, nor are the other team members. Her summary of the conspiracy she believes the Mueller investigation will uncover, and as such she continues to promote to this very day, is that Trump is pulling the U.S. military out of Syria as Russia’s reward for its supposed interference in the 2016 election to get him elected, and that the agreement to do so was made manifest the minute he was sworn.

She’s covered a number of substantive issues and I greatly respect her work generally, but when she puts out opinion rather than documentation on Syria, when she advocates for continued U.S. presence there under any pretense, when it’s apparent that she doesn’t read deeply informed opinion such as she can give on her own research subjects, it lowers the quality of her work. It’s removed from documents. She fell for White Hat propaganda about chemical/gas attacks, repeatedly. Her crusade against Russia and Turkey is not quite up to the Mad Cow Maddow standard, but it approaches.

I don’t prefer to argue with her or her colleagues, especially the one whose habit is to demean those who disagree with their vaunted opinions. I don't seek the attention. I won’t name her, but I’m not going to sit still, see the crap folded in with the caviar.

She evidently believes war should be continued because Sultan Erdogan says he will bury the terrorist PKK-aligned Kurds in ditches after the U.S. leaves. She maybe never saw huffing and puffing, man-strutting. She leaves out the complex relationships between the parties in the war and went straight for the R2P propaganda line. She apparently doesn’t read the on-the-ground war reporting done by those with more years of experience than she has; there’s a couple with years of experience with online presence and summaries on Twitter.

So she says that Trump is basically allowing Kurds to be killed by Turks because either the Russians or the Turks or both have compromising evidence of actions taken by Trump which could be released and cause him more legal and political troubles. 

She certainly doesn't understand why Erdogan has gone after Mohammed Salman for murdering Jamal Khashoggi, not even the nutshell version that Bonesaw is unfit for service in defense of the Holy Mosques including Jerusalem. She doesn't appreciate the wily Sultan.

Her team must be backing up her uninformed speculative opinion or they would argue with her in the commentary. I despise Trump too, for a long and lengthening list of dodgy actions he’s taken in the interests of himself and his spawn. However, I think it’s beyond silly to think that removing troops from Syria is a gift to Russia.

It’s a gift to Syria, but a small one, like a slice of good chocolate cake. It doesn’t mean that the schemes against Syria -- of the Turks, Kurds, Israelis, Kushner and Bolton-led neocons along with some dollar diplomacy from Mo Zayed and Bonesaw -- will just fade away. 

Mujtahidd says Bonesaw wants to be Warrior Prince of a big war with American bombs and bombers following his and Mo Zayed's catastrophic failure in Yemen, whilst Netanyahoo and Trump both need a serious diversion to escape pending legal woes. He suggested that the Mattis's resignation as Sec Def wasn't merely in opposition to Trump's demand that the troops be removed from Syria since "We've defeated ISIS except for one percent that neighbor Turkey" will clean out, but because Trump is determined to attack Iran and Mattis knows that Iran will retaliate against our forces and interests in the Persian Gulf. 

Trump doesn't care, then, because he owes favors to whoever has been pulling his anti-Iran strings for money. Maybe he is pulling U.S. troops out of Syria to clear the path for Israel to start another war it can't fight for itself. I don't know. He's got some issues.

If only things were so simple as U.S. troops and mercenaries getting out of a mess we sure don’t need in Syria after years of kowtowing to wingnuts -- and all as a favor to Russia from Trump because they engaged in activity promoting his candidacy. It’s hard to believe a serious blog would put out tripe like that.

#Trump #Bonesaw #Syria #Russia #Bolton #Israel #Kushner #Netanyahoo #Iran #FalseFlag #MoZayed #MohammedBinZayed

#MohammedBinSalman #Bahrain #Manama #Diplomacy #GunboatDiplomacy #Bribery #ConspiracyTheories #Payoff #Mattis #PersianGulf #Dubai #Kurds #Maddow #MadCowMaddow #Yemen #JamalKhashoggi #Turkey #Erdogan

Why Would You Kiss Netanyahoo's Hand?

Please, please don't do it. Please don't give into Israel-firsters Sheldon Adelson and Kushner's dirty deal for the Palestinians and Jordan. 

You've already kissed the ass of killer Mohammed Bonesaw with favorable publicity following the state murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 

Please do not betray the Arabs whose land, water, oil, olive trees and homes have been stolen by Israelis under cover of "security."

Please don't bow down to that dirty dog Netanyahoo and his Zionist land-and-resource stealing government. Please do not bring that dog to Bahrain and kiss his hand and the underhanded takeover of all Palestine, of Al Aqsa and all of Al Quds, of the ruthless murdering by the rogue Israeli state of 1,000s of  innocent Palestinians.

Resist the pressure to do this unseemly and inappropriate act. You're not Sultan Qaboos. You're not trying to mediate, to be a peacemaker. Please don't do it. It's 100 percent wrong.
===============
Afterthought.When I first read your book, First Light: Modern Bahrain and Its Heritage, the lack of proofreading was obvious. This was especially so in what I thought at the time was either an egregious proofreading error or a deliberately spiteful act on the part of your ghostwriter. I was personally offended on your behalf. You can find it in the 1st English edition published in 1994 by Kegan Paul International Limited, London, at 94:23:12-13. Two words. I guess that's what you must be doing with all these demeaning acts of support to those who deserve no defense whatsoever.

Update: Spelling it out for you, even if you're angry with me. "Suck work" is apparently what you're doing now. You were told, "Suck it," and you're doing it with your eyes open. 

#Palestine #Bahrain #Israel #JaredKushner #SheldonAdelson #Jerusalem #AlAqsa #Bonesaw
#JamalKhashoggi

Dispute & Diplomacy Over 4 Persian Gulf Islands

Listening to the United Nation General Assembly speeches this week, I heard Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan demand that Iran give up possession of the strategic and resource-rich Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the two Tunbs to different historical claimants, namely the states of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaima, or, in the alternative, consent to let the International Court of Justice decide which country or countries have the right to them.

This is not a new demand. I wrote a lengthy term paper at university in the mid-1970s about the 1971 independence of Bahrain and formation in the Persian Gulf of the U.A.E. It included this matter.

( Aside: my research and result so fascinated my professor that he maintained a copy and was able to discuss it with me over 40 years later. I found that he'd used some of my work without attribution, but never mind, that happens at universities, students know it. He's gone now.)  

Most people who hear the demands of the Arab states with respect to the three islands claimed by the U.A.E and Iran do not know or recall that there were actually four Persian Gulf islands involved before Iran took control of the three disputed islands. The fourth was the British Protectorate of Bahrain, ruled in some aspects by the Sunni Al Khalifa family for over 180 years by 1971, but also by other countries historically, including Iran. 

The matter is multi-dimensional but a pedestrian summary would include: Bahrain had and has a majority Shia population with religious, family and other ties to Iran; aspirations for freedom, equality and dignity by the entire population, but especially the under-served Shia segments and those who know discrimination in many ways; a plebiscite asking if Bahrainis wanted to align with Iran or be independent; they heard promises from your family and the Brits of a constitution and rights and chose independence; the U.K. made a secret deal with the Shah, trading independence for Bahrain -- rather than restoration of Bahrain as a historical Iranian province -- for the restoration of Iran's historic right to Abu Musa and the two Tunbs. 

Influential factors have now changed. One of importance is that there's a Bahrain causeway connected to historical Bahrain some 18 miles long with special lanes for members of certain tribes on both sides. Tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled across that bridge to help your family and friends maintain power in 2011, and remain to this day, along with paid mostly Sunni mercenaries from other countries used to alter the demographic balance and suppress dissent in all forms.

To be fair to Iran, if the original 1971 deal is to be renegotiated, if the two member states of the U.A.E. who claim Abu Musa, Lesser and Major Tunbs AND the fourth island, Bahrain, all want to do what's fair, then the causeway built by the malign actor Saudi Arabia and a debt trap, must be immediately given to Iran, along with the full extent of territory stolen from the Arab Shia population by the Al Sauds in their historical rampage across Arabia. 

The planned causeway to Qatar could be built and Bahrain, then aligned with Iran, could share in the immense gas wealth and form a new, peaceful partnership. The fishermen of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah could resume fishing or buy shares in luxury hotels to be built on the islands.

You want something significant, then you give something significant, right? That's what happens in negotiations between equals. Some underestimate their opponent.

#Bahrain #UAE #SaudiArabia #UK #Sharjah #RasAlKhaimah #AbuMusa #Tunbs #Hormuz #StraitofHormuz #Iran #Qatar #Oil #PersianGulf