Saudis in Bahrain, Where Now for the US
Needless to say, the introduction of 1000 Saudi Arabian soldiers (Saudi Arabian National Guard) and 500 Emirati police into Bahrain truly complicates the situation in the Gulf. The internationalization of the Bahraini uprising has serious consequences for not only the immediately relevant actors (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) and the secondary actors (Iran and the United … Read more
Disturbing Tidbits
I want to quickly comment on a couple of brief articles that caught my eye recently. All four of which have to do with the idiocy of politics and how, perhaps – just perhaps – the people of America, Israel and Palestine should all consider questioning the more or less ‘boneheadedness’ of their governments. The … Read more
Sports in the Middle East
The LA Times Middle East Blog “Babylon and Beyond” is reporting that Dubai is contemplating a bid for the 2020 summer Olympics. Cool (not literally), but, of course, there are tons of problems that the Emirate would need to overcome. As the UAE has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, one obvious question is whether Israeli athletes … Read more
The Death of Arabic in Lebanon
Al Arabiya has a great article about the fall of Arabic among Lebanese. Lebanon, which was under French mandate from the 1920′s until independence in 1943, teaches students French, English and Arabic from a young age. French and English are seen – and have been seen for years – as the languages of the elite … Read more
Could Netanyahu and Obama Be Arrested?
In December of last year, former Israeli FM Tzipi Livni cancelled a trip to England when she discovered that British courts had issued an arrest warrant for her. The warrant – issued because of Livni’s role in the Israeli invasion of Gaza – would have seen Livni arrested upon landing in London. Arrest warrants for … Read more
Pakistan’s Biggest Dick Out of a Job
Akbar Zeb is a professional politicians that has served all over. He has worked in South Africa, Canada, India and the US. Yet for some reason he has been rejected as the Pakistani ambassador to Bahrain, the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia. The reason? His name. High level Pakistani diplomat has been rejected as … Read more
Hamas: Israel Is Guilty…Just Kidding (Maybe)
UPDATE: Hamas has now denied that it ever stated Arab governments were responsible, saying that the story was “far from the truth.” Hamas apparently tried to retaliate already, by floating barrels of explosives to Israel. Israel responded by bombing supply tunnels along the Egyptian border. More information has come to light surrounding the murder of … Read more
The Death of Mabhoud Equals The Death of Peace?
On January 20th, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhoud was assassinated in Dubai. This, by now, is well-known. What is unknown, however, is just about all the details surrounding the murder. Who, why and how all remain unanswered. It is clear that he was killed in his hotel room the day after his arrival and Hamas, and … Read more
