Corrupted to the core?

Nile Hilton Incident (Arabic/Egyptian; 2017)
Written/Directed: Tarik Saleh

Every time a new law comes into force, guess who the happy people are. No, not the law-abiding citizens or the patriots who want to see rule and order respected in this country. It is the lowly local enforcers - the front-liners who are there to ensure that the law is respected. There are the first to detect any wrongdoing at the ground level and could squash a ticket, at a nominal fee, of course. 

Everyone is happy. The poorly paid constables and local council employees get on by tying up loose ends - maybe a child's birthday present or that emergency trip to the hometown. 

The problem is that this kind of 'closing an eye' or 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' attitude has infiltrated all strata of the civil service. What we see now are the accusations of so-and-so of the higher pecking order being charged for siphoning off funds and dishonestly performing their civil duties. Invariably, these events will merely turn up to be a storm in a teacup.

Fearing a backlash to the whole government machinery, the powers-that-be would hush everything. After all, the foxes appointed to guard the coop feel it is the ordained right to benefit from their post after years of hard work and sacrifice. With the increasing cost of living and exposure to the high life, they have only a few more years to ensure continued prosperity in their retired life and their offspring. Whatever is said and done, the rot is across the board. The words integrity, efficiency and civil service cannot be strung in the same sentence.

If we remember the early years of the 21st century in the Middle East, this catalysed the Arab Spring movement. What started as a jobless graduate failing to secure a hawker site in Libya and immolating himself in protest, the governments raised up to get their acts together. So, for a short while, at least.

In Egypt, in 2011, in Tahrir Square specifically, the people's power managed to oust Hosni Mubarak, the undisputed strongman of Egypt. Using this event as a build to the climax, this film showcases the widespread corruption and culture of protecting the high-heeled and politicians in the law enforcement units in Egypt.

Noredin, a police officer obviously not at the highest of the virtue scale, is called to investigate the death of a singer at Nile Hilton. Noredin has no qualms about pocketing extra cash from his dead victims and looking the other way if offenders are willing to dole out a little spare money. 

Slowly he realises that the whole force is corrupt to the core. Many of his superiors are on the take. Many high-level politicians are linked to the crime he is investigating, and he is helpless in completing his investigations. Vice is widespread, and pimps are kings. 

A Sudanese housekeeping assistant who witnessed the murder, meanwhile, is on the run from the corrupt police and colluding thugs. The film climaxes at the Tahrir Square demonstrations. The whole debacle leaves a horrible aftertaste. The demonstration gives the image as if all the slime brewing in the trenches just bubbles over.

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A full circle?

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Decided to give this classic movie another shot after the recent turn of events in Jerusalem. Every group seems to be trying to garner some brownie point from the clash. Something that arose as a real estate and enforcement issue has now snowballed to another intifada of sorts. The interesting thing that caught my eye is some faction's labelling of Erdogan as Palestine's saviour and the call for him to re-establish the Ottoman Empire.

If we remember well, the Ottoman was labelled as the sick of Europe towards the end of the 19th century. The Arabs were planning a revolt that appeared to go nowhere. Since the Turkish (Ottoman Empire) were aligned with the Germans in WW1, the British felt it made military sense to support the Arabs to fight the Turks. The Arabs always felt superior to the Turks as the Prophet was an Arab whilst the Turkish ancestors were originally barbaric nomads who embraced Islam. 

Ottoman Empire c.1900

The Middle East then was as tumultuous as it is now, with each tribe factions wanting to control water wells (not oil wells; petroleum was not discovered yet) and territory. TE Lawrence, an archaeologist, a paper pusher and a lieutenant in the British Army stationed in Cairo, wanted a piece of the action in the field. So he joined the Bedouins to be the military advisor to Prince Faisal of Mecca. He crossed the Jordanian deserts to help them defeat the Ottoman Army, bomb their strategic railway line and march all the way to Damascus. All these occurred circa 1917, during World War 1. All the while, the British and the French were busy carving up the whole of the Middle East for themselves.

Peter O'Toole and Omar Shariff
(Lawrence and Shariff Ali)

The experience in the desert war front and the doublespeak of the Army may have proved too much for Lawrence to stomach. Much of what is narrated in this story is based on his book, 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. There are many controversies about the TE Lawrence character. Many historians disagree about the accuracy of the facts depicted. He is said to be narcissistic who tend to self-aggrandise. He is plagued with a traumatic upbringing. He was born out of wedlock to a nobleman. Two of his siblings were casualties of WW1, and it affected him deeply. TE Lawrence was doing espionage works for the British Army and is said to be doing it even after his 'Lawrence of Arabia' stint.

Back home, he enrolled in the Air Force under a pseudonym. But, some wonder whether this fascination with going under various surname, which he had done later, had something to do with his own 'borrowed' surname.

Lawrence of Arabia's path (1916-18)

There is a dispute about his sexuality. Many of his Arabs helpers were not mere companions or guides. Their relationship is said to be mere platonic. Nevertheless, the LGBT community place him as a gay icon. Many Arabs would like to believe that Lawrence was so mesmerised by the Arab culture and the Islamic religion that he dressed like an Arab and began quoting the Koran. But, perhaps, he was just an opportunist, working in cahoots with the Imperial forces to cheat the Arabs blind.

Coming to the news that amused me. So, it looks like the Arabs, after being oppressed and illtreated for more than 500 years by the Turks under the Ottoman Empire, need the Turks' help to free themselves (Palestinians are Arabs) from a common enemy, Jews.

But then it does not compute. With so many denominations within the religion and each proclaiming to be holier than the other as well as calling for each others' head, I wonder how long they would stick on to fight the common enemy before they pull the trigger against each other? The Arabs feel superior to the other Muslims because the Prophet was an Arab; the Persians place themselves above the Arabs with their long civilisation to back them up. The Turks with their Mongol ancestry are one notch lower than them. All of them look at the Africans as slaves and Asians as lesser beings.

Turkish media’s ‘Palestinian activist’:
‘Erdogan, come liberate Palestine.
Come establish the Ottoman Empire again.’

Another thing that fascinated me whilst watching this movie was the aversion that the Arab tribes had against each other. In this movie, we witness the blatant killing of a traveller of low social standing for drinking water off a well belonging to a nobleman. And I guess things have not changed much since then. And the audacity of the world to equate caste discrimination as synonymous to Hindu culture only. The want to dominate is universal.

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Needs image enhancement

Infidel (2020)
Written, Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. 

They say this film reinforces the stereotype of people who profess the Islamic faith. It paints all people from Iran and the Middle East with the same brush that they are all terrorists. It compartmentalises all of them as closet sympathisers of sleeping cells. It assumes that they are all wolves in sheep's clothing. It is accused of propagating Islamophobia and accentuates the divide that the world plunging further into.  

Even though their new hosts have offered a hand of friendship and accepted them to share their prosperity, the newcomers still hold their allegiance to the former countries, the countries that they destroyed and the nation that become too toxic for them to inhabit. The problem is that the newcomers all have a common bond that unites them to ruin their newfound land, religion's brotherhood. 

The problem is that there is an image problem. A peaceful religion must be seen to be as one. More public relation works are wanting in making this a reality.

This problem of allegiance has been recurring all through the 20th century. There is discordance on whether to bow to the umbrella of nationhood or kneel to the universal camaraderie of religion. It happened during the khilafat movement and is happening now. There is a propensity to play victimhood and collude with the aggressor against the majority, citing the majority's conspiracy. 

This film tells the story (based on a true story, it seems) of a Christian preacher-blogger with a CIA wife who is a guest of Egypt. He is to attend faith dialogues to bridge the divide between Christians and Muslims in that conservative country. In a TV interview, he goes overboard with his discussion. His speech was construed as proselytising the Muslims and kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists backed by the Iranian Government. The main reason for his abduction was that back home in the USA, the preacher is accused by his American-Iranian business-partner to have squealed to the CIA about subversive anti-national pursuits.

An average movie that can be given a miss. 3/5.

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Who says history is bone dry?

Mohammed & Charlemagne Revisited, The History of A Controversy (2012)
Author: Emmet Scott.

Warning: For mature readers only. 
Discretion advised.

The conventional wisdom about the antiquity and the medieval eras of Europe is the Roman empire collapsed upon his own weight, Europe went into the Dark Ages only to be shown the light by the Muslim liberators. When culture and science were being developed in the Muslim land, Europeans were barbaric and were in the dark about philosophy and technology.

Emmet Scott (see here), the controversial writer who argued against such a straightforward timeline to the evolution of civilisation in Europe, here uses the findings of Belgian Historian Henri Pirenne together with the results of archaeological discoveries to argue a different narration of European history and the terrible course that it took because of ruthless riders from Arab land.

During the 1920s Belgian historian Henri Pirenne came to an astonishing conclusion: the ancient classical civilization, which Rome had established throughout Europe and the Mediterranean world, was not destroyed by the Barbarians who invaded the western provinces in the fifth century, it was destroyed by the Arabs, whose conquest of the Middle East and North Africa terminated Roman civilization in those regions and cut off Europe from any further trading and cultural contact with the East. According to Pirenne, it was only in the mid-seventh century that the characteristic features of classical life disappeared from Europe, after which time the continent began to develop its own distinctive and somewhat primitive medieval culture. The author compares arguments proffered both by Pirenne and his nemesis Hodges & Whitehouse to draw his conclusions.

The barbarians often referred to as being the reason for the Roman decline were the nomadic Germanic tribes of Franks, Goths and Vandals. It is true that many archaeological data suggest cessation of finds of innovation between the 7th and 10th century in some regions of Europe and around the Mediterranean. In other areas of the continent, in Britain, Ireland, Gaul and even Spain and Italy, Greco-Roman civilisation and institutions continued unabashed. 

Byzantine Emblem

The ‘Dark Age’ in Europe was not really an era of the ignoramus. By the 4th century, the vastness of the Roman Empire had its toll. It started a steady decline. This was compounded by frequent attacks from the Germanic tribes on its Western front and from the Persians and Huns from the East. Successive wars, destruction and rebuilding, was the norm. By the 7th century, the vibrant trade along shipping lines in the Mediterranean took a dip. The Arab invaders had then controlled the high seas. Piracy was rife, and slave reared its ugly head. Pirates including Vikings were hellbent on trading white slaves. That caused people to fear away from cities to the countryside. People indulged in agricultural activities.

Disruption of the supply of luxury items from Syria and Egypt as a result of the loss of trading lines is evident from archaeological discoveries. African Red Slip wares, markers of affluence, were Gould to be scarce in that era. Dwindling of supply of papyrus from Egypt, in the long term affected the educational level of the people. Literacy soon became within the confines of the church. People still lived modest lives. 

One puzzling discovery in archaeological finds in Europe is the dearth of finds of artefacts circa 7th to 10th centuries. Was there a malady of Nature at that time or was there a fictional creation of history to appease certain geopolitical situations? The history of this region was written at a time when pressures were there to put forward a particular narrative to portray the Islamic Empires as the liberators of a Dark Era.

476 AD is the year the Roman Empire was said to have crumpled as the Ostrogoths took over Italy. In actuality, the civilisation continued in the form of the Byzantine Empire. The Germanic invaders actually kept with the wisdom they saw. There were partial recoveries from the barbaric invasions. The conquerors followed the cultures of the conquered.

Many industries still prospered during this time. Glass manufacturing continued. Metallurgical sectors improved. Clockmaking with spring mechanism is another example.

In Britannia, the Anglo-Saxons destroyed the Roman civilisation there and transplanted their Germanic language there. In Ireland and Scotland, Christianity took roots and translations of knowledge were done.

Mid 7th century London even saw extractions of wine bottles, bronze ware, jewellery and beautiful metalworks.

The Visigoths in Spain, after the ruins of their attack, improved the Roman buildings. Even silk was sourced from China during their rule. Their sovereignty was marred with a massive crop failure probably by a locust attack. This economic recession must have angered the traders, mostly Jews, as a version says, who decided to ally with the invading Arab army with their conquest.

Another glaring example that Europe was not going through the Dark Ages was the presence of many thinkers who evaluated and treatise thoughts. Boethius, a philosopher ahead of his time, was a bridge between Roman civilisation and the Middle Age. His vision was to translate Aristotelean and Platonic thoughts from Greek to Latin. John Scotus Eriugena, a Neo-Platonic thinker, was bold in his quest of the unknown.

Benediction monks made sure the work of the Greeks never went anywhere. It thrived in churches amongst theologians. Scrolls on philosophy, astronomy, medicine, printing and others were guarded in monasteries. The Benedictions helped to invent plough, crop rotation techniques and horse collars to utilise animals in farming. Steel production in Ireland, Britain and Gaul was seen. Another technical innovation was windmill building and paper manufacture.

The Byzantium Empire continued its existence with the merger of Christianity and Hellenism. The author throws in the idea that maybe there is no such a thing as the Golden Age of Islam. No excavations in the three said centuries point to that effect. What he means is apparent is that the unprecedented level of violence in Europe is only seen after the jihadi wars propagated by the religiously motivated Arab horsemen. Even though Christians had issues with Jews before the Islamic invasion, the level of anti-Semitism escalated tremendously afterwards.

Charlemagne

- with him started the unholy alliance with the 

Church and senseless killings for conversion 
in Europe

Many of the so-called Islamic scholars are not Arabs. They come from areas ruled by other empires previously, like Persia and Central Asia. Persia, by virtue of its position adjacent to Silk Trade Route and access to the Eastern wisdom of India and China, was a hub for modernity. These were hijacked by Arabs and re-branded as theirs - Arabic numerals were Hindu; alcohol was first distilled during the Sassanid era. 

Why Charlemagne is mentioned in the title? Charlemagne is one of the earlier monarchs of Europe who initiated the idea of giving power to the Churches. As revenue was dwindling as trade took a dive after the Mediterranean Sea was turned into a 'Mussulman Lake', the axis of power was pushed northerly, and the kings were poor. As the Church still commanded power in those hard times, ensuing rulers decided to put the fear of God into people just as the invading Arabs who fought a holy war.

Who knows what direction our world would have led to if there was no Arab invasion? Would our world appear different than it is today? These are all just mere speculations.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/riflerangeboy/

 

Time after time...

What Went Wrong?
Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response
Bernard Lewis (2002)

Warning: For mature readers only

There was a time in world history when the Islamic world was like what America is today; the place of culture where people could sit down in coffee cafes to partake in intellectual discourses all day whilst the rest of the world, including Europe, was in the dark ages. Fast forward into the 21st century, one would find the situation reversed. People in the Islamic world cannot wait to get out of their toxic countries. If before, refugees used to move from the West to the East, now the tide is reversed. The author asks, 'What went wrong?'.

In essence, the event that marked the beginning of the end of the heydays of the Ottoman Empire must surely be the failure at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. It was the time that the improvement in the weaponry and the military planning of the Europeans started to manifest.

If before, coffee drinking was introduced by the Muslims after obtaining it from Ethiopia to call it theirs, their nemesis started procuring their supplies from their colonies. Instead of getting sugar from Persia and India, the West sourced it from the Carribean Islands.

The culture of wanting to learn and explore drove Muslims to greater heights during their earlier conquests had somehow dwindled.  In many Islamic empires, concerted efforts that were made to translate, study, argue, and debate have lulled over the years. They had developed a superiority complex. Their old technologies soon were no match for what the rest of the world could offer.

The printing technology helped to disseminate information and educate the masses in Christendom, whilst the Muslim monarchs were quite content in keeping their subjects ignorant. In fact, printing in the Arabic language was considered sacrilegious as it was the language of the Quran.

The Muslims were comfortable with the sundial clocks and water clocks which kept time, albeit with its imperfections. The sundial could not be used when the sun was down and time varied on the position of the sun. The water clocks also had technical issues. The Europeans took the time-keeping concept seriously, improved it with mechanical clocks, and sold it back to the Turks. Timekeeping not only eased appointments but also aided transportation, ticketing and even music. Tempo helped to develop music.

The concept of freedom, which is a construct of the French, is relatively alien in the Islamic world. It fascinated citizens of the Muslim countries, but unfortunately, what they got were despots and authoritarian leaders who were happy to thump their citizens under their tight-fisted regimes. Democracy in the real Western sense is still sorely missing. Despite the many attempts to separate the State from religion, unlike their cousins in Christendom who learnt the hard lessons of the tyranny of the Church, it remains an uphill task. With most economic activities in the hands of the monarchs, real social justice seems hard to come by.

Music, art and culture are generally frowned upon. Even though Islam started off as a liberator of women and the oppressed at the time of its inception, it failed to keep up with the change of the seasons. Consequently, it is somehow construed as treating its women as second-class citizens.

Another two groups of individuals who feel discriminated against are the non-believers living in a majority Muslim population and the slaves. Even though modern societies have accepted the concept of human rights, freedom and liberty as their pillars, these people on the fringe of society feel left out of the race.

In conclusion, the author states that the once-mighty Islamic world is having a reversal of fortune. It is left poor, weak and ignorant behind the rest of the world in its military capability, economic achievements and political stability.

Its society, in reflection, tries to find the cause of their predicament. Besides the usual suspects of Jews, Mongols, Turks, Shias and Christians, their latest punching bags are the Saud family and the USA. I suppose it never dawned on them that change starts with the man with the mirror. In this hostile world, every leader would and should put the interest of their own people as their utmost priority and should put their God-given faculties to use. In a way, we all deserve the leader that we choose!

In no one we trust

HyperNormalisation (2016)
Written and Directed by Adam Curtis

Before the infamous 2004 tsunami hit Phi Phi Island in Thailand, there was a kind of an eerie silence. The shoreline receded and thousands of fishes were washed ashore. The cockle collectors had a windfall. Everyone was in a quandary on the bizarre turns of events. Then it hit them, the towering waves and destruction.

www.spectator.co.uk

That is what is happening in our world. Many strange and damaging thinks are happening right before our eyes. Our leaders are telling us that everything is okay and it is business as usual or rather life goes on. However, everybody knows it is not alright but still nobody wants to do anything because things are too complicated. This, in simpler terms, is the essence of the meaning of the word 'hyper normalisation', a term coined by a Russian writer (Alexei Yurchak  in 2006 book, 'Everything was Forever, Until it was No More: The Last Soviet Generation') referring to the time during Soviet Russia when everything was not right but everyone was given the impression that everything was hunky dory when it was not. The collapse, it was crystal clear and inevitable. Everyone knew but nobody would and could do anything about it.

In Curtis' normal hypnotising narration and documentary making techniques, he tries to make sense of current political climate we are in. He, in his conspiracy theorists' manner, tells us that that Man is stuck with this method of administration even though it is not the best where other ways have failed and how many of our manoeuvres have blown right in our faces, giving just the opposite of the intended desire.

The real world is complicated and our leaders have made it simpler for us, maybe far too simple to stay in power.

Although presented in nine somewhat disjointed parts, the whole narration may make sense at the end. In 1975, when New York City was having a crisis in its administration, it was soon realised that what it needs was not political leaders who would make policies but bankers who could provide finances. Money was needed to rule the world, not ideologies. Radical minded social reformers who used to dictate the scene during the times when factories workers and unions controlled their bosses, being out of money, fled to indulge in appreciation of abstract arts and music.

Over on the other side of the globe, in Damascus, Hafez al-Assad was trying to splurge Americans out of Middle East. Unfortunately, things only got worse with the Lebanon War in 1982. That is when Syria's liaison with Iran brought together Shia freedom fighters Hezbollah and Hamas, Palestinian freedom fighters. Their modus operandi of using suicide bombers, which by all accounts, is not sanctioned by Islam, seem to be the turning point. Americans left Syria in a huff in 1984 with their tails between their hind legs due to 'paralysis caused by the complexity of the situation'. It is funny this same life-saver has come to haunt Syria once again, now Arab solidarity and Syria is in shambles.

Here, again political intervention by Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy proved futile. His plan was to create constructive ambiguity to destabilise the Middle East to keep each other in check without solving the real issue at hand.

Libya's cartoonish leader Colonel Gaddafi became the lame dog accused of all of the atrocities around the world. Even though the Lockerbie downing of PanAm flight and other bombings were done by Syria, according to intelligence sources, Gaddafi did not mind being branded as the villain. He like the fear factor. Americans knew that attacking Syria is too risky. Hence, Libya was bombed instead.

With the advent of technology and creation of cyberspace, many things happened. People toyed the idea that perhaps the collection of data of Man, their likes and dislikes could be used to predict their predictability. The technocrats thought, maybe, science could be used to improve chances of winning bets, gambling and making money. It proved not successful. What it created was a group of narcissistic people, who found pleasure in trivialities and create an artificial environment to reinforce their self-reassurance. They heard and saw what they wanted to hear and see. It became a tool of perception management.

Many sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects became a common occurrence. There was talk that these were nothing more than the Army's attempt at developing stealth and more advanced killing machines. People became more distrustful of their leaders. This is when social media became a device to gather people against a common enemy - their Government. Demonstrations started the world over- the Arab Springs, the Tahrir Square and Occupy Movement. Even the cyberspace was good at getting together for a single cause, the upheaval did not progress. There was no future long term plan. The public loss of confidence in those in power is the main reason for the unexpected turn of events in Brexit and Donald Trump's appointment as the President of USA.

The play maker's autobiography

The Sea and the Hills 

The Life of Hussain Najadi (An Autobiography; 2012)

He survived the feared Bahraini intelligence who worked under the hawkish eyes of their British colonial masters as he stirred his leftist ideas after the Algiers uprising through his rebel movement at the age of 16. The Bedouin travellers took a special liking to his as he escaped to Beirut through the mirage inducing hostile environment of the Arabic desert and its scorching heat. Somehow he even escaped the infamous Iranian SAVAK police. The storm aboard the vessel along the Mediterranean Seas did not dampen his spirits. By twist of fate he missed an ill-fated Swiss flight which crashed soon after take-off. And he averted an invitation aboard a Filipino flight which later crashed. He even survived an automobile accident on the notorious Malaysian highways. To cap it all, he even endured 8 years of imprisonment in a Bahraini prison after incurring the wrath of its royalty.

He raised the ladder of success and fell off it as quickly he climb on it again. This man's life story is a classical case of rag to riches - a son to a Persian immigrant fruit seller in the markets of Manama raising to levels where he mingled with world leaders and royalties and decided the destiny of many emerging economies and countries.

Sadly many of near misses, from which he was saved simply by 'kismet' (fate) and his mother's constant prayers, came to a tragic end in 2013, a year after this book, when he was shot in the back under mysterious circumstances in Kuala Lumpur.

Growing up in the British protectorate of Bahrain, it was a time of uprising. The colonial subjects have awoken from their slumber. They demanded self administration. Battle of Algiers set the nidus for the young to rebel. A young Hussein got himself entangled in the leftist activity. Working in a British petrol refinery, he had to abscond from his native country. Just like how his father had left Iran for better life in Bahrain with a young wife, Hussein had to run, but for his life. With plans to start life anew in Germany through a contact at his work place, he had worked out his itinerary.

A young Hussain Najadi meeting Tun Razak

He travelled through the brutal Arabian desert to reach Beirut. All through his travels, we get a feel as if there is guardian angel constantly by his side to pave his future, constantly clearing his path and meeting him with the right people.

His initial plan to travel to Germany was cut short through a chance meeting with a Persian gentleman who just happened to be walking in a park. A cursory conversation and next thing he knew, Hussain was flying to Iran. The gentleman turned out to be the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon! Hussain was referred to the leading bank in Teheran. He started his career in banking, enjoyed the good life and started working with the Canadian embassy a researcher. His stint was cut short by SAVAK, the Iranian secret police for his earlier political work in his homeland. He dashed out before he could be apprehended. Back he came to Lebanon. Broke, he finally made it to Germany by sea.

He blended nicely into the German culture at a time as Germany was making amends and trying to make it for the lost times after the devastations of a world war. Working in Mercedes Benz factory and learning the language and with the cordial relationship with his adopted family, he felt quite at home.

The next step in his life turned to be another turning point in his career/life. He join an international company in Switzerland selling mutual funds. It was something new to the Arab world. At a time when the Middle East was plush with money from the black gold, he travelled to the Bahrain now as an employee of a multinational company. His modus operandi has always the same - when you approach someone, always see someone with a lot of clout; and remember, people always want to hear what they like to hear! He also became an international player when he revitalised an ailing Swiss company making hovercraft (hydrofoil).

With many feathers in his cap, he became a deal maker. Being charismatic and multilingual, he moved with ease in the circles of royalties and dignitaries. He even try to broker the entry of an Italian petrol giant into Middle East to break the hegemony of the Anglo-American oil cartel, The Seven Sisters.

His hydrofoil business spread to Far East and he soon relocated to Singapore. There, after selling his company for a fortune, he set a business deal in Singapore. Slowly, his services were needed in his last home country, Malaysia, where he established Arab Malaysian merchant bank and even try to get International Islamic University off the ground with funds from Middle East investors.

Going through his life story, one cannot help but to think that it is too good to be true. Everything seem to fall nicely the way he wanted to. With so many adventures, suspense, element of surprise, bosomy blondes, marriage, near misses and politics, it has all the ingredients of Hollywood blockbuster. Even after his death, his name seem to herald the death knell of a certain current politician....

I could not help but notice that by omission or commission, there seem to be a discrepancy in events surrounding his near miss mishap in the 1963 Swiss Air tragedy and Enrico Mattei's aeroplane accident. It is said that the Swiss Air incident preceded Mattei's purportedly planned assassination. In actual fact, Mattei's jet plane crashed in October 1962 whilst the Swiss accident was in September 1963!

You give love a bad name!

Death of a Princess (1980)
It is always the same story. "Denial, this is not the true teaching, it is one person's interpretation and so on.." The reality is this. They need a major public relation exercise and re-branding. The morale is at all time low.

This drama-documentary rocked the Arab-English-transAtlantic relationship when it was released. The English ambassador was sent back and millions were paid to stop its screening in US. Like a storm in a teacup, the tiff fizzled out within a few months and international trade between these countries resumed just as quickly as the tension started initially!

The director got the idea of making this documentary after a tête-à-tête at a party of a certain Arabic princess and her lover who were executed publicly. Hence started an almost wild goose chase trying to find the bottom of the story. Due to pressures from above, the name of the princess, the kingdom and the name of informers were omitted but it was the reference to Princess Misha'al bint Fahd al Saud, the granddaughter of the brother of the then King of Saudi Arabia.

The film starts with the call of Friday prayers. People leave the premises with satisfied look after completing their prayers. A car park is changed to a make shift courtyard. People gather to witness a lady in purdah and a man knelt on the ground. The girl is shot multiple times and the man is beheaded but the procedure had to be repeated apparently due to the unprofessional manner of the executor. People then return to their normal duties afterwards, feeling contented that God's laws have been executed on Earth. Amongst them is a Caucasian who took snapshots of the event with a camera concealed in a cigarette box.

The director, Antony Thomas, took it upon himself to do a bit of investigative journalism to unravel the mystery surrounding the slaying of the couple. Unfortunately, various interviews revealed conflicting and sometimes contradictory stories that did not collaborate. He found out that every avenue seem to meet a dead end. People were generally not forthcoming with the true turn of event. Even the university in war-torn Lebanon where the princess allegedly had studied also denied admission of such a student!

Finally Thomas, through his connections, came a break through, via a contact with someone from the palace (under cloak of anonymity) who revealed the real story. The princess was a 19 year old free spirited girl who fell in love with a musician whom she saw on TV. Using her position as a member of the royal family, she communicated with the musician, who happened to be the son of Saudi's ambassador to Lebanon. The problem was that the princess, at that time, was already married through family matchmaking to a cousin, a prince. The informant also inform of the palace women's unlady-like behaviour of engaging the services of gigolos that really upset the Saudi House.

To escape the scandal, the princess and her beau conspired to fake her own death by apparent drowning. Unfortunately, her trickery was discovered when a servant squealed. She was detained at the airport when she tried to leave the country disguised as a man.
The following turn of events is bizarre. The couple was never put on trial but ordered by the grandfather to be executed, not by syaria manner but as an honour killing to maintain to pride of the family.

It just leaves a bad after taste at the end of the film. The self appointed guardians of the fastest expanding religion whose believers believe it is just is let down. The world feels that the justice meted in the princess' case was tribal justice, not religious. In the process, they have given the believers a bad press.

These 10 Photos Show The World Of Difference Between Iraq's Past And Present

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/mosul-photos_n_5862248.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000010

This combination of two photographs shows a 1932 image of the Crooked Minaret mosque next to a Yazidi shrine in Mosul, northern Iraq, from the Library of Congress, and the same site, without the shrine, on June 8, 2009. (Library of Congress/AP)

At the beginning of June, Islamic State militants launched a lightning offensive in Iraq. Just four days into their campaign, they captured the country's second largest city, Mosul, taking over roads, banks, courts, schools and hospitals. The group issued religious decrees governing daily life according to a rigid interpretation of Islamic law. Many of the city's Shiites were persecuted or forced to flee and their iconic shrines and landmarks were destroyed.

Since its capture, Mosul has become a symbol of the hardships people face living under the Islamic Sate. The Associated Press has taken a look back at the city in a different -- more peaceful -- time. The agency collected dozens of photographs, which were housed at the Library of Congress and taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department, and contrasted them with images of Mosul from today.

In the photo from 1932 above, the AP writes, "the Crooked Minaret towers over a street in central Mosul, adjacent to a Yazidi shrine. The shrine was gone long before militants overtook the city, but it reveals a time when different religious faiths could coexist here."

See the AP's photo comparisons below:

BEFORE:

Men pause on a lorry on the road to Mosul, northern Iraq, 1932. (AP Photo/American Colony Photo Department via Library of Congress)

AFTER:

In this file photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters from the Islamic State parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo)

BEFORE:

A 1932 image of Lady Surrma of the Assyrian community posing for a portrait in Mosul, northern Iraq. (AP Photo/American Colony Photo Department via Library of Congress)


AFTER:

An Iraqi woman looking at a shop display in central Mosul after the Islamic State ordered clothes shop owners to cover the faces of the mannequins on Monday, July 21, 2014. (AP Photo)

BEFORE:

In this undated handout photo provided by the Library of Congress taken during the autumn of 1932, the Tigris River stretches out in the distance as seen from Mosul, northern Iraq. (AP Photo/American Colony Photo Department via Library of Congress)

AFTER:

File photo of smoke rising during airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants at the Mosul Dam on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. (AP Photo)


BEFORE:

A 1932 image of Nebi Yunis, the tomb of the prophet Jonah, in Mosul, northern Iraq. (AP Photo/American Colony Photo Department via Library of Congress)


AFTER:

Iraqis walk in the rubble of the revered Muslim shrine after it was was destroyed on Thursday, July 24, 2014, by militants who overran the city in June and imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. (AP Photo)


BEFORE:

In this undated handout photo provided by the Library of Congress taken during the autumn of 1932, Iraqis pause in the market in Mosul, northern Iraq. (AP Photo/American Colony Photo Department via Library of Congress)


AFTER:

Demonstrators chanting pro-Islamic State slogans as they carry the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul on Monday, June 16, 2014. (AP Photo)

All in the name of oil and gas!

BBC Storyville: Mad Dog, Gaddafi's Secret World (2014)

The story of a the son of a Bedouin goatherd sounds almost similar to many other leaders who initially starts a revolution with many big plans to uplift the welfare of the people. He has grand plans but some how many of the plans fall flat. People start asking questioning whilst others support him. He gains absolute power and it corrupts absolutely. His enemies become enemy of the state and witch hunt starts.
One thing leads to another and things spiral out of control. Despot is killed by the same people who hailed him as king. Does it not give you the sense of deja vu?
This documentary makers managed to track down some of the people who were close to the despot when the going was good. Many of them were on the FBI's most wanted list; Gary Korkala, former poison dealer; Frank Terpil; Lutz Kayser, a German rocket scientist.
Muammar Gaddafi's father went out of his way to ensure that his son got some education. Gaddafi hero worshipped President Nasser of Egypt and yearned to build a socialist republic in Libya. After graduating from Royal Military Academy,  he masterminded a coup de tat of the Libya royalty King Idris. With the plush of oil money to spend obscenely, he initially invested a lot for the country. Unfortunately, the plans did not really work well. For example, schools were built but then there were no teachers to teach. Gaddafi soon developed a sense of grandiosity. He started financing terrorist activities. He became suspicious of his enemies. Anwar Sadat who tried to patch up with the Isralites became his enemy. Gaddafi even offered a reward for his assassination. As his influence waned in the Arab world, he started associating himself with the rest of Africa. He was close to Idi Amin and he called himself the King of Africa.
He openly supported the famed assassin Carlos the Jackal and Charles Taylor, the dictator from Liberia. Even the Africans started laughing at him.
He is said to have brokered the 1988 Pan Am 103 explosion in Lockerbie, Scotland.
International sanction of Libya followed. Gaddafi became a lonely man suspicious of all around him. He had a band of female bodyguards. He shot a local plane down just to show to the international audience and local people on the atrocity of international sanctions. He had a harem of girls and boys to entertain him. He was an avid user of Viagra. He even had a band of soldiers to apprehend young university students that pleases his eyes to gratify his urges.
Another grandiose plan of his is to be a nuclear power. Admiring Pakistan for their nuclear capabilities, he tried to engage a certain Pakistani scientist to this end. He also tried to buy Soviet bombs but in vain.
At one juncture, he was caught red handed trying to smuggle nuclear centrifuge part. Libya was warned as it might have the same fate as Iraq. Time went on...
Suddenly, the superpowers of the world lifted international sanctions. Libya and Gaddafi were no ore international pariahs, all in the name of oil and gas.
A rebel uprising in 2011 opposing widespread hardship and corruption executed him.