Piano Welsher

When we get to thinking about one thing and it reminds us of another and teaches us something ...

I've been without a piano now for over a year and a half because the grotty apartment could not take the weight and I was not allowed what I love most after my child.

 I miss it every day and it rips up another little piece of my heart, as it did today when I heard a piece on classical KING-FM that I learned from Mildred Coleman's patience with an untrained, grown student after my six free lessons.

I thought about when I bought my first piano having never had a lesson. Age 19 while being a nanny to four children for a local celebrity family. Wrote songs on it starting 1972 after you and I  rendevoused when you were graduating from Command and General Staff School in Ft. Leavenworth. I had to sell it during university years in Seattle to pay tuition one term for the B.A. in Arabic language and literature, Near Eastern Studies before leaving for London and graduate school. 

I thought about the passing of a fellow student at S.O.A.S. who gave me a full-harp upright piano when I was living in the Duke Street 5th-floor flat which Major Johnson called a grotty garret. I played that piano for years, until I left London in 1985 with my child and returned Stateside.

And then ... I thought about the fact that you didn't give me a piano to play all those months I was in Bahrain. When you were 17 and I was 18, we talked about my longing throughout the entirety of my childhood for a piano and was not allowed to have one. You promised me that I'd never be without one again.

You welshed on that promise, too. You even welshed when I was in Bahrain for five months in 1980 and 1981. There was no piano in the apartment, admittedly which you did not provide for me, but that is not the point. It really is the least that you could have done while you were busy planning a fictional terrorist operation and blaming it on Iran. 

I deserved the fun, damn it. I still do.

I gave up my music to study what pleased you, years and years of it. You couldn't even keep your word about the fucking piano.

I want you to be a peacemaker, but you're welshing on that too and it could be the best thing you could do in your life.

#Bahrain #HamadbinIsaAlKhalifa #London #Seattle #Piano #Welsher #Liar 

Birthday Wish for 2019: Regime Change by Trump in Bahrain?

I might have hinted that my birthday wish for you this year, as in some past years, is that you abdicate. I'm feeling it again this year.

Of course that wish is for the event to be peaceful, with your considered consent and with the best possible outcome for Bahrain.

That outcome does not include the presence on the islands of the military and forces sent by your good friends and in-laws in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. As long as those thugs control Bahrain, there's no chance of peace. I wrote about this a couple years ago so, rather than rewrite in different words, the link to that post is below. 

I'd only change it a bit, anyway. Now I'd suggest to President Trump that the path to his much-desired Nobel Prize lies not in North Korea, but in bringing true representative leadership to the tiniest Arab country in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain. It could be a fine example in the neighborhood. It won't take long. Hell, it wouldn't take a hot breath for Trump to open your jails and appoint an acting president of the Republic of Bahrain, which the U.S. can recognize instead of your self-created monarchy. It could serve as Trump's Grenada.

You could still move your whole gang to Nadj, live the good life there, build same-size villas for all your wives, chase around the desert and then the Pakistani woodlands for bustards with your Jeeps and peregrines. 

Golly, I could even bake you a cake, freeze it and ship it to you every year for your birthday in Nadj. It's the least I could do after advocating your peaceful abdication as an aid to Trump getting the same award that Obama got and did not deserve. It would be good for you and the Nobel very good for Trump.

https://unfundedpundit.blogspot.com/2015/12/time-for-regime-change-in-bahrain.html

#Bahrain #SaudiArabia #UAE #PresidentTrump #NobelPeacePrize #NorthKorea #PersianGulf  #RonaldReagan #Grenada #realDonaldTrump #HamadbinIsaAlKhalifa #Nadj #Abdicate #Obama #UnitedStates #Dictators #RegimeChange #TerroristSupporters #Corruption #Pakistan #Falcons #Bustard #Houbara #Hunting #RoyalIntrigue

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

Will A Caliph Take Down A Killer Prince? I Ask You.

Watching the brilliant Erdogan slowly reel out the evidence that Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud himself orchestrated the brutal torture and murder and bonesaw destruction of the body of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (God rest his soul) reminded me of a talk we had years ago. 

It was before I understood the politics involved but certainly not before you did.

Erdogan's involvement in Syria and Iraq has led some scholars and analysts (who know more than I do about history in this particular area and whose online or printed output I read) to refer to the President of Turkey as Sultan Erdogan.

Erdogan's political skills are no match for either Mohammed bin Salman or the fox who thinks no one is looking, i.e., Mohammed bin Zayed or Mo Zayed's Palestinian pit bull, Mohammed Dahlan. 

Erdogan has outfoxed our moron in the White House, got Trump's knickers in a twist because he needs the traitorous Bonesaw Al Saud for the Trump Kushner Netanyahoo Adelson "No- Palestine-Peace-Plan." Erdogan has put out irrefutable evidence that Bonesaw gave the order, was in on the multi-part, multi-man plan, and demanded the head on a platter after it was pulled out of the diplomatic bag.* 

It seems obvious that President Erdogan will accept nothing less than the removal of Bonesaw from any possibility of him inheriting the Custody of the Two Holy Mosques, as surely the immoral killer should not hold such an honor. 

It is also no secret that there is a rivalry between the Turks and the Wahhabists to lead the Sunni umma. Erdogan has proven himself time after time in the face of obstacles set upon him by you chaps in the Persian Gulf and your Western enablers.

All the bots and trolls aren't going to be enough to keep the lurid, gut-turning details of the Khashoggi murder from the majority of the people throughout the kingdoms and emirates. They may not be able to publicly condemn Bonesaw and his vile crimes against Yemen or this murder or his agreement to give away Palestine, but they're going to be made aware. They're going to know that Erdogan is providing evidence to rid the neighborhood and maybe the world of this mass killer. Erdogan is going to earn himself a lot of "good will" if he can truly take the killer down.

I was thinking about that today when I remembered that I asked you this: Do you think there will be a Caliph in our lifetime? Do you think there is a Muslim leader who could be as powerful as the Pope? I mean, other than the Shia Grand Ayatollah Khomeini was or the current Iranian Leader Ayatollah Khamanei? A Sunni leader? I know Bonesaw wants to be that leader still, but his gifts to the younger generation of dancehalls, stages now adorned with American female singers in skimpy outfits, golf buddies with the Trump cult and a silly standing wall called NEOM will not provide him with leadership skills in major Muslim countries unless he buys all the corrupt bankers, businessmen and hereditary families in those countries with Arabia's wealth while the people can't drive on the flooded streets in winter or buy a decent house in major cities.

It would be far more intriguing to discuss that subject now, at least to me.

*(Hell, considering the dialogue which has been released to the public in written form and multiple venues, it wouldn't surprise me if Bonesaw has the dead man's head stuffed like a trophy in a special little room, kinda like the stuffed giant lion or tiger, I forget which, you had mounted on a platform on the floor in the small room off your old BDF office at the Defense Ministry in the early 1980s. You know the one.)

#Erdogan #MohammedBinSalman #Bonesaw #MohammedBinZayed #MohammedDahlan #AyatollahKhomeini #Bahrain #Turkey #Caliph #Yemen #Bahrain #UAE #AlSaud #Palestine #Israel #Trump #Netanyahu #SultanErdogan

Was protecting you a gift?

I wonder if you ever realized that this suggestion was a gift from me:  that we remove ourselves from outside and your car near the beach one night to inside a Yusef bin Ahmad Kanoo villa nearby. 

I said it was the sand and then the need for a shower afterwards, even while we had been eager at the car, outside the car to be more precise. You agreed and we moved inside the house where, you may recall, there was a small dinner party in honor of your Saudi friend Prince Bandar. Somebody lost something somewhere, remember? I do. Gulf Air stewardess. We all had a good laugh about who might find what was lost.

At least one of us was aware on the beach that night that Bahrain is a small island with a lot of eyes and very fast gossip. Your enemies could have had a field day. I stopped it that time. At least one of them was at the party.

The First Marriage

You asked me every time we met if I've married again.

I did not. I never married anyone but you.

I love this photograph which you sent me along with a love letter after I was sent away from you (one of the times when I was sent away from you.) You didn't like the photo because you'd shaved off your mustache and felt that it made you look like a monkey with a cigarette in your mouth. Remember?

Chapter

Hindsight

Hindsight becomes even more clear with age, but photos and diaries plus education and interest provide not only clarity, but understanding, an important aid in writing a memoir.

It doesn't surprise me at my age to discover documentation appearing to show that various intelligence agencies, both British and American, had an interest in our relationship from the onset when we were teenagers of 15 and 16 to the last meeting at your office in the Ministry of Defense over 15 years later.

It did surprise me to identify some of those involved over 50 years after the fact, and I'm not referring to your uncles, whose sources you were well aware of.

Trust Me

Do you remember what you said when I asked you if you trust me? You'd taken my purse from my hand, opened it and looked through the contents before handing it back to me. 

"I trust you very little, my dear, and that's more than I trust most others."

I remembered what you said today as it hit me that my biggest mistake in life was directly the opposite. I trusted you more than any others, right from the beginning.

I thought the depth of our love, first love, true love, ages 15 and 16 and 16 and 17 and 17 and 18 and 25 and 26 and whenever we were together, was more than sufficient for trust. You put me in danger at 32 and still I trusted that you would keep your word subsequently.

Tell me this, please. Did you think, knowing me all those years, that I would take a story to the National Enquirer? Even understanding the recent surprise I gave you, did you honestly think at some point that someone whose heart you knew so well would join the ranks of women who'd had private relationships with foreign leaders and sold a one-page story to a supermarket tabloid?

(By the way, either your oldest son or someone acting as him expressed to my daughter a concern that details could end up in the Seattle Times. I pointed out no such thing had happened in decades and was unlikely to happen then.)

Maybe there was only one page to those stories. Maybe they weren't as intriguing as ours, mixed in with politics and world affairs. 

How's your trust level doing today? Do you still trust me more than most others, my dear? 

I do wonder sometimes if you've appreciated my discretion all these years. You didn't ask me for it. It was a gift from me to you. Some gifts wear out over time and cannot be repaired. 

New Coup? Beaucoup coups.

Rumor has it that Nasser in Bahrain wants badly to play the role of Mohammad bin Salman. He's not corrupt, is he? He wouldn't carry out a coup against his own father and uncles, would he? He wouldn't get help from Khawalid, would he? Who is the Saad Hariri lightning rod?

Upcoming

Went private for a bit. Going to compose very kind birthday greeting for the 28th. Before then, after that, different story.

It has been suggested that the upcoming material be more suitably placed behind a paywall, perhaps in a different form. Chapters. That appeals, especially because one can move about in time more easily and who wants to begin with pedestrian teenage diaries? Some more photos of photos, sure, a few more posts until spring. By then me and my new best friend Scriv will be ready with some chapters worth the 99 cents each. It could be fun.