Tag Archives: Baghdad

July 10, 2026 · 02:16

And so, part 3

And so the continuing story of a quack whose gone to the dogs (always good fun to laugh at myself) but there is a part 3 and there is more, but I cannot give the game away (at present). So as I was designing and redesigning the game I my mind (not graphically) there was the setting of the next part which is a little in the open. It becomes the stage of ‘Heralding’ my entry as a Fakir of Baghdad. It is the fist definite stage on becoming a person for good, or a person of debatable conditioning. You see, Evil is only in existence of this who ‘claim’ themselves to be good, evil is their opposite, or so they seem to think. But being evil is merely a stepping stone. It is always carved to the degree others think what evil was. But we have good and an opposite and that is where the game goes. As I see it, as a Fakir you will get a malleable setting. The good get the power of water, the others get the setting of fire and as you complete the stage you get introduced to either and take another trip to a cave the damp cave for the water Djini Zarek or fire Djini Zulrekh. The setting will decide how the Italian fortress of the game is dealt with. The Arabian lands are dry, the water had left them, but what you will discover is that the Italians built over a earlier stage of the underground waters, they dammed the waters in and kept a well for themselves. As such you are treated by Zulrekh as the instigator of flames, burning the enemy down and the Italians become the firewood of your power. As you became Fakir, you were also given access to a staff (which must be bought) the staff is the same either way, but the way the staff is gained is important. In a previous mission you were able to get a staff, but either you steal it, or you perform tasks to get it. If you steal the staff, you get a beggars staff which is an oak staff and you get the dream to find Zulrekh in the cinder cave, if you perform the tasks you get the dream of the Water Djini Zarek who invites you to the damp cave. That is the step that defines your route.  Zarek tells you:

Hello young one, You did well, you please me with the route that is fluidic like water. You did the task and now I seek you out, there is much to tell. The western Italici decided to put there fortress on top of the streams that feed Bagdad, they blocked the waters keeping little for themselves. This water can no longer feed Baghdad, the tigris still flows, but no longer to Baghdad. They must now travel to the Tigris every day to get their waters. But water is strong, so I will teach you how water breaks stone and you can crush the Italians by crushing the walls of their dam and their fortress and the waters will return to the people feeding their needs. Water is an elemental power and it is strong, so you will face new hardships, but you will come out stronger and more fluidic than you have ever been. In this cave challenge you will only get a stream of water, as you smother fire you also give animals a route to escape and as the animals escape your stream becomes stronger and you will be able to stop the flames.

The idea becomes to soften the earth and washing the mud over the cinders fueling the fire. The challenge is not hard, but it shows how a simple stream washes sand, making it mud, as the stream becomes stronger you can unset boulders and they will move over the hay smothering the fuel for the flames. As you do this, you are attacked by scorpions and you can direct the stream over the scorpions washing them away. This is almost how it needs to be, I reckon that some ‘prototyping’ will be required, 

Zulrekh tells you:

Young one, your enemy has a fortress, it must burn, their people must burn, it is the only way. And in this task you end the fuel that stops the Arabian people being free. You must attack their ability to wage war against us, they become the fuel to your fire and that fire will fuel your powers too, it is your destiny to free the people to your needs and as they serve you, you will serve my needs too. 

And as such you are given the task of flaming the small boys in armor that represent the Italians and as such your flames become stronger and as you burn these little warriors you also gain mana and power just like the washed scorpions did, in the end both will give you a mana segment and your mana will get +5 making your actions stronger. As you play either you get the same rewards, only at the end you will get a different runic stone and the garbs of the Fakir will transform into either red/black or blue/green the clothes are almost the same, merely cosmetically colored and looks differ, but there is no power benefit. 

The idea is that if you take this route, you will never see the buried well, you will never free the stream but over time you will redirect the Tigris, but many will be lost to all this (which you will not know). It sets a double dialogue over the game and subsequent settings. I was not happy how some quests in other games went, it is normally not this or that, but to get two storylines and other storylines subsequently is another thing, it makes is a game with two faces and two outcomes. And as you get some direction and choices you will see that the game gives you more. I also think that these acts will shape your coat of arms, The red and black colours in your shield comes from Zulrekh, the blue and green colours come from Zarek and in the end the game shapes your coat of arms and gives you the ‘immortal’ setting on Baghdad. 

As such I also envisioned for the Spanish fortress a new challenge, but I am talking about some historic events (as they tend to be) where the Spaniards saw the impact of pestilence of Tharvex or the Azrakhil’s ghoulish hunger. It reflects on Spanish food and their need for Tapas (not entirely true, but it gave me the idea) on that others will learn and whilst we get to that as you have become a person of nobility, you will have gained most places and now it becomes about getting known and accepted all over Baghdad. It is from there you have access to the palace of the Vizier (your old place) and whilst it had fallen into disrepair, your actions will breath it new life and as such the entrance with your coat of arm and stature will proper (either way) and it merely looks cosmetically different and whilst one is darker then the other, it is still a place for you. And as such you will gain the same settings, although there are cosmetic differences to both settings, in the end the same parts are found. 

The ending is still in my mind and it has a sneaky movie reference, all the way from Kentucky. So whether you go with blow one’s own horn (my personal pride) or toot your own horn which tends to lean towards a humble statement. But the reality is that some make claim to be such innovative game designers. And I outdid them in three days, all whilst some of those braggers had a over a dozen people working on it. I did this myself and I handed it to the UAE and their gaming ventures, as such a can toot all I care for. 

You all have a great day It is time for me to snore a forest into plywood, have fun.

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July 9, 2026 · 10:16

Setting the game

This is a mere fraction of what is to come (optionally not all revealed here) and it drove my idea. The ending is also known to me, but it is too sweet a setting and the gamers would get to see this instance, there is no question whether they make it, you see, for many gamers it is about the journey and I believe that this journey is worth taking (a designer always thinks that). So whilst some are dissing others for not enough challenge, people like Bethesda saw what actually mattered, not what some drove for adrenaline rushes are at times great, but there are enough games to do that. And in all this Metroid Prime served the real gamers. Puzzles that mattered, challenges that were met and amazement along the way. That was where I found myself. In all this I added two or three additional settings, but this for now is merely a story.

Hello young one, I am Qandisha, the Djini of time. My brethren made an error. By their setting you were the greatest fear to face, but they were not even close. The Italicus and the Hispanus were more dangerous, they believe in demons as old as us, but nowhere near dangerous, but with a lack of faith comes a shield that stops my brethren. These people have weaknesses, they are especially driven by greed and lust as such other Djini can feast on them, but the lands are dying making others a setback unto mortality. So I saw the flaw in their reasoning and as I grasp you from your past we can only repair into what was. It is now 50 summers from what was, this cannot be undone, but I can take you from the moment before you died and place you here. You have no longer any memory of what was and this is your new station as a mere beggar. Prove my right and rise to the occasion and you could surpass what was your old station and you can reclaim your future as well as the future of the Arabian lands. You will see with new eyes and I will grant you the power to see the mana in the land, the magic of the Arabian sands and the land of the Djini. Go now and reclaim the lands of what was and remake the bad destiny your Arabian brethren are on now.

At this point you are thrust into the sewers of Baghdad and in filthy rags you are trust into the near darkness of the sewers. In this you get to loo around and you see a stave, unremarkable, but still glowing. As it is, it is a stave of Yew, it seems to bend a little and was a mere 18 inches long, but it was better than nothing. In the sewers you face rats and a few exits, but the guards will not let you out, you are a beggar and the streets do not need beggars. There is however other entrances thorough the sewers, some are hidden from view, but only one is open, dark and making you retreat in fear (an intentional setting), so as you go through the sewers you face rats and every rat you kill gives you +1 mana, and you need to kill 100 in total, the sewers have hidden pockets of 20 rats, so it is not a steeple chase, and as you kill 100 you gain a health segment, at this point, you get automatic healing, and some puddles glow orange. When you put the stave in your health segment loads up fast and when you have this added health your attack becomes +5. So whilst you you get more rats killed (another 200) you can get a second segment and now the fist cave does not seem so scary and is a little less dark. This is the first Cave of Prophesy. In this place you will find the Jinniya of fireless smoke. You will face her and whilst she is smoke she cannot be hit, but with your +5 attack, you can harm her when you successfully hit her. It takes 50 hits. So when you defeat her you get the next setting

Young one, show mercy and I will grant you a gift, one never bestowed on any mortal before. I am Qiwa Jinniya of illusion, I can teach you how to become smoke and traverse like smoke, but it takes strength and even as these powers restore, there is limited time you can use this power. So stand in this circle and walk to one other circle (a pentagram appears with every point a circle) So you can now move as smoke and let the Northstar guide you. 

This is also a setting, on the wall is one place that shows the Northstar, if you want to that point you are shown to be good, all others are dark settings, it does not impede you or set you, but the light path becomes less optional in the story. Then a door appears and behind that door is clothing of a citizen, a ring and a runic stone. The stone is a smoke stone, the clothes are of a decent civilian, you are no longer a beggar and are is the second setting, you have to go through a gate you did not pass through to be let through, or you have to go through as smoke (if there is not longer any non-visited gates available) After you get through the gates you are officially a citizen. Ad not you can see that part of Baghdad. As I see it now, there are 4 exits and they are all the same with optional quests in all of them, these parts of Bagdad lead to other 4 parts who have a special place in them (like palaces and fortresses). And as you make ways into the segments you are awarded mana points (no matter whether the acts are good or bad) and the good acts give you renown, the bad acts infamy. This is the first setting towards the end goal. After you do 5 good or 5 bad things, the other option disappears. 

As such you get to find issues in Baghdad, resolve them and find mana pools, as you find new solutions, you gain more mana, so after one renown/infamy point, the mana pools become +2 stronger and you get to see more colored options. 

So this is what I found yesterday. A small step for me, a giant leap for gamers and the UAE (I think I borrowed that expression from somewhere) I think the moon spoke to me. Well, should you wonder why Microsoft cannot come with anything else then iterated repeats of what already exists, Sony, Nintendo and I feel the same way and hopefully soon a new player (gossip: It is the UAE) will show Microsoft why they never should have bothered with gaming anyway, it costed them $100 billion and they seemingly have very little to show for it. 

So you all have a great day today.

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July 8, 2026 · 17:38

Reengineering greatness

We all do that at times and I had an idea. You see there is one FPS that I love above all else. That is Metroid Prime on the Gamecube and the Switch. It is by far the most perfect FPS game ever. I have played in at least 6 times (and I never scored 100% on any of them) I am not angry, disappointed or frustrated. The game is just too perfect. And nearly anyone I know who played that game thinks so too. The game scored 97% and when you play the game you’ll understand why. So why make a copy? Well, not a copy, but my mind set to work to base a game on this game and as I promised, this setting too is now immediately co-owned by the UAE. 

So how to make a new game based on this. Well, I went with the ‘hero’ of this story to be Jafar, or at least someone like him. And I set the idea on the locations of an Arabic setting. Like the game locations that Metroid Prime used, I use a similar setting. There is The Royal palace, The palace of the Fakir, the streets of Baghdad, the sewers of Baghdad, the caves of prophesy perhaps a few more. But these are intertwined (like Metroid Prime) and as such created with artistic precision (not my forte, that I live to the graphical experts). So there is a setting where the Vizier is in his office (the council chambers) and you get the intro of the story and like Metroid prime (also in the first Assassins Creed) you are in a setting where you get attacked and get to more through the council chambers from room to room, taking care of business. In the end you are overwhelmed and cast out of the chambers and thrown into the sewers where the story begins. In this you start as a simple fakir, changed by prophesy and now without powers you are alone. In the sewers you are seeking your fortune and by resolving issues you are given your first token. The token of the streets of Baghdad, with that token you can now move through the sewers and into the streets of Baghdad. The tokens are collected in a neck charm, there is also a dark charm, it gets you into the caves of prophecy. To gain favor you need to get the clothes of office, from a simple civilian you get the cloaks of the fakir, the fakir will lead to the suit of the trader, the thobes of nobility and as such the clothes give access to places, as well as a Topi. There are also jewels, rings that give powers, the bracelets of strength and several more.

But this is a story and a challenge. As you gain your first station you will also get the stave of an element (ice of fire) and these settings are gained in part in the caves of prophecy where you will face several djini. If you survive the first fight you get a stave, in subsequent fights you will get a Kufi marker for which you can imbue its power in to gems or add to the staff. The idea is to make yourself stronger and more able to withstand the dangers you face. I am also considering to add a magic carpet (it is an Arabic story after all) but it comes with limitations. The idea of this story is that the lands are in danger and to restore the lands you need to gain powers. Between when you were in the council chambers and now (the start of the game) decades have passed (it becomes clear during the game) so the grandeur of Baghdad (which you see in the beginning) is gone and now you need to restore the land. So as you go through all the levels, where you resolve things the lands are restored. So there are a few versions of the game. From destroyed to great (dark) and great (light). I am partial to replayability. So that is a clear setting for the game. The idea is to add Zarek, Zulrekh, Kavira, Vizaresh, Sakhr, Azrakhil, Tharvex, Samirah, Ishara, Qandisha, Manlen, Qiwa and Salen. The female Ifrit have powers of restoration, healing, illusionary powers and mid powers. The make Ifrit have strength, elemental powers. There is the need for limitations. You can only have a specific amount of powers and elemental powers. Hence the Kufi markers and as you gain powers and abilities you will find new places and stronger staves and wands. So you can upgrade and whilst you are free to explore there is the chance that you are hindered by some powers. For example water and fire powers do not mix, neither do earth and air, but other axes are OK and the stages that two elements will result into a third power. But that is for later. 

The story becomes that in this land, all is lost as friends of the nobles strangled the land into nothingness, the old Malik as well as the Sultan were killed in a tragic accident. As they were replaced, the milking the land and the people began. The challenges are set as the replacements were in league with the Western leaders, the Italians and the Spanish. As such you are called by the djinn, and they didn’t have powers over the western people. As such they are in panic, the westerners are new, they are not swayed and as such one djini (essential to the story) makes a wager where she is games it all for the restoration of you and you are taken out of your own time and pushed into the future without knowledge of what was and as such you start. So whilst we are given the story (which is fed in small instances) the story develops and as you are pushed into the realm of the Djini, you are heading into two directions. The path of light or the path of the dark. And if shapes the lands you are trying to safe. There is a lot more, but that is for next time. I did this in under two hours, as such I did not do too badly. No matter what it is based on, the story and the settings are unique, the story was made up today may me and even if it is founded on the Original Metroid Prime, the scenery, the people and the opponents are nothing alike. And as far was I can tell, there is no FPS based on the Arabic lands. So that is a first too.

Have a great day and try to wake up your creativity today.

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September 10, 2025 · 12:34

Outside the box we see

That occurred to me, the Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2614596/saudi-arabia) is giving me ‘Artist showcases Qur’anic verses with intricate paper cutting creations’ It caught me unaware, I never considered this and the image (source: Arab News) is showing us the amazing creations 

With the subtext “Australia-based Pakistani artist Tusif Ahmad visited Jeddah this week to showcase his intricate and colorful papercutting representations of Qur’anic verses.” In that same setting I am a little amazed that this is an Australian based artist. It is the first I ever heard of it (and here I am blaming the media yet again). And it is not impossible that I overlooked that setting, so I am willing to take part of the blame. Yet the setting should have been a lot more visible in Australia. Weirdly enough three thoughts penetrated my feeble brain.

  1. Does this technique work in English too?
  2. Is it possible to do this technique in braille, so that the blind could enjoy this?
  3. How can non-Arabic people enjoy the art for what it is?

I am not saying that this is a prerequisite, but there is a larger stage (there always is) and to propagate the setting to a larger audience is what we tend to focus on, especially as I am an absolute Arabic noob (a non Arabic literate person).

So when we see “Over the past 12 years, he has produced more than 500 pieces, exhibited globally, and won recognition for an art form he describes as “an invitation to reflect on the Qur’an.”” Making the ‘unheard’ of scene a lot more visible. I reckon that Australian Universities should invite his art form a larger audience (the young tend to be more accepting of new forms of art) and that is seemingly a starting point. I am of course considering that this was already done, there his no way that I am the starting point of anything that isn’t my concoction.

So as we are given ““Each artwork aims to create a bridge between tradition and modern expression, inspiring both Muslims and non-Muslims to connect with the spiritual essence of Islamic art,” he said.” That I might as a non-Muslim not see the whole picture (or image) and I get that, but I know of this art form for less than a day and that needs to be revisited.

Of course my brain goes into all kinds of side-roads, like “What happens when you take this idea and add lasers to this and project that form of art” that and a few other ideas I get from “During his Jeddah talk, Ahmad showcased works from a series inspired by the surahs Ar-Rahman, Yaseen, and Yusuf. He explained that small pieces may take weeks while larger ones require months of patience and spiritual focus.”

A setting is that Ubisoft take this idea and add it as an achievement to AC Mirage (as they are creating a new addition to this game later this year) and create an entirely new following, giving this IP (owned by Tusif Ahmad) a interesting large following, giving himself a character in Bagdad at 862CE and letting this art form creating a wave of additional fabs and showing it to a larger audience. It is a way to get art the attention it needs and this merely happened as I combined two ideas in the same time. Timing is almost everything. You still need to cajoles to combine ideas and do this against the folly of time where people laugh at your ideas.

As such Yves Guillemot, I just gave you another setting that might have gone unnoticed in the larger grand scheme of things. And I reckon that Tusif Ahmad might never have considered showing his work to a population that is interested in video games. As such as his audience he would gain, I would wish him good fortune (artists tend to be a hungry lot at times)

Its all in a days work and as I just passed the mark of midweek (Wednesday 12:01pm) it is time to bid thee all a good day and have a great time wondering what comes next. I don’t know because New Zealand is ahead by three hours and they cannot tell me what happens at 15:00 (as they aren’t answering the phone). Time travel through telecom. Who would have thought it.

Write to you all later (in about 20 hours)

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October 18, 2023 · 02:19

Unwinding

This article is not for the faint of heart. One could argue that there is something wrong with me (there always has been). I just had the craziest idea and if you reject it, that is okay. I have a hard time accepting it myself. You see, we are in a stage where we are nothing more than a puppet in a show that we do not want to watch. We are made to watch it, as such we need to unwind.

So here you see Watchdogs: Legion. A good game, but a game that could have larger stages. You see, Ubisoft made the map and the environment and there is nothing wrong with that. Yet to offer some stage to unwind, a new system came to mind. 

You see, there is an evolving setting where Ubisoft could release the option to enhance ANY game they have with user created DLC options. If anything Bethesda has shown just how creative users could be and Ubisoft might spin that in a new direction. You see, people have had enough of certain clowns and that is where my creative mind came into play.

I chose Watchdogs: Legion, because the environment fits. Now consider that you are a new character. The character is a seal hunter. You are shown in shoddy clothes wielding a spiked bat. Now you have to stop is disperse 10 Just Stop Oil protests by clubbing the protesters to death (just like some do to seals). Lets be clear, this is just a game. The higher level is that you need to do this before the protesters can create too much financial damage. 

You think it is bonkers and yes, to a degree it is. But the media is no longer trustworthy and as the photo-mode comes into place with you showing off the protesters you killed, people might stop to consider just how stupid these protests are. For Ubisoft it is a win-win. They sell more games, they create a DLC creation kit that allows to make user created IP for the games they own and we get to blow off steam because we arrived 90 minutes late at a job as some protesters were dancing in front of a bus. If enough hay is created with photo mode and these protesters have to consider just how much stress they are creating, they might decide to select donuts for dollars. So these protesters might go a new direction, but the story, the song and the dance remain the same. Seeking limelight in the wrong way and for that we have a solution. A spiked bat to release the stress they inflicted upon us. 

Next could be Karen hunting In San Francisco or Chicago. The options are endless (well for as long as Ubisoft has location games). Yet the underlying setting is there too. You see, we love our games and some love the settings of the Creed in Italy, Egypt and now Baghdad as well. Yet when you are done with the 25 hours in Bagdad, wouldn’t it be great to test the DLC from another fan? I am not sure of the technical possibilities to get that done, but when you consider 3 Watchdogs, at least 5 Assassins Creed, several Far Cry games. I might not have liked them all, but they all have a well pronounced fanbase and as such a DLC creator might be Ubisofts ticket to get additional revenue. It will be limited to PC, I get that, but when the DLC is good enough, perhaps Ubisoft might make some of them additions to consoles as well. Just a thought. 

I have enjoyed Wednesday now for 2 hours. The middle of the week is here. 

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November 3, 2018 · 11:41

Media, call it as it is!

I saw the news yesterday and I initially decided to ignore it. It was not really ‘news’ news if you know what I mean. It is sad, it is not a surprise and it was always going to happen. The dice were rolled and the children in Yemen rolled two ones. Some call it snake eyes, but the impact is severe, you automatically lose with that roll and that was the state of things from the very beginning. We start with CNN (at https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/02/middleeast/yemen-famine-amal-hussain-intl/index.html). We see the direct truth with “The three-year conflict between the US-backed Saudi-led coalition and the Iranian-aligned Houthis has devastated Yemen and reportedly has killed at least 10,000 people“. CNN does not mention that Saudi Arabia got involved when the deposed elected president called for help, no we do not get that. We get “the international furor over the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul“. We get no information that Iran and Hezbollah have directly intervened in making Humanitarian aid utterly impossible there. One Quote gives us: “Yemen’s information minister called on the Lebanese government to stop Hezbollah supporting Houthi rebels, insisting the group’s activity will prolong Yemen’s war. On Sunday, Moammar Eryani said Hezbollah was providing the Houthis with logistical and military assistance, turning Beirut’s southern suburbs — known collectively as Dahiyah — into a centre for media attacks against the Arab-led coalition“, in this CNN decided not to go there. We also get Yemen’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Marwan Ali Noman giving us: “the Yemeni suffering is caused by the Houthi militias, which are executing the agenda of Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah party in the region. He added that the militias practiced all kinds of murder, torture and forced displacement in all Yemeni cities that they invade“. CNN had no issue using the Khashoggi incident to present an anti-Saudi Arabia view, but fell silent on the actual issues in Yemen, yes: ‘That was CNN!‘

The New York Times gives us (at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/middleeast/yemen-starvation-amal-hussain.html), and after that blazingly stages “The devastating war in Yemen has gotten more attention recently as outrage over the killing of a Saudi dissident in Istanbul has turned a spotlight on Saudi actions elsewhere“, yet it merely gives one mention of Iran in: “Saudi officials have defended their actions, citing rockets fired across their border by the Houthis, an armed group professing Zaidi Islam, an offshoot of Shiism, that Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy, views as a proxy for its regional rival, Iran“, and in all this we see ZERO mention of Hezbollah, is that not strange? Neither is the part where the Firing of missiles is a direct result of Hezbollah and Houthi forces firing missiles into Saudi Arabia towards civilian targets. One source giving us that as per yesterday over 200 missiles have been fired into Saudi Arabia. Would you not think that this element is equally important? Let’s be honest it all started with the death of a toddler, but that was not what it was really about for the New York Times, was it? Yet they do give us “THE SAUDI COALITION IS NOT solely to blame for Yemen’s food crisis“, yet goes a little short in pointing on where blame, a much larger blame lies. It lies with Hezbollah, the tool and puppet of Iran provoking Saudi Arabia as much as possible.

The New York Times also gives us: “Tensions reached a climax this summer when the head of the United Nations migration agency was forced to leave Sana after clashing with the Houthi administration. In an interview, the Houthi vice foreign minister, Hussain al-Ezzi, denied reports of corruption, and insisted that tensions with the United Nations had been resolved“, it is a stage where Houthi officials are now enriched. It is a stage where we see that halting towards humanitarian aid and preventing the other 20,000 children from dying too. In this we see one additional quote that is identical in nearly all the newspapers I saw: “In an interview, the Houthi vice foreign minister, Hussain al-Ezzi, denied reports of corruption and insisted that tensions with the United Nations had been resolved“. My question becomes, was it an interview or was it merely a presentation by Hussain al-Ezzi finding a moment to state: ‘I’m not a crook!‘, which he probably learned form an American, namely former president Richard Nixon to be more precise.

The part that most publications are not giving us is that the death toll of children is roughly 130 children per day, in 2017 50,000 children died (Source: Al Jazeera).

The setting is not a nice one, on neither side. The Saudi Coalition includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Senegal. Al Jazeera also gives us: “Iran has denied arming the Houthi rebels, but the US military said it intercepted arms shipments from Iran to Yemen this March, claiming it was the third time in two months that this had occurred. Iranian officials have also suggested they may send military advisers to support the Houthis“, yet we have seen an utter lack of larger political activities by many nations other than the USA against Iran and Hezbollah, exactly how does that add up?

I particularly liked the quote “Commentators in the Arab Gulf States often claim that Iran now controls four Arab capitals: Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa“. I like it because it is the first part that gives the light of Iran, of what Iran is trying to achieve. The stage is not merely Hezbollah; it is not merely Turkey who has skin in that game too. It is the stage where we see the foundation of what Iran would call a holy war in defence of their sites. We are informed via “For the last six months the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has begun using waters further up the Gulf between Kuwait and Iran as it looks for new ways to beat an embargo on arms shipments to fellow Shi’ites in the Houthi movement, Western and Iranian sources say” and most of the western media is not even trying to look into these parts, it is actively avoiding any coverage on Iran. From that side we do get “The European Union is trying to preserve a version of the nuclear deal, but the recent incidents in Denmark and France have heightened the tensions.” In this it seems that Denmark is the strongest pusher against the Iranian actions, with the aid of France. We are all treated to the arrest event that was about a failed operation to bomb a June rally organised by Paris-based Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), it is a stage of oppositions are to be killed, no negativity on Iran in Europe. This stage is now labelled by Iran as: “Iranian officials view the claims as designed to derail Europe’s efforts to salvage the JCPOA, particularly the planned European economic package for Iran“, the partial impact for now is that the Nordic parties who were initially extremely in favour of sustaining the JCPOA, are now less likely to fully support it.

What happened to the girl?

Well, the question is who cares? The girl is dead now! A photographer got his Pulitzer price, humanitarian aid in Yemen is a joke and the players behind the screen are all playing their own game. On both the Saudi and Iranian side there has been too little on humanitarian aid and that part must be clearly shown. Even as Saudi Arabia is much more on the defensive side of what they do, the clear staging where the work of Iran and Hezbollah is ignored by the media justifies the current position that Saudi Arabia is taking up. In all this the UN has blood on its hands too, even as it is through inactions. That part we get from the Irish Times (at https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-s-war-in-yemen-yields-hunger-and-devastation-1.3681488). They give us: “Only two famines have been officially declared by the United Nations in the past 20 years, in Somalia and South Sudan. An UN-led assessment due in mid-November will determine how close Yemen is to becoming the third“. Yet the Independent and a few other papers gave us almost a year ago: “More than 50,000 children expected to die of starvation and disease by end of year“. So I would think that the threshold for famine had been long passed. Would you not agree?

Save the Children gave us a little more a year ago, they also gave us: “an estimated 400,000 children will need treatment for acute malnutrition this year, the charity said“, at what point did it require an additional fifty weeks to get the label ‘famine’ attached?

Yemen, once the poorest country in the Middle East is about to become an extinct one. It happened as some nations were overactive in that region and the others are guilty through total inaction on almost every level. So even as we might feel for the title ‘Starving girl who became symbol of Yemen crisis dies‘, we should not be allowed to do so, our inactions give us that. And as the news staging goes on with Al Jazeera giving us: ‘US calls for the end to the Saudi-backed war in Yemen‘, we see again that the absence of Iran and Hezbollah in that equation might give the Saudi coalition additional fuel to continue. It might have been different if 100% of all support to Lebanon would have been halted until all Hezbollah troops have left Yemen, but Europe is not willing to go that far, are they? There are plenty of sanctions on Iran and I am not sure what else could be achieved there, yet barring Lebanon from EVERY negotiation table until Hezbollah is no longer in Yemen has not been attempted has it? It would force Iran to either engage of step back. In the second case the Yemen situation would be quickly resolved in the first case we would have a clear theatre of war with Iran, a war we might desperate need. Not for the fun of it, but until the hurt can be brought to Iran, they will continue their proxy war until they get lucky. Statistically speaking that will happen and the consequence of that will be a lot worse and it could have been prevented if the inactive players would have acted when there was a chance to limit the damage, for that it is far too late and the death on one 7 year old girl is merely the start for an optional 300,000 children to die within the next 30 weeks. Now you tell me, when we get to the 1st of June 2019 and you wake up to the statistics that in Yemen 453,261 children will have died at that point from starvation and disease, how happy will you feel? Will you have that Coffee with an Éclair? Will you have the steak or the fish that evening, optionally with grape juice? I cannot blame you for not caring, but I can point you out on the hypocrisy you let happen, the stage you allowed for and the media giving us half a story again and again is equally guilty in all this.

It is not merely an imperfect world. This world is descending from bad to worse at the same speed that is currently killing the children in Yemen. I think that we can soon state that we stopped being humanitarians in 2019, so feel free to box that thought wrap it in shiny paper with a bow and place it under the Christmas tree. Ignore that package and watch another version of a Christmas carol on TV whilst you deceive yourself that you are such a better person than Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Bah! Humbug!

P.S. Yet should you genuinely care (and you could optionally suffer to lose a few coins) then click on the link below and make a donation to Save the Children by pressing the donate button. You might just be the hero of the day and safe a life that way.

 

 

 

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