West Africa and the Arabian Peninsula

Is it not that long since we had a visitor from the Côte d'Ivoire and today we move to the neighboring country on the east with a visit from Ghana. Welcome to the BB! I rejoice to see all regions of the world linked together. How wonderful to have a guest from the land of the Ashanti and many other wonderful peoples.

We also had a visit from Saudi Arabia. My best friend spent some time in Saudi Arabia on business (there is no tourism there--you visit on pilgrimage, business, or government affairs). In the land of the Prophet it might seem dicey to discuss religion but religious discussion was part of everyday life. At the end of an internal business audit, the senior son of the Saudi family that owned most of the company spoke up, musing on the question to be asked at the Last Judgment. His speculation: "Why did you lie? Why were you not yourself?"

I strongly suspect he is right.
--the BB

Outside agitators

Juan Cole reminds us of some important facts:

A treasure trove of guerrilla documents, according to the NYT, shows that 41% of the foreign jihadis in Iraq come from Saudi Arabia, which is also a major source of funding for them. Another big group comes from Libya, with Yemenis the third largest cohort. There were none from Lebanon, despite constant US accusations of Hizbullah involvement. Of the some 25,000 alleged insurgents in US custody in Iraq, only 390 are foreigners. 4/5s of the Iraqis and nearly all the foreigners are Sunni Arabs. (The US appears to have never captured a Shiite Iranian fighter in Iraq.) The statistics raise the question of why US military officials are always focusing on Iran and Hizbullah so much, when they clearly are not very much of the problem, while never, ever, mentioning the Saudi issue. The Guardian has more. [emphasis mine]

We are clearly not being given the whole picture.

Tired of Bushco catapulting the propaganda?

Have you told Nancy Pelosi lately that if impeachment is off the table, so is democracy?
--the BB