Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Arms sales: the Swedish model Related An imperialist state The Swedish model?

G20 and Covid-19

Imperialism and internationalism

Protecting Saudi Arabia is part of protecting geo-political allies, which is part of ensuring hegemony of some over others, which is part of enuring the survival of a regime, which is part of ensuring the outflow of capital, which is also part of fueling wars, which is part of "our European way of life", which is part of a long-term hypocrisy and trail of crimes and complicity in crimes.   "President Macron  and Angela Merkel  have signed a secret deal in an attempt to ease Franco-German friction over arms exports, notably to Saudi Arabia. The agreement is designed to stop Berlin from blocking the sale of French weapons that contain German parts to countries with questionable human rights records. There is anger in Paris over Germany’s human rights policy, which the French say is undermining attempts to move towards a common European defence. The row has cast a shadow over efforts by the two countries to relaunch their alliance." The Times online, 16 Septem...

The other Saudi war

Saudi Arabia has the backing of an emerging superpower  "Showkutally Soodhun, president of Mauritius’ ruling MSM (Militant Socialist Movement) party and the island nation’s former vice president, also praised the Kingdom for taking the lead in the global fight against terrorism."  Yes, you read it rightly, the leader of "Militant Socialist Movement" party has praised one of the most reactionary regimes in the world .

[I]t would be a mistake to judge the particulars of politics with the proverbial "Sunday School" sense of morality that is farthest removed from the abiding concerns of those who habitually lie. States, particularly the most powerful states, lie and these lies are for the best interests of the ruling elites in charge of those states. The bully who cried wolf

America's Allies in the Middle East : The Real "Troika of Tyranny"

Who did what to defeat the Islamic State group

"Rights groups have accused Paris of being complicit in alleged war crimes against civilians in Yemen, where around 10,000 people have died and millions been forced to the brink of starvation." Who are these (leftist, ignorant) "rights groups" who do not know that we need strategic partners to preserve the values of "the free world" and of "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité". Haven't you seen the French chanting "Je suis Yéménite", "Je suis Sudanais(e)", "Je suis Algérien(ne)? France ships (more) arms to Saudi Arabia

This is the kind of analysis we need: a well-established journalist at the Financial Times argues that there is a risk of "accidental" war in the Middle East. History, and the history of the region in particular, following Gardner's logic, tells us that wars happen by "accident", not by a cumulative process within a historical juncture and with a backgroound at home and abroad of the social-political forces at play. What might be called an "accident" could be a trigger, but not the mechanism. Necessity is the main/fundamental factor, i.e. the cumulative process(es) of drives and contradictions  make war a necessity. I am curious to find how many historians and analysts have found that 1948, 1967 and 1973 wars, the Iraq-Iran war (1982-1988), 1991 and 2003 wars/invasions happened "accidentally". That's apart from the simplistic but convenient mainstream description of the "sectarian" nature of the conflicts. Risks rise o...

The Saudi's assistance in the expansion of the Israeli's state Zionist project

Yemen: Death from above

AngloArabia: Why Gulf Wealth Matters to Britain

"Strategical partners" German arms feeding the Yemen conflict

I was shocked, devastated and appalled upon hearing that  Britain continued seeking arms deals with Saudi Arabia in weeks after Khashoggi was mudered I couldn't believe it. How could that happen? It must be a conspiracy by The Mirror and The Independent! 

I have read nothing new in this FT review, but it is a good reminder of key actors and legacies. (I got access to the piece after googling the headline below) Britain, America, and the battle of mastery of the Middle East

Complicity in crimes University of Cambridge,  BAE System and others

Many of those condemning the regime today include a cross-section of US government, think tank, and media personalities that are themselves guilty at best of ignoring, and at worse covering up, the authoritarian nature of the Saudi regime and the various forms of systematic violence it deploys (let alone the US role in propping up the regime, providing the means of that violence, and many times participating in the actual acts of violence).  Kashoggi himself was for a long time part of the Saudi regime of power, and only recently fell out with its current top echelons (i.e., Mohammed bin Salman) and thus defected. Saudi Arabia's Long History of Dictatorship and Opposition

"‘By mid-2017 Yemen faced total humanitarian disaster, its first famine since the 1940s and the world’s worst cholera epidemic.’ The situation was unprecedented and avoidable: both famine and cholera were ‘the result of a civil war dramatically worsened by foreign intervention'." — Helen Lackner Yemen's turn Note: Tariq Ali's position on Syria has been shameful.