Middle East News on June 9, 2019

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, and Patreon, Podbean and Castbox.

A public apology by a prominent Salafi scholar sheds a light on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s version of ‘moderate Islam,’ his effort to shape the Middle East and North Africa in his mould, and the replacement of religion with hyper-nationalism as the source of his legitimacy.

Claiming to speak in the name of the Sahwa or Awakening movement, Aidh al-Qarni, one of the kingdom’s most popular religious scholars, broke with the Muslim Brotherhood-linked group’s past call for political reform and instead wholeheartedly endorsed Prince Mohammed’s undefined notion of an Islam that would be free of extremism.

“I would like to apologize to Saudi society for…the extremism, the violation of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the violation of the tolerance of Islam, the violation of the moderate and merciful nature of Islam. I support today the moderate and open-to-the-world Islam that has been called for by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman,” Mr. Al-Qarni said, wearing a Salafi-style chequered red and white headdress.

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Posted by

u/iddevalois

1 day ago

Name of Yemeni Song

Watched this video today of Houthis dancing around the recently shot down MQ-9. I am curious as to what song is being played at timestamp 1:03 in the video. Shazam and Google both proved to be of no help in deciphering the name.

https://youtu.be/6tjeonVAGbQ?t=63

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Posted by

u/iddevalois

1 day ago

Name of Yemeni Song

https://youtu.be/6tjeonVAGbQ?t=63

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Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

1 day ago

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 8

musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2019/0...

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Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

2 days ago

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 7

musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2019/0...

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Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

2 days ago

Review Special Operations Forces in Iraq

I just published a new book review of Leigh Neville's Special Operations Forces in Iraq. If you're interested in reading the review please go to my blog: Musings On Iraq.

Unfortunately right now Reddit is blocking me from posting links to my blog so I can't offer a direct link to the review.

1 Comment

Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

3 days ago

Iraqi sheikh spent 26 nights at Trump's DC hotel: Washington Post

thehill.com/homene...

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Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

3 days ago

Review It Takes More than a Network, The Iraqi Insurgency and Organizational Adaptation

Hello,

I just published a review of It Takes More than a Network by RAND's Chad Serena. He tried to explain the decline of the Iraqi insurgency using network theory. If you're interested in the review please go to my blog: Musings On Iraq.

Unfortunately right now Reddit is blocking me from posting a link to my blog so I can't provide a direct link to the review. Sorry

1 Comment

Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

4 days ago

Islamic State’s Revenge Of The Levant Campaign In Full Swing

IS's Revenge of the Levant new spring-summer offensive got going in Iraq in May. For more details please visit my blog: Musings On Iraq. Thank you.

Reminder Reddit is not letting my make posts with a link to my blog right now.

1 Comment

Posted by

u/assousa

4 days ago

Defying authority: Arab, Russia and Pakistan protesters learn lessons of 2011

By James M. Dorsey

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts and Tumblr

Demonstrators in Sudan, Algeria and nations beyond the Middle East such as Pakistan and Russia are applying lessons learnt from the 2011 popular Arab revolts as the Sudanese military uses an apparent Saudi-United Arab Emirates template to crack down.

This week’s crackdown in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, in which reportedly some 100 people were killed as of this writing and hundreds wounded, has all the tell-tale signs of the Saudi-UAE assisted repression of a 2011 revolt in Bahrain.

The deaths have also sparked comparisons to a crackdown on protesters on a Cairo square in 2013 by Saudi-UAE-backed general-turned president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that left up to 1,000 people dead.

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Posted by

u/WestminsterInstitute

4 days ago

المعضلة التي تواجه خطة ترامب للسلام

alhurra.com/a/المع...

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Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

5 days ago

Iraq’s Oil Exports Continue To Climb In May 2019, While They Stoke Political Controversy

I just published an article about how Iraq's oil exports continue to rise in 2019 as well as revenues. At the same time political parties are complaining that the Kurdistan Regional Govt is not meeting its obligations to export oil for the federal govt and that they should be punished as a result. If interested the story is on my blog Musings On Iraq. Thanks for your time.

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Posted by

u/Joel-Wing

5 days ago

This Day In Iraqi History - June

Reddit is blocking any post that include a link to my blog so I'm just doing a text post. I've talked to moderators and the Reddit team and there doesn't appear to be any resolution any time soon because neither knows what the problem is.

Anyway, I just wanted to let people know there are daily posts on my blog on This Day In Iraqi History. June is very important because it was when the 1920 Revolt began when tribes in southern and central Iraq rose up against the British. This day, June 4, was also the start of the insurgent assault upon Mosul in 2014 that would give rise to the Islamic State/ISIS. If you're interesting you can read the posts at Musings On Iraq. Thank you for your time.

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