Throw money as its citizens. Washington has no problem at all with the brutal rule of King Abdullah. It’s all about oil, baby:
Showing all posts tagged Saudi Arabia
Somebody tell David Cameron; Kuwait isn’t a democracy
Oh dear: Opponents of Britain’s arms trade are “completely at odds with reality”, David Cameron said, as he hit out critics of his three-day visit to the Gulf. In a staunch defence of Britain’s arms exports, as he tours the region with a group of senior defence manufacturers, Cameron said it was wrong to leave…
Egypt’s internet kill switch; it will be used again and elsewhere
Internet users and activists in repressive regimes need to be extra careful, protecting themselves from prying state eyes: Epitaphs for the Mubarak government all note that the mobilizing power of the Internet was one of the Egyptian opposition’s most potent weapons. But quickly lost in the swirl of revolution was the government’s ferocious counterattack, a…
What New Delhi can learn from Cairo
My following article is published by leading Indian magazine Tehelka: The Middle East is the region where global empires lavishly exercise their chequebook. Since the Second World War, America has bribed, cajoled and backed autocratic regimes in the name of stability. Israel, self-described as the only democracy in the area, has been insulated from the…
No peace treaty ever told Egypt to banish Arabs
Ali Abunimah is spot on: On many minds — especially Israeli and American ones — has been the question of whether a new democratic Egyptian government will tear up the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. That of course, is up to the Egyptian people, although the transitional military government confirmed in its fourth statement Egypt’s…
The fallacy of “moderate” Middle East client states
This is what happens when Washington (and the West) gets into bed with fundamentalist misogynists. Israel calls Saudi Arabia “moderate” because it seemingly tolerates Zionist occupation: The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh…
Israel doesn’t believe in Egyptian democracy
My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey: While the Egyptian masses are uprising in unprecedented ways across the country against a Western-backed dictator, Israel fears the worst. The country’s President Shimon Peres said last week that, “no matter what they say, we owe Mubarak true gratitude for being as steadfast as a rock…
News flash; Washington still loves autocrats in the Middle East
New Yorker editor David Remnick writes about the uprisings in Egypt and after acknowledging the corruption of the Israeli occupation of Palestine next door issues the following utterly illogical statement: …The United States has long ceased to be a puppet-master among the Arab states, if it ever was. Really? Tell that to the people of…
Don’t forget every “expert” who embraced Mubarak and his kind
The embedded journalists, writers, commentators and think-tankers who spend their hours urging “moderate” regimes in the Middle East – namely Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others – never cared too much about the democratic aspirations of the Arab people themselves. Too messy, too inconvenient. And as long as Israel was happy, well, Washington (and…
Cutting US aid to Israel? Say it ain’t so!
Even the suggestion gets the “moderate” and “mainstream” Zionist lobbies up in arms. Just remind me why America backs a nation in the Middle East that occupies another people and works closely with brutal dictatorships Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt? U.S. Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies slammed on Thursday comments made by newly elected Republican Senator…