Marko Marjanović — Uncle Sam in Arabia: 'Modernity for Me, but Not for Thee' – Why West Deposes Arab Secularists but Backs Arab Kings

Another paradox of liberalism.

A quick glance at a map of US military bases in the Middle East will immediately tell you that Washington's friends in the region are crowned heads. The Emirs of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE. The Saudi king in Riyad and the Hashemite king of Jordan. 

Meanwhile its historic chosen enemies in the Arab world have been secularist Arab nationalist regimes. Nasser in Egypt, Hussein in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya, Assads in Syria…

Why?

Retrograde Arab monarchies reinforce the Western Orientalist idea of hierarchy of civilizations – Arab modernizers challenge it

The current geopolitical dynamic can be viewed as colonies challenging their former colonizers. While this may not true be of Russia, the goal of the US to turn Russia into a vassal state. Most Atlanticists don't view Russia as part of Western civilization.

Russia Insider
Uncle Sam in Arabia: 'Modernity for Me, but Not for Thee' – Why West Deposes Arab Secularists but Backs Arab Kings

Marko Marjanović

Charles P. Pierce — There Is Only One Way to Defeat ISIS

We must hold accountable our Middle Eastern "allies"—the states and bankers and political elites—who persist in funding mass murder….

It's not like this is any kind of secret. In 2010, thanks to WikiLeaks, we learned that the State Department, under the direction of then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, knew full well where the money for foreign terrorism came from. It came from countries and not from a faith. It came from sovereign states and not from an organized religion. It came from politicians and dictators, not from clerics, at least not directly. It was paid to maintain a political and social order, not to promulgate a religious revival or to launch a religious war. Religion was the fuel, the ammonium nitrate and the diesel fuel. Authoritarian oligarchy built the bomb. As long as people are dying in Paris, nobody important is dying in Doha or Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia is the world's largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba – but the Saudi government is reluctant to stem the flow of money, according to Hillary Clinton. "More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups," says a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state. Her memo urged US diplomats to redouble their efforts to stop Gulf money reaching extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," she said. Three other Arab countries are listed as sources of militant money: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The cables highlight an often ignored factor in the Pakistani and Afghan conflicts: that the violence is partly bankrolled by rich, conservative donors across the Arabian Sea whose governments do little to stop them. The problem is particularly acute in Saudi Arabia, where militants soliciting funds slip into the country disguised as holy pilgrims, set up front companies to launder funds and receive money from government-sanctioned charities.

It's time for this to stop. It's time to be pitiless against the bankers and against the people who invest in murder to assure their own survival in power. Assets from these states should be frozen, all over the west. Money trails should be followed, wherever they lead. People should go to jail, in every country in the world. It should be done state-to-state…. 

Esquire

There Is Only One Way to Defeat ISIS
Charles P. Pierce