ASS WIPES

Ass Wipes (new title)

Chapter One: Tragedy Strikes

SIXTEEN Indians were roasted to death in Bahrain. But who cares? They are only Indians. And poor Indians, to be more precise.

Chapter Two: Slavery is a Way of Life

For the outside world, there is something you need to know about us Gulf Arabs (not all of us). We were born with a silver spoon in our mouths - and an oil pump up our asses - even those of us with no money. We are a cut above the rest and we employ third world country people to do our dirty work for us, not that we aren't third world ourselves. You see, our economies are still largely functioning thanks to a slavery system, which was never abolished, despite ratifying one international treaty after the other. Signing treaties and making promises and then going back on them isn't anything new, but this is another topic altogether. We pay some of those people an average $100 a month, to work day and night, night and day, sometimes without days off. They live in labour camps, sleep one on top of the other and are excluded from public life and segregated from normal everyday activities and life. Their's is a life of servitude, in which they work and toil and drop death or go up in flames. Who cares?

Chapter Three: Selective Memory

Our concern today and only today .. OK, because they are 16 .. 16 who were stuffed two in a freezer drawer... maybe for the next few days... should be to be angry about the tragedy that happened and the unneccesary loss of human life at a time when the world in already bleeding - because of the arrogance and greed of a few on the other side of the Middle East.

Chapter Four: The Saviour

Even the Prime Minister was moved by the scale of the disaster and ordered that all labour camps be inspected. Hold on a second! I thought 2/3rds of all labour camps were already inspected and found satisfactory. Satisfactory by whose standards, if I may be cheeky to ask?

Can more than 200 human beings (?) be crammed into a house reportedly having had "six rooms on the ground floor and five each on the first and second floors, plus small halls on each floor and kitchens." What about bathrooms? Oh I forgot, they are only Indian labourers.. which means they don't have to have a bath.. or a pee ..


Chapter Five: Money Talks

And all this for how much? Don't we all work - no matter what our alledged explanations are - for $$$ at the end of the day. How much are those sardines - oops - I mean Indians, worth?

The GDN report says:

One worker told how, on top of paying about BD1,000 initially for his visa, he had to pay BD450 to his sponsor to renew it on completion of his two-year contract.

Sources said most of the workers were forced to pay BD450 to renew their employment contracts every two years.

Those who are unable to pay in a lump sum had instalments deducted from their salaries.

The company also deducts BD11.500 a month each from the workers' salaries, towards the cost of accommodation.

The average salary paid is BD3 a day.

Among the survivors were free visa workers.

"We are paid 500 fils per hour and I am supplied to Royal Tower Construction by another company," said one worker, whose sponsor's name in his CPR card is shown as Atiaf Construction Company.

But don't worry .. you cheap asswipes.. don't you worry at all.. so what if 16 people have been roasted to death and piled on top of each other in freezers.. we will take care of your families.. with a little bit of money..


Chapter Six: Who Cares?

Yes. I am annoyed that such a tragedy is happening at this day and age and yes.. I will swear and rant and rave and bitch about it for a long long time to come.

Who are those bastards thinking they are when they abuse poor labourers who have left their countries and come to ours to clean and sweep and wipe our asses for us for a few dinars and lots of humiliation in return?

Why are they allowed to live in 'camps' like sardines, one on top of the other, with no access to basic amenities, privacy or days off, just because they come from countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka?

Where are those people's governments who allow their subjects to be abused in rich Arab states?? Where are the human rights charters we as a country which is today proudly a member of the UN human rights committee have gone to when we allow abuse of such a wide scale on our land without butting an eyelid??

The End: Life is Cheap..Poor People are CHEAPER

The truth is that 16 families are now having the hardest time in their lives .. while hypocrites like me and you too.. are pretending to be moved by the tragedy and caring for all those people .. when all along we have seen them being carted like cattle in open trucks and knew fully well how they lived in sub-human conditions and haven't done a thing.

Personally, my voice has gone hoarse .. and my fingers can no longer keep up with typing the barrage of swear words coming to my brain .. But I really can't claim I have done anything for those people.

The Beginning:

Those people should rise. Stop working in such appalling conditions and put demands. This is a good start. But mark my words... they will be bullied into submission.. and the lives of those 16 - whom we don't even have the decency to identify and honour- would have been lost for nothing!

Say Cheese!!!

BLOOD IN BEIRUT: $75.05 A BARREL

The failure to stop the bloodletting in the Middle East, Exxon's record second-quarter profits and Iran's nuclear cat-and-mouse game have something in common -- it's the oil.


By Greg Palast
July 26, 2006


I can't tell you how it started -- this is a war that's been fought since the Levites clashed with the Philistines -- but I can tell you why the current mayhem has not been stopped. It's the oil.

I'm not an expert on Palestine nor Lebanon and I'd rather not pretend to be one. If you want to know what's going on, read Robert Fisk. He lives there. He speaks Arabic. Stay away from pundits whose only connection to the Middle East is the local falafel stand.

So why am I writing now? The answer is that, while I don't speak Arabic or Hebrew, I am completely fluent in the language of petroleum.

What? You don't need a degree in geology to know there's no oil in Israel, Palestine or Lebanon. (A few weeks ago, I was joking around with Afif Safieh, the Palestinian Authority's Ambassador to the US, asking him why he was fighting to have a piece of the only place in the Middle East without oil. Well, there's no joking now.)

Let's begin with the facts we can agree on: the berserkers are winning. Crazies discredited only a month ago are now in charge, guys with guns bigger than brains and souls smaller still. Here's a list:

-- Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's approval rating in June was down to a Bush-level of 35%. But today, Olmert's poll numbers among Israeli voters have more than doubled to 78% as he does his bloody John Wayne "cleanin' out the varmints" routine. But let's not forget: Olmert can't pee-pee without George Bush's approval. Bush can stop Olmert tomorrow. He hasn't.

-- Hezbollah, a political party rejected overwhelmingly by Lebanese voters sickened by their support of Syrian occupation, holds a mere 14 seats out of 128 in the nation's parliament. Hezbollah was facing demands by both Lebanon's non-Shia majority and the United Nations to lay down arms. Now, few Lebanese would suggest taking away their rockets. But let's not forget: Without Iran, Hezbollah is just a fundamentalist street gang. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can stop Hezbollah's rockets tomorrow. He hasn't.

-- Hamas, just days before it kidnapped and killed Israeli soldiers, was facing certain political defeat at the hands of the Palestinian majority ready to accept the existence of Israel as proposed in a manifesto for peace talks penned by influential Palestinian prisoners. Now the Hamas rocket brigade is back in charge. But let's not forget: Hamas is broke and a joke without the loot and authority of Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah can stop these guys tomorrow. He hasn't.

Why not? Why haven't what we laughably call "leaders" of the USA, Iran and Saudi Arabia called back their delinquent spawn, cut off their allowances and grounded them for six months?

Maybe because mayhem and murder in the Middle East are very, very profitable to the sponsors of these characters with bombs and rockets. America, Iran and Saudi Arabia share one thing in common: they are run by oil regimes. The higher the price of crude, the higher the profits and the happier the presidents and princelings of these petroleum republics.

This Thursday, Exxon is expected to report the highest second-quarter earnings of any corporation since the days of the Pharaoh, $9.9 billion in pure profit collected in just three months -- courtesy of an oil shortage caused by pipelines on fire in Iraq, warlord attacks in Nigeria, the lingering effects of the sabotage of Venezuela's oil system by a 2002 strike... the list could go on.

Exxon's brobdingnagian profits simply reflect the cold axiom that oil companies and oil states don't make their loot by finding oil but by finding trouble. Finding oil increases supply. Increased supply means decreased price. Whereas finding trouble -- wars, coup d'etats, hurricanes, whatever can disrupt supply -- raises the price of oil.

A couple of examples from today's Bloomberg newswire are:

"Crude oil traded above $75 a barrel in New York as fighting between Israeli and Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon entered its 14th day... Oil prices rose last month on concern for supplies from Iran, the world's fourth largest producer, may be disrupted in its dispute with the United Nations over its uranium enrichment ... [And, said a trader,] 'I still think $85 is likely this summer. I'm really surprised we haven't seen any hurricanes.'''

In Tehran, President Ahmadinejad may or may not have a plan to make a nuclear bomb, but he sure as heck knows that hinting at it raises the price of the one thing he certainly does have -- oil. Every time he barks, 'Mad Mahmoud' knows that he's pumping up the price of crude. Just a $10 a barrel "blow-up-in-the-Mideast" premium brings his regime nearly a quarter of a billion dollars each week (including the little kick to the value of Iran's natural gas). Not a bad pay-off for making a bit of trouble.

Saudi Arabia's rake-in from The Troubles? Assuming just a $10 a barrel boost for Middle Eastern mayhem and you can calculate that the blood in the sand puts an extra $658 million a week in Abdullah's hand.

And in Houston, you can hear the cash registers jing-a-ling as explosions in Kirkuk, Beirut and the Niger River Delta sound like the sleigh-bells on Santa's sled. At $75.05 a barrel, they don't call it "sweet" crude for nothing. That's up 27% from a year ago. The big difference between then and now: the rockets' red glare.

Exxon's second-quarter profits may bust records, but next quarter's should put it to shame, as the "Lebanon premium" and Iraq's insurgency have puffed up prices, up by an average of 11% in the last three months.

So there's not much incentive for the guys who supply the weaponry to tell their wards to put away their murderous toys. This war's just too darn profitable.

We are trained to think of Middle Eastern conflicts as just modern flare-ups of ancient tribal animosities. But to uncover why the flames won't die, the usual rule applies: follow the money.

Am I saying that Tehran, Riyadh and Houston oil chieftains conspired to ignite a war to boost their petroleum profits? I can't imagine it. But I do wonder if Bush would let Olmert have an extra week of bombings, or if the potentates of the Persian Gulf would allow Hamas and Hezbollah to continue their deadly fireworks if it caused the price of crude to crash. You know and I know that if this war took a bite out of Exxon or the House of Saud, a ceasefire would be imposed quicker than you can say, "Let's drill in the Arctic."

Eventually, there will be another ceasefire. But Exxon shareholders need not worry. Global warming has heated the seas sufficiently to make certain that they can look forward to a hellacious -- and profitable -- season of hurricanes.

Copyright: Greg Palast -- www.gregpalast.com


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Isn't this a war of profit for the powerful? Innocent lives have been sacrificed to beef up the oil revenue. I just hope more and more people read this article.

Truth is like the stranger that hits us right between the eyes.

Another interesting story that I came across is: The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil
You can also download the pdf file

tffffffffffffffffooooo

أمس اتصلت بالأمل.

قلت له: هل ممكن؟ أن يخرج العطر لنا من الفسيخ والبصل؟
قال: أجل.

قلت: وهل يمكن أن تشعَل النار بالبلل؟
قال: أجل.

قلت: وهل من حنظل يمكن تقطير العسل؟
قال: نعم.

قلت: وهل يمكن وضع الأرض في جيب زحل؟
قال: نعم، بلى، أجل.. فكل شيء محتمل.

قلت: إذن عربنا سيشعرون بالخجل؟
قال: تعال ابصق على وجهي... إذا هذا حصل

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I just got this email in Arabic. It roughly translates:

Yesterday I called Hope.
I asked: Can we make perfume from onions?
It replied: Yes.

I asked: Can we light a fire in a wet place?
It relied: Yes.

I asked: Can we get honey from (a bitter plant??)?
It replied: Yes.

I asked: Can Earth rotate in Venus's orbit?
It replied: Everything is possible.

I said: So Arabs may feel ashamed one day?!
It replied: The day that happens, come spit in my face!!!

Bahraini Missiles!

US approves $42m missile sale to Bahrain

Manama: The Pentagon said it had approved the sale to Bahrain of 180 Javelin missiles built by a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon in a deal valued at up to $42 million.

Bahrain asked to buy the missiles, 60 command launch units, simulator and other equipment as part of an ongoing effort to modernize its armed forces, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a mandatory notice to Congress.

Lawmakers have 30 days to block the sale, although such action is rare.

DSCA said the Javelin missiles would provide Bahrain's land forces with a credible anti-armor defence, and help improve the ability of US and Bahraini forces to fight together.-Reuters


YEY! At least my family back home will be safe!!

To Lebanon, With Love

Where's that?

Chapter One

“Bahrain? Where’s that?”
“You must have heard of Dubai? It is close.”

“Of course, Dubai! You must be rich!”
“Not me personally. But yes, the region is rich.”

“That’s cool. So your family is involved in the oil business?”
“Sure, every Gulf Arab is involved in the business. We all have oil wells in our back yards and money trees lining our driveways!”


Chapter Two

“Where are you from again?”
“Bahrain.”

“Where’s that? In the Caribbean?”
“No. In the Gulf.”

“The Gulf of Mexico?”
“No. The Arabian Gulf.”

“What? There is an Arabian Gulf in America?”
“Of course. The world revolves around America as it should. You see, like the rest of the world, Bahrain too is a tiny American colony, sandwiched between the evil terror-mongering extremist regimes in Saudi Arabia and Iran. While 15 of the 19 hijackers of the 9/11 terror attack were Saudi, Iran is full of the bearded zealots, who now dare to aspire to develop a nuclear bomb to rid the world of all the infidels!
“We are in the unenviable situation of literally being between the anvil and the hammer!”

The End

“Bah aaaaaaaaaaaa rain?”
“It’s in the Middle East.”

“Cool. That’s in Israel. I was there last year!”

Tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot

NO COMMENT

Arabs, LICE and Traitors!

Shame! Shame! Shame!

What is happening in Palestine and Lebanon is enough for every Arab to hang his head in shame! And let's not confine this feeling of shame and humilation to Arabs alone..for as we all know..we aren't fully responsible for our fate .. for weak people like us ruled by cowards have no say in their destiny. We all know who are masters are! But I will not blame the superpowers of the past and present for our short-comings. The situation is more complex than pointing fingers and I am in no mood to go through a chronological break down of incidents which have triggered this tragic showdown.

I am here just to record my anger and frustration at a situation which bleeds the heart for poor people are once again paying the price of the dirty politics, arrogance, hatred and prejudices of a few.

Yes.. I know.. It is easy for me to sit back in the comforts of my five-star dwelling and spew allegations at Tom, Dick, George and Hassan...but this is the least anyone with any decency can do!

Collection Boxes for Bahraini Ministers??

Bahrainis are being urged to dig deep into their pockets to support cash-strapped ministers.

According to a report in yesterday's Gulf Daily News: "the Premier would receive a monthly basic salary of BD5,500, his deputies BD4,500 each and ministers would each get BD3,500.

"Those salaries would increase annually by three per cent.

"All Cabinet members would be given a monthly representation allowance of BD500.

"They will be also each get a car for official, as well as land and mobile phones and an Internet line."

haha

NO COMMENT! Well actually I have a lot to say but will bite my tongue for a while. Enough said!