Saudi Arabia, France make their move in Lebanon

January 7, 2014 By administrator

The Saudi decision to give $3 billion in aid to the Lebanese army to purchase French weapons and ammunition came as a surprise to both supporters and opponents of the move. The amount is the highest ever to the army, but the most alluring aspect of the initiative is not limited to the allocated sum. In fact, rarely has the Lebanese state received any donations. Rather, the bigger surprise is the emerging Saudi-French partnership, which constitutes a turning point in the Middle East. With the shrinking US role in the area, a void has opened that regional forces and terrorist organizations from everywhere are rushing to fill.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman announced the aid in a message addressed to the Lebanese people. This presentation indicated that the three parties had coordinated the matter and that the foundations of an international security network are being laid to protect this small country tottering on the edge of an abyss.

On the one hand, the ghost of sectarian strife has spilled over from Syria, lurking on the horizon and occasionally bursting onto Lebanon’s streets and cities. On the other hand, a constitutional vacuum is threatening the entirety of the Lebanese Republic — its institutions and the state as well — if continuity in power is not achieved when Suleiman’s term ends in May 2014. Najib Mikati’s resigned government has lost all the components of legitimacy its authority was once based on. It is no longer possible to form a government that includes all Lebanese parties, because the country’s constitutional institutions have become dysfunctional. With each passing day, the rift grows wider.

The president has only one option, which is to form a government, but he already knows that it will not be approved by all parties. Hezbollah will definitely object and has already begun issuing threats. Such a decision needs international support, and the Saudi-French initiative might be the first step in that direction. Supplying the army with aid and the president’s declaration of this assistance symbolize support for Lebanon’s legitimacy, which is being threatened by the void.

The Saudi-French rapprochement also has regional dimensions. France is returning to the Levant after being forced to exit as an occupation force. This occurred in stages, in the aftermath of the two world wars when the Syrian people launched an Arab revolution and national jihad in the name of defending Islam and Arabism. Paradoxically, France has returned to the Levant through a Syrian door and in partnership with Saudi Arabia, the Land of the Two Holy Mosques. Hence, it has Arab and Islamic cover, specifically Sunni assistance, and is joining in an undeclared confrontation against Iranian expansion anchored in the Shiite and Alawite presence in the Levant.

As for Lebanon, things were different for the French. The French mandate served as a guarantee for Christians and paved the way for the establishment of the Lebanese Republic, in which Christians had the upper hand. The relationship between the French and the Lebanese evolved to include all Lebanese under the banner of France’s so-called Arab policy, whose tenents were set out by Charles de Gaulle. French openness to Muslims reached its peak under former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an influential persona in the Arab and Saudi arenas who also had a close relationship with the former Gaullist French President Jacques Chirac. Saudi and French interests have always coincided when it comes to Lebanon, with both countries sharing the same view on supporting Lebanese legitimacy based on the Taif Agreement.

The rapprochement between Paris and Riyadh grew even stronger following Hariri’s assassination in 2005, as both sides supported the March 14 camp and the decision to establish the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. These two steps were supposed to restore balance to Lebanon, staggering under the weight of Iranian and Syrian tutelage. The partnership experienced a setback with the arrival of President Nicolas Sarkozy to power and the emergence of a Qatari-French connection at the expense of Syrian and Lebanese matters, but things soon returned to their former, familiar course in the wake of the Arab Spring and the escalation of the conflict with Iran.

The aid to the army is not the first time Saudi Arabia has offered Lebanon assistance. The Saudis have in several ways played a major role in supporting Lebanon politically and economically. It supported the country with its post-civil war reconstruction and backed its currency through deposits at the Central Bank of Lebanon. This is, however, the first time that Saudi support has been offered in partnership with France, which reflects its implications and dimensions at the regional level. Both countries fervently support the Syrian revolution to oppose the growing influence of Iran in the Levant, especially after the US-Iranian rapprochement. This latter convergence altered important balances and forced prominent regional forces, including Saudi Arabia, to find alternatives for the United States as partners in light of growing Iranian influence.

The French-Saudi partnership broke the vicious circle of Lebanese policy on support for the Lebanese army, in that everyone has said they wanted to support it, but nothing was ever done in this regard. The Americans, who have long backed Lebanese legitimacy and provided the army with training and equipment, were reluctant to provide it with quality arms for fear that they might fall into the hands of Hezbollah and thus pose a threat to Israel’s security.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has always taken advantage of this paradox, which has hindered the army’s capabilities and serves as a pretext for the party to preserve its arms in parallel with Lebanon’s legitimate military forces as part of the national defense strategy. The breaking of the circle by the French and Saudis is therefore likely to face opposition and rejection.

Sami Nader is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Lebanon Pulse. He is an economist, Middle Eastern affairs analyst and communications expert with extensive expertise in corporate strategy and risk management. He currently directs the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, focusing on the economics and geopolitics of the Levant, and is a professor for USJ University in Beirut. On Twitter: @saminader

Saudi Arabia, US teamed up to invent Takfirism: Book

December 24, 2013 By administrator

The United States teamed up with Saudi Arabia in the 1990s to conceive Takfirism, says former CIA officer Robert Baer in his book.

In his 2003 book, Sleeping with the Devil, Baer traces the Saudi government’s finance of Takfiri terrorism in Chechnya.

“After I left the CIA, I found my answer in a batch of Russian intelligence reports that drew a convincingly direct link between the Saudi government and the Chechen rebels. It was not a question of Saudi charity money finding its way to the Chechens,” writes Baer.

In June 1998, he said, forty Chechens were “quietly brought to a secret military camp located seventy-five miles southeast of Riyadh” to undergo military training for four months.

“A lot of time was set aside for indoctrination into Wahhabi Islam. [Prince] Salman, the governor of Riyadh and the full brother of [then Saudi ruler] King Fahd, was the camp’s sponsor,” writes Baer.

Baer, who spent 21 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, said Saudi Arabia was “directly sponsoring terrorism.”

He noted that the money US pays for crude oil supplied by Saudi Arabia serves terrorist activities.

“For American arms makers, Saudi Arabia is an industry subsector all its own, with its own peculiar rules. We buy oil from Saudi Arabia, refine it, and put it in our automobiles, and a certain small percentage of what we pay for it ends up funding terrorist acts against America and American institutions at home and abroad,” wrote Baer.

He said the center of the global economy is a “kingdom built on thievery, one that nurtures terrorism, destroys any possibility of a middle class based on property rights, and promotes slavery and prostitution.”

Baer makes it clear in the book that the US has ignored Saudi Arabia’s support for terrorist groups like al-Qaeda in a bid to keep business afloat with the oil-rich monarchy.

He referred to the 9/11 attacks in the US, saying the wife of then Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan had been sending money to the plane hijackers.

“One report sent to the United Nations Security Council indicated that Saudi Arabia transferred half a billion dollars to al-Qaeda in the ten years beginning 1992. Old assumptions are off the table. And the new realities are far from comforting,” wrote Baer.

If the three axis of evel countris Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates want to go to war with Syria why are they hiding behind USA and NATO it is your war, go ahead and attack by yourself.

September 4, 2013 By administrator

Turkey has discussed several military options on Syria with the United States in preliminary talks, a Turkish diplomat said today, after a report claimed that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey had offered Washington the use of their military assets for possible intervention.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a phone call to Democratic lawmakers that those were the first three countries to make such offers, and other countries were expected to do so in the coming days as well, according to two people who were on the call, a CNN report said.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar & the Struggle for Influence in Syria: (The Bond Between the Monarchies is Fraying)

July 9, 2013 By administrator

Article by Eric Draitser- Boiling Frogs Post Contributing Author, Analyst & Producer

This week’s resignation of Ghassan Hitto, the so-called “Prime Minister in waiting” of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, coupled with the July 6^th election of Ahmed Assi al-Jarba to head the umbrella coalition of US-supported proxy groups attempting to topple the Assad government, has revealed further cracks in the edifice of the imperialist assault on Syria.

Qatar’s Man in the Middle

Ghassan Hitto, the Syrian expatriate and technocrat from Texas, was seen by most informed observers as the darling of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. As noted by AFP shortly after Hitto’s election:

Some coalition members described Hitto as a consensus candidate pleasing both the opposition’s Islamist and liberal factions. But some of the 70-odd Coalition members withdrew from the consultations before the vote could take place, accusing opposition heavyweight Muslim Brotherhood of imposing Hitto as a candidate.

Indeed, the imposition of Hitto as the political face of the foreign-backed opposition was seen by many inside the opposition and around the world as a power-play by Qatar to control the direction of the conflict in Syria and establish Doha as the real center of power in a post-Assad Syria.

This connection between Hitto, the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar was the source of much tension within the opposition. The NY Times reported that:

[Hitto] faced several challenges: he was seen by some rebels and activists as out of touch with the country, and some members of the often-squabbling coalition complained that he was a favorite of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and of its main foreign backer Qatar. Many in the opposition say Qatar wields too much influence in the movement.

What became clear during the course of Hitto’s short tenure as the public face of the foreign-backed opposition was that he was less a political leader than a proxy of Qatar and the United States. This despite what can only be called competition between its allies in Doha and Riyadh who at times collaborate and at other times compete for power and influence among the extremist jihadi elements throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Essentially then, Hitto must be understood as a placeholder, a man whose responsibility was not to lead, but simply to act as a foothold for the al-Thani regime and the Muslim Brotherhood within the leadership of the opposition. The goal was of course to have Hitto in place for the potential fall of Assad, so that Qatar could immediately secure its control over the country in a post-Assad scenario.

Saudis Reclaiming Dominant Role?

Hitto’s resignation places even more significance on last week’s election of Ahmed Assi al-Jarba as head of the Syrian Opposition Coalition. Whereas Hitto was understood to be a proxy of Qatar, Jarba can be correctly characterized as a proxy of Saudi Arabia. As McClatchy News explains:

Jarba is a chief of the Shammar tribe, one of the Arab world’s most powerful clans with members stretching from southern Turkey to Saudi Arabia…He was jailed early in the revolt against Assad…After being released from prison in August 2012, he fled to Saudi Arabia where his tribal connections put him into close touch with senior members of the Saudi intelligence services.

It should be noted that the innocuous-sounding phrase “close touch with senior members of Saudi intelligence” is a euphemism for Saudi agent, which is precisely what Jarba is. Note the fact that, like Hitto, Jarba has already stated publicly his opposition to peace talks with the Assad government, thereby perpetuating the cycle of violence that benefits Riyadh and Doha and costs more innocent Syrians their lives.

Jarba has said that “Geneva in these circumstances is impossible.” However, one must consider precisely which “circumstances” he was referring to. Keen political observers who have been following events in Syria for some time understand the “circumstances” to be the continued military defeats of the foreign-backed rebels and jihadis by the forces of the Assad government. Jarba and his Saudi handlers understand quite clearly that they must first achieve substantive military victories on the ground before they can even pay lip service to peace talks.

It is precisely this desperate need for tactical victories by the rebels that has driven Saudi Arabia to become even more involved in fomenting this war. Using Jarba as their proxy, the Saudis have attempted to launch a new and perhaps even deadlier phase of the war against Syria. In his first two days as head of the coalition, Jarba has already announced that the rebels will soon receive “a new shipment of sophisticated weapons from Saudi Arabia” as well as proposing a truce during Ramadan.

However, these announcements should be interpreted as cynical ploys designed to buy time for Saudi arms to reach their destination and for the rebels to train in their use. Jarba said as much when he proclaimed to Reuters, “I will not rest until I procure the advanced weapons needed to hit back at Assad and his allies. I give myself one month to achieve what I am intent to do.” So, while proposing a one-month truce under the cover of religious piety in the observance of Ramadan, Jarba gives himself exactly that same one month window to procure advanced weapons. The hypocrisy and duplicity needs no further explanation.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have a complicated relationship, at times friendly and at other times acrimonious. Throughout the course of the destabilization and subversion of Syria, the two countries have collaborated in the funding, arming, and importation of jihadi elements from throughout the Muslim world. They have both been linked to intelligence agencies of the imperial Western powers while maintaining close contact with terror networks foreign and domestic. As such, both countries have played the indispensable role of intermediary between these disparate forces. However, now that the threat to their terrorist proxies in Syria is an existential one, and Assad victories become ever more decisive, it seems the bond between the monarchies is fraying. The recent changes in the political leadership of the so-called opposition merely reflect this.

Eric Draitser- Boiling Frogs Post Contributing Author, Analyst & Producer Eric Draitser is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City. He is the editor and host of StopImperialism.com and the Stop Imperialism podcast.

161 protesters held in Saudi Arabia

March 3, 2013 By administrator

Those detained had reportedly refused to disperse from a sit-in staged outside the investigation and prosecution bureau in the town of Buraida. (AFP)

By AL ARABIYA

Saudi police have arrested 161 people, including 15 women, after a protest calling for fair treatment for security prisoners, the official SPA news agency reported late Friday.

State news agency SPA said those detained had refused to disperse from a sit-in staged outside the investigation and prosecution bureau in the town of Buraida.

SPA quoted a police spokesman in the Qassim region as saying those detained on Friday “refused to respond to instructions and attempts by security personnel for more than 12 hours to get them to end their informal gathering.”

The sit-in was “an attempt to rouse public opinion by exploiting the cases of a number of persons convicted or accused of crimes or activities of a deviant group,” the spokesman said.

The security forces are in the process of handing back six children that accompanied the protesters who were arrested to their relatives.