Persona Non Grata on Steroids

"Admissibility to Canada is not a right but a privilege. Dieudonne forfeited this privilege with his numerous criminal convictions for hate speech, incitement to violence and glorification of terrorism."
"Border Services Canada agents made the right call yesterday in upholding the specific criteria required for entry into the country."
"In the context of a rise in violent and deadly anti-Semitism in Europe, professional anti-Semitic agitator Dieudonne is not welcome in Quebec or Canada tomorrow any more than he was today."
Rabbi Reuben Poupko, co-chair, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

"[Dieudonne is an] exceptional artist. We are a kind of United Nations. We welcome all forms of humour and all forms of creativity."
"We are definitely not a court, and we cannot allow ourselves as a festival to judge and convict. That is for the Canadian state or justice system."
"[However] we decided as a festival to not present [his show] any more [as a result of social conflicts]."
"It's a sad story because he's still considered one of the most skilled comedians of his generation. We remain convinced that freedom of speech is a core value in Canada."
Gilbert Rozon, founder, president, Just For Laughs comedy festival, Montreal

PIC: AFP/Getty

It's hard to justify laughing at mockery of the Holocaust, actually, coming from any source. It might not be too great a challenge to find amusement in the wry statements issued by a skilled comedian if one has never suffered the raw discrimination that Jews both personally and through group association have undergone through the course of their lives, let alone the 20th Century deadly savagery visited in European Jews by the Third Reich, determined to cleanse Europe of the presence of its Jews.

That high-priority issue of pursuing a "Final solution" to the presence of an ethnic, religious, cultural group of socially diverse people of all ages to achieve their destruction was no laughing matter when Nazi Germany pursued its agenda, and never has been since. Yet some find amusement in debasing history and humanity, while others find satisfaction in denying that any such event ever occurred, limitless evidence to the contrary.

This man who styles himself as a comedian for the people and who has amassed an enthusiastic following happy to laugh unrestrainedly at his Jew-baiting 'jokes', is an unrepentant anti-Semite who uses his fame and his stage to mock and disparage, slander and bait, and spread hatred of Jews. He has and continues to violate French hate speech laws; over 30 arrests testify to that along with his recalcitrance at abstaining, as demanded by the law.

But on the other hand, he claims himself to be oppressed by a country  run by Jewish "slave drivers" and speaks of his reality that "the big crooks of the planet are all Jews", complaining that "the Holocaust has become almost a dominant religion" in France. He makes common cause with and supports Holocaust deniers. His popular shows are now dominated by his expressions of hateful anti-Semitism, and they have not detracted from his reputation, but rather enhanced it among his followers.

"I am not an anti-Semite,” French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala says with a devilish grin near the start of his hit show at this city’s Théâtre de la Main d’Or. Then come the Jew jokes"
"In front of a packed house, he apes Alain Jakubowicz, a French Jewish leader who calls the humour of Dieudonné tantamount to hate speech. While the comedian skewers Jakubowicz, Stars of David glow on screen and, as the audience guffaws, a soundtrack plays evoking the trains to Nazi death camps. In various other skits, he belittles the Holocaust, then mocks it as a gross exaggeration."
Washington Post reporter

His most famous -- or infamous -- gesture personifying his agenda is the pose he popularized, the quenelle, consisting of laying the right hand on the left shoulder, extending the left arm at an angle with the hand flat out. This gesture is regarded as an inversion of the Nazi salute, a sly attempt to pretend innocence in that it cannot be equated with fascism, while it clearly can be, since it is meant to be.

 French authorities attempted to ban the gesture at a time when it was so wildly popular in the banlieus and throughout France that photographs were being posted of people, including soldiers, making the gesture outside of synagogues, at Holocaust memorials and even at the Toulouse Jewish school where in 2012 three children and their teacher were murdered by an Islamist jihadist returning from the conflict in Syria.

Canada routinely refuses admittance to the country for anyone known to have a criminal record. This man certainly qualifies, given his slate of arrests, as well as his constant propagation of hate messages. The French comedian had been slated to perform a number of shows in Montreal, when federal border officials turned him away at the airport in Montreal. But the organizers of the show
claim that they plan to honour their intent to entertain those who bought tickets to watch a Dieudonne performance.

The show promoter, Gino Ste-Marie, stated that with the use of technology ticket holders would see the comedian on a "virtual" stage. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre tweeted "someone who incites racial hatred and foments social tensions in Europe isn't welcome in Montreal". Virtually unwelcome as well, at risk of disappointing Canadian fans. Canada is not the only country to ban his entry; Britain did so in 2014. They too were not amused.

Bestowing The Gift Of His Favours

"Everyday, over a three-year period, Mr. [Jian] Ghomeshi made it clear to me that he could do what he wanted to me and my body. He made it clear that he could humiliate me repeatedly and walk away with impunity."
"When I went to the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] for help, what I received was a directive that yes, he could do this, and  yes, it was my job to let him. The relentless message to me from my celebrity boss [Ghomeshi] and the national institution [CBC] we worked for were that his whims were more important than my humanity and my dignity."
Kathryn Borel, former CBC producer

Laura Pedersen / National Post    Kathryn Borel, the complainant in the Jian Ghomeshi case, delivers a statement to media after Jian Ghomeshi's court date at Old City Hall in Toronto on Wednesday.

Former immensely popular host of the CBC show Q, Jian Ghomeshi must most certainly have felt that he had escaped the worst that could conceivably happen to him when it was revealed in 2014 that he was a sexual predator, preying on vulnerable women with whom he worked and on other women with whom he had casual relationships, who eventually decided to bring attention to this man's clear contempt for women, leading him to abuse them with impunity.

On May 12, at the Old City Hall courts in downtown Toronto, Mr. Ghomeshi signed a peace bond. Which meant that he was enabled to bypass a civil trial. The criminal trial that had earlier taken place saw him exonerated by Ontario Court Judge Bill Horkins who reached the conclusion that three complainants whose history with Ghomeshi gave rise to an assortment of sexual charges, were not credible. As victims of sex abuse their emotional reactions to what they had experienced seemed illogical to his logical mind.

And so Ghomeshi was found not guilty in the original trial where three different women testified against him, speaking of how he had violently assaulted them. The evidence did not meet the strict demands of a criminal trial to convict an accused; clearly the police and the lawyers involved had performed a less than sterling job of questioning the women, and the women themselves, though their experiences were those of sexual attacks, handled their own testimony poorly.

"In a perfect world, people who commit sexual assault would be convicted for their crimes. Jian Ghomeshi is guilty of having done the things that I've outlined today. So when it was presented to me that the defence would be offering us an apology, I was prepared to forego the trial. It seemed like the clearest path to the truth.    A trial would have maintained his lie, the lie that he was not guilty, and it would have further subjected me to the very same pattern of abuse that I am currently trying to stop", stated his accuser.

In response, Jian Ghomeshi admitted that he "crossed boundaries inappropriately." That "A workplace should not have any sexualized tone. I failed to understand how my works and actions would put a co-worker who was younger than me, and in a junior position to mine, in an uncomfortable place. I did not appreciate the damage that I caused, and I recognize that no workplace friendship or creative environment excuses this sort of behaviour, especially when there is a power imbalance as there was with Ms. Borel", he stated.

Despite being found not guilty in March in the sexual assault trial involving three women, and with the final charge dropped by the Crown, Jian Ghomeshi could still have a difficult time moving forward with his career. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

He is acknowledging 'inappropriate' behaviour, but certainly not the more damning sexual attacks that had unnerved and frightened and violently wounded the women he preyed upon. Kathryn Borel is made of sterner stuff than the previous complainants, as a highly intelligent, principled and empowered woman who in the final analysis dealt a death blow to the hope that must have arisen in Mr. Ghomeshi's brain at the dismissal of complaints in the previous criminal trial.

His mea culpa was placed by her firm and unequivocal assessment of his character and his actions into the perspective that reflected the reality of how he had conducted himself, his blase entitlement, his belief that there was nothing he could do that should not be accepted as the right of a powerful and valued entertainment personality perpetrating indignities and violence against women helpless to defend themselves in a social and justice structure that is weighted to victimize women.

The Disgraced Legend

The beloved father figure, the man who for decades has entertained North America with his quick and clever self-deprecating wit has lost none of his adept capacity to extricate a situation. On his Canadian tour in Kitchener, London and Hamilton, the venues were not exactly sold out, but there were enough diehard fans present to inform the man that his legend as a master of comedic routine surpasses, for them, his newer reputation as a brutal rapist, oblivious to the harm he has done to women.



The crowd in attendance to hear the man elegantly play to his audience and deliver their money's-worth, visualize the man he once represented to them, an articulate, clever wordsmith with the exquisite timing it takes to represent as a first-class stand-up comic. Clearly, the anguish suffered by the women upon whom he preyed was of little concern to them. Thirty women could likely in their opinion, be delusional; Bill Cosby is one-of-a-kind, and as a performer it is he they trust to tell it the way it is.

And, in fact, it's just the way he did tell it. On Wednesday at his Kitchener performance he was the consummate performer, not a whisper of the infamy that has followed him, unless one considers the protesters rallied outside the performance venues holding up their signs and verbally berating those who had entered for the evening's entertain. But on Thursday, although the same setting presented itself with protesters and venue attendees immune to the accusations that took place in London, an allusion that more than validates the charges emanated from his very lips.

When a woman rose from her choice front row seat to walk out, the performer asked where she was going halfway through his performance. To get herself a drink, she responded; would he like one himself? The pleasantry continued with his declining, then adding "You have to be careful about drinking around me", an assertion beyond amusing, entering the precincts of self-admission as a groper, drugging women who would otherwise spurn his advances, to rape them.

National Post

The initial "Oohs" were followed by wild applause for the masterful turn of reference and phrasing, denying nothing, admitting all, by allusion. And then someone in the audience shouted, "We love you Bill!", to more applause until one young man  called out in denial, "We don't love you, Bill", and we don't. The second man was roughly ushered out of the venue and he shouted as security escorted him out "You're a rapist. I'm being ejected because you're a rapist!"

The accusations have not been stilled. The accusations steadily grow; women who were intimidated, ashamed, fearful for their futures, traumatized by the brutality of their experience, have found the courage to face what had occurred to them, and are still coming forward. This is one among too many legends that is struggling to rise above the infamy its star has brought upon himself; a lesson in the arrogant entitlement of a celebrity wit.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Lynett    Ticket-holders watch as protesters demonstrate outside of the Hamilton Place Theatre ahead of a performance by Bill Cosby in Hamilton, Ont., Friday, Jan. 9, 2015.

Sony Kaput: Cyber Terrorist North Korea, Take a Bow

"Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism."
"The world will be full of fear. We will clearly show ... how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to."
"The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2011."
"Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the SONY."
The Guardians of Peace, North Korea

( Veronique Dupont / AFP/Getty Images / December 18, 2014 )   Workers remove a billboard ad for "The Interview" in Hollywood on Thursday, a day after Sony announced it was canceling the movie's Christmas release due to a threat from a group of hackers that U.S. investigators have linked to North Korea.

Whoever might have linked 'guardians of peace' with North Korea? But there you have it. The psychopaths in North Korea are horribly misunderstood. By launching high-powered rockets, and testing nuclear weapons they are doing their utmost to sue for peace world wide. Peace can be had, a precious resource that we understand death achieves. And North Korea offers to deliver peace to those who yearn for death; they offer the means and the mode.

If that appears a contorted passage of thought, do not be overly concerned. Human brains and the cerebral power they bring to understand the subtlety of 'sophisticated' messaging, do have their limitations, when one is not of the elite cabale of North Korean leaders, led by the redoubtable
Kim Jong-un whose brilliance as a film critic cannot be overly stressed.

Here's betting that the West thought that Islamists -- and the hordes of ignorant, ravening Muslims whom they incite to violence at the very thought of anything involved in Islam being degraded by some cartoonist's funny-pen chronicling of the absurdity of a religion celebrating itself as that of peace, slaughtering even its own adherents in its never-ending campaign of conquest -- had lunatic bullying techniques all wrapped up.

Seems they're alert and carefully watching North Korea to learn the techniques used by the 'sophisticated' among the world's psychopathic states. And here we thought the suspected Israeli-U.S. coalition was so brilliantly innovative tying up Iran's spinning centrifuges with StuxNet. Amateurs, clearly, in contrast to North Korea's 'sophisticated' experts in extortionate exploitation of burrowing worms set to explode and disintegrate vital corporate data.

Revolution Muslim in 2010 made a stab at malicious threats at Comedy Central, convincing them to proceed carefully on their Muhammad episode, taking care not to reference Muhammad unduly. Fine for beginners. That was a single episode, Muhammad-washed; this is an entire network down for two days before the coup de grace was even delivered.

"The IT  department has absolutely no idea what him them", said a Sony insider, (ask the Japanese security experts) after the hackers had already been twiddling about the innards of the network for weeks. "Every PC in the company is useless and all of the content files have either been stolen or destroyed or locked away." Gone, by golly: 100 terabyte of sensitive data.

"Wiper malware" destroyed the company's internal systems, its infrastructure melted away.

"It's just business as usual, if the year was 2002. [There are] lots of PAs having to run jump-drives back and forth all over the place, and hand delivering hard copies of files and scripts", a Sony TV staffer stated. It's not fear, but anger that this part of the world exhibits; that a craven surrender to an absurdly costly attack has stumped all those brilliant minds, incapable of dealing with issues that have been long known, but more or less set aside for some future time.

Hello, future time.

A Mighty Fall From Grace

"Mr. Ghomeshi will be pleading not guilty."
"We will address these allegations [sexual assault] fully and directly in a courtroom. It is not my practice to litigate my cases in the media. This one will be no different. We will say whatever we have to say in a court of law. We will not be making any further media statements nor will Mr. Ghomeshi be making further media statements."
Marie Henein, defence lawyer, Toronto

"The past month has seen a major shift in the conversation about violence against women. It has been an overwhelming and painful time for many people, including myself, but also very inspiring [in public support]. I hope that victims' voices continue to be heard and that this is the start of a change that is so desperately needed."
Lucy De Coutere, complainant

Jian Ghomeshi leaves College Park Court with lawyer Marie Henein, right, and co-counsel Danielle Robitaille, left, after being freed on bail on Wednesday, November 26, 2014. (Craig Robertson/QMI Agency)

Criminal charges have finally been lodged by three victims of sexual violence perpetrated by one-time host of the wildly successful CBC radio program Q. The three women, two of whose names are being protected; one actor, Lucy De Coutere deciding to fully present herself and with the self-confidence of one who could take the public strain, has described in the press her violent encounter with Jian Ghomeshi.

The man who delighted in being the centre of attention, basking in the adoration of his listening public, confident in the knowledge that his radio program was held in huge esteem for its popularity that brought it to U.S. stations' prominence through its celebrity appeal, now faces a media frantic to hear from him directly more about the 'rough sex' he had formerly claimed was fully consensual. When rumours rose to public discussions, Mr. Ghomeshi had alerted his employers at the CBC.

Examining the evidence he himself brought to them to fully apprise them of what he insists was simply 'rough sex', not all that different from what the current social elite is accustomed to, the
CBC decided they had no option but to shed themselves of their golden goose, and that goose giddily decided he would sue them for $55-million in damages to his reputation, firing him without cause. A suit he has since withdrawn.

Arraigned on charges of four counts of sex assault (up to a 10-year penalty) and a fifth charge: 'overcome resistance -- choking', which has the potential to carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment should he be found guilty as charged, there was a short bail hearing with $100,000 surety. Conditions for his release are several; he must live with his mother, maintain no contact with the complainants, and remain a minimum of 500 metres from them.

Banned from possessing prohibited weapons, his passport surrendered, he has been ordered to remain in Ontario. Justice Rebecca Rutherford presiding, elicited the response "I do", when she asked Mr. Ghomeshi if he understood his release conditions. Theatrically, flanked by two attractive and high-powered female lawyers with whom 'rough play' might not have gone over too well, he exhibits his soulful penance at the misunderstanding that has landed him in this situation.

That was one powerful !thud! when that graven idol tumbled off its pedestal.

Art Versus Sham as Political Perspective

"Then there were the choruses. The two that open the opera are supposed to demonstrate the comparative suffering of the displaced Palestinians and the displaced Jews. The Palestinian chorus is beautifully composed musically, with some compelling words, sung rhythmically and sympathetically. The Jewish chorus is a mishmash of whining about money, sex, betrayal and assorted "Hasidism" protesting in front of movie theaters. It never mentions the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, though the chorus is supposed to be sung by its survivors. The goal of that narrative chorus is to compare the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians—some of which was caused by Arab leaders urging them to leave and return victoriously after the Arabs murdered the Jews of Israel—with the systematic genocide of six million Jews. It was a moral abomination.
And it got worse. The Palestinian murderer is played by a talented ballet dancer, who is portrayed sympathetically. A chorus of Palestinian women asks the audience to understand why he would be driven to terrorism. "We are not criminals," the terrorists assures us.
One of the terrorists—played by the only Black lead singer—is portrayed as an overt anti-Semite, expressing hateful tropes against "the Jews". But he is not the killer. Nor, in this opera, is Klinghoffer selected for execution because he is a Jew. Instead, he is picked because he is a loudmouth who can't control his disdain for the Palestinian cause."
Alan Dershowitz, Lawyer, journalist, opera buff

Demonstrators protest outside Lincoln Center in New York on October 20, 2014 against The Metropolitan Opera's planned performances of 'The Death of Klinghoffer.' Photo by AFP

"[We believe the arts] can play a critical role in examining and understanding significant world events. The Death of Klinghoffer does no such thing. It presents false moral equivalencies without context, and offers no real insight into the historical reality and the senseless murder of an American Jew."
Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer

There's the opinion of Leon Klinghoffer's daughters whose view of their father's murder does not take kindly to the portrayal of the atrocity and the sympathies it attempts to unleash from the audience in the controversial opera written by American composer John Adams, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera this week. Their opinion is widely shared, and on the other hand, just as widely damned as a critique on the freedom of expression and the arts.

Their father, Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old New Yorker, disabled and confined to a wheelchair was aboard the Achille Lauro Italian cruise ship with their mother when it was hijacked by four Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists in 1985. The terrorists held no Jews in high regard, particularly not one who returned their contempt, doubly. The elderly handicapped man was shot, and wheeled with his wheelchair off the ship into the embracing ocean which buried him.

In the opera, there is sympathy that through the perspective of many people is misplaced in the opinion of its detractors, in equating the 'suffering' of the Palestinians to the suffering of Holocaust-victimized Jewry. As though to equate the Palestinian Arabs' longing for land to be returned to them which they claimed alien-to-the-land Jews had taken from them, was equal to the death-agonies of anguished millions of Jews whose lives were forfeit to the dream of Nazi command of the world where only Aryan perfection would exist.

Rabbi Avi Weiss gathered Jewish youth around him from a number of faith-based schools to join New York celebrities like former mayor Rudy Giuliani and other local politicians at a rally planned to protest the Met's featuring of The Death of Klinghoffer. "The language [in the opera] is explosive. It's radioactive. It's dangerous. It inspires violence", explained the rabbi. Others who have joined the protest are former New York governor George Pataki and U.S. Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Peter King.

There are those opera lovers who have concluded otherwise. And that includes opera expert
Fred Plotkin who stated his opinion: "Does this opera present the killers in a favourable light? No. Are the Klinghoffers far and away the most sympathetic characters in the opera, the ones we care about most? I believe so." A review in the Israeli online newspaper Haaretz, by Brian Schaefer, concurs with Mr. Plotkin expressing the following:

"As much as the protesters would have you think that “The Death of Klinghoffer” is all about the personal narratives of the Palestinian terrorists, it is Klinghoffer, his wife Marilyn, and the ship’s captain who are the opera’s most fully developed characters. (The captain largely narrates the unfolding events.) Klinghoffer is given several searing arias and is portrayed as a brave and righteous man. Marilyn, who at the time of the attack was battling terminal cancer and died four months later, is depicted with poise and dignity. In the murder of her husband, she carries the weight of the Jewish people. Adams recognizes and honors this by giving Marilyn the final, chilling word."

Alan Opie, playing Leon Klinghoffer, right, performs in a dress rehearsal of John Adam's opera 'The Death of Klinghoffer' at the ENO in London, February 23, 2012. Photo by Reuters

And here, I give the final, chilling word to Alan Dershowitz:
"At bottom The Death of Klinghoffer—a title deliberately selected to sanitize his brutal murder—is more propaganda than art. It has some artistic moments but the dominant theme is to create a false moral equivalence between terrorism and its victims, between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups, and between the Holocaust and the self-inflicted Nakba. It is a mediocre opera, by a good composer and very bad librettist. But you wouldn't know that from the raucous standing ovations received not only by the performers and chorus master, who deserved them, but also by the composer, who did not. The applause was not for the art. Indeed, during the intermission and on the way out, the word I heard most often was "boring." The over-the-top standing ovations were for the "courage" displayed by all those involved in the production. But it takes little courage to be anti-Israel these days, or to outrage Jews. There were, to be sure, a few brief expressions of negative opinion during the opera, one of which was briefly disruptive, as an audience member repeatedly shouted "Klinghoffer's murder will never be forgiven." He was arrested and removed."

Sad Times For The CBC

"Those of us who have had a quick look at it [CBC documents provided to a Senate investigatory committee] would really question ... its accuracy. Some of this stuff looks like fiction."
"I don't think we're getting the full picture. I don't think this is actually the answer to the question. I think there's a whole bunch more being paid to certain people in the CBC that may be outside of their salary."
Liberal Senator Terry Mercer

"I believe that people are making bonuses that are larger than what their salaries are indicating.:"
"If they try to manipulate things enough ... they can maybe come to those numbers, but I find them strange as well."
Conservative Senator Don Plett

CBC Logo

Providing 184 pages of salary ranges for staff working at Canada's official state broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a public agency that Canadians either love or detest, and usually in reaction to its perceived political biases, doesn't appear to have satisfied the quest of the Senate's transportation and communication committee's curiosity about the salary range of CBC employees.

Th documents list a maximum salary scale for top television (senior news reporter) correspondent Peter Mansbridge of $80,500. High-profile radio show host Jian Ghomeshi and television host Amanda Lang were given salary scales of between $60,844.32 and $77,390.42. The precise additions of 32 and 42 cents aside, there seems to be somewhat of a credibility gap; either that or those well-known personalities are a smokin' steal in their payscale for the CBC.

A direct enquiry to Mr. Mansbridge resulted in his commenting that he would not comment, because "it's personal information", which seems strange indeed, since the"personal information" of other high-profile public figures paid out of government coffers is never seen by the CBC to be beyond their purview to communicate to the public. But what do we know? A CBC spokeswoman commented that individual salaries are protected under the Privacy Act.

Which seems strange indeed; Ontario's sunshine legislation mandated that salaries of public servants be made public and those who are curious can indeed find out what public servants in the province earn; if they're working for Ontario Hydro, quite a lot. Same for TV Ontario. So what's the mystery and why the mystery? Canadians have a lot invested in the CBC; roughly $1.1-billion on an annual basis, but for the coming fiscal year somewhat reduced, forcing the CBC to review its mandate and to plan on cut-backs

"In the competitive environment in which we operate that information [individual salaries] is not public", according to France Belisle speaking for the CBC. Top TV anchors' salaries remain a guarded industry secret, then. While it's estimated that Mr. Mansbridge, CTV's Lisa Laflamme and Global's Dawna Friesen earn roughly $300,000 -- who really knows? it could be considerably more. The Senate committee wanted to interrogate Mr. Mansbridge directly but that was nixed by CBC president Hubert Lacroix.

While the CBC had "the utmost respect for the work of Parliament", and was dedicated to working with the committee on its review of the programming and operating challenges facing the CBC, the salaries of its employees are off limits, and nor will the CBC allow any of their trusted employees to go before the esteemed members of the Senate committee.

However, there is pain and mourning at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where a drop in its 2014-2015 federal funding amounting to a decrease to $913-million has caused the corporation to cut 657 jobs. Satisfied, you culture-haters?

Welcome to ‘Richistan’: How London winks at the ridiculously rich

Sunday, 8 September 2013 -- Al Aribaya

London is well-known for being a playground for wealthy foreigners, particularly wealthy Arabs. (File photo courtesy: Evening Standard)

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Al Arabiya

Where do the world's wealthiest people live? Well, it depends on whether you're deliberating over millionaires, multi-millionaires or billionaires.

If you're on a “fat-cat” hunt, London is described by London-based wealth consultancy, WealthInsight, as the city with the highest number of multi-millionaires, defined as individuals with over $30 million each, according to the Daily Mail on Saturday.

London is well-known for being a playground for wealthy foreigners, particularly wealthy Arabs, in the weeks surrounding the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with articles about the latest supercar-seizure in the news each week.

Gulf 'supercars' in London

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There are more than 4,000 individuals with more than £20 million (about $31 million) per head, placing London ahead of Tokyo, Singapore and New York as the one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

The English capital has become a hotspot for luxury cars, super-prime homes and outlandishly dressed visitors that flock to areas dominated by foreign wealth.

Just a few weeks ago, the former prime minister of Qatar, whose family owns a large share of luxury One Hyde Park apartment complex among other properties said he would retire to London rather than his homeland, stated the Daily Mail.

Arab millionaires have been in Britain since the oil crisis of the mid-1970s, settling in Mayfair and the home of Harrods, Knightsbridge,  a popular shopping destination for Arabs in London.

The number of millionaires and their wealth have grown relentlessly, expanding with the ever-rising price of energy. This is reflected in their appetite for London and its exclusive postcodes.

Outlandish requests documented by the Daily Mail include orders for 1,000 pink roses to be delivered from Saudi Arabia to Southampton for a dutiful student girlfriend, a four-month camel milk supply for a lactose-intolerant child and a gold-plated BlackBerry smartphone.

Speaking at the G20 Summit last week, Vladimir Putin described Britain as “a small island.” Nobody, said his spokesman, pays attention to it – except of course the Russian “oligarchs who have bought Chelsea.”

Did he hit the nail on the head? Nobody pays attention, and so the discreetly and ridiculously rich continue to descend on London.

Tags

gulf, london, supercars, wealth management, wealth, property, ramadan

Simon Wiesenthal Center Slams ‘Khaybar’ Miniseries After Video of Actors Spewing Hate Surfaces (VIDEO)

July 9, 2013 5:24 pm 

Author:

Zach Pontz

Tags:

Abraham Cooper Al-Masry Al-Youm Egypt series Elder of Ziyon Khaybar Khaybar Hate MEMRI Middle East Media Research Institute Simon Wiesenthal Center Yusri al-Jindy

Scene during filming of upcoming Khaybar series.

Actors from an anti-Semitic miniseries set to air this month in the Arab world have further confirmed their show’s hateful message in a series of interviews compiled by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

MEMRI released video Tuesday of the stars of “Khaybar,” set to air in Egypt this month, that captures them making inflammatory and anti-Semitic remarks. One actor says that all Jews think about “is making money.” Another says that Jews “have no moral values,” while another explains that the purpose of the show is to portray Jews as the enemy of Islam.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Algemeiner that the mainstream appeal is deeply unsettling and that it proves that “Jew has become a dirty word in the world.”

“The fact that we now have the proliferation–and if you will the fine-tuning–of this kind of hateful imagery on satellite TV and on the internet is devastating. To undo that kind of hatred will take at least a generation. And the spillover is dramatic,” he said.

“We’re not talking about rabble rousers in the streets. This is a sophisticated production that will have commercials attached to it and it shows its becoming embedded in their cultures,” he added.

One of the show’s writers, Yusri al-Jindy, attempted further to validate the corrosive intent of the series, saying in an interview in June with Al-Masry Al-Youm , an Egypt-based daily news­paper, that it is meant  “to expose the naked truth about the Jews and stress that they can­not be trusted.”

Anonymous blogger Elder of Ziyon has written extensively about the program and has even spearheaded a petition against it. In an email to The Algemeiner he slammed the international community for its silence on the issue.

“The video shows clearly that the series is not meant to be a historical drama, but a thin excuse to incite Arabs and Muslims against Jews. The screenwriter says so and the actors know it. This is a violation of international law, as specified in The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that ‘Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.’”

Last month he oversaw the delivery of the petition to the New York City headquarters of both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Thus far he says that both organizations have failed to respond to his overtures.

“It is outrageous that such blatant incitement stirs so little interest from human rights organizations. This is not just a speech, or a newspaper article, or a book – this is a highly anticipated media event. The hype in the Arabic media resembles the week before Iron Man 3 was released in the US. In only the past week, Al Jazeera has written three different articles about Khaybar.”

Cooper similarly criticized both organizations for not vocally condemning the show.
“We can come with the ‘J’accuse’ for two reasons. If they would say something it might have some impact in our own society, and secondly it would send a signal to civil societies in the Arab countries.”

Neither Human Rights Watch nor Amnesty International had responded to detailed requests from The Algemeiner for comment as of this writing.

Paul McCartney: They Threatened to Kill Me if I Played in Israel

Artists who perform in Israel aren't just worried about selling tickets, but about their safety, as they are targeted by BDS groups.

By David Lev -- ArutzSheva 7

First Publish: 7/10/2013, 5:38 PM

concert

Flash 90

 

When rock legend Paul McCartney came to Israel in 2008, he was, at least to some extent, taking his life in his hands. Not because of Israel's sometimes precarious security situation, but because he was threatened by BDS (boycott, divest, and sanction) anti-Israel groups. “I got death threats, but I'm coming anyway,” the singer was quoted as saying by Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs researcher Adam Shay. 

“I got explicit death threats, but I have no intention of surrendering. I refuse to cancel my performances in Israel,” Shay quoted McCartney as saying.
The former Beatle is not alone.

Dozens of other artists who schedule dates in Israel are lobbied, bullied, threatened, and even attacked at concerts by anti-Israel groups who are bent on isolating Israel culturally, as well as economically. Many artists, said Shay, claimed that their web sites have been attacked by hackers right before their Israeli concerts.

Alicia Keys, who recently played a concert here last week, supplies the latest example of intimidation faced by artists who play Israel. Several of her fellow singers – notably Elvis Costello and Roger Waters – urged her to cancel, calling Israel an “apartheid state,” and Keys' Facebook page was littered with condemnations of her on the day of the concert. Costello himself cancelled a concert in Israel in 2010, as did Carlos Santana, after being hectored by anti-Israel groups. Other notables who have cancelled planned concerts in Israel are Jon Bon Jovi, the Yardbirds, Joe Lynn Turner, and the Pixies. Spanish singer Paco Ibanez went one better, telling a French newspaper that he is boycotting the Hebrew language, which he can speak, for political reasons.

But despite the pressure and threats, there are many artists who continue to play Israel. In the past month, rock bands Deep Purple and the Pet Shop Boys have held concerts in Israel, and American artist Rihanna is scheduled to take her second tour here in October. And of course, there was Madonna. 

Many of these artists, Shay said, decided to perform in Israel despite the threats. “When singer Moby was interviewed on Army Radio shortly before he performed in Israel, he said that the intensity of the attacks against him before he came to Israel made him suspect that this wasn't an objective movement that was concerned with people's welfare, but with something dark and dubious.” Unfortunately, though, “most artists just don't want to deal with it. It's much easier for them to release a statement that they won't be appearing in Israel 'for reasons of conscience' rather than to say their lives are being threatened and they're frightened.”

Tags: BDS ,death threat ,Paul McCartney

High-Risk Activities

High-Risk Action

Anyone who has ever been to a circus and seen a high-wire trapeze act knows viscerally how fraught with danger it is. Even while they know that they are witnessing the exquisitely-timed and flawless performance of a professional who has been trained from childhood to adulthood to defy  time and space and vertigo. The sublime grace of the human body tuned to a fine balance of respect for danger and confidence in their ability, is an awesome beauty.

Photo credit: AP | In this Nov. 28, 2008, photo, Sarah Guyard-Guillot, left, and Sami Tiaumassi perform as "Forest People" during Cirque du Soleil's "Ka" at MGM Grand Resort in Las Vegas. Guyard-Guillot, a mother of two young children, was pronounced dead at a hospital late Saturday night, June 29, 2013, after falling about 50 feet from the show's stage during a performance of Cirque du Soleil's "Ka." 

But this is also an extremely high-risk activity. People can be flawless in their execution of what has become a familiar routine to them through countless repeated performances, but when such split-second timing is required to be matched with the remote but occasional failure of the human performing, to be able to meet those very specific criteria in caution, movement and timing, disaster can and occasionally does occur.

It is what happened to Cirque du Soleil performance artist Sarah Guillot-Guyard, who died on stage over the weekend, performing in the theatrical acrobatic spectacle titled KA at the MGM Grand Hotel. She was among a team of trapeze artists suspended by a wire from a vertical stage. During a simulated flight scene she slipped from her safety wire and fell about 15 metres into a pit below.

The 31-year-old mother of three children, born in Paris, was involved in circus performance since the age of 9. Sarah Guillot-Guyard was the first Cirque du Soleil performer to die during a public performance. There have been in the past years a few who have died during training exercises taking place at the Cirque's Montreal training centre.


"Your eyes can't see everywhere at the same time. We know from our investigations that humans are not well-designed for that. We do miss things that are on a collision course", explained Transportation Safety Board regional manager for aviation in the Pacific, Bill Yearwood. His remarks have nothing to do with the Cirque du Soleil accident. They refer to yet another misfortune, when near Pemberton, British Columbia four people were killed on the week-end.

A Cessna pilot, his wife, and the pilot of a glider along with another passenger all died when the two pilots seemed unaware of their trajectory, headed directly toward one another in a limited airspace and collided catastrophically. Campers at the Nairn Falls campground close to Pemberton were alarmed in the early morning to witness pieces of metal falling from the sky.


"It was just like a sea of debris coming down, it didn't seem real." The glider pilot, Rudy Rozypalek, operated the Pemberton Soaring Centre, known in the glkiding community as an instructor and sport advocate. The Cessna's flight plan indicated it was travelling from 100 Mile House to Nanaimo, B.C., and had refuelled in Lillooet. The glider took off with an engine, then switched to air currents for flight sustainability; no flight plan required.

The airspace has no radar or aircraft control guidance.

Syrian actress attacked in Egypt after reciting pro-Assad poetry

Thursday, 21 March 2013 - al Aribaya

Known as Raghda in the Arab World, the 55-year-old actress angered some attendees at the Arab Poetry Conference. (Image courtesy: Libvoice.net)

 

Al Arabiya 

 

A famed Syrian actress was attacked Wednesday for explicitly supporting President Bashar al-Assad and reciting poetry criticizing Islamists in the region.

She made her daring announcement while attending a cultural event at Cairo’s Opera House, local media reported.

Known as Raghda in the Arab World, the 55-year-old actress angered some attendees at the Arab Poetry Conference held in the Opera House after reciting some poetry to show her support of the embattled Assad, Sada al-Balad news website reported on Wednesday.

According to another local website, al-Masry al-Youm, the Cairo-based actress recited one poem entitled “slave market,” depicting how Syrian women are being married off to Islamist Egyptian men to “protect their honor,” compelling a bearded Islamist to interrupt her.

“I am a Muslim but I am not racist,” he said, in reference to her poem, which he viewed as prejudiced against Egyptians.

After Raghda rebuffing the man’s reply, a tumultuous quarrel ensued.

About six men, including the Islamist, attacked her and when other attendees tried to rescue her, they started throwing fire extinguishers.

The actress, who usually speaks Arabic in an Egyptian accent, reportedly sustained one bruise on the back of her head.

She told local media that she has filed a case accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating subversive activities in Syria.

“I have put surveillance cameras and an iron fence around my house as I noticed a Syrian man watching me,” she said.

The actress, who is a well-known Assad regime supporter, has long criticized Islamists.

Leaving It A Better Place

"A shopping centre mall should not just fall down. We thought someone would do something before it was too late."
Doug Elliott, lawyer, Elliot Lake, Ontario

Perhaps sometimes, when it comes to the precarious situation of a community shopping complex utilized by the public and having trust, despite obvious concerns that nothing would necessarily occur to endanger themselves, it would have been far better if suspicions of awry conditions had been expressed vocally and frequently to provincial inspectors. Rather than, say, rely on the mall's owners to do the responsible thing themselves.

In this case the Algo Centre Mall's owners simply seemed to believe that no responsibility for public safety attached to them. That the brief and incomplete inspections they had ordered were sufficient unto the day. But the parking garage, located over the mall, had suffered too grievous damage over time and the incidents of decay noticed but not overly concerning were true indications of the depth of concern they should have had.

As far as design and planning are concerned why, in a place like Elliot Lake, where there is more than ample space to have a parking lot alongside the mall rather than atop it, would it have been constructed in this manner transcends the belief in human intelligence.  The constant winter conditions whereby vehicles parking over the mall bringing in salt to erode and corrode steel and concrete seemed inevitable in its conclusion.

Everyone, said lawyer Elliot, missed an obvious solution, which would have been to close off the garage to traffic. Band aid solutions, he said, were applied to the situation instead, and predictably "none of them ever worked". The leaky roof was a legacy adopted by a succession of mall owners. The last of whom, Bob Nazarian, claims to be blameless in the unfortunate collapse and death of two women.

It seems as though there is more than enough blame to go around and be generously shared among those who should have known better - including previous mall owners who seemed to wash their hands of insider knowledge and social responsibility with the change of ownership. What of commitment to the public weal of their community?

"It was the heartbeat of the community", said Roland Aube, Mr. Elliott's co-counsel. The catastrophic collapse of the roof-deck and consequent deaths of Lucie Aylwin, 37 and Doloris Perizzolo, 74, represented a dreadful loss of innocence to the one-time uranium boom town of about 13,000 residents. Once touted as a potential retirement capital of Ontario, for its natural geographic beauty and living style.

Houses were plentiful, as a result of the vanished industry, and inexpensive - and people were attracted to the possibilities of the town. The blameless owner of the mall, Bob Nazarian, appeared to ignore the leaky roof of his asset, which further deteriorated.  The enquiry currently ongoing into the tragedy may conclude that fault in addressing the possibility of just such a collapse as had occurred, is too difficult to ascribe and in so doing bypass conferring blame.

"I realize that come September, the rest of you will all be gone, and we'll be left here. I hope that you will keep mindful of the fact that Elliot Lake does need to be a better place when you leave", commented Doug Kearns meaningfully, to the inquiry. An anticipated 75 witnesses will be scheduled to address the inquiry.

And perhaps, in the final analysis, taking that admonishment seriously, no one will be held to account. Other, that is, than the outsiders whose delayed rescue effort had been aborted precipitously serving to impose a trauma of their own on the suffering town.

 American Propaganda ARTS

"They are leaking this for political reasons. They were secretly and inappropriately co-operating with these filmmakers and doing things in such a way as to generate a criminal referral."
Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch

Hollywood a propaganda arm of the Government of the United States of America? Really? If we blink? Remember those films portraying the CIA as a criminal agency? Those were clearly not unctuous displays of love and affection for America's feared secret intelligence agency with its tentacles around the world to whom are attributed countless acts of criminal espionage, surely.

But there are, and have been in the past, other films which clearly seem to qualify for those who insist that there is an unhealthy symbiosis between the White House and Hollywood. On the other hand, it may just seem so. Given that most Americans are proud of their country, its superior accomplishments and its place in world history.

So there are the three Oscar contenders for the past successful season; Lincoln, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, all self-congratulatory, allowing for adulatory praise and box office munificence. Critics of portrayals of America The Perfect insist that close collaboration between Hollywood and the U.S. government point to political manipulation through America's most popular export product.

White-washing torture through nomenclature-alteration and demonstrations through the acting skills of American thespians that water-boarding does make sense; it persuades those with critical knowledge to divulge details enabling agents of defence and intelligence to protect the country from those who plan to do it ill, and do.

There are echoes, those critics seem to claim, of Nazi Germany's suborning of the arts to reflect well on fascism and the Nazi agenda, like the 1934 documentary film Triumph of the Will which the filming genius of Lennie Riefenstahl gave legitimacy to, extolling the superhuman virtues of the Aryan race. A horror border a bit much, that.

But it is fact that some films require the generous assistance of government and its agencies to lend authority and authenticity to their portrayals. Enabling Hollywood to make use of aircraft carriers, jets, tanks, soldiers - as "extras" on the set - in exchange for script approval. Script approval, in fact, gives a type of legitimacy of its own, demonstrating that the professionals aid the professionals.

Every branch of the American military, and the CIA, operates a liaison office in Hollywood. The credits rank them toward the end of those lengthy finishing displays of films like Saving Private Ryan, for example, but who even notices? Other than that they do add credibility. And a tickle of interest that such co-operation exists.

Documents received by Judicial Watch in Washington under freedom-of-information laws reveal the collaborative approach's full scope, where the CIA and the Pentagon welcomed director Kathryn Bigelow and scriptwriter Mark Boal, enabling them access to the agents who hunted Osama bin Laden, and to the Navy SEALS who planned and executed that infamous raid.

President Obama's inherited killer-drone policy in Pakistan and elsewhere, dispatching leaders of jihad and terror is given legitimacy as well, as a mechanism by which America may commit its technical resources, while saving its personnel in the critical job of making life safer for the country by eliminating vicious existential threats.

"It says, 'We have eyes everywhere, we have a vast surveillance network and we are going to find you and snuff you out, extra-judiciously, and if we have to torture we will because it works'", commented Roger Stahl, professor of communications studies at the University of Georgia.

And?

Addicted to Excitement

Perhaps more accurately, addicted to the varied roles that engender attention, acclaim, the kind of notice normally accorded celebrities of one kind or another.  For someone owning varied attributes, intelligence, beauty, physical prowess - the allure of presenting as an original, authentically athletic, obviously desirable individual, imbued with talent on many levels of human aspirations - admiring attention becomes addictive.

High-powered men, engaged in politics, in the upper echelons of corporate affairs, those who have attained great wealth, or whose professional achievements in science, medicine, sport, art, theatre have gained them a devoutly admiring following often succumb to the attraction of dalliance with fervent hangers-on.  It is most commonly recognized as an overt attribute of musicians and sport figures.  Less commonly exercised other than covertly by others.

For the most part, it is male figures who indulge in exercising their options for a wide range of sex partners.  Other than in exceptional circumstances where those celebrated figures have portrayed themselves as other than given to relaxed morals in exuberant promiscuity, these peccadilloes are usually shrugged off as irrelevant to their extraordinary talents and of little consequence.

When they have burnished a reputation for impeccable behaviour and are then discovered to have been leading a secret life of disguised libertinism, obeying their libidinous cravings, they are exposed to the disappointed opprobrium of those who once set them on the pedestal of quasi-immortal fame in recognition of their outstanding performances in their professions.

So why be surprised when a woman does the same thing?  Perhaps because it's a woman who appears wholesome and unaffected by her supreme physical abilities.  Like former U.S. Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton.  Who, in an interview with the website Smoking Gun once her double life was outed, explained that she found the escort business she was clandestinely engaged in "exciting".
FILE - In this Feb. 27, 1999, file photo, Suzy Hamilton reacts after winning the women's 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:13.96 at the USA Championships athletics meet in Atlanta. he three-time Olympian has admitted leading a double life as an escort. She apologized Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, after a report by The Smoking Gun website said she had been working as a prostitute in Las Vegas. Photo: John Bazemore / AP

"She took "dates" in Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston under the alias Kelly Lundy, working for Haley Heston's Private Collection.  Charging hefty fees of $600 each hour of her services, or ten times that amount for her full attention for a full day.  "I met Haley with the idea of fulfilling a fantasy and only doing this for the short term.  Well, after my first date I was hooked, and have been doing my best to visit Las Vegas as often as my schedule allows."

Suzy Favor Hamilton poses for a portrait at her home in Shorewood Hills a suburb of Madison, Wis. in 2012. The three-time Olympian has admitted leading a double life as an escort. She apologized Thursday after a report by The Smoking Gun website said she had been working as a prostitute in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Michael Sears) Photo: Getty Images / SL

Not that this 44-year-old mother of a 7-year-old boy, wife of her college sweetheart has a lot of spare time.  She runs her own business.  She is hired by organizations to deliver motivational speeches.  She does promotional work for Disney and for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon series.  And her real estate business in Wisconsin (with her husband) keeps her quite busy.

They are an affluent couple, living a satisfying life.  She has appeared in commercials for well-known brands like Nike, Reebok and Pert Plus shampoo.  She is fit and beautiful and has no problem attracting attention.  She also seems to have no problem with the fact that her husband is unhappy, knowing about her double life.  "He tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of me at all."

That must be quite the understatement.  Would she have expected him to be?  And here's the kicker; she is rather put out that she was outed.  She had informed several of her casual partners in the business of her real identity.  And someone she 'trusted' repeated what was told to him in confidence; you know how such men like to brag of their conquests, of their sexual contacts...? 

To her this represented an unforgivable transgression of trust.  She blames herself for being too "trusting".  This is rather an astonishing interpretation of trust.  Trust, one might logically think, is what her husband and her son have in their wife and mother.  Only to have discovered (at least her husband) that trust was misplaced. 

But for exceptional athlete and world running champion Suzy Hamilton, her trust in someone in her secret business was misplaced.  "He totally broke all the rules by outing me.  I don't want to be like him because he is scum.  And I will not become scum to make myself feel good."  And so - there!

Threats and the Triumph of Conscience

Admirable.  To defy the populist campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel through a pervasive boycott takes great strength of character.  Unless one is agreeably complicit with the turn of mind that lurks behind the principle of calling to account a country that is desperate to defend itself from ongoing violence directed toward its populace.  A violence that can be overlooked for the greater good perceived to be had in defending the administration that encourages that very violence.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - very much aligned with the Boycott and Divestment push of unions and academics who use the sanctimonious conceit of defending freedom against a state they label an apartheid one because of its need to protect itself from a destroying force in whose defence the liberal left finds huge merit  - made every effort to dissuade Canada's Alanis Morisette from performing in Tel Aviv.

"We hope that a personal appeal from us, a campaign that enjoys overwhelming  consensus amongst Palestinian civil society, will convince you to cancel this show."  Alanis Morrisette chose to cast her talented professional lot 'amongst Israeli civil society' instead.  And so it was in Tel Aviv to huge applause and appreciation that she rounded out her 2012 tour, entertaining a sold-out crowd at Tel Aviv's Nokia Arena.

Ohad Zwigenberg Alanis Morissette visits the the Western Wall after landing in Israel on Saturday. 

Where Alanis Morissette was confronted with the heart-warming scene of Canadian flags held aloft in celebration of both her principled choice and direction and her outstanding performance abilities. "Alanis Morissette is enacting a spectacular #BDSfail this very moment", tweeted one of her ardent admirers who also happens to be head of social media with the Jewish Agency of Israel.

When Kim Kardashian tweeted a message to her followers, “praying for everyone in Israel!” she earned for herself a vicious backlash from all those among her fans who felt otherwise, that to pray for the well-being of the Israelis was analogous to the commission of a grave sin.  She responded by issuing yet another message in a following tweet: “praying for everyone in Palestine… as well as across the world!”

That kind of even-handed compassion does not sit well with the countless critics of Israel.  Despite knowing this well in advance, it is hugely to Alanis Morissette's credit that she was not dissuaded from her original intention, and for her and her hugely enthusiastic audience, the show went ahead as scheduled.  A far cry from the recent slap-in-the-face cancellation of Stevie Wonder last week, when he deigned not to perform at a benefit for the Israeli Defense Forces.

When Elvis Costello cancelled two Israeli tour dates, he invoked conscience and principle.  Reflecting his particular perspective.  Which was not shared by the Red Hot Chili Peppers who performed at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park, despite being bombarded with activist 'appeals' to cancel their appearance.  The boycott campaigners haven't overlooked the reverse boycott appeals, interrupting performances by the Batsheva Dance Company at their U.K. performances.

These boycott activities speak volumes about the much deeper purpose of those who engaged in this type of psycho-social bullying, and their campaign to use any means of derogatory and slanderous descriptions of a democratic society struggling to maintain itself despite the virulence and violence of its neighbours attempting to dislodge it from its rightful inheritance in the Middle East.