Bloodthirsty Liberal

Ralph Peters with some words of encouragement for sub-Saharan Africa:

Whatever planet Earth may find in short supply in 2010, violence and misrule will remain abundant, from the most-recent round of Muslim-vs.-Christian massacres in Nigeria to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez’s delight in unleashing his thugs on students marching for freedom.

But no region — not even sub-Saharan Africa — competes with the greater Middle East when it comes to wanton savagery, thwarted opportunities and the danger posed to innocent populations around the world. With fanatical terrorists of unprecedented brutality, Islamist extremists pursuing nuclear weapons, rogue regimes, disintegrating states and threats of genocide against Israel, the lands of heat and dust between the Nile and the Indus form a realm of deadly failure that will haunt the civilized world throughout our lifetimes.

A survey of the region’s key countries — and problems — doesn’t offer much good news for the Obama Administration’s naive foreign policy efforts:

Said survey follows.

Oh, okay, you want a few highlights?

LEBANON: This isn’t a country — it’s a temporary stand-off.

…

Hezbollah has been rearming mightily in the wake of its 2006 war with Israel. A new war would devastate much of Lebanon — if internal strife doesn’t do it first.

…

EGYPT: … Egypt faces a potential succession crisis as octogenarian president Hosni Mubarak, who’s ruled the country for almost three decades, grooms his singularly unimpressive son, Gamal, to take over upon his death.

…

SYRIA: The neighborhood’s in such awful shape that this police state’s beginning to look like a success story…. When Damascus looks like a beacon, it’s getting awfully dark in the Middle East.

…

IRAQ: Can’t say we didn’t try. After years of serious progress toward a national compromise… [r]econciliation has come to a screeching halt. The Shia are smug, the Sunnis feel betrayed, and the Kurds are still denied title to the traditionally Kurdish city of Kirkuk. Every faction’s fighting for a greater share of oil revenues. And the Obama administration’s AWOL (this was Bush’s war — we wouldn’t want a positive outcome).

…

SAUDI ARABIA: Its two main exports are oil and fanaticism…. They care only for their repressive version of Islam. The birthplace of Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia’s differences with his terror organization are over strategy and tactics, not over their mutual goal of forcing extremist Islam on all of humanity.

IRAN: Racing to acquire nuclear weapons, delighting in the prospect of a cataclysmic war that would lead to the “return of the hidden imam,” beating the hell out of its own people in the streets, murdering members of the intelligentsia, and explicit in its vows to destroy Israel, the government of Iran continues to be protected by China and Russia.

If you want to know more about that benighted, poxy patch of scrub and swampland… I pity you. You need a date.

Nice country.

- Aggie

We’re not giving up on Scott, believe me. But we have our responsibilities.

Aggie and I have linked to stories of Israeli medical teams saving (and delivering) lives in Haiti mere hours after the earthquake.

Israel: that’s pretty far away from Port-au-Prince. Almost as far away as Riyadh:

What do Alyssa Milano, Sandra Bullock, Lance Armstrong, Gisele Bundchen, the country of Senegal and — very possibly — you have in common?

All — including you — have donated more funds to the Haitian relief effort than oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

That’s right … if you personally have donated money to help the earthquake-stricken people of Haiti, then you have contributed more money than the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose combined dollar donation is a big fat zero.

As Haiti slowly recovers from last week’s earthquake, more than $507 million has been donated by countries, individuals and organizations to the devastated nation, according to United Nations documents.

But the goodwill has been far from balanced. India, which has one of the world’s largest gross domestic products, has donated $1 million, a figure matched or eclipsed by much smaller economies like the Czech Republic ($1.1 million), Botswana ($1.1 million) and Senegal ($1 million).

…

The United States leads the way among developed nations with $114.5 million donated as of Wednesday.

Got that? Bots-freakin’-wana has given more money to Haitian relief than Araby or Persia, by a million to nothing.

And China has given only about four-and-a-half million.

Saudi Arabia stands alone. According to the U.N. document, the country has neither donated nor pledged so much as a penny or a Band-Aid.

But they’ve got terrorists! They might make great demolition experts for damaged buildings.

CORRECTION
A commenter has noted SA did kick in $$ after all–$50 million—as this story reports.

The article was dated Monday, the 25th, four days after our post—and almost two weeks after the quake itself—but we are happy to update the record.

The interest-free part is gratuitous, however. I don’t think a lot of countries left a bill for services rendered. And I would note that the Israeli medical team had already put in ten days of solid in-the-field medicine and surgery, and were on their way back home, before the Saudi check arrived. But everyone contributes in his own way.

Move over, Gitmo. Make way, Abu Ghraib. Take a hike, Haditha.

There’s a new grievance in town:

The US is risking its ties with Nigeria by asking travellers from the country to undergo stiffer airport security, Nigeria’s information minister says.

…

Another African nation subject to the new rule, Algeria, has also complained.

Oh crap, who lost Nigeria?

And as Algeria goes:

Following the U.S. announcement about heightened security checks for passengers arriving from Saudi Arabia, Osama Naqli, director of the media department at the Saudi Foreign Ministry, said that his country would not tolerate any violation of the dignity of its citizens, their freedom of movement or their privacy for any reason whatsoever, and that the Saudi embassy in Washington has demanded explanations from the Americans in this matter.

To which I hope we responded… no, why bother, I know we didn’t respond in any such way.

But I will take this opportunity to point out that Saudi Arabia is simultaneously one of the greatest supporters of global terror and one of its greatest foes. For every Saudi prince targeting us and our way of life is another with the target right on his own backside.

What idiots

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.

It would seem that art therapy only works about half the time.

We have a local radio personality, Howie Carr, who makes fun of goofy pc stuff by discussing it in a snarky, falsetto voice. I hear him now saying: Art Therapyyyyy…

- Aggie

What will become of us?

A dispute has broken out in Saudi Arabia after a fatwa was issued by Ahmad Qasim Al-Ghamdi, director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice for Mecca, permitting mixing of the genders.

Al-Ghamdi also said that there are hadiths proving that a woman can shake a man’s hand.

You take that back!

Next they’ll rule that a six year-old can play hopscotch rather than hop into her husband’s bed.

BTL and the Sheik of Araby: now there’s an unlikely couple.

Saudi Arabia called for an independent investigation into “climategate” Monday, warning that the scandal over stolen e-mails threatened to undermine the global-warming negotiations beginning here.

“We believe this scandal — or what has been referred to as the ‘climategate’ scandal — we think this is definitely going to affect the nature of what could be trusted in our deliberations,” the Saudi Arabian negotiator said.

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has promised to investigate the scandals, although its chairman said Monday that it provided no basis for questioning the science behind global warming.

But the Saudi negotiator told delegates that “the level of confidence is certainty shaken.”

Regardless of its selfish, terrorist-sponsoring motives, Saudi Arabia is more honest, more respectful of the truth than the UN. I’m not saying I’m surprised, mind you, just mindful.

Wouldn’t it be a hoot if the Saudis brought down this asinine summit the same way they brought down the twin towers? Well, not a hoot…

Try not to take the bedfellow metaphor too literally: such imagery would be too off-putting to take the rest of this seriously:

In his speech at the opening of the parliament session, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned against Iranian interference in Arab affairs. He said that his country would not hesitate to react to attempts to destabilize it or threaten its security, which has an impact on the security of the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Middle East at large.

Meanwhile, across the Arab Peninsula:

At a demonstration in front of the Iranian Foreign Ministry today, Iranian students carried placards offering $4.5 million to anyone who assassinates the “traitors” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi King Abdallah, and Jordanian King Abdallah.

The students demanded that the Iranian government act immediately against the slaughter of Shi’ites in Yemen by Saudi Arabia, and shouted, “Death to Saudi Arabia,” “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel.”

These crazy mother-[bleeping] Persians. When are they not shouting? The decibel level has rendered them insane.

What’s a hard-working terrorist to do?

The leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Penninsula warned Tuesday that Shi’ite Muslims, particularly Iran, posed more danger to the world than either Jews or Christians.

“They [Shiites] are being driven by a greed to take over Muslim countries and they are full of a wish to annihilate Sunnis,” Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid said in an audio recording carried by the U.S. monitoring group SITE Intelligence.

“Their threat to Islam and its people is much bigger than that from Jews and Christians,” he added. The majority of the world’s Muslims are Sunni, but Iran and the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah are both Shi’ite.

“We call on the nation … to stand by [Sunnis] with whatever means they can against the danger of Iran and those who follow [the Shiite] faith in the region,” added Rashid. He also accused Shi’ites branch of helping to facilitate the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Phew! So nutty. Someone needs to do a musical along the lines of The Producers. Springtime for Sunnis and Shi’ites.

- Aggie

Arabs may not like living next to Jews in the Middle East, but they are trying to learn the ways of their unwelcome neighbors, the better to get along with them.

This fellow has one observation:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar, a lecturer on Islamic history at the Islamic University of Gaza. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 31, 2009.

The claim that those who built Pithom and Raamses were persecuted is a lie. The archaeological finds have proven that they enjoyed rights and privileges, and that they did not suffer any injustice. Therefore, all the talk about persecution is incorrect. These are lies by the Jews, who have become used to not working, to being a burden on others. This has been part of their psychological makeup throughout their long history. They do not like to work. They like to have people working for them, and to receive the services.

…

Therefore, when they were forced to work at Pithom and Raamses, making bricks to build the two cities, they viewed this as persecution. This is not true. This was merely construction work, playing an active role in the society in which they live – a society that has the right to force them to carry out this work.

Lazy and ungrateful—there’s no pleasing some people!

But that’s okay, because they are about to get theirs:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Himam Sa’id, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on October 9, 2009.

The truth is that sooner or later, there will inevitably be Jihad, or fighting, between us and the Jews. Postponing the war, trying to throw sand in the eyes, and ignoring what is happening in Palestine… Today, the Jews are spreading. They are at the gates of Amman. Today, the Jews pose a threat to Jordan in its entirety. They pose a threat to Iraq, to Syria, and to the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore, the [Arab] governments have to create a state of popular Jihad everywhere, to establish a strong popular army, to train the youth and prepare them, and to open the gates of Jihad and of volunteering – just like in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

[…]

True, right now, things are calm. But under the calm, there are volcanoes. If these volcanoes erupt, by God, they will blow away all the conspirators, and all the hypocrites, and [the volcanoes] will sweep the Jews out of Palestine for all eternity.

I have a neighbor whose thorny bramble grows over his side of the fence and into my yard. Will that volcano also sweep his conspiratorial and hypocritical shrub out of my property for all eternity. If so, I’d like to borrow it.

Let’s hear from one more, shall we?

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi University professor Salman Al-Abdali, which aired on Iqra TV on October 1, 2009.

Explosive belts are legitimate when they are used against colonialist aggressors. Let me reiterate: colonialist aggressors, who cross continents and oceans, in order to invade the lands of the Muslims.

[…]

Someone who blows himself up amidst the enemy is different from someone who blows himself up in a safe place. Blowing oneself up in Tel Aviv is not like blowing oneself up in Riyadh.

Try telling that to Al Qaeda, “professor”. (Not that he couldn’t get tenure at Columbia or Berkeley, based on that comment alone.) What about blowing oneself up in Lahore, Karachi, Kabul, Baghdad, and other Muslim capitals? Is that “legitimate”?

Terrorism is not a tool as much as it is a dangerous contagion, which can turn on its handler as easily as on its target. Think of a hammer that has a mind of its own, and is just as likely to strike your own head as it is to strike the head of the nail.

People say Islamic culture hasn’t contributed anything to the world since the Middle Ages. But random and indiscriminate death and dismemberment is surely worth noting, and surely an Islamic specialty. They seem to think so.