The U.S. Has Put Six Worse Things Than the World Cup in Qatar, by David Swanson

Image by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr via U.S. Secretary of Defense via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Nov. 21, 2022
November 22, 2022

Here’s a video of John Oliver denouncing FIFA for putting the World Cup in Qatar, a place that uses slavery and abuses women and abuses LGBT people. It’s a video about how everyone else glosses over nasty truths. Oliver drags in Russia as a past World Cup host that abuses protesters, and even Saudi Arabia as a possible host in the distant future that commits all sorts of atrocities. My concern is not just that the U.S., as one of the planned hosts four years hence, gets a pass on its general behavior. My concern is that the U.S. has far outdone FIFA this year, and every year, in Qatar. The U.S. has put six things into that horrific little oil dictatorship, each of which is worse than the World Cup.

Blinken on Damage-Limitation Tour After Afghanistan Fiasco, by Finian Cunningham

Image by d mw via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Ireland
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation
September 8, 2021

Washington’s whirlwind outreach is evidently an effort to shore up confidence among U.S. allies in American defense commitments.

Vijay Prashad: Trump is Setting Up a Dangerous Confrontation With Iran + Saudi Arabia Set to Execute 14 Protesters

Image by Shreyans Bhansali via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews on Jul 24, 2017

Vijay Prashad and Paul Jay discuss the American, Saudi and Israeli ​campaign ​against Iran and the new Cold War with Russia.

The Tragedy of the “Ships of the Desert” by Felicity Arbuthnot + Gulf Crisis: Camels Become Casualties of Qatar Blockade

Image by Isabell Schulz via Flickr

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
July 21, 2017

The last straw will break the camel’s back. (Various attributions)

After his visit to the Kingdom in May, Donald Trump decided to back the Saudi-led blockade of tiny Qatar (2015 population 2.235 million, but just 313,000 citizens) imposed less than a month later.

Saudi Attack on Qatar; U.S. Threat to Iran by Sara Flounders

Image by Campaign Against Arms Trade via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Sara Flounders
Workers World, June 13, 2017
June 14, 2017

Two weeks after the grand pomp of President Trump’s visit, Saudi Arabia announced the complete blockade of small neighboring state Qatar on June 5. The blockade is an act of war.

US Military Leadership Resisted Obama’s Bid for Regime Change in Syria and Libya by Gareth Porter

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

by Gareth Porter
Writer, Dandelion Salad
crossposted at Middle East Eye
Washington
January 4, 2016

Seymour Hersh’s recent revelations about an effort by the US military leadership in 2013 to bolster the Syrian army against jihadist forces in Syria shed important new light on the internal bureaucratic politics surrounding regime change in US Middle East policy. Hersh’s account makes it clear that the Obama administration’s policy of regime change in both Libya and Syria provoked pushback from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The Media Misses the Point on ‘Proxy War’ by Gareth Porter

by Gareth Porter
Writer, Dandelion Salad
crossposted at Middle East Eye
Washington
May 6, 2015

Map of the modern state of Yemen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The term “proxy war” has experienced a new popularity in stories on the Middle East. Various news sources began using the term to describe the conflict in Yemen immediately, as if on cue, after Saudi Arabia launched its bombing campaign against Houthi targets in Yemen on 25 March.  “The Yemen Conflict Devolves into Proxy War,” The Wall Street Journal headlined the following day.  “Who’s fighting whom in Yemen’s proxy war?” a blogger for Reuters asked on 27 March.

The Reality for Many is One of Modern Day Slavery, Imprisonment and Violence by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
Repost from October 5, 2013
December 19, 2013

Given the choice few people would leave their families and friends and migrate from their homeland. The tens of thousands that pay unscrupulous ‘agents’ and criminal gangs to transport them hundreds or thousands of miles (often across borders), are compelled to do so to find work and to earn money to support themselves and their loved ones at home. The Middle East and North African (MENA) countries are some of the destinations of choice for both men and women seeking work, women look for domestic work and child-care, whist employment in the construction industry, is the goal of the tens thousands of men from South East Asia living in stifling poverty.

Abuse of Migrant Workers in MENA Countries by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
October 5, 2013

Image by nathangibbs via Flickr

Given the choice few people would leave their families and friends and migrate from their homeland. The tens of thousands that pay unscrupulous ‘agents’ and criminal gangs to transport them hundreds or thousands of miles (often across borders), are compelled to do so to find work and to earn money to support themselves and their loved ones at home. The Middle East and North African (MENA) countries are some of the destinations of choice for both men and women seeking work, women look for domestic work and child-care, whist employment in the construction industry, is the goal of the tens thousands of men from South East Asia living in stifling poverty.

Arab Oil Cash To Kill Democracy In Egypt by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 11, 2013

Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr

In order to determine whether the turmoil in Egypt is in the best interests of the mass of ordinary Egyptians, we should use the trusted maxim – follow the money.

Within hours of the military’s arrest last week of now-deposed President Mohamed Morsi, the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies were offering their congratulations to defense minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the new interim president, Adli Mansour.

Poetic justice in Qatari tyrant’s fairytale of supporting regional democracy and free speech by Finian Cunningham

Image by itupictures via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from www.strategic-culture.org
December 5, 2012

Once upon a time there was a very rich emirate whose royal ruler wanted to dazzle the world with his magnanimity and appreciation of free speech. It was a bold move because, in this particular geographical desert enclave, the oil-rich kingdoms were typically ruled with an iron rod by absolute unelected monarchs. These tyrants, who lorded over their people with megalomaniacal majesty, were widely feared by the populace because they did not tolerate the slightest dissent to their hereditary despotism. At the drop of a royal whim, disobedient subjects could be flung into dungeons and tortured until death.

The Climate Question: Degrees of Change, Parts 1 and 2

Dandelion Salad

Nov 25, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish

Climate Change has become one of the biggest, most complex issues of our time. And the warnings from some of the world’s leading scientists are getting louder. But skeptics remain. Despite the data, many are unconvinced the science is on target. So we ask: is climate change man-made and, if so, what can we do to stop it? From the crumbling ice caps of the Arctic to the shifting sands of the Arabian Gulf, Al Jazeera takes you around the world to see first-hand the impact mankind is having on our planet.

The Lutfallah II Arms-Smuggling Scandal by Franklin Lamb

by Franklin Lamb
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Tripoli, Lebanon
May 5, 2012

It would be an incautious stretch to suggest any sort of parity between Watergate and the unfolding Lutfallah II arms shipment-to-Syria drama, that each day brings more revelations. But some of what we are daily learning about the who, what and why of Lutfallah II reminds some of us of a Watergate, type atmosphere including  “bit by bit, drip by drip” revelations,  denials, setting up fall guys and remarkable examples of incompetence.

Qatar Military Coup “Rumours” Stir Bad Blood With House of Saud by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
April 18, 2012

The rumour mill is churning in the Persian Gulf with unconfirmed reports of a failed military coup against the Qatari ruler.

There were even media reports that American military helicopters had whisked the Emir and his wife to a safe unknown destination in the aftermath of the failed putsch, said to be have been attempted by high-ranking officers.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar Accused of Shielding Iraqi ‘Death Squad Leader’ by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
April 5, 2012

Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi, who is wanted on terrorism charges in Iraq, has fled to Saudi Arabia amid growing controversy over the role of the Gulf monarchies in the region’s volatile geopolitics.

Hashemi, a leading Sunni politician, is facing charges that he ran death squads at the height of the Shia-Sunni sectarian conflict in Iraq, which saw thousands killed, during the US-led nine-year occupation of that country. Hashemi denies the charges, but the authorities in Baghdad claim they have evidence that he personally directed Sunni death squads.