The Biggest Losers In the Arab Spring? Women....Hands Down...Women

From Family Security Matters.

Women are "Biggest Losers" in Arab Spring
by STEVE EMERSON, ABIGAIL R. ESMAN

The Arab Spring, with the rising tide of hope for democracy and change it ushered in, has turned to autumn. For women it has become an Arab Winter, dark and cold and growing more perilous by the day. And nowhere is the situation worse than it is in the country where hopes for democracy and freedom were the highest: Egypt.

Such are the findings of a new Thomson Reuters Foundation poll, which showed that women are worse off today in all the "Arab Spring" countries than they were previously. Moreover, throughout the Arab region, violence against women, sexual abuse, and political oppression remain generally the worst in the world.

These findings are tragic, not only for what they reveal about the plight of women in the region, but for what they tell us about the future of the "Arab Spring" countries. "Despite hopes that women would be one [sic] of the prime beneficiaries of the Arab Spring," note the Reuters report's authors, "they have instead been some of the biggest losers, as the revolts have brought conflict, instability, displacement and a rise in Islamist groups in many parts of the region."

The poll questioned more than 300 "gender experts" in all the 21 Arab League member states plus Syria (which lost its membership in 2011) during August and September. In drawing their conclusions, researchers "assessed violence against women, reproductive rights, treatment of women within the family, their integration into society, and attitudes towards a woman's role in politics and the economy."

That Saudi Arabia did not come out as the worst of the list was surprising to many, but so was the fact that Iraq ranked as the second-worst - a long distance from where those supporting the removal of Saddam Hussein from power expected the country to be today.

Egypt's numbers are the most telling, however, exposing not just the rise in power of Islamic fundamentalist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, but how very inevitable this result was from the start - and certainly once Hosni Mubarak was displaced. This, after all, is the country where a shocking 91 percent of all women are victims of genital mutilation, a practice clearly endemic (especially in rural areas) even under Mubarak's so-called secular reign. Since the rise of Islamist factions, however, the situation has become even grimmer, the poll indicates, with rising rates of trafficking and forced marriage.

"There are whole villages on the outskirts of Cairo and elsewhere where the bulk of economic activity is based on trafficking in women and forced marriages," Zahra Radwan, Middle East and North Africa Program officer for the Global Fund for Women, told Reuters.

That outcome might have been expected, given the nature of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that followed Mubarak's fall. It was the Brotherhood that opposed a UN declaration on women's rights that would allow women to travel and use contraception, arguing that such a move, which "contradicts established principles of Islam," would essentially destroy society. (Russia, Iran, and the Vatican also opposed the measure.)

How bad are things in Egypt and Iraq? As No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, they are worse, evidently, even than Saudi Arabia, which is notorious for its abysmal record in its treatment of women. That ranking alone is shocking: but it also provides an insight for Westerners into the undercurrent and power of Islamic fundamentalism and Islamism in those Arab Spring countries, and the decreasing likelihood that democracy will take hold in the next decade. In fact, not only do these two countries pose greater threats to women's lives than even Somalia and Sudan, but the poll finds that the Saudis are beginning to make small strides towards opening doors to women. Saudi women, for instance, will have the right to vote in municipal elections for the first time in 2015; they recently were granted the right to practice law; and thanks to forceful activism, the right to drive may also soon be within their reach.

Indeed, listed as the survey's third worst country for women, Saudi Arabia scored "better than many other Arab states when it came to access to education and healthcare, reproductive rights and gender violence," according to the poll's authors. But even more important was their observation that thousands of younger Saudis who had traveled abroad were returning "with very different ideas about their relative places in the world."

Contrast this development with Syria, which follows Saudi Arabia as the fourth worst country for Arab women. Here, too, Westerners once hoped for a new, democratic, progressive state to rise in place of Bashar al-Assad's cruel dictatorship. "Many Syrian women worry about the influence of militant Islamists who have taken control of some rebel-held areas," Reuters reports. Young girls in refugee camps also suffer, the researchers found, where even 12-year-olds have been forced into marriage.

The report also describes a "spike in honor killings" in Syria, rising to about 300 a year, though it is unclear whether that number is a significant change from previous years. A 2007 article in the Christian Science Monitor put the number at 200 to 300 annually.

In Libya, too, where the world once held so much hope for a free and democratic future, women now face kidnappings along with random arrest, rape, and physical abuse, Reuters found. It is worth noting, however, that the physical abuse numbers may result from a rise in the reporting of such events, rather than from an increase in incidents.

The sad thing is that much of this violence could have been anticipated - and at least in part prevented. Certainly it was naïve to believe that the majority of the women who fought for Mubarak's removal were any more westernized than the majority of the men. With an illiteracy rate of 35 percent (45 percent of women), in a country where two-thirds of women between the ages of 15-49 support the practice of genital mutilation, the proverbial writing was clearly on the wall.

But far more disturbing is the picture that this paints for the future, particularly with a new Egyptian constitution that, for all its lip service to democracy, holds sharia law supreme. If Saudi women are advancing, it is thanks to a new willingness by their government to support (western) education. But such opportunities may be lost to Egypt's women, and increasingly, to their sisters in Syria, Lebanon, Libya, and even the Palestinian Territories (which scored a miserable 15 out of 22 in the Thomson Reuters study).

The inevitable result will not only be a deterioration of women's rights in these countries, but too, a growing Islamic conservatism as the curtains surrounding the windows to the West - and to the Enlightenment - begin to close. As they do, the threats will continue to grow stronger, not just to Egyptian women's lives, but to our own.

American College Student Living In Egypt Because He Cared So Deeply For the Arabs and the Middle East Gets a Knife Driven Through His Heart At Alexandria, Egypt Protest

You know, when your ideal is to live amongst the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood and you have this pie-in-the-sky dream of peace on earth in the Middle East, sometimes those dreams can be shattered and sometimes you even lose your life.  And yet another young American who bought into the idea of moderate Muslims, of peace in the Middle East is dead and gone at the age of 21 - murdered by the swine he thought held hope.

Sad.  But the reality needs to be exposed.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

American student killed in Egypt protest 'cared profoundly' for region


An American university student killed during a protest in Egypt was in the country teaching English to children and improving his Arabic because he "cared profoundly" about the region, his family has said.

Andrew Pochter, 21, from Chevy Chase, Maryland, died after being stabbed in the chest in the coastal city of Alexandria, where anti-government protesters stormed an office of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood.

It was not clear what Mr Pochter was doing at the protest, but Egyptian officials said he was carrying a small camera. His family said they believed he had been witnessing the protest as a bystander.

In a statement, the family said Mr Pochter had travelled to Alexandria for the summer to teach English to 7- and 8-year-old Egyptian children and to improve his Arabic.

"He went to Egypt because he cared profoundly about the Middle East, and he planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding," it said.

Mr Pochter was looking forward to beginning his junior year at Ohio's Kenyon College and had planned to study abroad in Jordan next spring.

"Andrew was a wonderful young man looking for new experiences in the world and finding ways to share his talents while he learned," it said.

Mr Pochter was in Morocco at the height of the Arab Spring in 2011 and wrote an article for the website of the Al-Arabiya News network in which he said: "The revolutionary events in Tunisia and Egypt introduced a swath of ideas and surfaced unprecedented political potential."

At Kenyon College, where he was due to graduate in 2015, Mr Pochter was a student leader in Hillel House, a "campus centre for Jewish life".

Before starting at Kenyon, Mr Pochter attended Blue Ridge School, a private boarding school for boys in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was a keen lacrosse player and won an award for citizenship before graduating in 2010.

Smiling and wearing his school blazer and striped bow-tie, he was featured on the front cover of the spring/summer 2010 issue of The Bridge, the school's magazine.

He won a scholarship with the The National Security Language Initiative for Youth, a scheme sponsored by the US State Department for high school students to learn less commonly taught languages during summer trips abroad.

A statement from Kenyon College said Mr Pochter was interning in Alexandria with AMIDEAST, an American non-profit organisation that runs education and development programs in the Middle East and North America.

Kathleen O'Neil, an American teacher who worked with Mr Pochter in Egypt, said in an online posting that she could not believe "such a gifted, enthusiastic, informed, curious, adventurous and positive human being is gone".

The Muslim Brotherhood said eight of its offices had been attacked on Friday, including the one in Alexandria. Officials said more than 70 people had been injured in the clashes in the city, adding to growing tension ahead of mass rallies on Sunday aimed at unseating President Mohammed Morsi.

Lebanon Turns Red With Blood, 12 Lebanese Soldiers Killed In Fighting With Sunni Cleric's Forces

It doesn't appear that Lebanon's version of an Arab Spring is going to be one of flowers and "democracy" as over the past 24 hours, 12 Lebanese soldiers have been killed by the followers of a Sunni cleric and the military still doesn't have the situation under control.

Perhaps the Lebanese military was expecting Hezbollah fighters to take on this uprising....oh, but wait, all of the Hezbollah jihadis are over in Syria trying to save Assad's ass.

The story comes from Times of India.

Lebanon clashes rage overnight; 12 soldiers dead


BEIRUT: Lebanon's military forces battling followers of a hard-line Sunni Muslim cleric closed in on Monday on the mosque where they are taking cover in a southern coastal city, the national news agency said. It said a total of 12 soldiers had been killed since fighting erupted a day earlier.

The clashes in Sidon, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Beirut, is the latest bout of violence in Lebanon linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria. It is the bloodiest yet involving the army. At least three of those killed are officers.

The National News Agency said the clashes also left fifty wounded. The report said it was not clear how many gunmen were killed or wounded in the clashes, nor whether there were civilian casualties.

The heavy fighting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades has caused panic among residents of Sidon, Lebanon's third largest city, which until recently had been largely spared the violence hitting other areas.

The city streets appeared largely deserted on Monday, and local media reported many residents were asking for evacuation from the area of the fighting, a heavily populated neighborhood in the city. The news agency said a government building was hit. The local municipality said that the city is "a war zone," appealing for a ceasefire to evacuate the civilians and wounded in the area.

Many people living on high floors came down or fled to safer areas, while others were seen running away from fighting areas carrying children. Others remained locked up in their homes or shops, fearing getting caught in the crossfire. Gray smoke billowed over parts of the city.

The fighting broke out on Sunday in the predominantly Sunni city. The army says supporters of Sheik Ahmad al-Assir opened fire without provocation on an army checkpoint.

It tied the attack to the war in neighboring Syria. Al-Assir is a virulent critic of the powerful Shiite militant Hezbollah group, which along with its allies dominates Lebanon's government. He supports rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar Assad.

Early on Monday, al-Assir appealed to his supporters through his Twitter account in other parts of Lebanon to rise to his help, threatening to widen the scale of clashes.

The tweets did not give a clear statement on how the battle began. It came after a series of incidents pitting the cleric's followers against other groups in the town, including Hezbollah supporters and the army.

Fighting also broke out in Ein el-Hilweh, a Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, where al-Assir has supporters. Islamist factions inside the camp lobbed mortars at military checkpoints around the camp.

Sectarian clashes in Lebanon tied to the Syrian conflict have intensified in recent weeks, especially Hezbollah sent fighters to support Assad's forces. Most of the rebels fighting to topple Assad are from Syria's Sunni majority, while the president belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Clashes in Lebanon have also mostly pitted Sunni against Shiite. The most frequent outbreaks have involved rival neighborhoods in the northern port city of Tripoli, close to the Syrian border.

The clashes in Sidon centered on the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque, where al-Assir preaches. The cleric is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon involved in the fighting. Dozens of al-Assir's gunmen also partially shut down the main highway linking south Lebanon with Beirut. On Monday, they opened fire in other parts of the city, with local media reporting gunshots in the city's market.

By Sunday evening, the army had laid siege to the mosque, sealing off access to it from all directions.

The military openly linked the clashes of Sidon to the conflict in Syria said in a statement Sunday. It said the attacks on its forces by al-Assir supporters were unprovoked, and accusing the cleric of seeking to "incite strife" in Lebanon. The military vowed to hit back with an "iron fist."

President Michel Suleiman called for an emergency security meeting later Monday.

The War on the Streets of Alexandria, Egypt Between Christians and Muslims

Remember everyone...this is what Democracy looks like!  The Arab version of democracy basically means a political system that allows the murder of Christians by Muslims - that's the Arab Spring that Obama and the main stream media in America endorsed.  Barack Hussein Obama subtly endorsed the extermination of Christians.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Clashes between Muslims and Christians leave one dead and dozens injured in Egyptian city of Alexandria


One person died and dozens were wounded during clashes between Muslims and Christians late Friday night outside a Coptic church in Egypt's second city, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported, in the latest violent sectarian row in the Muslim-majority country.


A quarrel between two young men, one Christian and one Muslim, morphed into a family feud that sparked clashes in a western district of Alexandria.

The two sides threw firebombs at each other before security forces intervened and cordoned off the area around the church.

Police arrested eight people after about two hours of fighting.

In addition to the political and economic turmoil Egypt has endured since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011, tensions have risen between Muslims and Christians, especially since the election of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in June.

Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 84 million people and have complained that the authorities have failed to protect them since Mubarak was ousted, giving radical Islamists a free hand.

At least five people were killed and more than 80 injured in clashes last month between Christians and Muslims at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo after a funeral service for four Christians killed in sectarian violence with Muslims.

The One State Solution

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

Here is an ideal solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem:

The One State Solution

Proposed by Andrew Klavan, this just may be the best option for the region.



Click here if the video doesn't load.

In an effort to bring peace to the Middle East, President Barack Obama has proposed that Israel should return to its 1967 borders in exchange for being annihilated by its enemies. PJTV's Andrew Klavan has a better idea.

Tunisian Opposition Leader Assassinated...Did the Radical Islamist Government Make the Hit?

The country that started it all....yep, the country of Tunisia, which started the domino effect of the "Arab Spring" across northern Africa and the Middle East is now rocked by a huge turn of events when the country's biggest opposition leader...a man opposed to the radical Islamist regime that rules the country was shot dead in an assassination.

From the article at DAWN:

Leading leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid was shot dead Wednesday morning as he left his home in Tunis, said his family, which accused Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda party of being behind the killing.

Belaid was head of the opposition Democratic Patriots party and a harsh critic of Tunisia’s Islamist-led government.

“My brother was assassinated. I am desperate and depressed,” Abdelmajid Belaid, brother of the dead leader, told AFP.

“I accuse…(Ennahda leader) Rached Ghannouchi of assassinating my brother,” he said.

But hey, haven't we seen the same kind of "democracy" in Egypt as well?  Is this the type of "democracy" that the Obama administration blessed?  The claims of many who said that these Islamist regimes taking over in these countries would lead to this were dismissed but now we all know the truth - the Arab Spring brought pain, death and totalitarian rule to these countries....above and beyond any kind of oppression they had known before.  Another foreign policy "gold star" for one Barack Hussein Obama.

Tunisian opposition leader shot dead

UNIS: Leading leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid was shot dead Wednesday morning as he left his home in Tunis, said his family, which accused Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda party of being behind the killing.

Belaid was head of the opposition Democratic Patriots party and a harsh critic of Tunisia’s Islamist-led government.

“My brother was assassinated. I am desperate and depressed,” Abdelmajid Belaid, brother of the dead leader, told AFP.

“I accuse…(Ennahda leader) Rached Ghannouchi of assassinating my brother,” he said.

The wife of the opposition leader, speaking to Radio Mosaique, said he had been hit by two bullets as he left his home.

Belaid’s party was part of a coalition of parties which has emerged in opposition to the Tunisia government.

The country is witnessing a rise in violence fed by political and social discontent more than two years after the toppling of the former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Several opposition parties and trade unions have accused the pro-Islamists of orchestrating clashes or attacks against them.

How the Arrival of Obama Fed the Salafi Crusades in the Middle East

Another brilliant article by Daniel Greenfield from over at Family Security Matters.

Elections have consequences.  Bad consequences.

The Salafi Crusades


Empires leave behind a mess when they leave. And that mess acts as the building blocks of a new empire. One empire falls and another rises in its place. It's an old story and it is what we are seeing in the Middle East.

The Islamist resurgence was fed by the collapse of two world powers, the USSR and the US. The fall of the Soviet Union robbed the Arab Socialist dictatorships of their support. The last of these, Syria, is now under siege, by Sunni Islamist militias after becoming an Iranian Shiite puppet.

Egypt's Sadat had made the move to the American camp early enough to avoid the fate of Syria or Iraq, but instead his successor, Mubarak, encountered the fate of the Shah of Iran. With the fall of Egypt, Syria is the last major Arab Socialist holdout, and if it falls, then the Middle East will have shifted decisively into the Salafi column.

Unlike the Soviet Union, the United States has not actually collapsed, but its international influence is completely gone. Bush was accused of many things, but impotence wasn't one of them. Obama however gave the Taliban a premature victory with a pullout deadline, ineptly waffled over the Iranian and Arab protests, before eventually getting on board with the latter, and allowed the UK and French governments to drag him into a poorly conceived regime change operation in Libya.

The Palestine UN vote, China's South China Sea aggression and Karzai's growing belligerence were just more reminders that no one really cared what the United States thought anymore. America had ceased to matter internationally as a great power. It still dispensed money, but its government had become an inept tail being wagged by Europe and the United Nations.

The loss of American influence was felt most notably in the Middle East, where its former oil patrons took the opportunity to back a series of Salafi crusades, the political Islamist version of which was known as the Arab Spring. The rise of political Islamists in democratic elections was however only one component of a regional strategy that depended as much on armed militias as on the ballot box.

In Egypt, protests followed by elections were enough to allow the Salafis, a category that includes the Muslim Brotherhood, to take over. That was also true in Tunisia. In Libya, a new American client, the government put up a fight, little realizing that Obama wasn't Putin, but a horrible mashup of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Henry Wallace. Instead of getting American backing, Gaddafi got American bombs, and the Islamist militias, armed and funded by Qatar with Obama's blessing, got Libya. In Benghazi they repaid the help they received from Obama and Stevens by humiliating the former and murdering the latter.

In Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood's militias are racing the Al-Qaeda linked militias to the finish line in Damascus, while Western pundits prattle reassuringly about a moderate and secular Syrian opposition, which is as moderate and secular as Egypt's Morsi.

The regional snapshot of the Arab Spring isn't reform, but a land rush as secular governments affiliated with Russia and the United States fall, to be replaced by believers in an emerging Islamist Caliphate. The Arab Spring isn't 1848; it's 638, the Mohamedan expansion at the expense of the ailing Byzantine Empire, a rampage that eventually ended in the Islamization of the Middle East. For Salafis, this is their opportunity to Re-Islamize the Middle East under the full force of Islamic law.

The Muslim world does not keep time by European progressive calendars. It isn't out to recreate the republican revolutions that secularized and nationalized Europe; rather it is trying to undo the secondhand European effects of those revolutions on the Middle East. The left is celebrating this as a triumph for anti-imperialism, but it's just a matter of replacing one empire with another.

Muslim imperialism and colonialism were far more brutal and ruthless, as the Indians could tell you, and if the Salafis have their way, and they are having their way for the moment, it will be the beginning of a new wave of global conquests, with old sheiks using oil money from the decadent West to outfit militias of young men with top quality American and Russian weapons before sending them off to die, while they wait for news of the new caliphate and bed down with their eight wife.

This isn't an entirely new game. Bin Laden was playing it for decades and Salafi crusaders have been fighting the Ottoman Empire and massacring Shiites for centuries. The notion of them extending their power into Cairo would have been absurd, but for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the backlash from the efforts to modernize its former major cities which created a modernized Islamist movement inspired by Nazi politics and funded by Nazi money. A movement that we know as the Muslim Brotherhood. It took the Brotherhood a good 80 years, but they finally took Cairo.

The notion of the Salafis threatening the Middle East and the whole world would have been even more absurd if American oil companies hadn't rewarded their tribal allies with inconceivable wealth while turning a blind eye to their ambitions. And the notion that the Salafi crusade would ever extend to Europe would have been even more absurd, if not for the jet plane and the liberal immigration policies of Socialist governments with aging populations looking for a tax base and a voting base.

The Salafis, despite their feigned obsession with the purity of the desert, have piggybacked their conquests entirely on Western technologies and policies, from the wire transfer to the jet plane to the cell phone to liberal political correctness and Third Worldism. The Salafi crusades were never any match for 19th Century policies and weapons, except in the occasional brief conflict. But they are a match for 21st Century policies and the accompanying unwillingness to use the full force of modern weaponry on people that a century ago would have been considered bloody savages, but today are considered potential peace partners.

Declining empires want stability without war and they are willing to cut a deal with anyone on the way up who has a large enough army and will promise to keep the peace. In that way, the imperialism of the Post-American politician is a good deal like Eisenhower's foreign policy. The difference is that a British Prime Minister in the 1930s or an American President in the 1950s picked their battles, while their contemporary successors allow their battles to pick them and then surrender preemptively.

Carter's Green Belt strategy hoped to build a wall of Islamist governments to keep the Soviet Union out of the Middle East. The Soviet Union is dead but the Green Belt strategy has been revived by Obama in the hopes of using political Salafis willing to run for office to hold down the Salafist militias willing to kill everything that moves. It's hard to imagine a more decadent strategy than trying to outsource your defense policy to the least evil of your enemies, but variations on that theme have been the American defense strategy since the Salafi terror attacks of September 11.

After a decade of trying to divide the Islamist sheep from the Islamist goats, feeding billions to Pakistan to fight terror, extraditing Gitmo terrorists to revolving door rehabilitation programs run by Saudi Arabia, setting up a Palestinian state, making nice to Muslim Brotherhood front groups at home and then setting up the Muslim Brotherhood with a few choice countries of their own in the Middle East; the United States is less secure than ever for trying to appease its way out of the Salafi crusade.

Handing over Egypt and Tunisia to the Islamists earned us a new wave of attacks on September 11, 2012. What handing over Syria to the Muslim Brotherhood will get us, assuming that "our" Salafis will even be able to beat out the other Salafis who want to skip elections and move straight to the hand-and-head-chopping and Christian genocide, can only be imagined.

But Western leaders have a long history of misreading the Muslim world by assuming that Muslim leaders want what good European and American liberals do. Instead Muslim leaders want the sort of things that even few European right wingers want anymore.

Understanding the Salafi crusades means imagining a society where Anders Behring Breivik wasn't a deluded madman fantasizing about an international network of knights waiting to carry out acts of terror in a war to seize control of Europe and murder millions, but where he and his ideas were mainstream enough that billionaires would fund them and tens of thousands of young men would go to carry them out while television shows and preachers cheered them as martyrs.

Europeans, of course, shudder at the idea, but they have brought those tens of thousands of Breiviks into their own societies through Muslim immigration and Saudi and Iranian mosques. And they have turned over the Middle East to the sort of men who make Breivik look like a schoolboy.

One of the men pardoned by Morsi, the new Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, was Mostafa Hamza, the head of The Islamic Group, an organization that was responsible for the Luxor Massacre of foreign tourists. The Luxor Massacre consisted of an hour of torture, mutilation and murder that would have sickened even Breivik. But what is an incomprehensible atrocity to the Western mind is an act of courage and bravery to the Muslim mind. And it is on such atrocities that the Salafi crusades build their caliphate of blood and bone.

The Salafi crusades follow those rules and we saw them in action on September 11. We can see them in action in Nigeria where Boko Haram terrorists blow up churches and in Mali where Salafi fighters chop off the hands of thieves and give teenage girls 100 lashes for talking to boys on the street. We can see them in action in Aleppo where the bodies of tortured priests turn up and in Israel where their terrorists fire rockets from the shade of schools and hospitals.

The Salafi political victories, militia victories and terror attacks are all part of the same phenomenon, and it is about time that we confronted it for what it is. War is politics by other means and politics is war by other means. To the Salafis seizing power, by the bullet or the ballot, the one are one and the same so long as the road leads to the Islamic empire of the Caliphate. Obama's forced decline of America has led to a new wave of Salafi conquests and the war for civilization has begun in earnest.

Good Grief. Is Kuwait Next On the Arab Spring Hit Parade?

The story comes from Family Security Matters.

Kuwaitis Are Insisting on Genuine Democracy


For more than a year now Kuwait has been in turmoil. The Arab Spring has reached the oil-rich Arab country at the Persian Gulf.

On December 2, 2012, hundreds of opposition protesters, opposition leaders, and former members of parliament (MPs) gathered in the gorgeous villa of Ahmed Al Saadun, a veteran Kuwaiti politician who has been an MP over the past 30 years.

Al Saadun gave a short speech in which he summarized the opposition's attitude towards the latest parliamentary election.

Al Saadun said, "The parliamentary election which was held last Saturday, (December 1) is illegal and invalid. Thus the emerging parliament is not representative, and the new parliament doesn't genuinely represent the Kuwaiti people. Besides, the constitutional decree which the Emir Subah Al Ahmad Al Subah issued, supported by his friends in the Constitutional Court is also illegal. It was designed to enable Al Subah-friendly MPs to be elected."

With the last part of his speech, Al Saadun referred to the Emir's decree before the last election. In the past Kuwaitis had been allowed to elect four candidates for parliament. The decree slashed that to one.

The old election system was opposition-friendly. In the parliamentary election which was held last February, the Islamists, for instance, won 23 seats. Now in last Sunday election they won only 4 seats. Therefore, the Emir urged the Constitutional Court to cancel that parliament and replace it with the one which was elected in 2009, which was more favourable to the Emir and his government. The opposition in that parliament (of February) accused several MPs of corruption. They were allegedly paid huge sums of money by the government led by a brother of the Emir, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al Ahmed Al Subah.

Unlike all the oil Arab states at the Persian Gulf, Kuwait has enjoyed a kind of democracy since its independence in the 1960s. Parliamentary elections were held from time to time and open debates were conducted on all kinds of issues.

However, all elected parliaments have never had any executive power. The Emir, and only he has been entitled to appoint the prime minister, always from members of the ruling family, Al Subah family. Key ministries were also led by members of Al Subah family.

According to the Kuwaiti constitution, political parties are not allowed in Kuwait. This is based on a verse in the Quran, which prohibits the formation of parties in an Islamic state. However, on the ground there have been the so-called "gatherings", groups of common ideologies, for example, Al Haraka Al Disturia Al Islamia (Islamic constitutional movement), Al tahalof al watani al dimoqrati (national democratic coalition), etc.

The opposition in Kuwait is now demanding a change of the current political structure and practise. They are demanding genuine democracy, rule of the law, transparency and a constitutional monarchy, like those in Western Europe.

One of the key opposition figures and former MP, Mussallam Al Barrak has since the uprising in Kuwait reiterated, "Al Subah family can further rule Kuwait (can have a representative role, like the British royal family, he explained to me later), but we must have the right to form a government by a parliamentarian majority or coalition." In other words, the Emir and his family, the opposition insists, must be stripped off any executive power.

Waleed Al Tabtab'i, another veteran Kuwaiti politician, but very Islamist, blames lack of real democracy in Kuwait and in other Arab countries on the West, particularly on the Americans.

He told me, "America would support the devil if that enhances its interests. The Americans, the Brits and the French brag about democracy all the time, but at the same time they have wholeheartedly supported all authoritarian Arab regimes; in Egypt, Tunisia, and in all the Arab oil countries at the Arab Gulf. After Husni Mubarak was toppled in Egypt, they started calling him a dictator. This is bizarre, isn't it? This is sheer hypocrisy."

Bader Sultan, an academic at Kuwait University told me in his office, "The West, including America, prefer the so-called cemetery peace to real democracy. They call Saudi Arabia, which is actually a despotic regime and formerly Mubarak's Egypt, vital stability states. This kind of stability is shaky, built on sand. Saudi Arabia supports Islamic fanaticism, Wahabbism, from which the whole world is suffering, including the Arab world. The stability which the West is talking about and supporting serves in the first place authoritarian Arab regimes and those of the West."

Most Kuwaitis I recently talked to reject violence. They want a peaceful change of politics in Kuwait. They resent the violent uprising in Syria and the almost daily bombs in Iraq. Kuwaitis aspire for a peaceful transition to democracy.

Al Saadun insisted that there is no back to the old regime in Kuwait. "We are blatantly determined to carry on our protest until genuine democracy is established. We want the wealth of this small nation to be fairly distributed in a transparent manner."

"We hope that the current leadership of this country will learn from the Arab Spring in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia. Have you seen the demonstration which we had on Saturday (December 1) and we called Karamat Al Watan (dignity of our home land)? We are a small nation, of less than one million people. The streets were packed with demonstrators, tens of thousands took to the street. This is a unique phenomenon in Kuwait. We have never had such a manifestation of will, good will for change to the better. I hope that our rulers, Al Subah family have got the message. An escalation of this public uprising is not in the interest of the ruling family." Said Jam'an Al Harbash, a former MP.

Faisal Al Mussalam, a former MP insisted that the Kuwaitis would demonstrate until our demands are met. "We'll demonstrate daily, and next Saturday there will a huge demonstration which Kuwait has never seen before." He said.

The majority of people in the Arab world believe that the Arab Spring is moving on in the right direction towards democracy. It is an irreversible process with ups and downs.

Political observers also believe that the democratization process in the Arab world might take decades to bear good fruit.

Increasingly widespread education in Kuwait and elsewhere in the Arab world, access to the Internet and international satellite TV stations are enhancing the democratization process.

The West has thus far supported theocratic Arab regimes for fear, the Islamists might take over.

Ziad Al Mutairy, a Kuwaiti academic and former MP is quite optimistic about the future of the Arab Spring. He said, "The Islamists will be defeated by democratic tools. Now in the euphoria of the Arab Spring they have come to power in Egypt and Tunisia by means of the ballot box, but I'm sure that they won't be able to deliver practical reforms which the majority of people would accept. In the next parliamentary elections they will be defeated via free elections. People are not dumb. They want practical solutions, not preaches. They reject sweet rhetoric. We Arabs, we don't want to fall form political oppression into religious oppression."

Saad, a colleague of Al Mutairy, who didn't want his last name to be mentioned, agreed, and added. "Read the Quran. It's filled with violence and discrimination against women and non-Muslims. It says, kill the infidels, don't take Christians and Jews as friends, women inherent half what their bothers get. Thieves' hands must be amputated, etc. It is bunch of atrocities. Do you want all this to be part of our constitution? If you consider all that in a historical context, fine, no problem. But Islamists reject any interpretation of the Quran, otherwise you're dubbed as heretic. For Islamists, the Quran is valid for all times and for every part of the universe."

In sum, the Arab Spring is a golden opportunity for Arabs to introduce democratic reforms and reformation of their religion, Islam.

Arab Spring Comes To Lebanon? Protesters Clash With Police in Beirut

Beirut is on the head of a pin right now as protesters over the assassination of the head of Lebanon's intelligence services was assassinated are calling for the overthrow of the current Prime Minister.  It's just another domino in the chain of Arab Spring scenarios across the Middle East where the Islamists continue to start fires in each and every country and then fan those flames into total chaos and then finally some sort of civil war.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Lebanese protesters clash with police in Beirut


An official said security forces had fired in the air.

Witnesses said at least two protesters had fainted, apparently as a result of tear gas fired by security forces after protesters breached an outer barrier around the prime minister's offices.

Hundreds of protesters, waving flags from the anti-Syrian opposition Future Movement – a mainly Sunni Muslim party – and Christian Lebanese Forces as well as black Islamist flags, marched on Mikati's offices after the funeral of Wissam al-Hassan.

They accused Syria of being behind Hassan's killing and called for Mikati to resign.

During funeral orations for Hassan, angry former premier Fuad Siniora called on Mikati to resign, adding his voice to many others since Hassan was killed in a car bombing on Friday.

Siniora, parliamentary chief for opposition leader Saad Hariri, said the "government is responsible for the crime that killed Wissam and his chauffeur. That is why he must go."

"Mikati, you cannot stay in your post to cover up this crime," he said. "If you stay, it means you agree with what happened and what will happen."

The opposition has widely accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of being behind the attack, which killed two other people and wounded 126.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like? Libya Grand Mufti: Remove References to Democracy and Religious Freedom From School Textbooks

But...but....but I thought Barack Hussein Obama promised us all a thriving democracy in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt?

Did he....lie to us?

The story is from CNS News.

Libya Grand Mufti: Remove References to Democracy and Religious Freedom From School Textbooks

(CNSNews.com) – The Libya Herald reported on Thursday that the “Fatwa Office” has asked the Ministry of Education in Libya to remove passages related to democracy and freedom of religion from school textbooks.

“Libya’s Dar Al-Ifta’ (the Fatwa office), presided by Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ghariani, has called on the Ministry of Education to remove passages relating to democracy and freedom of religion from school textbooks,” the article states.

The article also reports that the religious official asked for “clarification” as to why extracts of the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah had been deleted. The Sunnah is the second book for Islam jurisprudence after the Quran, according to scholars.

The article cited reporting from LANA, the state-approved news outlet.

“According to official news agency LANA, the Fatwa office issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the Grand Mufti had published an article entitled The Curriculum and the Instilling of Values in which he highlighted a number of criticisms of the new school syllabus textbooks for the current academic year,” the report states.

“The first was about the deletion of some of the Prophet’s Sunnah within the Islamic education syllabus, and the second addressed the two paragraphs included in the basic education textbooks about religious freedom and democracy,” stated the Libya Herald.

“The statement said, according to LANA, that the Ministry of Education had responded positively to the remarks made by the Grand Mufti and had promised to investigate the reasons behind the absence of the Sunnah texts from the Islamic education curriculum,” said the newspaper.

The statement claimed the information in the textbooks about Greek democracy might be “too detailed” for students to comprehend and that references to freedom of belief and religion should be removed because “it suggests to younger students that they could choose any religion they wanted,” according to the article.

The article said the Fatwa office warned that because of the public’s religious values the textbooks “could spark public anger.”

Muslims On Worldwide Rampage - Six Western Embassies Under Siege, Streets a Warzone All Over the World

Quite a reminder of what happened after the "Mo" cartoons, huh?  Well, the Muslims of the world have gone even more bat-shit crazy than they normally are as rioting and attacks on Western embassies has become almost commonplace - from Africa to the Middle East to Asia westerners are under attack by a horde of Muslims who simply were looking for a reason to riot, to burn, to kill.

From the article at The Telegraph:

Stoned, burned, and pillaged, the West's diplomatic missions became the new front line in a war on the values for which their governments and societies stand.

From Nigeria in Africa's west, to Bangladesh in Asia's east, the freedoms which the United States and Europe thought were a beacon to the world were assaulted with stone and fire. Plumes of black smoke rose above western embassies in allies and "pariah" states alike.

On Friday, the British embassy in Sudan, once a place where the Empire pursued its romantic, if quixotic vision of development, was stormed. Chanting crowds took to the streets of cities as disparate as Jerusalem and Madras, Tripoli in Lebanon – where they burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken – and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, shouting messages of hate.

The fact of the matter is that Islam preaches this shit - it's their way or the way of death.  When in sam hell is the Western world going to finally face up to the damn truth, that there isn't enough room on this planet of ours for Islam and any, ANY other relgion.  It's them or us.  I choose us.

Middle East protests: mobs attack six Western embassies as protesters fill streets


Furious mobs attacked at least six Western embassies across the Muslim world, with protesters filling the streets in another eight countries, as crowds vented their rage over a video defaming the Prophet Mohammed.

Stoned, burned, and pillaged, the West's diplomatic missions became the new front line in a war on the values for which their governments and societies stand.

From Nigeria in Africa's west, to Bangladesh in Asia's east, the freedoms which the United States and Europe thought were a beacon to the world were assaulted with stone and fire. Plumes of black smoke rose above western embassies in allies and "pariah" states alike.

On Friday, the British embassy in Sudan, once a place where the Empire pursued its romantic, if quixotic vision of development, was stormed. Chanting crowds took to the streets of cities as disparate as Jerusalem and Madras, Tripoli in Lebanon – where they burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken – and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, shouting messages of hate.

In Cairo, men wearing the characteristic beards and skull caps of the radical Salafi movement handed stones to teenage boys to hurl at the police.

There can be little Islamist complaint about the West's current role in Egypt, which less than three months ago chose as its first ever democratically elected leader a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The demonstrators were not this time complaining about western military intervention in their own countries; instead they were objecting to how western countries conduct their own affairs, their refusal to enact laws of blasphemy protecting Islam.

At least that was the pretext. What the United States and its allies must now be asking is this: have the last week's actions in fact been a conscious attempt to destabilise the region, and to use the opportunity of a policy of "soft engagement" led by President Barack Obama to assert a new radical agenda in which militants lead the way?

The unrest began in Cairo on Tuesday evening, the anniversary of September 11, but quickly spread to the Libyan city of Benghazi when Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, was killed in an assault on the US consulate. The violence was sparked seemingly by an anti-Islam film produced by a Coptic Christian Egyptian filmmaker based in the US.

On Friday, Mr Stevens' body, along with those of the three other Americans killed in the Benghazi attack, were repatriated, landing at Andrews Air Force base, Maryland, where they were met by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state.

In an emotional tribute, Mrs Clinton said: "The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob".

President Obama vowed to "stand fast" against anti-US violence in the Arab world.

"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten, we will bring to justice those who took them from us. We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions."

The violence continued unabated on Friday:

Egypt

The day began with a note of optimism. The Muslim Brotherhood, which was seemingly caught unawares by the attack on the US embassy in Cairo this week, cancelled its call for nationwide protests.

Alarmed at the damage that could be done to its own reputation as a ruling party – a conservative party offering law and order – it said it wanted to avoid loss of life and damage to property.

Instead it called for a rally in Tahrir Square – the symbolic heart of the Arab Spring. Confused by the Brotherhood's mixed messages – or perhaps just unimpressed by the idea that Americans should be held responsible for a film apparently made and put online by Egyptians – the people failed to heed the call. No more than 2,000 people gathered in small groups at the eastern edge of the Square.

There were no more than that – probably half the number – at the other end, on the road leading to the US embassy. But they made their voice heard more loudly. The built a blockade of concrete to stop advances on the embassy, but were unable to move out and seize those who continued to hurl stones at them.

Sudan

Worse was to come elsewhere. A much larger mob, estimated at 5,000 strong, arriving by the busload, moved on the diplomatic quarter in Khartoum, first targeting the British and German embassies, which share a compound. The British embassy was successfully defended, but young men managed to climb the roof of the German embassy next door, tearing down its flag and replacing it, as happened at its American counterpart in Cairo on Tuesday, with the black flag of Islamic militancy.

From London, William Hague, the foreign secretary, said: "As it is the Sudanese weekend, very few staff were present in the Embassy. I am glad to say that all UK and Sudanese staff present during the attack are safe and that no injuries were sustained."

He said he had "raised concerns" with Sudan's ambassador, Abdullahi Hamad Ali Alazreg.

The US embassy itself was next. Guards on the roof fired warning shots, those on the ground tear gas. In the melee, at least two people were killed, one hit by a speeding police vehicle trying to disperse the crowd.

Tunisia

Even countries seen as safe, liberal and westernised were not immune.

Tunisia saw the opening shots of the Arab Spring, and its easiest revolution. The coalition government that replaced the dictatorship of Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali is led by an Islamist party, but moderate enough not to insist on Sharia as part of the constitution.

Nevertheless, it has seen its share of violence from the radical Salafi movement whose purist interpretation of Islam has spread like wildfire across North Africa in the last decade. It took only a few dozen to storm the walls of the US embassy in Tunis, raising an Islamist flag and setting fire to cars parked outside.

Nejib Ben Lazreg, a local tour guide, said that one of the embassy's office blocks was set ablaze, along with an American school found opposite the mission. "There was black smoke and tear gas," he said. "People driving past could smell the tear gas. Gunshots were also heard." As the smoke rose, at least one helicopter hovered over the embassy while security forces fought to restore order.

In the chaos at least three people died and 28 were hurt.

The violence was not limited to Arab countries. Nigerian police fired live rounds outside a mosque in the city of Jos, the scene of repeated sectarian violence involving its Muslim and Christian communities that has killed thousands of people in recent years.

In Iran, there were protests after Friday prayers, with crowds shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". In Bangladesh, 5,000 took to the streets; thousands more in Indian-controlled Kashmir. In Madras, scores were arrested.

But some of the most worrying incidents occurred in Lebanon, already nervous because of the war in neighbouring Syria and in addition hosting the Pope on a long-awaited visit. While he was being greeted in Beirut, a crowd, just a few hundred strong but again apparently dominated by Salafists, gathered in Tripoli and set fire to an outlet of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

One man, who called himself Khalil, told The Daily Telegraph that the Lebanese army had taken up positions. "It's more than five minutes that I can hear shooting outside," he said. "The Muslims here have distrust of Christians because they say that the makers of the movie are Coptic in Egypt."

One man was shot dead, though it was not clearly precisely how.

If there was any relief, it was that feared demonstrations in the Yemeni capital Sana'a were less violent than on Thursday, when the US embassy was breached and four died. A higher level of security was able to keep crowds – again no more than a few hundred strong – at bay.

For years, any insult to Islam has sparked protests. Usually, they have died down after a few days, or weeks. It is not the fact of demonstrations that will concern western leaders this weekend, however.

It is rather their virulence, which suggests that western interests, and even well-protected embassies are not safe. That has dramatic implications for how they are defended. More worrying is that it seems the host governments no longer have the will or the strength to stand up to mobs.

President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt finally on Thursday made a pledge to protect foreigners in Egypt. With so much of the Arab world desperate for foreign investment, that promise may have come too late.

And It Spreads...Muslim Maniacs In Yemen Storm U.S. Embassy

Americans dead in Libya, the American flag ripped to shreds and torched in Egypt and now, a horde of angry Muslims (when AREN'T they angry) have swarmed the U.S. embassy in Yemen - you just gotta admit..."THIS is what democracy looks like".....right?

The story comes from Boston.com.

Protesters storm US Embassy in Yemen


SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Chanting ‘‘death to America,’’ hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital and burned the American flag on Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.

The protesters breached the usually tight security around the embassy and reached the compound grounds but did not enter the main building housing the offices. Once inside the compound, they brought down the U.S. flag, burned it and replaced it with a black banner bearing Islam’s declaration of faith — ‘‘There is no God but Allah.’’

Before storming the grounds, demonstrators removed the embassy’s sign on the outer wall, set tires ablaze and pelted the compound with rocks.

It was similar to an attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Tuesday night. A mob of Libyans also attacked the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, killing American Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

In Egypt, protesters were clashing with police near the U.S. Embassy in the capital Cairo for the third day in a row.

The violence has raised worries that further protests could break out around the Muslim world as anger spreads over the movie.

Yemeni security forces who rushed to the scene fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators and were eventually able to drive them out of the compound. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was inside the embassy at the time of the attack.

The Yemeni Embassy in Washington condemned the attack and vowed to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats and to step up security measures around their missions in the country.

Yemen is home to al-Qaida’s most active branch and the United States is the main foreign supporter of the Yemeni government’s counterterrorism campaign. The government on Tuesday announced that al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader in Yemen was killed in an apparent U.S. airstrike, a major blow to the terror network.

The movie, ‘‘Innocence of Muslims,’’ came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube. The video-sharing website blocked access to it Wednesday. The trailer depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.end of story marker

Obama Foreign Policy Gets U.S. Ambassador To Libya Killed

Yes, you read that headline right.  A U.S. ambassador is dead this morning.  For the first time since Islamic terrorists killed the American ambassador to Afghanistan back in 1979, an American ambassador to another countries lies dead this morning as the result of Islamic terror.  Hmmm...1979 and now 2012....looking for comparisons....let's see who was President in 1979?  Who is President in 2012?

Barack Hussein Obama's vision for the Middle East, Asia and northern Africa as coming together under an Islamic banner of "Arab Spring" and fundamentalist revolution has cost the life of J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on the streets of Benghazi, Libya.  It appears that the ambassador and the three other were killed by a rocket attack.

From the report at CNN:

The United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in a rocket attack on the American Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday, a contractor working at the mission said Wednesday after seeing Stevens' body.

Three American security staff were also killed, said the contractor, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

He said he saw all four bodies on the street Wednesday morning. The bodies are now in the Central Hospital in Benghazi, he said.

Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur appeared to confirm that the envoy had been killed, saying that Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi."

So there you have it...American media....THIS is what democracy looks like in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists.  And one Barack Hussein Obama has the blood of these four men on his hands.  U.S. officials haven't confirmed these deaths but they will and when they do, Obama will issue a statement objecting to this violence, then he'll call for all of us to move on and he'll be on to stage two of establishing the next Islamic Caliphate.

U.S. Ambassador killed in Libya


(CNN) -- The United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in a rocket attack on the American Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday, a contractor working at the mission said Wednesday after seeing Stevens' body.

Three American security staff were also killed, said the contractor, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

He said he saw all four bodies on the street Wednesday morning. The bodies are now in the Central Hospital in Benghazi, he said.

Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur appeared to confirm that the envoy had been killed, saying that Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi."

"I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Abushagur said on Twitter.

The contractor in Benghazi said he could hear rocket-propelled grenade attacks last night.

Libyans were also killed, the contractor said, saying the victims were shot on the spot.

The deaths came as protesters attacked U.S. diplomatic compounds in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, angry about an online film considered offensive to Islam.

The United States has not confirmed the deaths.

Stevens was the American envoy to the Libyan rebel movement that overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year, based in the rebel capital of Benghazi.

A speaker of Arabic and French, he was among the first American diplomats sent to Libya in 2007 when the United States resumed ties with the Gadhafi regime.

The last time an American ambassador was killed by terrorists was in 1979, when the envoy to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped and killed during an attempt to rescue him, according to State Department records.

Is Saudi Arabia Next In the Arab Spring Hit Parade?

A protester holds up a picture of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a rally at the coastal town of Qatif Photo: Reuters

The repercussions of an Arab Spring revolt in Saudi Arabia would literally send the Middle East into a spiral downward ....even more than it already is and there are definite signs that a revolt, such as what we have seen in Libya, Egypt and Syria is in the early stages in the Saudi kingdom.

From the report at The Telegraph:

The detention of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr triggered the worst unrest in the kingdom's Eastern Province for months, prompting fears that the long-marginalised region could erupt in open revolt.

Hundreds of men marched through the centre of the city of Qatif, chanting "Down, Down with the House of Saud" and "Death to al-Saud", a rare direct challenge to the kingdom's royal family.

Amateur video footage showed live gunshots being fired at apparently peaceful demonstrators. But even as some protesters rushed forward to help one wounded man, others resumed their chanting with even greater fervour.

Shots were also fired during a second protest in the nearby village of Awamiya, where Sheikh Nimr was reportedly shot in the thigh as he was arrested.

The cleric has emerged as a leading voice of Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, leading them in sporadic protests that have erupted in their eastern strongholds since last year.

This is going to be very interesting as the Saudis' arch rival, the mullahs in Iran will no doubt seize on this opportunity to help stir up as much trouble in Saudi Arabia as they can muster.  The Saudi kingdom has always been viewed as one of the anchors of the Arab world and in the Middle East and the long standing relationship with the U.S. is often seen as a galvanizing force in the region.

Imagine the dilemma to Barack Obama and the Department of Defense if the Arab Spring movement grows with intensity in Saudi Arabia.  Don't forget, it was the Saudis that opened their lands to U.S. and coalition forces to use as bases during the operations to come to the aid of Kuwait.   Now, I don't know how much overall sympathy the vast majority of Sunni Muslims would show these Shias in Saudi Arabia but believe me, there are plenty of Sunnis who would see any unrest as a chance to revolt as well.

Saudi Arabia hit by sectarian violence as two killed


The detention of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr triggered the worst unrest in the kingdom's Eastern Province for months, prompting fears that the long-marginalised region could erupt in open revolt.

Hundreds of men marched through the centre of the city of Qatif, chanting "Down, Down with the House of Saud" and "Death to al-Saud", a rare direct challenge to the kingdom's royal family.

Amateur video footage showed live gunshots being fired at apparently peaceful demonstrators. But even as some protesters rushed forward to help one wounded man, others resumed their chanting with even greater fervour.

Shots were also fired during a second protest in the nearby village of Awamiya, where Sheikh Nimr was reportedly shot in the thigh as he was arrested.

The cleric has emerged as a leading voice of Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, leading them in sporadic protests that have erupted in their eastern strongholds since last year. The most recent deaths, the first since February, bring to nine the total number of Shia killed in the Eastern Province region since the unrest began.



Saudi Arabia's interior ministry claimed that Sheikh Nimr – who has been detained and allegedly beaten twice in the past eight years – tried to evade capture and was wounded after his car collided with a security vehicle, prompting an exchange of fire.

"Security will not tolerate troublemakers who abuse the community and their nation," the ministry said in a statement.

The kingdom's ruling family has attempted to ward of a Saudi spring by announcing £840 million in new government spending.

But although this largesse has temporarily mollified Saudi Sunnis whose chief grievances revolve around poor schools and affordable housing, it has failed to pacify the marginalised Shia communities in the east, where the vast majority of the kingdom's oil is found.

Despite promises to respond to Shia grievances by giving the minority scholarships and greater access to government jobs, calls for the secession of Eastern Province have grown increasingly audible in recent months.

The unrest comes at a time of vulnerability for the ruling House of Saud.

With a series of deaths necessitating the naming of three crown princes in eight months and King Abdullah believed to be at least in his 90th year, the royal family's authority appears much less ironclad than it once was.

Rumours of extravagance and corruption by the ageing princes has become the subject of mockery of YouTube clips and open dissent is becoming more common, even outside the east.

March saw a riot by female students in the south-western city of Abha and there was even a "flash mob" protest at shopping mall in the capital Riyadh in June to demand release of political prisoners.

The Leopard Will Change His Spots

Book of Obama Chapter 13

And the Holy One, anointed by Holy Chief of Justice, John of Roberts, returned to the Dome of the Capital, dressed in the Holy suit and tie and addressed the assembled chapter of the Congress, the Holy Justices of the land, the members of the anointed Cabinet and guests from near and far, the Anointed One, Wearer of the Mantle of Power, spoke:

I ended the war in Iraq, I killed the evil bin Laden, and personally I welcomed all the soldiers home from Iraq. I am the Holy One, the President and I can do everything. I have brought peace to the world, the world respects us better now than at any time, I will end the war in Afghanistan too. For I am the Messiah of the World.

I want all of you, My slaves oops My people to remember what I did for you after World War 2. My Grandfather who fought with Patton (and liberated Auschwitz) and My Grandmother who built the entire US Navy by herself, got to go to college for nothing. They built the US to its greatness all by themselves.

But now I see that you have done everything to destroy Me. You have overspent, you have destroyed My credit (and yours), you have bought homes that you could not afford. But I am here. I will pay your mortgages. I will refinance your mortgages. I will make it all better. I am your Savior.

I will prevent jobs from going overseas. I will investigate businesses who outsource their jobs to China. (That is until Warren Buffet tells Me to stop.) There will be no more bailouts for banks, for Wall Street, for anyone, except for Unions. I saved the auto industry. No one helped Me. And they are stronger now than before. (Sorry about the Volt thing.) I will make other nations have an equal playing field with Me. I am the equalizer.

I will tax the rich higher. And I will tax everyone else higher too. I will change the tax code. I am Omnipotent. I can and will do all.

I salute America's teachers. I stand by your unions. I will throw more money to you so you can indoctrinate the children. I want a law saying that a child must stay in school until either he or she graduates or turns 18. That way I can have them indoctrinated to be our slaves. I will find a way to destroy the home schools, the private schools (But not the ones My daughters attend.), and the religious schools. Everyone will learn the same, think the same, live the same. Everyone will get free college under Me. (Except to the "good" schools.)

I will give citizenship to every immigrant to the United States. It matters not to Me if they are legally here or not. And I demand that this be done before the November elections (I need the votes.).

I will create jobs in energy. I will have the oil fields opened up. (Until the environmentalists either go to court or demand that I stop.) I demand that we develop alternate energy (The people who created Solyndra have given Me more money. I need to give them more government funds.) Under Me the United States has imported less oil than in the last 16 years. (Not really but if you tell a lie long and loud enough the sheeple will believe it.)

I will clear away all the Red Tape, all the government regulations that hold business down. But only until I am re-elected. Then not only will it all return but I will impose stricter restrictions upon the land.

Under My leadership the Muslim world has undergone transformations. I was the cause of the Arab Spring, the Arab renewal, the Muslim revival. This is all good in My eye. I will remove Assad from Syria, nukes from Iran and Jews from Palestine. I will defeat the evil Netanyahu and replace him with the moderate Abbas. There will be peace through out the land, for under Me all will drink the Kool-Aid and sing the Kumbaya. Under Me all men, all women will live in peace. There will be peace, the peace of Islam and the joy of the jizya. This I will demand of the world.

Upon listening to this the people turned to each other and wondered why the Anointed One didn't do any of these things when He first came into office. They saw what He had done and shook their heads. In a loud voice they shouted:

NOT THIS TIME!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

The Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood In the Middle East....What Does It All Mean?

Most of us have watched in horror as the Muslim Brotherhood, in less than a year, has risen from this clandestine subterranean organization in mostly Egypt to a spreading center of power with that very Egypt now poised to be GOVERNED by the terror organization.

So, what does it all mean to the Middle East and to the West?

The article from Family Security Matters spells it out - not like you want to have to come to grips with it all.

Muslim Brotherhood Realities New and Old


The votes still aren't fully counted in Egypt, but the Obama administration has seen enough to reverse long-standing and well-rooted policies to shun the theocratic, global Caliphate-minded Muslim Brotherhood, whose philosophy spawned terrorist movements from Hamas to al-Qaida.

High level meetings between American and Brotherhood officials reflect a "new political reality here [in Egypt], and indeed around the region," the New York Times reported in a front-page article Wednesday, "as Islamist groups come to power."

What is astounding and dangerous about the new U.S. recognition is the fact that Brotherhood leaders became more openly radical and militant once Mubarak was thrown out, issuing incendiary speeches calling for "martyrdom" operations against Israel and aligning with Hamas and other terrorist groups. Yet as the New York Times wrote, the Obama administration accepts as truthful "the Brotherhood's repeated assurances that its lawmakers want to build a modern democracy that will respect individual freedoms, free markets and international commitments, including Egypt's treaty with Israel," the Times reported.

But there's another reality that seems overlooked. And that's the Brotherhood's history of deception and duplicity, policies that reflect its modus operandi in gaining legitimacy in Egypt and around the world but still promoting a militant agenda. While some MB officials may tell American officials they will respect individual liberties and honor Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, it's not hard to find massive evidence that paints a different and more disturbing picture.

As we reported last week, the Brotherhood is poised to dominate the next Egyptian government after vowing last spring that it sought no such power. The group's deputy chief says the Brotherhood "will not recognize Israel under any circumstances" and may place the peace treaty before voters in a referendum.

Earlier this year, it tried to hide its bylaws and their calls for "need to work on establishing the Islamic State" from English-reading audiences, striking them from its website. Last week, however, Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie gave an address reminding followers of the agenda laid out by Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. "It begins with the reform of the individual and then to start building the family and society, then the government; then the rightly guided caliphate, then instructing the world; instructing guidance, wisdom, truth and justice."

Brotherhood members must see their electoral success as a huge step in the direction of creating "the rightly guided caliphate." The United States would be foolish to differ.

It also would be foolish to overlook the Brotherhood's record.

After American commandos killed Osama bin Laden, the Brotherhood told English language audiences "one of the reasons for which violence has been practised in the world has been removed," Reuters reported. In Arabic, however, they referred to the mass-murdering al-Qaida founder with the honorary term of Sheikh and called him a shaheed, or martyr. The statement also criticized the American attack as an assassination.

Despite their reputations among some in the West as supposed moderates, Brotherhood officials routinely endorse terrorism. Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group in control of Gaza, declares itself to be the Brotherhood's Palestinian branch. Its peaceful intent includes recent reiterations of its commitment to violent jihad and its vow never to accept the state of Israel's right to exist.

"Our presence with the Brotherhood threatens the Israeli entity," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said last month.

For all the talk of the Brotherhood renouncing violence, the Associated Press noted that "it supports Hamas in its 'resistance' against Israel."

But the Brotherhood's threat of violence is not limited to actions against Israel. Influential Brotherhood theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi endorsed kidnapping and killing American civilians in Iraq in 2004 as an "obligation so as to cause them to leave Iraq immediately."

More recently, Qaradawi has called on Muslims to acquire nuclear weapons "to terrorize their enemies" and sanctioned killing Israeli women because they serve in the army. He has prayed to be martyred while killing a Jew.

Incredibly, there has been no American confirmation or denial of an Indian newspaper report last week which indicated Qaradawi is helping broker peace talks between the United States and the Taliban, which itself is scandalous.

But this is the same administration whose Director of National Intelligence called the Brotherhood "a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence," during a February congressional hearing. James Clapper tried to walk this back in subsequent statements, but his assessment flew in the face of all the Brotherhood has said about itself since its founding in 1928, beginning with its motto:

"God is our goal, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our way, and death in the service of God is the loftiest of our wishes."

There are good reasons why the United States does not deal with Iran or recognize Hamas government in Gaza: Granting unilateral recognition to totalitarian political movements or governments only emboldens their terrorist ideologies. Shunning, boycotting and ostracizing totalitarian movements and regimes that still promote violent ideologies and policies is the only proven way of undermining their legitimacy and containing them, short of military action. The Brotherhood, which supports the terrorist Hamas, can mouth to the West all the platitudes about peace it can muster. But the record of its actions and its statements in Arabic shows the emptiness of such words.

Here is Badie, the supreme guide, in October, following Israel's decision to release more than 1,000 prisoners, many of them Hamas killers, in exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit:

"The deal also proved that Israel only understands the language of force and resistance. This language is able, with God's permission, to liberate the Palestinian people suffering under the captivity of the Zionists."

Deception is part of the Brotherhood's modus operandi in America as well. Evidence in the largest terror-financing trial in U.S. history shows the Muslim Brotherhood created a network of Hamas-support organizations here, operating as the "Palestine Committee."

One exhibit, a 1991 "Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America," described the Brotherhood's work in the United States as a "kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all religions."

Court records provided "ample evidence" placing the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its founders in the Palestine Committee, but CAIR refuses to acknowledge those connections. The evidence prompted the FBI to cut off communication with CAIR, but plenty of U.S. politicians and policymakers continue to engage the group.

Even if U.S. government officials accept the premise that the Brotherhood is a new reality in international relations, it is profoundly troubling that the U.S. would unilaterally grant new-found legitimacy without extracting demonstrable concessions that the Brotherhood has truly changed its policies. We still carry great leverage, supporting Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year and through economic support from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Beyond the leverage of financial support, there are many options for the U.S. to pursue, as it did through an international boycott organized against South Africa when it existed as an apartheid state.

In legitimizing the Muslim Brotherhood more than any other previous administration, the U.S. undermines genuine secular and pluralist parties, admittedly in the minority in Egypt, but which hold out the only hope for alternatives to the empowerment of authoritarian policies of Islamist regimes. In the entire history of Islamist regimes taking over or winning by elections, there has never been an Islamist regime that has ever given up power peacefully.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration's embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt parallels its embrace of Muslim Brotherhood American branches and front groups whose officials say nice things on American television, yet continue to covertly spread the ideology of, and in many cases funded, Islamic militancy and terrorism. Throughout its history, Brotherhood groups and leaders around the world starting with al-Banna, its founder, in Egypt, have spread the incendiary conspiratorial doctrine that the West, Christians, Jews and infidels have secretly conspired to suppress Islam since 1095, the year of the first Crusade. And in the age of instant worldwide communications, this delusional paranoia that non-Muslims – especially the West, Jews and Christians are waging a war against Islam – has become the No. 1 factor in motivating Islamic terrorists to carry out their attacks. In Egypt as in the United States and Europe, Brotherhood leaders blamed Israel, Jews and the United States for the 9/11 attacks. Nearly every Islamic terrorist arrest in the United States has been described by Islamist leaders as evidence of a "war against Islam."

The Muslim Brotherhood, where ever it is around the world, from Cairo to Chicago, seeks to gain legitimacy thru a campaign of deception and penetration of western regimes and institutions. It defies common sense to grant unilateral legitimacy to the Brotherhood without demanding concrete actions to openly disavow its support for Islamic terrorist groups or stopping the spread of its mass incendiary message that there is a war against Islam.

Wittingly or unwittingly, the United States has now become a de facto enabler of a militant ideology that ultimately seeks the destruction of our own way of life.

Are Turkey and Syria Going To War With Each Other?

Good grief...the Turks are plenty pissed off at the Assad regime in Syria ...to the point that we might just be seeing some military action taken here shortly.

Look at this from The Telegraph:

The Turkish government, which has turned from Assad ally into his fiercest critic in a few short months, said it was suspending joint oil exploration and considering stopping electricity supplies to its neighbour.

For the first time, a senior official openly discussed the possibility of imposing a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border to give sanctuary for refugees. That would imply direct military action.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, will join counterparts from the Arab League at a summit in Morocco today to discuss further measures after a day of frantic lobbying by the opposition Syrian National Council, eager to capitalise on Mr Assad’s isolation.

One human rights group, the Syrian Observatory, called for both a buffer zone and a Libyan-style no-fly zone. “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls on International Community to take its moral and legal responsibilities defined by International Law, and demands an urgent effective action to help the Syrians to get their freedom,” a statement said.

I gotta admit this all makes my mouth drool since I'd like nothing better than to see 50,000 dead Syrian troops and an equal number of dead Turkish troops - let em wipe each other out as far as I'm concerned.

At the same time, I have thought about Syria and I really am confused as to just who would take over for Assad if he doesn't survive his version of the "Arab Spring." There are some bad groups in Syria that would make it a worse case scenario like Egypt but there are also some good factions there that would probably provide Israel with some well-needed relief over the next few years.

I have to wonder, as well, if Iran would be willing to step in and aid Syria if Turkey makes a military move. Wouldn't that be like a dream come true to see Iran and Turkey at war? Pardon me while I mop up the drool.

Turkey on brink of open confrontation with Syria


The Turkish government, which has turned from Assad ally into his fiercest critic in a few short months, said it was suspending joint oil exploration and considering stopping electricity supplies to its neighbour.

For the first time, a senior official openly discussed the possibility of imposing a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border to give sanctuary for refugees. That would imply direct military action.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, will join counterparts from the Arab League at a summit in Morocco today to discuss further measures after a day of frantic lobbying by the opposition Syrian National Council, eager to capitalise on Mr Assad’s isolation.

One human rights group, the Syrian Observatory, called for both a buffer zone and a Libyan-style no-fly zone. “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls on International Community to take its moral and legal responsibilities defined by International Law, and demands an urgent effective action to help the Syrians to get their freedom,” a statement said.

Neither Turkey nor the Arab League looks likely to go that far immediately, despite Saturday’s decision to suspend Syria’s League membership. But Turkish leaders threatened direct action if there were any repeat of the attacks on its consulates in Syria at the weekend.

“Our wish is that the Assad regime, which is now on a knife-edge, does not enter this road of no return, which leads to the edge of the abyss,” the prime minister, Recep Tayipp Erdogan, said.

“No regime can survive by killing or jailing. No one can build a future over the blood of the oppressed.”

He warned Assad that the brutal crackdown threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood".

A foreign policy adviser to the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, seemed to confirm that a buffer zone might only now need approval from other neighbours, which looks more likely following the Arab League vote.

“The protection of civilians is certainly very important,” the adviser, told a local television station. “But what matters is an international resolution on the issue. It seems out of the question for us to do that on our own.” The situation in Syria itself has dramatically worsened since the Arab League suspension. Monday saw what may have been the first major battle between troops and opposition activists and army defectors, in the southern province of Deraa, where the uprising began in March.

Activists said a tank was set on fire, and videos posted online showed what appeared to be an armoured vehicle and cars in flames. Activists said the defectors had staged an ambush in which they killed 34 troops and lost 12 of their own men.

They said another 24 people had died in clashes across the south of the country.

Despite this, there seems little immediate prospect of action at the United Nations. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, rebuffed a delegation led by the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, which had asked him to lift his opposition to further sanctions.

Instead, Mr Lavrov called for the SNC to sit down with Mr Assad.

The SNC is now putting its hopes in the Arab League meeting today(Weds)

which is supposed to discuss the political and economic sanctions specified in Saturday’s vote. “We expect an even tougher position,” Ausama Monajed, a member, said. He said the SNC supported a buffer zone but acknowledged that it would be complex and dangerous to establish.

The measures announced by Turkey may be more symbolic than effective in the short term. Syria supplies more than its needs in electricity, which it shares it through a grid system with neighbours.

Mr Assad has shown further signs of panic in the face of the unexpected stance taken by his neighbours. His government announced the release of 1,000 prisoners last night, after previously agreeing to admit 500 Arab League-appointed observers.

However, his foreign minister's apologies on Monday for the wave of attacks on Saturday night on Arab and other diplomatic missions were undermined when a fresh mob ransacked the Jordanian embassy in retaliation for King Abdullah's call on Monday for Mr Assad to stand down.