Tag Archives: Arab News

March 25, 2025 · 00:37

A simple question

I question arrived in my mind today. You see, The Times of Israel gave us roughly one day ago ‘Ballistic missile fired at Israel from Yemen lands in Saudi Arabia’. This setting is given to us by both the Times of Israel and All Israel News. Yet that setting is not given to us by the New Arab, Arab News, Al Jazeera or a few other news media. So, I need to wonder, is this news filtered, did it really happen, or is there another reason?

I reckon that if Saudi Arabia is hit, there is a larger need to take out these terrorists. But I merely see a one sided news and other (western News media) give us nothing. So I need to wonder, what is going on.

My main reason is that I no longer trust the media to give us the goods and the question becomes. Why aren’t we given the news, why are some people giving us optionally disinformation and why is this done? There is a reason for Saudi Arabia not giving ‘us’ the news if the missiles landed in that huge litter box called ‘the desert’ and they decided that it wasn’t worth mentioning this. Is the Israeli media trying to convince the local population that Saudi Arabia is under attack, but the Saudi’s are refusing to answer that call, as to leave the Israeli’s to believe that they are alone in this fight? All reasons, but which one is true? That is the question I come to as the media is regarded as less and less reliable.

So what is the news? This is important as Al Jazeera reported a little over 3 hours ago ‘US fires on Sanaa as campaign against Yemen’s Houthis continues’ as news goes ‘per minute’ the western media should have been on top of this, especially American media. From their side, AP News merely give us the news 47 minutes ago. As I personally see it, the fact that Al Jazeera is more on top of this then American sources gives us a debatable setting. What gives, and why does the (speculative) accessible news go through stake holders? There is a larger question on settings and I seemingly see it more and more people are (read: should be) left with questions. 

This is the simple question that I have. It is not my imagination, the media (at present) has less credibility than the average drug pusher and that is not a good thing. The problem here is verification of the news given to us. The Media (as I personally see it) seems to be in hands of stake holders who seem to filter what is ‘need to know’ to us and this has been going on for a few years and as such I look at more and more media sources. The media stakeholders all have their own ‘needs’ and filter as such. Feel free to doubt my written words (which is always a good idea), but when you consider what others decide to give us and what is filtered as ‘trivial’ becomes a new age stage. In an age where multicultural sides are conflicting with what is filtered, there is the larger question that is prepping my mind. You see, what news is filtered away from Muslims in the western world. What news is filtered away from Asian and Latin Americans in the western world. If only there were rainbow tables that do that. Because I personally suspect that people are filtering the results of what Google gives people set to localisations of the reader. It is hard to find evidence of that setting, but that is a personal consideration I am left with. There is also the chance that for example Arab News might not be searchable outside of the Arabian Peninsula, I get that, but whether that is the case is the question. 

It leaves me with the stage that there is a larger gap in the schooling of people. We all (me included) need to learn on where we can set the ability to have access to some news. And that is a side that is not on Google, it is on us and on the publisher, but there is a larger stage where publishers could limit the visibility their news to limit the bandwidth approach of their internet workings. There are several options. Yet as I see it. The fact that Al Jazeera had it for three hours and AP News for less than an hour remains a setting that I expected more than these two. Several newspapers should have had that news (for example: the Guardian, the Observer, the Times, LA Times, San Francisco Courier, Boston Globe) and several others, so why were they absent from the searches?

Do you not think that these papers should have given their local populations the goods as America attacks Houthi positions? Just a simple question really.

So, have a great day and if you are in Toronto, enjoy your early breakfast, I’ll have tomorrow’s breakfast in Sydney in 6 hours.

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March 20, 2025 · 17:50

A letter from Hugh

Yup, it happened to me, Hugh Grant send me a letter (a modern message in Email).

You know, the man who was made famous through the movie “Four startups and a Bankruptcy”. And behold, this morning there was a letter in my mailbox, stating:

Dear Lawrence,

For over ten years in opposition the Labour Party promised to implement the Leveson reforms.  These reforms would raise standards in the media and protect the public from intrusions into grief, blatant falsehoods, and other abuses. 

Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, talked a big game about ending corruption in politics and putting the public first.
Yet since his election as Prime Minister, Sir Keir has done nothing to keep his party’s promises and end the scandal of press abuse.

In his failure to act, he is protecting the status quo and putting newspaper owners ahead of the public.

We need to remind him: his Government is accountable to the British public, not newspaper owners.  And his Party’s promises – to ordinary people affected by press abuse, and the wider public – must be kept.

And here is the link to write to your MP (at https://www.hackedoff.org/campaign-actions/britains-press-power-without-responsibility-demand-real-press-accountability-now?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=Hugh follow-up&utm_medium=email&utm_id=38)

You will get to enter your UK Postcode and as I as a test enter a post code of Birmingham (as a test)  The system replies with 

Dear Shabana Mahmood,

Despite reaching over 70% of the public every month national newspapers are unregulated – allowing them to spread lies, disinformation, and to commit intrusions with impunity.

Every issue facing the country – from human trafficking to climate change to domestic violence – is affected by the ability of newspapers and their websites to cover them inaccurately and unethically.

The Government’s inaction on press regulation is holding Britain back from meeting these challenges – as well as leaving newspapers able to cause extraordinary damage to individuals’ lives through harassment and intrusion into grief.

You merely have to add your Name, Address and Email address details and the letter is ready. Easy, peasy, Chicken easy.

It will be a rough reminder for the Labour Party and his fellow minions to do something about the outstanding promise to set the Leveson papers in action. The media has become too much of a clear and present danger to the people, and many people in the UK have had enough. So this is a rather large remembrance page with the automation for the people to add their details and do something about it.

It gave me pause to think of hat the UK media is facing. It is already facing irrelevancy and a loss of readers on a global scale. No matter what our faith is, papers like New Arab, Arab News, Khaleej Times and several other newspapers are making string insides into the world population. And that is not all that is happening. In support we see that Dubai Media (the first recipient of my film script “How to assassinate a Politician”) is making rather larger visibility moves. Mostly in Bangladesh , Egypt and Indonesia, but it is a start). In this Al Saudiya (part of the SBA) is doing the same, but I am unaware how large their foot print is becoming. Mostly due to my lack of Arabic I cannot see the complete setting of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority. A Saudi TV group meant for 33 million is reaching out to a population of over half a billion (the Dubai Media group (UAE) as well). They are diminishing the channels that were until recently the targets of Reuters, AP News and the BBC. The people are through with these false prophets and are now giving these two a chance. After the track of the late eighties and 90’s that CNN had, they are given a green light by the people in many ways a similar setting.

Western people have had enough of the lies and innuendo that Western media gives us. As such the term sports-washing, meaning “Sportswashing is the use of sport to redirect public attention away from unethical conduct. The intended effect is to improve the reputation of the offending entity, by using the immense popularity of sport to ‘wash’ away poor publicity.” A term as I see it invented by the western media and nearly always used to describe Saudi involvement. But as I see it, the Western media should be using the same term (although not always involving sports) to strengthen their innuendo for digital dollars. They do, but to hide the actions of involved people like Sony (TPP policy 2016) and a few others. It was the first clear setting where I saw media ‘protecting’ big tech. I wrote (rather clumsily) about that in ‘Lessening the consumer?’ On April 27th 2016 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2016/04/27/lessening-the-consumer/) after that I saw the actions by Microsoft and others and the media was holding the hands over the heads of Big Tech (speculatively to score advertisement money) and that was how I started to keep my eyes of the media until now and see how the media today has less value than the average porn magazine, they might reflect on ‘Sex Sells’ but the value of their contribution has lost its value and then some. As media largely goes into the same direction, not giving us news, but referring to out as entertainment and as I see it, the ABC News Channel is the only news channel giving Australia actual news, the rest is flaccid entertainment. This is the same all over the western world hiding behind the term “A news and current affairs show”, where the emphasis is set to ‘current affairs show’ and the ‘insiders’ referring to that being the same. The world is waking up to the setting of being lulled asleep by the media and the Leveson papers was the first stage to getting the people awake. That was the first step for the media to wake up and that so far The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012. The result were 4 documents giving us over 2000 pages of wake up medicine for the media regulations. So far it hasn’t happened, for reference the Lord Of the Rings is a novel a mere 1077 pages, so there is that too, one is fiction , the other is a rude awakening of what the media is up to. The News of the world owned by Rupert Murdoch shut down in 2011 when the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US. He got out when he was no longer able to hide the actions of some. But not all is lost, the Arabian versions of the news are now shown all over the world mainly the three I mentioned in the beginning. And now we see the growth of Saudi and UAE media and they now have solid systems that can reach the whole western world too. Now we might not get all the shows the 1st gives us, but that is merely one step away from coming. The fires in California have settles the people in optionally leaving California and the UAE and Saudi stations could give them a new beginning, many to Canada, but with the promise of decent incomes Saudi Arabia and the UAE could collect on the cream of American Script writers. I saw this option opening up and (even though magnificently unsuccessful)  , I decided to attempt to sell my first script in the UAE (Dubai media). There is an inkling of faith that it was merely my lack of skills, and it was my first script, but I have three more on route. As such other (a lot more successful than me) could open the road to more scripts and that is what Hollywood fears, the drain of knowledge. They thought they were on top of the world with their setting, yet as Covid hit, followed by the strikes and the California fires, the Hollywood setting is to some degree now an empty shell and that leaves Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE open to wildly grown in all directions. The Guardian gives us “The entertainment industry is estimated to create $43bn in wages every year for the Californian economy and recent events have not only forced a pause in the short term but also raised concerns over long-term recovery.” These incomes have been impacted from 2020 onwards. We were given “Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released by mid-March 2020 were postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also being halted.” Then we got the strikes in 2023 which stopped it all again and the fires on January 7th 2025, the impact has roasted the core of Hollywood with burning down what was left. Consider the setting that the people in Hollywood were given $43 billion annually and that their incomes have been impeded with a near 80% lacking of a total of over $200 billion. The quality of life is setting the massive options for the other nations and as the Hollywood moguls are happy to pay the others as little as possible, they and up having no recourse for themselves. 

And now we get yet again the Leveson inquiry hitting the UK shores. The mess is now near complete and the media will have to surrender market shares to the Arabian nations and see where they end up being, because the events in Saudi Arabia (2030) and the UAE will likely have all the Arabian journalists and very little other ones, especially with vloggers all over the place and YouTube (and TikTok) having the new fields all to themselves and their creators. That is what I see happening al up to late 2027 and that is long before Hollywood becomes a shadow of itself.

That is the reality of exploitation at some point the people give up and seek richer grounds, Hollywood is now becoming largely without cohesion to itself, so where do you go then? You all have a productive day.

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February 4, 2025 · 18:08

The aim of the game

There are a few things on our plates and I dealt with what I personally care about (see previous materials). There is a setting that I am too hesitant to mention. I found a new way to disrupt global communications but it is not for here. You see, there is a danger to reveal a new innovative part when the agent of opposition is out of my hands. I think I know how to disrupt it, but the way to stop it does not seem to work, so its a one way solution which is never a solution. This matters as I thought it out in a mere hour and I rather be busy with reengineering games. There is a larger setting here. I used to work for a company that is now part of IBM. I actually miss those times. Still, the work was what I liked. So now I try to find a work place where I can be happy working Technical Support or Customer Care. It is merely the way I am. As such to bring a solution whilst I cannot control the stage as it escalates is also not my setting. It is perhaps part of the neatly boxing of things. I do not mind chaos, but uncontrollable chaos is not the way I roll.

These points matter. So how to coin in on those ideas? You see, we are all alike to some extent, yet we are less alike in other settings. This all reflects on the news in Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2588847/saudi-arabia) where we see ‘Saudi project clears 732 Houthi mines in Yemen’ this happened in the last few days as we see “Members of Saudi Arabia’s Project Masam removed 732 explosive devices from various regions of Yemen last week.” And when you see “Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the initiative’s managing director, said a total of 480,526 mines had been cleared since its inception in 2018.” Here we see the part that is the evil that constitutes Houthi Terrorists. They do not care who gets hurt, not the children, not the civilians and not the elderly. They want others to clean the mess they created and they do not care who gets hurt in the process and that is why they are one of three groups that need to be eradicated. And the more hurtful settings is that the western press is ignoring this setting. They are all about the evil Saudi’s but these people are putting their lives on the line to assist the Yemeni’s survive these horrendous times. And Newsweek goes as far as giving us ‘How Donald Trump Should Deal With Saudi Arabia’, granted this is an opinion piece and that is for the most all we get. The Arab News is the only one giving voice to the massive setting what these people are facing. They were awarded the Medal of Bravery – Republic of Yemen in 2023. The western press? Nothing as far as I know. That is what balanced news should look like. 

And in 2024 we see:

  • Total land area cleared: 10,511,927 m²
  • Total anti-personnel (AP) mines cleared: 246
  • Total anti-tank (AT) mines cleared: 3,258
  • Total unexploded ordnance (UXO) cleared: 45,882
  • Total IEDs removed: 237

An almost inhuman task and they have been doing it since 2018. And since then 480,526 mines have been disposed of. And in other news. As the Ottawa Treaty 1997 is being trampled on by Houthi terrorists is it an idea for western politicians to take to battle a setting to make the Houthi terrorists the bad guys? In connection to this, Houthi terrorists (as far as I know) are not able to produce 480,526 mines, as such the real bad players need to be held to account, which is most likely Iran (my speculative view). I think it is time that the west stands up to this. Because Project Masam employs 580 staff in and outside of Yemen and that is just not right. It implies that every member of Masam deactivated 829 mines and when every mine is a presumptuous ‘BOOM’ I would argue that the mental stress on these people is a lot larger then anyone can imagine. As such the press needs to wake (the fuck) up and start doing their jobs and include all the works because Saudi Arabia has done plenty good for the Arab world, but we almost never get to see that, do we? In this setting I think we need innovation to mine cleaning and how to get the human element out of this setting, without relying on dogs. I have untested ideas and I think IBM might be able to solve the stage if they are up for it (and you need to realize, having an idea is less than a concept of a workable solution).

Have a productive day today.

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January 6, 2025 · 08:26

The reverse effect for some

Today I got some news in Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2585317/saudi-arabia) where we see ‘Saudi project clears 1,151 Houthi mines in Yemen’ We are given “The total included 32 anti-tank mines, 1,115 unexploded ordnances and four explosive devices, according to a recent report” Members of Saudi Arabia’s Project Masam has been active since 2018. In that time they cleared a total of 477,583 mines since its inception. And the western (most likely corrupt media) ignored this for years. The prefer bashing Israel and giving others a clean pass. But the numbers are not to be ignored. If we go by averages, it implies that the placement of 477,583 mines at $50 a pop implies a investment of a little shy of 24 million, a lot more if you consider that jot all are found and those who did explode don’t need clearing. So when did Houthi terrorists have that kind of money? 

They didn’t and this implies that Iran has forwarded them the good and optionally money and other elements too. But the media steers clear of that part don’t they? The other side of the coin is worse, Saudi Arabia had to invest people and somewhere around $1,000,000,000 (one billion) to get rid of this Iranian menace. At present the demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada. The problem is that wide spread. But leave it to the media to report on the hardship of those poor poor terrorists. It is time that the media wakes the fuck up and does their actual job, which is reporting the news, not chase digital dollars through flaming the audience.

All this was given more then once (I saw the report in 2021) and the western media gives us nothing, or perhaps whatever flames people the most. The more I notice, the more the western media disgusts me.

Have a great day and try to avoid mines by not walking backwards into one.

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December 23, 2024 · 16:49

The who now?

Arab News in Pakistan alerted me to news that threw me a bit. The story reads ‘Students in Pakistan’s north embark on over 150-kilometer march for road safety awareness’ (at https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2583931/pakistan) we are given ““This route has been constructed by FWO [Frontier Works Organisation],” he added. “However, the tunnels were not built, and this road has become more dangerous.”” This threw me a bit, you see, I am not versed in this, but shaped by Dutch and Australian education (all the way up to University) I have a certain understanding to certain matters. As I see it, a road is planned is costed and when it is approved it is build. Now I don’t know how it is costed, but I would assume (with a flair for humour) that it is that the cost of a road is set to X (per meter) and the tunnels are given to 2X+(1.5*(6*COS(distance depth))) with an increase of materials by coffee and pie. Added as well are bridges which would cost 4.1314546 times the distance in meters offset by the depth of the crevice traversed. OK, it is clear that I do not know anything about costing roads, but these matters would have been set to papers. So when I was given that the tunnels were never build I went “Huh?” Would that not be an alert to anyone involved in the creation of that traversable distance? And then we are given “Arab News contacted FWO, a construction and engineering organisation managed by the Pakistan Army, for its version. However, it was referred to the local chapter of the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, which did not respond to the query until the filing of this report.” As such there is a likely issue. It comes with the added “It has become a well of death. Accidents are common on this road, and it has devoured many precious lives. A few days ago, five people were killed after a landslide buried their car. We have grown tired of lifting bodies due to accidents.” As such I get why there is a mach for road safety and when we see the connected “Skardu is a major tourism, trekking and mountaineering hub in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region”, I wonder what is going on. When the connected tourism fatalities get exposed to western media (they love western deaths for the flammable digital dollars) we see a much larger setting. The road was partially build, the tunnels (all five) are missing, which means that there is a lot of money somewhere. What happened to that cash?

And as I see it, this visibility is given to us by Shehbaz Shareef, a member of the Baltistan Students Federation (BSF). Whatever the equation is, it represents a lot of money, and the digging equipment wasn’t used so some construction firms are also out of revenue. You see, I expect that a construction and engineering organisation managed by the Pakistan Army might not have all that drill equipment, if they do they have a log file with times been drilling times. So where are those? 

As such this story threw me a bit, as I see it the there are a few lose screws in this story (optionally not intentional and it is not on Arab News). And as we are thinking this over I wonder what I have missed (optionally a few items) but in a setting where there is a balance of debit funds and credit labour costs. In any world the balance is maintained by setting one part against the other and now we see that a man named Shehbaz Shareef is telling us that parts of the equation is completely missing and it will result in lives (plus added costs). So I go “You’re who now?” On the lighter side of things, I just thought of a modern multifunctional Christmas tree. A tree not based on wood (the actual tree) and it all comes with lights. The ornaments are kept separate. It is all in a days work. Some will state that it is a mere x3+y3+z3=k, yet when you realise that there are a few quirks to any “Diophantine equation”. But the question becomes how did Diophantus of Alexandria come to realise that there was a Christmas tree, they didn’t exist at that point. So when you realise that the Fermat equation xd + yd − zd = 0, and now set the premise that you consider  “there is no algorithm that can correctly decide existence of integer solutions for all equations in this family.” Doesn’t that mean that any (so called) AI that is given that will optionally go nuts trying to figure this out cannot accept this unless a programmer sets the exit routine to this faltering setting. Now consider that someone had the building equation ready (by themselves) and realising this implies that someone knew that the tunnels were not there and as such Shehbaz Shareef opened a optionally dangerous hornets nest (as I personally see it). Have you ever seen any clear limelight setting see revelation all whilst the involved parties all had 13 moves to hide the skeletons who appeased certain parties. It is just an idea and I might be wrong, in the meantime I designed another patentable idea. What ever will I do next. Over the next week I will write a little less, all about people bothering me with all kinds of Christmas tree events.

Have a great day, I’ll be dreaming of Canada and the white snowy (and icy) slopes whilst being in a place with a 36 degrees Celsius heat. Have a good one.

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November 19, 2024 · 00:43

Where is the west now?

The Arab News gave me an article that made me shiver. No, this is not some BBC article or a similar article by the Guardian. The article (at https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2579777/world) gives us ‘Emergency declared in New Delhi as smog hits highest level this year’. This is not some article about luxury jets. We are given “Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.” It comes with an added “Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organisation’s recommended levels.” That is not nothing. 138.4 times higher. Or as they might say 13840% of the recommended levels. We see Reuters, AP News, not the BBC and not the Guardian. I reckon that it doesn’t involve jets from the ultra rich. We are given that “Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.” This is a frightening revelation. I keep on wondering how it could have gotten this bad. I have experienced smog in Europe, but I reckon that the Indians see that as a cool summer breeze compared to what they face. I wonder if there is a to the point card with up to date information (per day) how the rest of the world would react. I also wonder who will get the blame for this. I do believe that there would be enough blame to go around in the Indian political structure. Yet there is in me a realisation that New Delhi needs to do something about the population. As of 2024, the population of New Delhi, the capital of India, is over 33 million people. This is a 2.63% increase from the previous year. So at what point does the setting of ‘full’ apply? Consider that New Delhi has 30% more people than the entirety of Australia (or 90% of Canada for that matter). We at least have a decent amount of land to spread that population around, as does Canada, India seemingly has not. 

So whilst we get “On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.” And the levels in New Delhi are 50% higher than dangerous. So when will we see the Guardian or the BBC offer ‘solutions’.

Have a healthy day, optionally with a decent amount of fresh air.

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November 7, 2024 · 20:15

What are we doing?

This question bothered me a lot lately. Not some message about an orange menace, or some Kardashian piece of jewellery that once belonged to royalty. No that doesn’t wake me up (or interest me). But in this light we have two articles. In the first we get the main event. Arab News informs us (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2578351) ‘Saudi Arabia’s aid arrives in northern Gaza to assist Palestinians’ and the issue is none of the western media as far as I can tell have this news, and it is news. 

Source: Arab News

We are given (with images) that “Several trucks with aid, provided by Saudi Arabia’s humanitarian agency KSrelief, have arrived in the northern Gaza Strip via Jordan.” We are also given “The aid was scheduled to be distributed through the Saudi Center for Culture and Heritage, which serves as the executive partner of KSrelief in the area.” As well as “The campaign to assist Palestinians, initiated by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has raised over $186.3 million from over 2 million donors” the idea that 2 million Saudi’s create a wealth setting for humanitarian relief to the amount of nearly 200 million dollars giving us that the average donation by Saudis comes down to nearly $100 dollars and it isn’t just a trickle, this comes down to a little over 5% of the entire nation’s population. When did we see in the west that amount of humanitarian aid? When we see this numbers the entire western media should have stood up applauding this effort. I have a tainted view of Gaza (and I have been there in 1982), so there is premise to my point of view. What I fail to see is how the media is so tainted that news is filtered out (I personally refer to that stage as corrupt). 

Even I (with my own clear bundle of personal issues) pause to stop and realise that this is a monumental setting. We already saw that the UAE is dealing with shortages in Lebanon (vie the Khaleej Times) and now this? And the western media is currently too tainted to be of any informative acts. No the Guardian is simply washing this over by giving us (at https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/nov/07/chris-hemsworth-criticised-abu-dhabi-tourism-ad-uae-ntwnfb) ‘Chris Hemsworth criticised over tourism ad promoting Abu Dhabi despite ‘notorious’ human rights violations’ and the Guardian (other news outlets too) are always seeking the Human rights violations. It is never about just the acts of influencers showing the world that there is a lot more to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. In this setting it is about  Abu Dhabi, which my meagre self calls the domain of ADNOC and the Abu Dhabi Scorpions (a previous hockey team for the uninformed). Abu Dhabi also has Ferrari World, Warner Brothers World, Yas Water World, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, Prison Island Abu Dhabi and a few other ways to spend your hard earned free times. Like shopping in the Yas Mall with 235,000 m2 (2.5 million sq ft) of shopping spanning over 400 shops. As such Abu Dhabi might not be Dubai, but it has plenty to offer and they called the assistance of Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky to help out (Luke Hemsworth is probably still too young). So when we get to “The international non-governmental advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the UAE “invests in a strategy to paint the country as progressive, tolerant, and rights-respecting while carrying out repression against dissent”.” Personally I would advice the HRW to go and f**k a camel but that would be inappropriate towards the camel.

So see the articles and consider what else we are missing (apart from the budget to go see Abu Dhabi in person). Within the last week (might have ben two) I showed two cases of astounding humanitarian aid (the HRW missed that part I reckon). Are nations innocent? Well I doubt it, the discriminations that we saw in Florida against the LGTBQ population is one, but the HRW seemingly missed that part too. We have flaws, we all do, but the black washing (the opposite of white washing) of the media is as I see it now getting out of hand. 

As such I wonder what people tend to see and I am curious about the Hemsworth advertisement, perhaps it is on YouTube?

In a time where we disregard and mistrust nearly everything, it is time that the people in the western world regard the Arabian media (namely Arab News, Al Arabiya and the Khaleej Times). There is something seriously wrong in media world and it is time that we take away our view from them and the digital dollars they are whoring for. 

On a personal note, this morning I completed the virtual challenge of walking from Florence to Rome, the walk Saint Francis of Assisi did a few hundred years ago. The challenge was virtual, but the walk (503 km) was very real.

Have a great day.

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October 16, 2024 · 22:46

The Squeezing hand

The Arab News had an interesting piece two days ago. It starts with ‘Iran at a crossroads over support for Hezbollah’ and it can be found (at https://arab.news/9bh3s). The story comes from Dr. Majid Rafizadeh and he talks an interesting talk (you know how these Harvard types tend to be). We get to see “The ongoing conflict places Tehran in a situation in which its strategic options appear limited, forcing its leaders to weigh them up carefully.” Where we are also given “Hezbollah, which has long been regarded as a proxy force of Iran, traditionally serves the purpose of advancing Iranian interests by exerting pressure on regional adversaries such as Israel. However, recent events have reversed this dynamic. The Islamic Republic now finds itself in a position whereby it must actively protect Hezbollah to ensure the survival of its ally and the preservation of its regional strategy.” We can from this gain the insight that the actions from Israel has met its goals. This is meant plural as we see in the first that they eradicated the top of Hezbollah and as such a whole new cadre of Hezbollah need to be interned and trained to keep the money streams going, as well as the hardware they require. And here lies the second tier of a new challenge. Iran will need a whole range of ‘military advisors’ in that region and that gives its own sides of problems (as I personally see it). The second tier becomes that the initial ‘brotherly’ setting towards Hamas is backfiring. So either Hamas commits to Hezbollah as well, or they become a lot more isolated. Yet the stage that is given through “There is little doubt that Iran will continue attempting to safeguard Hezbollah, as the group represents a cornerstone of Iran’s regional influence” As Israel pounds Lebanon the options for Hezbollah decrease, by a fair bit. An expression that comes to mind is “Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze”, this is not merely the act of squeezing, but it reflects on the fruit as well. If you have a fruit half the size the squeeze is no longer worth it and that is the part that Iran faces in this year and the next. As Hezbollah is dramatically downsized by Israel, Iran loses more and more regional influence and if Israel hits oil targets the stage will soon collapse. Yes, I saw all kinds of news that Israel stated that they will limit the attack to military targets and here is the little loophole. Oil is a valid military target as Iranian oil (a slight speculation) fuels all kinds of terrorist needs. 

And then we see the immense failure of America (CIA), we are given “Hezbollah holds immense strategic value for the Iranian government. From a military standpoint, the group is viewed as a formidable force capable of engaging Israel and other adversaries in the region. The strategic importance of Hezbollah lies in its ability to wage asymmetric warfare, which allows Iran to challenge its enemies indirectly while avoiding the consequences of direct military engagement. For Iran, Hezbollah represents a crucial tool for maintaining its influence and shaping regional outcomes in a manner that serves its interests” For over a decade a clear strategy against Hezbollah was required, but the CIA and other intelligence machines fell short. So are they really out there aiding Israel, or are they aiding the setting of prolonged instability? I made this accusation a few years ago and I am seemingly proven correct again and again. 

The article ends with “the Iranian government is once again at a critical juncture, facing the challenge of protecting its non-state ally, Hezbollah. Drawing on its past experiences, Iran is likely to pursue a similar approach to the one it adopted during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war and the south Lebanon conflict. This strategy allows Iran to maintain its influence in the region, while avoiding the disastrous consequences of a direct conflict with Israel and its Western allies” I can see this side and whilst I do not agree on this stance coming, I can clearly see that it will a likely output. To thwart this setting and steer the Arabian peninsula towards a larger shaped stability, Israel would gain a lot by pounding Hezbollah back to the stone age (as expressions go). So in the line of “Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze” there are two sides deciding this. Make the fruit smaller and weaken the squeezing hand. These two settings will end the ‘reign’ of Iran over Hezbollah and that is what is needed. Iran is playing a dangerous game going all the way back to June 2023. The attack of 7 October 2023 took time, there were training flights, there were preparations and Iran was the assisting hand since before day one. That is the side that the media ignores, that is the side that was in the open and the allies (say friends) of Israel never saw this coming? The writer (Dr. Majid Rafizadeh) brings a good case I fully agree with him, yet my (non-informed) side has issues. You see Iran has been doing this for at least 18 years and I think that more people should be in the know on this. I wonder how many people are ‘dissuading’ people due to the crude oil loophole I discussed in ‘Is it merely political?’ on October 6th (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/10/06/is-it-merely-political/) I wonder how many stakeholders get fed of that premise? I do not know, but the need for greed and ‘hand outs’ make this a much bigger issue than you think and that is not good. Because it allows Iran to play the same dangerous game for much too long. Agree or disagree as you see fit, but ask your self the question. ‘How is Iran playing this game for this long and the media isn’t up to speed?’ It is nice to blame the media, but the fact that they didn’t report on many occasions makes their hands tainted as I see it, and they also refrained to expose several stake holders in the process. How does that hit you?

And a mere 50 minutes ago we see the the Washington Post give us: ’Israel strikes southern Beirut; U.S. demands restraint in Lebanon, aid for Gaza’, I wonder what they didn’t report on, because that part needs to be exposed as well. The added text “Separately, the administration gave Israel a month to improve humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, warning it could otherwise take punitive steps, including withholding military aid”, the Times of Israel gives us IDF data shows over 26,000 rockets fired at Israel. My small question becomes “What was the cost of that?” If a rocket costs a mere $100,000, than Hamas kept a little over 2.6 billion out of the mouths of Palestinians and that is merely 2023. As such Hezbollah also fired missiles, The group reportedly has up to 40,000 ballistic missiles with ranges between 160 and 300 kilometres, What were those costs? As such how could Iran pay for it all? Both Hamas and Hezbollah did not pay top dollar for that, so what was the hand out by Iran? In 1976 we got the phrase “Follow the money”, it comes from the movie ‘All the presidents men’, as I see it Bob Woodward really screwed the media over with that one (me, laughing out loud), oh, and he was involved with the Washington Post for some time. So who trailed the Iranian money?

Have a great day.

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August 25, 2024 · 22:28

When one bank wins

This is the setting I am facing. It is set to the speculative setting of we all have a certain amount of money (me not that much), still the Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2568749/business-economy) gave me something to ponder. 

So it all starts with a certain amount of speculation. In any given en time there is an amount named X. X is a little fluidic, but X represents a real number, what that number is, will be known to just a few people, it tends to shift a lot on a day by day basis. So when we are told ‘UAE banks see 8.9% rise in short-term deposits to $14.7bn by May’ it infers that someone else lost this, optionally several players a part. Natixis made a profit and several other banks do. As of July 2024, the United States government has a monthly interest rate of 3.33 percent on its debt of over $34,000,000,000,000 dollars, which amounts to 11.2 billion. If you say that fast it doesn’t seem so much. As I personally see it, the chains around the debt driven economies are about to choke the living daylights out of its population. Yet, as some are trying to avoid to become another Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and two months after that the First Republic Bank. That was in 2023. So what (or who) handed the UAE-based banks such as neat little profitable setting? Wouldn’t you like to know? I would and there is every indication that it was all on the up and up. And the article ends with “Profitability surged to 21.5 billion dirhams, driven by higher net interest income and a significant drop in impairment charges, according to New York-based global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal” it is interesting that we do not get where these funds originated. I can understand that banks do not wash their laundry out in the open, yet after the SVB debacle, the media should hand us the goods, or at least partial goods. It is nice to see all the banks do well, yet the setting is that it comes from somewhere and the people have a right which banks are not performing as well as they should.

I reckon that this is a dangerous stance and it could fuel several other bank runs, but the reality is that the western media is not to be trusted, so where can we get the goods?

We get that debts seen all over the planet also inclines that someone is making a bundle out of that. Merely the US needs to make good on $96.8B EVERY MONTH to keep their image of ‘we are doing so well’ up, but who pays for that? Especially now that business is going to China and some to Europe. Soon, I believe that this point was already passed, to US cannot even keep up the interest payments, then what? As I see it, the big players and billionaires will place their trust funds in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Monaco and Nassau. So what happens then?

I have no idea, but it will not be pretty, not for Europe, not for Japan and not for the USA. Japan has $9.2T debt, Europe has accumulated an impressive €12,732,445,200,000 debt, if the percentages are the same, we see Europe needing to find €35.3B each month and Japan a mere $25.4B a month. That money come from somewhere, does it not? Last year the US collected $4.44 trillion, this sets a dangerous premise. The interest in the US over a year is $1.16T, a simple 26% of the tax budget, lost to nothing (read: banks) and this implies that to break even the budget needs to set to 70% of the money and as we were told “The U.S. government has spent $5.60 trillion in fiscal year 2024 to ensure the well-being of the people of the United States”, which implies that not only are they not keeping a budget, they haven’t been able to keep it for years and now we see other nations getting a larger slice of the revenue pie. So, how much longer can this game be played? You think Russia is bad? I wonder how bad the USA can become when this setting implodes on America. Are the two connected? Not directly and it floats on my assumption that if one bank wins, another bank loses, which bank loses is unknown to me, I don’t have a clue, but as I see it, the media faltered in their jobs to inform the public. 

And should I be wrong, I apologise. Yet I believe to inform the readers when I can. Have a lovely Sunday, which is now starting in Vancouver, they are ready for breakfast (it’s 5AM there). 

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July 14, 2024 · 07:21

The Iranian ploy

I saw the article (at https://www.newarab.com/news/houthis-threaten-riyadh-aerial-footage-key-airports) stating ‘Yemen’s Houthis threaten Saudi Arabia with aerial footage of key airports’, the New Arab with the text “The video, titled “Just try it”, contained images of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, King Fahd International Airport in Damman as well as the ports in Ras Tanura, Jizan and Jeddah” is a possible ploy. I do not doubt that the Houthi’s (with generous support from Iran) is adding a ploy of threats to their limited tactics. It is clear that Houthi forces can bring something to the table, but I believe that this is nothing more than a ploy. A ploy that could have teeth, but I do not have the required contacts or information to see how serious this is. We see an additional setting with “The threat to Saudi Arabia by the Houthis comes amid reports that the government and Houthis failed to strike a fresh prisoner exchange deal”, which is fun because this was a deal between Houthis and the legitimate Yemen government. So this is all about posturing, or is it?

You see, a few hours later I was given through Arab News (at https://arab.news/6p5tn) ‘Iran’s new president vows balance with all countries, warns US his country won’t be pressured’ where Iran apparently made the claim “He looks forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with European countries”, so there is the carrot. Iran needs Saudi Arabia in a holding pattern, whilst Iran ‘appeases’ European nations. So as I see it Houthi forces are still the barking dogs of Iran and Iran needs this, because their support of Hamas will have secondary contemplations by any nation thinking that talking with Iran is a good idea. It has not now or yesterday worked and it will not work tomorrow either. 

As Iran is hiding their hands behind terrorist organisations like Hamas or Houthi forces, we need to be weary that stability in the Middle East requires both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, they have the growing economies, the larger setting for tourism and the options of uniting Arab nations. The problem is that Iran is a problem. They are crying like little girls as they are denied a larger seat at the Arab table. The only small friend that Iran can rely on is Qatar and they have growing issues with Hamas. How that plays out is beyond me but in this setting we have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Iraq. They are all playing nice and as I see it, there is not to much love for Iran in this. Qatar is the one successful nation that has been playing a dangerous game, so what happens with them is up in the air. I reckon that the Houthi’s are set to the threat to Saudi Arabia. In this my feelings are that if one attack on a civilian target is done, the might of the Saudi forces will bluntly retaliate against Houthi forces. This has the one complication that Iran has to either commit or desert Houthi forces. This is the ploy as I see it. Iran cries loudly towards Europeans that they are so willing to discuss peace, but they are under the hammer. It will be something like that. So the Iranian ploy is unlikely to work. Europe has enough problems with Russia and Russia could be of little use to Iran. Russia has only one carrier left and they need it in their Ukrainian tactics. But this is about Iran. They are losing ‘useful’ friends a lot faster than they are happy with. It is in that setting that the Houthi threat is (as I personally see it) an Iranian tactic. 

They have to play nice with some people because they are about to learn the lesson Hector Malot taught us with ‘Sans Famille’ and Iran is rightfully worried. You see when the coins come down Iran will have to put up or shut up and they will lose a lot of face in the entire Middle East, sitting at a table where the stabilising points come from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. That is why (my personal point of view) Iran need Houthi, Hamas and any other player that Iran can place in the field with deniability. It is why I said that whatever Palestine comes through, it will require the eradication of Hamas. Because it will be them who will terrorise the building projects in Saudi Arabia. 

So how can I prove any of this? Well the history of Iran is one. Their actions towards Houthi forces is another and the Iranian actions are right after the threats from Houthi forces. I feel that one ploy is enabling other actions. 

But for the most in this, I am merely speculating. So enjoy this Sunday.

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