Tag Archives: Syria

December 14, 2025 · 18:36

In opposition

I don’t go into ‘in opposition’ mode too often, because it tends to be an exercise of mopping the floor whilst the tap is spilling right on the floor. And you come to the conclusion that it is better to close the tap FIRST, before you start exercising with a mop. That is merely my opinion, but it holds water (as the phrase goes). The exercise is the ABC article (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-23/f-35-fighter-jet-sale-saudi-arabia-uae-australia-weapons-exports/106029218) giving us ‘Australian F-35 exports face fresh scrutiny as jets approved for Saudi Arabia’ where we get.

So, as we get blatant stupidity from Australian shores with “The president also contradicted the 2021 US intelligence assessment by saying the crown prince “knew nothing” about Khashoggi’s killing.” I countered this case on grounds of the United Nations report by UN comedian Egsy Calamari (aka Agnes Callamard) in the article ‘That was easy!’ I found a dozen shortfalls on that report (which also uses the US Intelligence assessment) and beyond that I left the largest folly unspoken. At no time were the tapes actually forensically tested. They could have been listening to a tape with recordings of the Shadow, listening to Orson Welles. I reckon they didn’t do that, but the blatant holes in that investigation were astounding and they are paid 6 figure incomes? For what?

And the least said about “Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are among the groups who have called for arms bans to Saudi Arabia, especially after the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the country’s human rights record, and role in the Yemen war.” The better. They turning their backs on the actions of Hamas and Houthi terrorist actions is astounding. As such I do not give too much credence to the writings of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and it makes little sense, they were a force for good in the 80’s, how the world turns. 

So whilst we get “Andrew Witheford, international and crisis lead from Amnesty International Australia, said putting the highly-lethal jet into the hands of another country in the region was “problematic”.” Really? So how is that view going for America and its Venezuelan repertoire? And beyond the fact that Saudi Arabia is a stable monarchy, it is making great strides in several factors. But don’t worry China is willing to flog their Chengdu J-20 by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation at any time, and how will that help Australia? Oh, and I hereby claim my 1% bonus if Saudi Arabia switches to the Dragon, over that amount I would get (from China) $52 million, a nice retirement fund, so I can move to Toronto and Abu Dhabi, life can be fun at the autumn of your life.

How is anything that this article gives you all relevant to the setting? So as the ABC gives us “A Saudi-led coalition has been waging a war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015.” We need to realise that there are no Houthi rebels, there merely are Houthi terrorists.

But do not take my word for it, ask Colonel Turki bin Saleh Al-Maliki he has the recovered several drones used on Saudi civilian airports and civilian targets. The media was so great in filtering out those facts, I wonder if you do the same. Is there a setting where Saudi Arabia uses weapons in defence of IT’S OWN COUNTRY? Yes, there is, defence works that way. But the media is eager to avoid their gaze on the rough stuff, like the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013 where the population was hit by rockets containing the chemical agent sarin. It might not seem related, but it is, when the atrocities of terrorists are laid bare, the people will ask difficult questions of the media. And that is not good for the digital dollar, is it.

So back to the story, as we are given “The UN Arms Trade Treaty, to which Australia is a party, says states must regulate the export of “parts and components” used to assemble weapons if there is knowledge the arms would be used in genocide, crimes against humanity, or certain war crimes.” We see the uncomfortable truth that they do not address action of Hamas as it is not part of the UN Arms Treaty Trade, nicely played. But this sanctimonious setting is getting on the nerves of too many people and the setting of a journalist no one cares about has been playing out for 8 years. All whilst the people are pointing fingers at the one who states that he is innocent and for the better part there is no evidence, the media takes whatever they could to get more digital dollars whilst ignoring clear evidence. So as we now against get the US intelligence assessment, most will not be clued in that some of this is based on 

“we need to consider ‘an intelligence service or operative simply has to make a stab at assimilating what all this means’, this can be surmised into one single word ‘Speculation!’, it is fair for Intelligence operatives to do, but in law it is set to evidence and there is none, something I saw in 10 minutes into the initial report.” as well as “The Special Rapporteur was not allowed to obtain clones of the recordings so she could not authenticate any of the recordings. Among other aspects, such authentication would have involved examination of the recordings’ metadata such as when, how the data were created, the time and date of creation and the source and the process used to create it.”

The simplest setting of law, Evidence, you either have it or you do not and no one has any clear evidence and the US intelligence assessment of ‘Highly Likely’ does not hold water in court. 

The simplest of settings and it is interesting how the media is filled with Islamophobes drenched in anti Saudi sentiment, it is not a completely correct setting, but that is how I see it. As such I am in opposition for the simple reason of evidence. And consider this, Andrew Witheford, gives us  “The F-35 used to only be sold to essentially liberal democratic countries” is that not a from of discrimination? By the way if all sounds right, America has become a (according to some) an authoritarianism, as such why is Australia even producing the parts of the F-35? Just a small question to cleanse the pallet. 

Have a great day today, Monday is now less than 325 minutes away. 

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December 13, 2025 · 04:03

Then there is that

I saw an interesting piece in the Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2625701) we are given ‘Saudi firms sign agreements to develop Syrian oil and gas fields’ I see it as interesting as it is perhaps a first step to see funds ending up in Syrian hands which might start a healing process. So there is a lot more to be seen with “Under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy, four Saudi companies signed agreements on Dec. 10 with the Syrian Petroleum Co. covering technical support, development, and production in Syria’s oil and gas fields.”A war that lasted for over 13 years drained the resources out of that land (2011 – 2024) and with this step a first step towards recovery has been found. And with “The agreements signed include an agreement between ADES Holding Co. and the Syrian Petroleum Co., which defines the fundamental principles for the development, operation, and production of gas fields.” And with this step “This includes five gas fields: Abu Rabah, Qumqum, North Al-Faidh, Tayyas, and Zamlah Al-Mahr, and any other area agreed upon by both parties later.” I cannot say how much will be rolling in, but as I see it there would be millions a day rolling in when these fields become operational, millions that country needs to restore a lot of what was broken beyond belief. And with “Under this agreement, the Arabian Drilling Co. will provide platforms for drilling onshore wells, platforms for providing related maintenance services, as well as providing necessary maintenance services, operational support, and training and development of the national workforce.” The Syrian population might see a lasting prosperity, because there is no price that can be set on the training and development of a countries resources, the man power it has. It tends to have a lasting effect on what they can achieve. So that is all good news as I see it. 

All whilst the Guardian reports “While country’s return to global stage has filled many Syrians with pride, domestically old grievances threaten efforts to rebuild the state” with the added “Syrians from across the country gathered and raised their voices to celebrate the end of the regime, raising the revolutionary three-starred-Syrian flag and chanting for freedom. In a speech at the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, the man who was to become the country’s president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, promised to rebuild a “strong and just Syria” for all of its components, promising reconstruction for the ruined country.” That comes with an added surprise. You see “Assad and his family were granted asylum in Moscow in December 2024 and recent reports suggest they are living in quiet exile under Russian protection” but that also comes with the fact that Syrians are not to pleased with Russia at present and Assad might not have brought all what he had with him, as such millions are still in Syria and when the money runs out, Russia is likely to hold no future promise for themselves and other construction companies will be active, likely Saudi and optionally Emirati construction companies will get the benefit of this. Russia will have shut themselves out and as the oil reserves are brought to bare, countries who are now pushed towards Russian oil revenues are given the chance to switch to a new Syrian company, the now People’s Syrian Petroleum Company, or perhaps now aptly named the PSPC (a speculative thought) With this a first much larger step has been made in the lives of Syria, a recovery step that will set it to a much brighter future than they thought was coming to them, thirteen years of war tends to do this, but with this step a first big step towards recovery is made real. 

Some sources state that Syria had access to 2,500,000,000 barrels over and when the oil production of 95,000 BPD is restored there is every chance that Syrian lives will end up with a much better prospect and as I see it, Saudi Arabia has every chance to make this happen. Then there are the options that a restored Latakia has on trade and tourism with a direct setting towards a ferry service with Cyprus an Turkey, it could then also bring forwards other prosperous options for the Syrian people as well as invite other parties to evolve those steps. Like the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/08/stalled-justice-violence-syria-assad-one-year-on) recounts, there is a painful process still happening because decades of slaughtering and executing families in Karm Al Zaytoon Neighborhood as a part of the sectarian cleansing massacre by Assad Loyalists is not going away and as I have a legal education I would be pushed towards evidence, but where to get that? And I reckon that being part of the Alawite sect will come at a price at present, so there is that too. It will not all be roses and moonshine, but with the restoration of Syrian oil a large step towards recovery will be made. How this is done largely sits with the people now in power in Syria, but with engaging with Saudi Arabia to restore their oil production they will make the first steps in restoring Syria to what it could have been and might now be for real. 

A glorious day for Syrians, so you all have a great day. It’s Saturday here with only Wellington ahead of me, the rest of the world will follow me into Saturday in the next few hours, Abu Dhabi. (In three hours) is first to follow (as the first timeline I keep an eye on).

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September 13, 2025 · 12:30

The settings you never see

I got a little surprise yesterday, apparently Saudi Arabia is (at https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2025/09/11/saudi-fund-for-development-to-give-syria-165-million-barrels-of-crude-oil) handing Syria ‘Saudi Arabia to give Syria 1.65 million barrels of crude oil’ and we are given “Saudi Arabia will supply Damascus with 1.65 million barrels of crude oil to support the country’s economy and improve living conditions for its people, the Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday.” In addition we are given ““The grant aims to enhance the operations of Syrian refineries and achieve both operational and financial sustainability. Its goals include supporting economic development, addressing economic challenges, fostering the growth of vital sectors, and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals,” SPA reported.” I think it is a great setting that Saudi Arabia is helping its ‘neighbors’ in getting a more robust economy. It comes after we were given (at https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2025/09/07/saudi-arabia-launches-damascus-area-reconstruction-project- )“At an event Sunday in Damascus, the Kingdom’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) announced an aid package that includes a project to clear more than 75,000 cubic meters of rubble from the capital and its surroundings.” I took notice as KSrelief is doing a lot of good in the Arabic peninsula and Africa, news that doesn’t make it into the western press. You see, it doesn’t fuel the digital dollars of the western media. And as they think that Syria is old news, they basically don’t bother.

But this shows Saudi Arabia to be a ring neighbour and their projects would benefit those millions of barrels of oil. A setting the western media also ignores. But we are informed by Al Arabiya as is the Arabic peninsula. We are also given that “Saleh said the rubble hinders humanitarian efforts and reconstruction, and that unexploded “war remnants threaten the lives of civilians.”” Ans this is the second setting that we are given after Riyadh informed the people in July that it pledged $6.4 billion in investment and partnership deals with Syria. Good for Saudi Arabia and good for Syria. Yes, we are never informed about the cleaning operations that others cause. But the UN keep on bitching about the diluted and misinformed focal points in the world. 

In other news
Yes, this also impact Saudi Arabia, but not in a way people care to know. We were informed about a month ago that Ubisoft is adding a DLC to AC Mirage. A game I enjoyed. What I didn’t know it that this involves Saudi Arabia. We are given in several ways “Ubisoft staff raised concerns with management over the company’s alleged dealings with Saudi Arabia.” As such does it matter? Ubisoft has done plenty of Dealings with America and their transgressions into all kinds of illegal operations are ignored. And when we get to “Game File reported that a representative from Ubisoft’s social and Economic Committee (CSE) directly questioned company management about whether “seeking a contract with a person accused of crimes against humanity for ordering the assassination (including his dismemberment and dissolution in acid) of a journalist, could contribute to the Ubi-bashing the company is currently suffering?”” I now say let these idiots of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) come with actual and factual evidence. Enough is enough! So whilst we are given “While Ubisoft hasn’t confirmed a deal with the Savvy Games Group or Saudi Arabia generally, the company announced on August 23, 2025, that Assassin’s Creed Mirage will receive free DLC later this year, which will be set in ninth-century AlUla (a city in Saudi Arabia).” A setting that I presume is part of an ancient oasis city and governorate in the Medina Province of Saudi Arabia, but I am not the expert of that. This reminds me, could it be an idea to incorporate the works of Tusif Ahmad (I reported on that two days ago (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/09/10/outside-the-box-we-see/) the idea that the presumed bras or copper templates might open a setting or a door that opens a larger stage of the game. Consider that these copper shadows might be seen as the earliest Quranic verses in this case, a verse by Tafsir Surah (I hope I got that correct) and that could spark all kinds of fandoms by Islamic people. It is just an idea and I got there in less than a day. As such I say yay Ubisoft. I think it is high time that the western world gets of its seemingly high horse badgering American slogan devoid on facts or evidence. It will be some effort to leave alone AC Shadows as I am in the middle of it, but no one ignores a free DLC (only idiotic sycophants do) and lets be clear AC Mirage was a decent game, so I will like to revisit that game, but there is not doubt AC Shadows is likely the Ubisoft finest work, it is likely their sixteen chapel. (As christian expressions go). And the revisit of AC Mirage has a second effect on me. I still believe that Ubisoft with an expansion of the META Quest 3 (or equal device) might instill a global perception of languages. 

As schools are less and less able to fund their own settings. There is a setting that Ubisoft could inspire language skills and that is the next iteration of the AC games. Some tweaking is required, but at present we have

AC Mirage – Arabic
AC Brotherhood – Latin and Italian
AC Unity – French
AC Syndicate – Formal English
Watchdogs Legion – Modern English
AC Shadows – Japanese and Portuguese
AC III – American (they don’t speak English there) 

And at present there is a nagging need for linguistic skills and the larger setting that these games could in corporate linguistic skills and cultural knowledge. Take a look at the past. The Latin community (aka the Roman Empire) handed people skills through ‘Familia Romana’. So there is no real IP setting here, now translate this to all the other languages in a rosetta stone setting and now we have a new ball game. A setting that could be replicated through all manner of books that have been out there in numerous languages. Now set this to AC Mirage and suddenly all the AC fans want to learn these languages. I get that there is a need to seek reinforcements through all manner available. So why not these settings. I think Saudi Arabia does the right thing by giving people something to strive for, especially as the media is crying unsubstantiated allegations since at least February 27th 2021 when I wrote ‘That was easy’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/02/27/that-was-easy/) Where I blast to pieces the work of the United Nations and its essay writer Eggy Calamari. So there.

Have a great day and let that be a warning to the CSE hiding behind there ‘alleged’ and ‘accused’ parts. I reckon that they might get the limelight for impeding business though little to no founded accusations. This has been going on for 4 years and no factual evidence has ever been presented. In the mean time we can soon enjoy a new chapter in the AC Universe.

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August 3, 2025 · 17:59

The need of some

That is what I see, the need of some. You see, as far as I can tell, we see all kinds of pretenders (especially around Gaza and Palestine) but for the most, these losers are all about the limelight and none of them are about resolving anything. They go on binges around anti-Israel events, they go on binges around Palestine, but in the end, they merely like the limelight. Yes, it is getting to me. For the most I am on the “Eradicate Hamas” train. But there is a setting that needs illumination. You see I have already done this 3-4 times over the last two years. Arab News gave us yesterday (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2610380/saudi-arabia) ‘KSrelief extends support to 5 nations in need’ actual events that the west is oblivious about. KSrelief has done plenty in the Arabic settings and now we see that Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Pakistan and Lebanon are getting help and I reckon that some of this has been going on for some time. 

We are getting that “In Yemen’s Aden governorates, the agency concluded a week-long general surgery project recently, during which 18 volunteers performed 26 operations.” It comes with the additional “KSrelief also launched the distribution of 6,000 cartons of dates in Yemen’s Al-Mahrah governorate, benefiting 42,000 displaced and vulnerable people — part of a broader plan to distribute 625,000 cartons across 12 governorates.” You can read the rest in the article. What I do want to give you is the end, which is “Since its launch in May 2015, KSrelief has implemented 3,612 projects worth more than $8.1 billion across 108 countries, in partnership with more than 325 organizations.” As I see it, KSrelief has achieved more in 10 years than the United Nations has in over 25 years. There is a chance that I am getting it wrong, but that is the political side of this that we are seen BS on many levels even though we get through AlJazeera (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/26/israel-says-its-distributing-aid-in-gaza-so-why-are-people-starving) where we get ‘Israel says it’s distributing aid in Gaza, so why are people starving?’ Where we are given “Israel claims that shortfalls are occurring because much of the aid lies “rotting in the sun” because the UN has not distributed it. Israel’s military radio, Kan, recently reported that the Israeli army has burned or buried some 1,000 trucks’ worth of aid that it deemed spoiled or expired.” I personally feel that it is a setting of she said versus she said and the media cannot be trusted to give us the truth. There are too many games played by the United Nations and by Hamas. This is a personal feeling, but there are too many factors and in earnest none of them can be trusted. I don’t trust the Israeli side, I do not trust the UN side, not the BBC side and certainly nothing that Hamas gives us. 

Yet what is done and I feel that I can trust this is what Arab News gives us about KSrelief and I feel I can trust what I see on these fields. The assistance that KSRelief gives us in these last 10 years sits well with me. My problem is that I hope that the western media will give KSrelief that they deserve. I feel that I am about the only non-muslim that is paying attention to what they do. 

I went through the first 5 pages of links searching for KSrelief and none of them are western media. It is basically despicable to see such non-caring and I personally blame the western need for digital dollars. We might ‘hide’ behind that things are more complex and that is fine, but at present Saudi Arabia is getting aid to 5 places that seemingly are ignored by western media. Mostly I stay away from Gaza issues as I was there in 1982 and I have had my fill of it, It is a drawn setting of something I do not understand. It is prolonged by politics I do not consider valid and politics that seems weird (optionally because I do not understand it) But I was there (44 years ago) and nowadays I still do not understand it and don’t try to convince me as most people are shouting what they read, but what you read is basically false, so there. Yet KSrelief is giving us the setting that matters and even as it seems trivial they are getting help to the people who need it, one package at a time and in this we see That in these 5 nations they brought relief and aided over 50,000 people. That is real assistance and it might not be enough, but it is a start and in the end they will have given “a broader plan to distribute 625,000 cartons across 12 governorates” in Yemen, a setting that is working, and as I see it more was achieved than the United Nations, now my thought might be off here, it is fair to say that, but at present we see all these political settings and we do not see any actual results in Yemen. That is what the thoughts get to when we see the media. There is a larger need other instances to show us what is done, the media is not giving them to us, so who can? Perhaps Arab News could follow through with an expose as to what the United Nations achieve and what KSrelief gets done. The issue is that at present KSrelief has implemented 3,612 projects worth more than $8.1 billion across 108 countries. Whilst on the side of the UN (regarding the UN) we are given “From 2014 to 2020, U.N. agencies spent nearly $4.5 billion in Gaza, including $600 million in 2020 alone” seemingly it isn’t working in Gaza, so what did they achieve in Yemen? These question are important, because as I see it the UN is merely a political beast and no one knows what funds are used and what makes it to these people out there. We might get images of rotting food at Rafah, yet what is true remains to be seen and too many media is a political tool for the ones that care of self, not of the victims. 

And that needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed soon. I personally believe that any media guilty of spreading disinformation needs to be held to account and with that the media guilty needs to be blocked from transmitting and other needs to give voice to these media players to be cut short from transmitting. I know it is a tall order and I have no idea how to do that (verification of data) but something needs to be done. For the same setting is the question of I am a source of information or a source of disinformation. It will be a fair question, because I no longer know and my visit to rafah in 1982 is no guarantee that I am giving information regarding Gaza. I feel that Arab News is correctly informing me regarding KSrelief, but that is all. 

We need to see where aid is required and the media needs to illuminate this, not illuminate the path that it is giving regarding what the media stakeholders what us to know and how much we are told. That is all.

So I apologise is this writing is a little all over the place, but there are issues with this setting. I hope I made at least that clear. So have a great day and try to find some joy this Sunday.

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July 13, 2025 · 01:25

Where is the exit?

That is a question that is more often than not a valid one. We went to exit any setting, but there is the ego to consider, America has skin in the game (as the expression goes). As the Guardian gives us (at https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jul/08/saudi-arabia-capital-punishment-executions-foreigners-drug-offences-crime-600-people-amnesty-international) last week, last Tuesday to be more exact, we are given ‘Saudi Arabia executing ‘horrifying’ number of foreigners for drug crimes’ with the byline “Hundreds put to death for non-violent drug offenses over past decade, with little scrutiny of Saudis, says Amnesty”, yup it is everyones favourite crybaby Amnesty International. I can’t really fault them here. They have a ‘strict’ setting and I get that, but the rest of the world needs to understand that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes a harsh views on any drug offense. So as we are given “Almost 600 people have been executed over the past decade for drug-related offenses, Amnesty International has found, three-quarters of whom were foreign nationals from countries including Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and Egypt.” It is like toddlers in a zoo. If you put your hand in the tiger cage, it will be bitten off. There is no ‘but’ or ‘why’ in this. It is the nature of the beast. Saudi Arabia is totally against drugs and they do not accept any other setting. You see, America might have started ‘the war on drugs’ around 1971 (optionally 1970) and for 50 years where we see that the setting should be seen as “at least $100 billion a year, and far from eliminating use, supply and production, as many as 300 million people now use drugs worldwide, contributing to a global market with a turnover of $330 billion a year” as such America has spend a generic $5,000,000,000,000 dollars on a war that has no exit strategy. Saudi Arabia isn’t falling for that trap and is not concerned for the 600 people who threw away their lives and is happy to end their seemingly pathetic lives. I am decently certain that their lives in Pakistan or Egypt would end in the same way. Although, I am certain that these two countries only give the death penalty on extreme cases (whatever that means), still the death penalty is in the cards there too. 

So, whilst every is calling the war on drug in America a lost cause and it is only in the eye of politicians who want to get coin out of this setting that they would ‘see’ an optional solution. I am of the mind that simply putting them all to death might have saved America $100,000,000,000 on an annual basis. That is the setting I personally see. 

So whilst we see “With little international scrutiny of what Amnesty describes as “grossly unfair trials” and a “chilling disregard for human life”, the rights organisation warned that the death toll would only increase.” We need to understand that Saudi Arabia sees drug use as a complete ‘no-no’ and they have strict laws in place. When we understand this, we should consider why these people go for drugs, and more important, how is this setting being supported? I think that most people in that ‘industry’ want their slice of a $330 billion cake and it is an annual cake, as such I wonder what is fueling this. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia isn’t wondering this at all. They merely execute the people who go for that dish and I get that. The American war on drugs is a stalemate for negotiations and a setting for delays and optionally some people get some out of this. Saudi Arabia sees them all as equally unworthy and treats them all to a one way ticket to the grim reaper, or towards Malak al-Maut as they call him. I reckon he is the American version of ‘Kill ‘em all, let god sort them out’ I have no real view on this. You see Saudi Arabia has capital punishment and the results are not unlike “Old Sparky,” who had been executing people since  1924 at the Huntsville Penitentiary. So is that any different? There is no setting of violent or non-violent. If you get caught with drugs in Saudi Arabia, they get a one way ticket to wherever they were supposed to go. It sounds harsh, but it is time that people realise that intentionally breaking the law in some countries has consequences and drugs have a finite consequence here. So when we see “Dana Ahmed, Amnesty International’s Middle East researcher, said: “We are witnessing a truly horrifying trend, with foreign nationals being put to death at a startling rate for crimes that should never carry the death penalty.” According to who? Is my question. You see “Saudi Arabia has a zero-tolerance policy regarding drugs and enforces its laws rigorously” as such I wonder where Dana Ahmed got her law degree. I kinda understand her. I am not in favor of the death penalty, but it is for every government to decide for themselves and as I see it, Saudi Arabia is not interested in wasting $100,000,000,000 a year on this problem. I get that too and I see that they decided to take ‘zero-tolerance’ to the next level and the people who cannot stay away from drugs, need to find a little burrow in America to see they lives through. As I see it Saudi Arabia said ‘not here’ and I get that too, I very well understand that. As such these people should have exited that country (preferably) before they got caught, they had the option between ‘leave now’ or ‘drugs now’ and they chose poorly. 

So whilst we see all parties cry their way into your hearts consider that it is well stated and openly documented that Saudi Arabia does not tolerate drugs of any kind, even as we might, we ned to learn that other countries have other values and they might not condone our recreational approach to drugs. That part I see missing here. There was a larger truth, it was there from day one and now we see that some are trying to seek other solutions, but the fact is that the other solution has proven to be a failure for over half a century and now that the funds are dwindling I reckon that America will get a new premise, it will go from ‘America first’ to ‘Healthy Americans first’ a setting we are likely to see before the years end. Especially when fentanyl is not only fueling political settings, America might take drastic steps to downsize that problem. So does that make Saudi Arabia a trendsetter?

Consider that and not merely the ‘bad’ feeling you get from a death penalty, consider what drugs and the drug market is doing to your economy. There are a few sides to this that Amnesty International does not want you to see, consider the impact of trillions on a war that never had anywhere to go. And you can afford this trillion, can’t you? 

Have a great day today.

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June 24, 2025 · 00:39

Polarisation

Yes, this unfortunately happens. Yet when it is the media, who do we blame? The greed of the media? The shortsightedness of the owners of the media? You tell me, I do not know. There is too much pro over and anti the other and frankly I am a little sick of it. Today I saw something that no western media seems to give. I am in this case referring to an organisation called KSrelief. I got the news from Arab News. The fact that it is Arab News is not the striking part, the striking part is that as far as I could see Arab News is the ONLY one giving its readers the news. You see King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) was established by King Salman bin Abdulaziz in 2015. As such it has been active for 10 years. As I read, the center was established in the framework of the Saudi’s efforts to alleviate the suffering of those in need worldwide.

As far as the media goes, they should be ashamed of themselves. There is no sweet talking their massive shortsightedness. The setting that this organization doesn’t get global coverage is on us all. We might claim to be ‘interested’ in relief settings, but that is as I see it, at present a false claim. I had heard the name before, I think I even covered it once. And as far as I can see, I have covered it more often than most of the western media, and that is a large claim. 

In this case Arab News gives us ‘KSrelief extends support to 4 nations in need’, with the added text that “The agency recently distributed 1,600 food baskets to displaced people in the South Jazirah district of Sudan’s Al-Jazirah State, benefiting 9,709 families.”, it also gives us “KSrelief also distributed 1,250 food baskets to displaced families in the Shikan locality, North Kordofan State, benefiting 8,092 individuals”, as well as “In Chad, the agency delivered 125 tonnes of dates as a gift from Saudi Arabia, in the presence of Chad’s Minister of Social Action, Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs Zara Issa, in N’Djamena.” And last but not least “In the Syrian Arab Republic, KSrelief distributed 10,382 cartons of dates in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, benefiting thousands of families.” Four places that is receiving aid from KSrelief. But the added bonus is that we are now given that “Recently, KSrelief signed a cooperation agreement with the Saudi Center for Culture and Heritage to establish four water desalination stations in Khan Younis and the Central Governorate of the Gaza Strip. The project includes four desalination stations with a production capacity of 10–12 cubic meters per day, installation works, and four solar power systems with 7 kilowatt capacity each. It is expected to benefit 300,500 individuals.” As I personally see it, the lack of reporting on this feat is a little too hypocritical to behold and as I see it, pretty much the bulk of western media is complicit in this oversight. As such, we can now see around 40,000 liters a day of water going into the region and the solar power systems might not be enough, but it is a start. I personally fail to see how 40,000 liters a day benefits 300,000 individuals, as I tend to consume close to 3-4 liters a day, but that is me. KSrelief is getting the works done all over the middle east and Africa. Additional, I see no mention of the KSrelief efforts by Unicef, who gave us an article a week ago, no mention at all. Seems a little too hypocritical to my taste. I reckon that anyone aiding assistance in that region should be mentioned, does it not?

So as we consider how great we are, consider how we all fall short on voicing the efforts of those who have an impact and it is clear that KSrelief does just that. So what gives? Is the media suddenly incapable of making mention of matters that does not fuel their digital dollar needs? Who is the stakeholder on that effort? Because as I see it, the lack of mention does grant the people the right to complain that they are not informed. Yes, the people should know, or is that line ‘the people have a right to know’ merely used to invade the privacy of some?

The lack of exposure to this setting is making me wonder what the media is all about nowadays. Just to offend sitting presidents? Just to make sure that the people look in one particular direction? You tell me, I honestly don’t know at present.

Try to have a great day today.

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November 6, 2024 · 00:24

iRan is not an Apple product

There is a larger setting in the world (predominantly the middle east). We are given by the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3yqzx72zno) ‘Iran’s supreme leader says enemies will receive ‘crushing response’’. I left it to the left at first (three days ago) for the reason that the entire Iran debacle is like hauling water to the sea. Where the text starts with “The US and Israel “will definitely receive a crushing response”, Iran’s supreme leader has said, following an Israeli attack on Iran a week ago.” It sounds nice, but Iran is limited to deliver attacks through terrorist fractions. It is too scared to attack directly. In the beginning it was about deniability, but that is gone now and Iran is on the verge of be labelled “a terrorist nation” by pretty much all nations. And it is scared of that as such it is trying to kiss up to Antonio Guterres. Yet Israel decided on October 13th “Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz reinforced on Sunday his decision to declare U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata over what he described as a failure to condemn Iran’s missile attack and antisemitic and anti-Israel conduct.” There are other nations thinking that Guterres has outlived its usefulness as a UN tool (I speculate that Ukraine is one of them). So when we see the BBC give us “The threat comes as Iran assesses whether and how to respond to Israel’s attack last month, that Iran said killed four soldiers, which was in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack against Israel earlier in October.” There is only so much Iran can get away with and whilst the US is begging to leave the oil fields alone (they get a slice of that revenue I reckon). Iran is now losing whatever options they had. As I see it Robert F. Worth said it best “‘The Iranian Period Is Finished’. Hezbollah’s losses have led some in Lebanon to imagine a future without it.” You see Hamas might seen shelter behind civilian bodies there, but Hezbollah is merely a small part of the 5.5 million population and Israel has had enough. 

Now that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been called a persona non grata, the options for the UN will diminish a lot more and Hezbollah has none left. Their only option is for Iran to engage in a full scale war and Iran is hesitant to do so. With the attacks on Saudi Arabia (via Houthi proxy) they only stand the smallest of chances if other Arabian nations support them and those nations are not willing to do that (as I personally see it). And the issue continues (and worsens). The BBC also reported “Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” is an alliance of Tehran-backed groups that include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and well-armed groups in Iraq and Syria. Most have been designated as terrorist entities by some Western states.” Let me be clear, they merely voiced the words of Iran and there is the problem. Do you think that the BBC would have given Germany the ‘respect’ by calling it the third kingdom? (1933 – 1945) And the larger option becomes that ‘their’ axis of resistance is in shambles. The Hamas terrorists are hiding behind the population they claim to protect. Hezbollah terrorists are relying on exploding pagers and the rest of Hezbollah has no clue what to do and Houthi terrorists are in a dangerous position. Lloyds reported yesterday “Houthis’ reported to be earning an estimated $180m a month from illegal safe-transit fees paid by unnamed shipping agents to secure safe passage through the Red Sea” as well as a report from ynet news that ‘Houthis turn to social media to raise funds for war’, this tells me that they are now cash strapped and here the UN is close to useless. They might talk a nice talk but it seems to be finally falling on deaf ears. In the meantime a report a mere 15 hours ago gives us that Houthi forces are trying to align themselves with Al-Qaeda forces. This happened whilst one source gives us “the two terrorist groups agreed to put aside their differences and focus on weakening the Yemeni government” the beginning of all kinds of escalations. And that is the setting for Iran, or as the American voices state “Become Al-Qaeda’s bitch or fall alone”, I cannot vouch for that, but Iran depended on deniability and now that this is gone Iran faces the reality of going to war. So how long until that goes wrong? In all these settings the United Nations might be out of options as well (until a new CEO is elected). You see on October 24th we got to hear “UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that his country’s on-going invasion of Ukraine violates the United Nations Charter and international law.” ‘Reiterated’? This has been going on for 10 years and now we see ‘reiterated’? I reckon that the insertion of North Korean troops is making this a larger stage. Basically it is now a world war. You see, there is no real definition, one that aligns with todays setting of “In order to qualify as a world war, at least one of three criteria must be met: the conflict takes place between multiple nations across the globe, battles are fought in many different locations, and the war must be fought against great powers with significantly advanced technology.” It now involves Russia, Ukraine and North Korea. At this point I believe that the setting of a World War is reached. You see one criteria was met and this reflects back unto Iran too. Because in this setting, Iran might be getting cozy with Russia, but Russia has its own brand of troubles and that is setting the grind in another direction. As such Iran loses whatever friends they thought they had. As such we are given “Saudi Arabia, Jordan and United Arab Emirates unite against Iran, with support from the United States.” A statement that is presumptuous, but lacks clear evidence (as I see it). It is likely to be true, but I have not seen that evidence. And in this setting Iran has two options, the first is to engage is all out war, the other is to drop the terrorist organisations Hezbollah and Houthi, leaving them to fend for themselves. 

I could be wrong but this is as I see it the political chessboard where we have three players. I would personally see a different stage where the board is used with the chess pieces of Chinese chess. It would be a decent challenge to get any player to actually win whilst the other two are hacking on the pieces and that applies to all sides in this equation. If we get a ‘dopey to dollars’ equation I reckon that Israel has a lead because Iran is about to lose two thirds of its ‘axis’ and that results in less pieces to move around and more exposure of its own pieces. And the number one weakness for Iran is that they cannot move their oil fields or oil infrastructure. That is the bottleneck for Iran, and they have less and less options for securing that financial option.

As I personally see it Iran is about to become ‘I ran’ and they now have no place to run to.  

Have a great day.

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November 23, 2023 · 23:23

A dangerous escalation

Before I go into the story, I need you to know something. Hamas is a terrorist organisation, no doubt about it. Governments and the United Nations are bending over backwards to avoid phrasing any sentence that combines Hamas and Terrorist. So I have been watching the ‘pro-Palestinian’ events. Too many are riddles with anti-semitics. And as some spokesperson from the United Nations, the simple looking broad with the saggy tits. I had enough. Israel has a right to defend themselves. Yet, I also agree with the actor Misha Collins, who on Twitter stated that what is happening now amounts to war crimes. I cannot disagree with him. Hamas is fully integrated in the west bank, into its populations. The hospitals (at least one) goes into tunnels with weapon caches. All issues. Now that you know that lets get into the article and the actual dangers that Israel is about to face. And Israel went bug-nuts, more then ever. I get the why, but the setting still stands. Israel is basically guilty of war crimes. I have no idea how they could have acted differently. Hamas killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians and a large group of them children, people were kidnapped and taken into the west bank. Israel lost their cool and went nuts. 

The article (at https://ara.tv/6a4dp) gives us ‘Saudi Crown Prince calls on all countries to stop arms exports to Israel’. I get it Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation, as such it will side with Muslims. Also on October 20th the BBC gave us “Prince Turki al-Faisal has publicly condemned both Hamas and Israel for attacking civilians” this matters to everyone. Hamas is now and will remain a terrorist organisation, even if the United Nations are in denial. The danger is seen with “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged all nations during an extraordinary BRICS summit on Tuesday to cease weapon exports to Israel.” The title gave us the goods, but it is now a more dangerous setting. You see Saudi Arabia is now a stronger voice in BRICS, they have the money, they have the economic future and that has been enough of an incentive for all governments to react. As I see these useless United Nations, the people who would not clearly act against Houthi terrorists are now even more useless. And when Saudi Arabia gets the upper voice, the UN is mostly done for. 

This is no boast, no grandstanding. The last four events West Bank, Ukraine, Yemen and Syria. In all these matters the UN achieved almost nothing, mere grandstanding and the fuel for a gravy train. That is all the UN now amounts to. So as BRICS grows and there is absolutely zero doubt that this will not happen. All kinds of nations will want a piece of that for their economy. That deflates the UN, sets larger issues with the EU and as you have seen in America, too many voices are not merely against Ukraine, they are more and more pro Russian. That is the future we see coming on all channels but the media is making a populist mockery of it all. And now that things need to be achieved the Kingdom in Saudi Arabia is hugely placed to make it happen. It gets to be worse (or better for me) for that. I once wrote the (partial) script of ‘How to assassinate a politician’ that politician is now the largest person in the Dutch election. Geert Wilders, the anti-Muslim far right voice has the most votes. I might just offer my writing again to Al-Arabiya, Al Saudiya, or Dubai TV. The fact that Geert Wilders is about to become prime minister of the Netherlands might make my script worth a few pennies. 

Still the larger station for Israel changes. There could soon be a setting that the State of Israel will end up standing alone. When America and the Commonwealth need to choose their economies or Israel is not entirely unlikely. I have no idea how that will play out, but as the Ukrainian pressures play out, Russia will be in a new stage. Side with BRICS and Saudi Arabia and end up with the tick of NATO at their front door, or make sure that Europe diversifies. The danger for Israel is not complete, but it is growing and Hamas ends up with winning a war they should never have been allowed to win. Because the moment a terrorist organisation wins a war, we all lose, no exception to that setting. That much is certain and the media stands on its own shores, the one with digital dollars, the populist voice. Because flames get responses, get clicks and sets the populistic people on a typing rampage creating even more clicks. 

Enjoy the day. It is almost Friday for me.

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October 30, 2023 · 22:29

Out of two issues

I am confronted with 2 issues. The first one passed my eyes a few days ago. It came from Arab News (at https://arab.news/946db) where we are given ‘Saudi authorities seize 3.8 million amphetamine tablets in Riyadh’. This is the second event in a year and my doubts are increasing. Not on the Saudi government. What drug dealer ships in one go enough tablets to make over 10% of a population an addict? Weirdly apart from having no knowledge in this, the little knowledge I have comes from a video game named Elite. There we could ‘smuggle’ decently safe 2% of the cargo as narcotics. As such you could ‘decently’ safe smuggle up to 500Kg in a 20 ton carbo haul. There is another matter. This is either done by a really stupid Saudi (with a lot more money than common sense) or this is something else. I personally belief that this is something else. We see the ‘market’ value, but the people with other interests will merely have the manufacturing costs as an expense. 

You see, if this was a real exercise, it would have made sense to merely smuggle 0.1% of that haul per shipping and it would most likely go right, as such I personally feel that these people were always going to get caught, especially in a nation like Saudi Arabia, a nation with zero tolerance towards narcotics. 

Then the quote “Eleven defendants involved in these activities were arrested. They include seven residents of Syrian nationality, one resident of Nepalese nationality, and three citizens in Makkah, Riyadh, Qassim, Hail and Al-Jawf.” My personal belief is that a government hostile to Saudi Arabia is trying to make Saudi Arabia look bad. This might account for the 7 Syrians and one Nepalese. At that point I wonder how the remaining three were EXACTLY involved. Consider that this is a highly volatile situation. Would YOU trust foreigners to make you run such a risk on you? This is not about foreigners, but lets face it, Saudi’s are for all the right reasons not the most trusting in the world and I expect that the Nepalese person might not be Islamic. Too many red flags are going up and I cannot shake them. 

I wonder what deep investigations with something like Palantir Gotham (if it is still called that) would uncover. My thoughts go towards the manufacturer, 3.8 million tablets is (according to some) set to a manufacturing cost of $3 per tablet. So someone handed over $12 million with a 99% certainty to get caught. It does not make sense, $12,000,000 leaves a trail. There is close to no way that it remains invisible, as such Palantir Gotham is one solution to get somewhere. The reason for thinking in this direction is that this is the second catch within a year. Someone has too much money and someone else acquired a lot of money, way more than some hauls. The largest bust in America was a year ago and involved a little over 650,000 pills. That in a nation with over 300,000,000 people makes ‘sense’, still it was a lot, so to see over 600% in a nation with only 10% of that population makes absolutely no sense at all to me. So, I am in a setting where I believe that someone is out there making Saudi Arabia look bad. I have no idea who, or why. My blinkers make me think the only direct (former) enemy is Iran, but that has no foundation in evidence of any kind, merely a gut feeling. But someone was willing to spend well over 10 million twice over to get that done, it is more than I will ever make in a lifetime (unless Amazon, Kingdom Holdings or Tencent Technologies buys my IP). And all this is based on the purity being average, if these pills were more pure, the price tag changes a lot. 

Enjoy the day before Halloween.

 

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June 20, 2023 · 00:01

He said what?

The BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-asia-65920024) gives us ‘Blinken and Xi had ‘robust conversation’ in Beijing’ and I had to take a look, if not only to see what they mean with ‘robust conversation’, that is an expression that could go in any direction and not all of them good. The BBC hands us:

“He says he has been seeking to “disabuse” China of the notion the US is “seeking to economically contain them””, sorry this started a 5 minute intermezzo to get a hold of all the laughter I have. The US has been seeking to contain China since Huawei left Nokia and all others behind them in the 5G field, it is still going on, all whilst we have never ever been given CLEAR evidence that Huawei was doing anything negative. In that same timeline we have an Airman handing out classified information, a former president has more classified materials in his toilet than the CIA has in its archive and we have several other issues. That is before we look at Cisco and its issues (which was not intentional, I know). 

And even as several statements came from Strasbourg, the manner of speaking implies a clear American hand on the shoulder of the speaker. 

Then we get “Blinken reiterates that the US does not support Taiwan’s independence – stating it does not wish to change the status quo”,which is a harder issue. You see ‘The first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade was signed on June 1, 2023.’ Might be seen as a declaration towards support for its independence. And that is debatable, I get that. It seems to me that America hopes it will go good, but at the same time it is afraid to anger China too much, so I can see how this plays and this is NOT against America. It is to acknowledge that some diplomatic strains are strained as far as they can get. 

Then it is time for “Blinken says some parts of the talks were “constructive”, but adds there is “work to do” in other areas”, OK a diplomatic answer if ever there was one. But in there are missing parts and there is every chance that they are not for our eyes yet. The ties with Iran and Saudi Arabia are worrying America. The new petroleum refinery that they are building in China must be a cause for concern. You see, the refinery is large enough to hand a lot more oil to China and that is where it is most likely to go, a setting America does not find comforting. They are already losing out to a million barrels a day, but with that new refinery that reduction COULD (could being the operative word) be reduced three times over to minus 3 million barrels a day. This could collapse the American economy and create a third world nation called The United Stages of Anything. For Taiwan it is not such a good stage. I reckon that China has been dipping its toe in the water to see how America would react when Taiwan is added back to China and charges Taiwan for overdue book fees and that invoice is likely to be stellar. Now, this is not a given, but that is what I would have done (if I was Chinese). In all likelihood as the EU and the US are uniting with Ukraine against Russia, China sees an opportunity because America is too broke to stop anything and that leaves Taiwan separated, segregated and all alone. A setting China would like at present and with three optional supports for Taiwan too poor to do anything (US, EU and Japan) Taiwan might not have too many options left. I reckon that a similar conversation with Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud took place almost a week ago. I reckon that at present China has all the answers it needs, but that is pure conjecture from my side. 

So as I see it, I wonder just how robust that conversation was, rejections by China does not make the conversation less robust, but that is about the only classification that conversation might have had overall. Am I wrong? Optionally yes, but the larger stage is catering to China, and with the ties with Saudi Arabia now stronger then anything, all whilst the ties with America are more and more dissolving leaves China in a much stronger position and as Saudi Arabia grows, so will the options for Huawei. It will not take long for the larger contracts with Egypt and Syria to start and when that happens, we get a triangle that covers part of Africa, towards Turkey all the way to India. It will not be overnight, but with the power core in Riyadh that setting would become one hell of a central chain for Huawei. And it is not a new setting, I saw this evolution come a little over three years ago. And with that infrastructure NEOM is not merely a small city, it will be a center piece of Saudi Arabia, uniting Africa to Saudi interests and they will all have that new Saudi news channel. It was a game well played and China is adhering to this not merely because it takes the wind out of the sails of America, it will diminish Europe in similar ways. Asia Times gave us in April ‘Huawei eyes Saudi Arabia as its regional hub’, I think it is only the beginning and it is a much larger partnership with China, who will have access to this and the Silk Road, which was never a secret. As such I wonder what expression they would replace ‘robust conversation’ with and very time that expression gets handed to us by the media, ask yourself. What did they mean with that? 

Another day, another step closer to next Friday.

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