As the World Freaks Out About Russian Troops in Syria, Has Anybody Noticed Qatar and Morocco are Sending Ground Trrops to Yemen to Join the GCC Forces Already There?

The Russian buildup in Syria has produced a lot of media attention and expressions of concern, but Syria isn't the only war attracting foreign military intervention. Within days of the death in Yemen of 45 UAE troops  (along with 10 Saudi and five Bahraini troops), Qatar announced that it was deploying 1,000 ground troops to Yemen to join the Saudi-led coalition there, its first dispatch of ground troops there, and Bahrain's King Hamad announced that two of his sons would go to Yemen as part of their national service.

All of the GCC states except for Oman are now participating in the Yemen coalition, and with the Qatari deployment all will have ground troops in Yemen except Kuwait, which is contributing aircraft. Egypt, Jordan, and Sudan are also participating militarily in various ways, and now there are reports that Moroccan ground troops will also be joining the coalition. Reports suggest that up to 6,000 Sudanese troops may be coming as well.

At a time when it is still not clear whether the Russian buildup in Syria is intended to participate in combat or is merely there for force protection and regime protection, it is interesting that there is much less attention (at least in the US media) to the growing ground force commitment in Yemen.

Adventures in Bad Viral Journalism: Did it Really Rain Money in the Gulf, and if so, Where? Dubai? Asir in Saudi Arabia? Kuwait?

A viral YouTube video that shows money falling from the sky has variously been described as happening in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, or Kuwait, and involving sums anywhere from a few thousand dollars to half a million pounds sterling. Before we embark on the competing claims, let's see the video itself:


Certainly, the video shows some amount of money falling from the sky, somewhere. Since there are multiple incompatible stories, we need to start with a control version of this urban legend/social media viral story. I'm not sure any of the multiple reports describing this event in Dubai/Kuwait/the Asir Province of Saudi Arabia can be called totally reliable. So let's make our control one that can be called dependably unreliable, The Daily Mail:

 Fact checking: yes the statement that It is estimated that notes valued between two and three million Dirham were loose - meaning up to £500,000": As of yesterday, three million dirhams would have been about £527,000. or US$817,000. Even if the total number of notes is misstated, each 500 dirham note is just under the £88 pounds cited (£87.95 yesterday) Not a bad "windfall," so to speak.

If it happened.

The Emirati press says it didn't happen in the UAE. No doubt Dubai's reputation for extravagant expenditures and outrageous building projects fueled the idea that this happened in Dubai.

Emirates 25/7 News offers a thoroughly different story:

Two bank employees supplying ATM machine during sandstorm when nearly SR10,000 in SR100 notes blown away. (Reuters) [I have not found the supposed Reuters story.]

A wave of sand and thunderstorms in Saudi Arabia brought dust, rain and snow across the desert Gulf Kingdom except one place, where it rained money.

Residents of a neighbourhood in the Southern Asir province could hardly believe their eyes when they were flooded with hundreds of Saudi riyal notes.

Unlike in rainfall, instead of seeking shelter they welcomed the money storm with open hands, open hearts and a big smile on their faces.

They apparently were very curious as to where the money came from but not to the extent they would return it to the source. They simply picked the notes and vanished happily inside their homes.

In a report from Asir, ‘Sabq’ newspaper explained the phenomenon. “Two bank employees were supplying the ATM machine with notes during a sandstorm when nearly SR10,000 in SR100 notes were blown away.”

“The two called the police, who called back-up to search for the money, but not a single note was found.”

The story says these were Saudi Riyal  SR100 notes, each worth a bit over US $26  or £17.20 Sterling, so SR10000 would be $2600 dollars or £1720, an amount that may be credible for loading an ATM machine, but hardly The Daily Mail's half a million Sterling.

The quoted Saudi newspaper Sabq is an electronic one, and i haven't yet found the alleged story, but let me also note that the Emirati report cited above is illustrated with a man holding up a  Saudi 50 Riyal banknote as if it were one of those that fell from the sky, but the story says they were 100 Riyal notes.

Also, Asir is the Saudi Province just north of Yemen. I've never been there, but both the tall buildings and the spoken Arabic in the video make me think this is somewhere in the Gulf.

Skeptical yet, Watson? It gets better. Multiple reports noting background buildings say it's filmed in Kuwait.

Abu Dhabi's The National: "'Raining money’ video was filmed in Kuwait - not Dubai"
notes:

A building, Burj Jasim, can be seen near the car park, where a Fatburger restaurant is also located. Both indicate that the incident happened in Al Murqab area’s Al Soor Street, in Kuwait City. 

Arabian Business adds:

A video of the incident has gone viral on Youtube and social media websites. While some reports have claimed the incident took place in Dubai or Saudi Arabia, verification of the buildings where the video was filmed, it appears that the incident happened in Kuwait. Midway through the video, the name Burj Jassim (Jassim Tower) appears on a building outside where people are gathering the money. The presence of a FatBurger outlet, also located at Burj Jassim (pictured below) would support the belief that the video was shot in Kuwait.

So what are we dealing with here? Clearly such conflicting stories can't all be true, and no one in Kuwait even seems to have reported it. Possibilities:

1. Perhaps this is real, but misattributed. The Gulf has been windy and unseasonably cold and maybe a crew reloading an ATM did lose some currency but not some huge mount.
2. Perhaps the video was done for some sort of commercial promotion, or as a commercial for television.
3. It could also be a hoax.

Kuwait Dodges the Bikini Bullet

Over the weekend, the Kuwaiti Parliament voted down a measure that would have banned "nudity" on Kuwaiti beaches. In the event you were previously unaware of the proliferation of nude beaches in Kuwait (as I was), "nudity" here really meant "bikinis." A committee rejected it on the grounds it was unconstitutional, though in cases like this I invariably wonder why they don't just vote "you're next door to Iraq which invaded you 20 years ago, and Iran, and have the Bidoon, sectarianism, and other social issues, and all you worry about is bikinis?"

Recently a woman in a bikini was ordered off a Kuwaiti beach, in another case a woman lost child custody in a divorce case because of a photo of her in a bikini with  a man not her husband (though in the Gulf the latter may have counted for more than the bikini). Qatar has also been cracking down, and the Kuwait Times suggests higher fees for running for Parliament to avoid nuisance legislation.

The whole thing reminds me of an Egyptian cartoon I ran back in 2011 (at left) in which a man stands among all of Egypt's economic and social problems and is screaming about bikinis.

Dina Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Royal

In doing the basic research for this post, Google informed me of something I didn't know: the existence of a "professional figure competitor" (a profession of which I was unaware) named Dina Al-Sabah, who not only holds "figure competition" and some bodybuilding championships but also some awards for bikini modeling.

Some readers will have noticed the "Al-Sabah" in her name. Assuming we can trust Wikipedia here, she is a great-granddaughter of Sheikh Salim al-Mubarak Al Sabah (Ruler of Kuwait 1919-1921) and thus a great-great-granddaughter of Mubarak the Great, who is essentially the founder of modern Kuwait. Dina was not raised in Kuwait but her royal inheritance is unforgotten; still, her body modeling might not sit well with the rulers today. Still, I show her photo as a sign Kuwaitis can wear bikinis. Not so badly, in fact.

The GCC Fracture Lines Deepen

I've been busy most of today but I do feel the latest escalation in the feud between Qatar and its neighbors, in which Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain have withdrawn their ambassadors from Doha over alleged Qatari "interference" in their internal affairs, underscores the growing splits within the GCC over a range of issues involving Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian situation, and more. The KSA/UAE/Bahrain bloc also want a greater political union, which Qatar (and for somewhat different reasons, Oman) oppose, while Kuwait is somewhere in the middle.

This is part of the far deeper polarization we are seeing throughout the region, of course.

Seelye Sisters Art Exhibit in Kuwait

Though I haven't seen it I wanted to note that MEI Vice President Kate Seelye and her sister have a  multimedia art exhibit which has opened in Kuwait. The sisters are daughters of the late US Ambassador Talcott Seelye and come from a long line of Americans involved in the Middle East, at AUB and elsewhere; the exhibit includes family photos and is aimed at remembering the positive history of the US role in the Middle East. A Kuwaiti review here.

Another Reason Not to Write Any Story About Sex in the Arab World without Fact-Checking: The "Kuwait/GCC to Test for Gays at Airport" Story

I have learned from experience never to repeat stories involving certain subjects without careful checking. Rule number one: if it involves an Arab country and sex (straight or gay or anything else), check it first. Rule number two: if it involves a person identified as a sheikh (named or unnamed) issuing a fatwa (whether the reporter understands what a fatwa* is or not), check it at least twice. Rule number three: if it appeared only in The Daily Mail, check it at least three times. Rule number four: if it was an unsourced fatwa about sex by a sheikh you've never heard of and was only in The Daily Mail, go to lunch.

*In Islamic law, a fatwa is a ruling issued by a duly constituted judge with the authority to issue such rulings (a mufti). In Western journalism, as I said once before, it means "anything we can get some lunatic sheikh** to say to the press" or on an Internet website.

**Frequently self-proclaimed.

Not long ago we noted that the much-reported "Tunisian women going to Syria for 'sexual jihad'" story was mostly smoke and mirrors. (All utterly true except for the fact that no Tunisian women apparently reached Syria or engaged in "sexual jihad." Other than that, dead on.) Then there was the "Tunisian girl who posted a topless photo faces stoning to death" story, in a country where prostitution is tolerated and topless beaches exist and which hasn't executed anyone in over 20 years (and not by stoning). She spent a short time in jail, in part for desecrating a cemetery. And I spent a bit of time a year and a half ago deconstructing the Egypt "necrophilia law' hoax, in which a credulous media reported that the Egyptian Parliament was about to permit men to have sex with their deceased wives up to six hours after death. (No, it wasn't. See the post for an analysis of where this crazy idea got started.)

And I never even posted the widespread story a couple of years back that said an (unnamed) sheikh from an (equally unnamed) "European country" (Denmark? Kosovo? Andorra?) had issued a fatwa (there's that word again!) saying that women were forbidden to shop for fruits like bananas or vegetables like zucchini because, well, it might give them ideas by reminding them of something else.  This was so totally improbable and unsourced I refused to mention it here, except in retrospect as an evidence of credulity and gullibility, and of course no source for the story was ever found.

(Though of course there really are crazy sheikhs who say crazy things about sex: "Egyptian Salafi: "Shi‘a Are More Dangerous Than Naked Women." (Please note for the record that while I reject this, it does not mean that I think naked women are more dangerous.)

So when over the past day or two we have seen stories with headlines like this: "Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travellers to 'detect' gay people and stop them from entering the country," all my usual alarms went off. That particular headline was in fact in The Daily Mail, so Rules 3 and 4 above allowed me to doubt it. But a far more respectable British paper, The Independent, chimed in with "Gulf states could have clinical screenings to 'detect' homosexuals and stop them entering the country." You'll notice the disstinction between "Gulf states to introduce" and "Gulf states could have": but what kind of "clinical screening" detects gay people?  (After Egypt's "virginity tests" in 2011, this is probably not something you want to dwell on.) While The Independent  is not The Daily Mail, the bullshit detectors were still sounding loudly. But there were screams from people who feared that gay athletes might be barred from the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

Now, even the original stories made certain things clear. This is not GCC policy; it is a proposal by Kuwait to be put forward at a forthcoming GCC meeting on immigration. The GCC moves at a glacial pace, and even if this were adopted it could take years. It does not at this time apply even to Kuwait, let alone Qatar.

But it isn't really about gay visitors at all. A lengthy post at an international sexual rights website (with what seems like an LGBT tilt), A Paper Bird, and a subsequent confirming follow-up post, make several things clear. First, this is not about visitors to Kuwait; it's about immigrant laborers. Second, it is not about gays: it's directed at transgendered people, especially those who have undergone sex changes. Immigrants seeking to become expatriate laborers already are required to undergo physical examinations. I personally dislike any form of discrimination, but barring transgendered persons from immigrant labor visas is not quite the same as testing every visitor to Kuwait or the whole GCC for gayness, however exactly they do that.

Unlike Iran, which former President Ahmadinejad assured us has no gays, I'm pretty sure they exist in the GCC. Perhaps even at the very highest levels. So no one should throw stones.

Kuwait Calls Snap Elections for July 25

In the wake of the recent decision by Kuwait's Constitutional Court invalidating the Parliament elected in December and dissolving it, Kuwait will hold new elections on July 25. 

It will be the third general elections in 18 months, following those in February and December 2012. Both of the Parliaments elected last year were dissolved by court decisions.

Obama Nominates Ambassador Deborah K. Jones of MEI as Ambassador to Libya

President Obama today announced that he is nominating Ambassador Deborah K. Jones as the next US Ambassador to Libya, replacing the late Ambassador Chris Stevens. Ambassador Jones, who is the former US Ambassador to Kuwait and has served throughout the Middle East, has most recently been serving as Scholar-in-Residence here at the Middle East Institute.. Her MEI bio is here. Let me join the rest of MEI in congratulating our colleague on this appointment.

Kuwait Election Results

To no one's particular surprise, the Kuwaiti Prime Minister has been reappointed to a new term in the wake of the December 1 elections. The elections, which drew widespread protests and an opposition boycott, were the second parliamentary election in this calendar year and the fifth in six years.

Readers should remember that in Kuwait the government is named by the Amir, while Parliament is often dominated by the opposition, unlike in a Westminster style system. Due to the opposition boycott, the new Parliament is dominated by the pro-government elements. Sunni Islamists are much reduced in numbers. So are representatives chosen by rhe powerful tribes, due to the new single vote system intrroduced in a controversial electoral reform. A major result of the electoral reform was a strengthening of rhe Shi‘ite representation, now 17 of the 50 elected seats. That is a reflection of the actual population balance (about one third Shi‘ite), though in Kuwait the Shi‘ites are not politically or socially unified.

Analyses of rhe results here, here, and here; a breakdown of the results by constituency here.

Easy Lies the Head That Wears a Crown: Why Are the Monarchs Surviving as the Republics Fall?

I'm on vacation. As I did last year, I've prepared a series of posts ahead of time on historical, cultural, and linguistic topics that are not time-constrained. If events warrant, I will add current posts, but at least one new post will appear daily in my absence. Enjoy.

Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Henry IV, Part II


For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there thE antic sits,

Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2

Shakespeare's troubled kings do not find models among the crowned heads of the Middle East (though in an earlier era the late King Hussein of Jordan, or his ghostwriters, wrote a book entitled Uneasy Lies the Head). In the last decade, the heads of almost every mainstream Arab republic has been toppled or is on the verge of it:

Iraq: Saddam Hussein, toppled 2003, subsequently executed
Tunisia: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, toppled 2011, in exile
Egypt: Husni Mubarak, toppled  2011, imprisoned
Libya: Mu‘ammar Qadhafi, toppled 2011, killed while fleeing
Yemen: ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Salih, negotiated out of office
Syria: Bashar al-Asad, fighting a civil war he appears to be losing
Sudan: ‘Umar al-Bashir, engaged in the early stages of an Arab Spring-type revolt

With the exception of Lebanon, the debatable "Algerian exception," and rather marginal states like Mauritania and Djibouti, Arab republics have either undergone dramatic transitions or are in the process of them.

The Kings, Amirs and Sultan are another matter. One might edit Shakespeare: in the Middle East, Easy Lies the Head That Wears a Crown. Not one monarch has fallen, at least not since the overthrows of the Libyan monarchy in 1969 and the Iranian Shah in 1979. Only Bahrain's throne has truly been in jeopardy, saved by Saudi intervention. Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Iran have faced some demonstrations and challenges, but of these only Jordan, and the aforementioned Bahrain, seem to have even had much worry. A fair amount has been written about a "Moroccan exception," but it's true of the other monarchies, again Bahrain excepted, as well.

Of course everyone knows that some of the richer states, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, have all used their oil revenues to provide lavish welfare states for their people, and have increased the flow whenever protest reared its head. But not all the Gulf states, and certainly not Jordan or Morocco, can turn on the oil largesse at will. So is the common ground really monarchy? Does the Divine Right of Kings (and Amirs and a Sultan) trump popular will?

If you're reading this expecting a clear cut answer, I don't have one. The monarchies are enormously different from each other. Morocco has had a unified state since the Middle Ages, was never under Ottoman rule, had only a brief colonial period (1911-56 ), and the present Alaouite dynasty has ruled since the 1600s. The first two statements and to some extent the third are also true of Oman, and the ruling Al Bu Said dynasty has ruled since 1749. Both have historical depth, national identity, and dynastic legitimacy working for them. Moroccan Sultans and, more recently, Kings have long been called "amir al-mu'minin" (commander of the faithful), a traditional title of Muslim caliphs, and have historical religious leadership claims.

The other monarchies have differing claims on legitimacy. Most of the rulers of the Arabian Peninsula, other than Oman, emerged from local ruling families (in the Saudi case, local rulers in the Najd, but with alliance with the Wahhabi religious establishment). Many of the families have roots in the 1700s, often under British protection during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Jordan's Hashemites have an impeccable descent from the Prophet and were hereditary Sharifs of Mecca, but only achieved political rule in the 20th century, under British patronage, in the Hijaz, (briefly) Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Today they cling only to Jordan.

It is no coincidence that Bahrain, where a Sunni family rules a Shi‘ite majority, has been most unstable during the present upheavals, dependent on Saudi intervention. Other states (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai) have Shi‘ite citizens but in the minority. Moroccan Kings have long finessed the Arab-Berber split in Morocco by at various times portraying both identities (many Kings, including Hassan II, took both Arab and Berber wives). The Sultan of Oman is an Ibadi so the country's historic majority, though increasingly eclipsed by Sunnis, share some identification with the ruler.

So legitimacy is a factor. So is the ability of the oil states to buy off their populace. And so to some extent is the fact that in Jordan and Morocco at least, there are enough of the trappings of a constitutional monarchy to allow the King to deflect blame to a Prime Minister (as Jordan tends to do) or to allow the opposition a role (as in the creation of an Islamist PJD-dominated ministry in Morocco). Of course these may prove to be temporary solutions, but they've worked so far.

If you were expecting profound answers or theoretical ones, ask some political scientist. I'm a historian and I examine the context without trying to fit the facts to some Procrustean theoretical bed. (Sorry, political scientists, forgive the zinger.) But I thought I'd leave you with my ruminations on the matter, though with no answers.

Another Court Dissolves Another Parliament

 UPDATE: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen on the background at Foreign Policy Mideast Channel.

Kuwait's Constitutional Court has declared that the Parliamentary elections in February were invalid, thus declaring the new Parliament dissolved and reinstating the old one. The move comes less than a week after a court dissolved Egypt's Parliament.

The Amir had previously suspended Parliament for a month to avoid the body questioning a member of the Royal Family. The new Parliament had been controlled by the "opposition," critical of the government's policies. (Only in such Gulf States as Kuwait and Bahrain can Parliament be controlled by the "opposition,": since Parliament does not appoint the Cabinet.)

Mind-Bending Headline to Start Your Week

A real headline from the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) from a couple of days ago: Kuwaiti Beach Volleyball Team Head to China.

Ponder that thought for a moment. Yes, Kuwait is sending a team of women players to China for the third Asian Beach Volleyball tournament. Yes, your immediate mental image was — well, you did try to picture a Kuwaiti beach volleyball team, didn't you?  And wonder about their, um, outfits?

But "out of adherence to Islam's teachings," we are told, "Kuwait players will wear modest uniform."

Oh.

A Kuwaiti Censor Speaks

Still spotty connection. Meanwhile, here's a post from Arabic Literature (in English)  on "The Not-so-Secret Life of a Kuwaiti Censor."

"Once Upon a Time in Kuwait": a Slideshow at Foreign Policy

For some nostalgia, Foreign Policy has a fun slideshow of photos of Kuwait in the pre-oil era: "Once Upon a Time in Kuwait."

Kuwait Plays Borat Theme Instead of Kazakh Anthem

Oops. At a shooting competition in Kuwait, a Kazakh athlete won the gold medal, and as she prepared to receive it, the band struck up a fake anthem from the movie Borat, which made fun of Kazakhs and is banned in that country.

This must have been awkward. The BBC report says they also got the Serbian national anthem wrong. I'm reminded of a story of a US political convention some decades back. When each state delegation rises to speak, the orchestra plays a song associated with that state (California Here I Come, Sidewalks of New York, Missouri Waltz, etc.) When the state of Georgia's turn came, they played Marching through Georgia. It's about Georgia all right: but it's about General Sherman's March to the Sea during the US Civil War. It's about burning Georgia.

I never actually saw Borat, but this does sound undiplomatic.

Kuwaiti Parliament Meets; More on Election Results

Veteran political figure Ahmad al-Sa‘doun has been chosen Speaker of the newly elected Kuwaiti Parliament; he has held the post several times previously.

As I've noted before, I haven't really followed the Kuwaiti elections, so I've been offering links to others' analyses. Here are two more: at The Gulf Blog; and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen at HurstBlog.

Analyzing Kuwait's Election

 I've had so much on my plate at work, not to mention blogging on so many things going on, that I paid no attention to the recent Kuwaiti Parliamentary elections. Fortunately, Gwenn Okruhlich was paying attention and reports in at Foreign Policy. So I refer you there.

Sheikh Saud al-Nasser Al Sabah, Former Ambassador to US, Dies

Sheikh Saud al-Nasser Al-Sabah, who served as Kuwait's Ambassador to Washington during the 1980s and through the Iraqi invasion and occupation, and later as Information Minister and Oil Minister, has died at age 68, reportedly of cancer. Sheikh Saud al-Nasser was a well-known figure in Washington in those difficult days for Kuwait, now over two decades ago. I mention his passing mainly for those who, like me, remember those days, and Sheikh Saud's role in them, well.

The Saudis Bail on Asad

 UPDATE: A roundup at Syria Comment.

Saudi Arabia has recalled its Ambassador to Syria, saying Syrian actions are unacceptable to the Kingdom. Kuwait and Bahrain have since followed the Saudi lead. This is fairly important I think, since the Kingdom supported Ben Ali and Mubarak to the bitter ends. (Libya was another story, but there is personal bad blood between Qadhafi and the King, so there was a getting-even element there.) King ‘Abdullah has personal ties with Syria, so his move is a sign the Saudis are very uncomfortable with the course of events there and possibly cutting their losses.

It may not deter Asad, of course, but it's a pretty interesting signal.

Kuwaiti Violence Riles Opposition

A government crackdown on what the authorities called an unauthorized protest has led to controversy in Kuwait, since some opposition members of Parliament were reportedly injured in the clash. The opposition now intends to question the Prime Minister in Parliament. Parliamentary attempts to question members of the Royal Family have frequently led to dissolutions of Parliament in the past. More here. Opposition figures are calling the event "unprecedented" since sitting Kuwaiti MPs (four, by one account) were roughed up. This account goes into the background a bit: the government is trying to lift the immunity of an opposition MP, and protests are occurring. This one took place late Wednesday outside the diwaniyya, the traditional home gathering place for open discussion in Kuwait, of an MP.

See this post from last year and its link if you need some background. The longstanding wrestling match between the ruling family and Parliament continues. This seems to have escalated the stakes a bit since MPs were injured, but it's a symptom of an ongoing struggle.