Fuck Muhammad!!!

[FAHQTOO]

Stay safe Mo.

[Mohammed]

You guys are the sweetest! Thanks so much for all your thoughts and here is what's happening to us.

3 days ago when the shit started it was all a bit frightening for sure. However, they do keep it in a few areas only and the closest place to us is actually the Presidential Palace, but it is still a good distance away, however, we do have a wonderful view across the city from our place, as we are 4 stories high. As I mentioned, that night the girls spend with our neighbours, the German boys who are Special Forces and are well protected. The Hooters, or Houti's as everybody else calls them, have made their "Death to Israel, Death to America" slogan famous, but that's about it. They have yet to harm anybody from either side and actually laugh about their slogan themselves.

When anybody looks at the map of Sana'a with north at the top, where you will find the airport and not far from that the US Embassy as well, our house is at the top bottom in the left corner of the city. Wonderfully safe area and the only problem we have that it constantly smells of Bolognaise as the Italian Embassy is right in front of us.

Today morning Jade had her last exams which was really funny as when I called Jelly that morning of the big fight, as the Dutch and German Embassies send me messages that morning, and I told her "Darling, don't move anywhere as they are fighting around the Palace!", she replied "But Jade has her exams."

I just went silent on the phone until she said "Ok, I guess then we stay home." Well, the whole city did that day.

For the Americans it's far from Bengazi. Why? We took over the Sheraton for that very reason. The former hotel, now called DTF, Diplomatic Transfer Facility, was a dump. I think I mentioned it before, but the day the General Manager Mazen was supposed to close the doors forever due to no business here, the Embassy called and told him they would like to move in. That was about 3 years ago. I was part of the original team to bring it up to standards. It was a hygienic and logistics nightmare as you take over a 30 year old property that nobody gave a fuck about for the last 4 years at least.

No elevator was working, the pool looked like it was starting new life forms, the whole place was stinking and the staff changing rooms and canteen looked and smelled like the Paris sewage system. The US pumped about 15 million US$ into the place, the Kuwaiti owners were and still are, laughing all the way to the bank, and ALL Americans who had large villas in town, including the DC, Deputy of the Ambassador, had to move into it. The Ambassador is the only one, apart from some Seal teams in town who are called Fast Marines, who lives in his original residence at the Embassy.

Now the Embassy itself also got attacked, stormed and ransacked one day by a huge mob. Pictures of it are on my other PC. I was utterly surprised that it could actually be done as the Embassy looked highly secure to me, but the people actually broke down the gates and went wild on the property.

40 armoured cars got smashed, each one with a value of about 200k, some idiots left their keys in them so the people used them like on a go cart track, ramming them into each other. All the US staff got locked down in the main building, the Ambassador got locked down in his residence. Now those buildings are heavy duty and no harm was, or could be, done to the people, who were all down in the cafeteria in the basement where I started my career with the Embassy. I myself, together with Jelly'n Jade, were at the Sheraton, which is a very short distance away and could see everything. And that's when I learned something new.

The Ambassador gave a strict order that no shot will be fired on the Embassy grounds. However, that didn't matter much anyway, as each Embassy only got 7 Marines anyway, and their job is not to protect people but to burn or destroy all papers, which was started after Iran. Once they did that, only then can they start protecting the folks. Now that is very different at the Sheraton.

As I mentioned, the hotel was a dump, and even the teams from the States that came to assess it were wondering why the fuck they are all made to live in something that's a bit of an upgrade from the Manila Slums. There was and still is the brand new Moevenpick. Gorgeous, new, all amenities, and so much less smelly. But it's right on top of a hill overlooking the city, like on top of a silver platter. The Sheraton however is a running distance away from the Embassy and it is 8 stories high, of which 6 are under a mountain. You walk from one side into the lobby and realise that you are actually on the 6^th floor. It's a freaking castle!

And that's what they turned it into. On top of it you have a bunch, can't say how many, of Marines and an operation centre that looks like right out of the movies. When the people stormed the Embassy, the Ambassador said no shooting there, that was not the case at the Sheraton so. Their Doctor was also their sniper, cool guy, and I was next to him when he took down 2 poor guys who tried to come over the fence.

Just recently I saw an article in the news about Cody, a good friend who is one of the guys on the picture that has Jade flying thru the air at the pool there, who was a Marine and wanted to join the police force back home, and all of a sudden he is almost strangling a woman to death back home.

So no, I don't think anything like Bengazi can happen here really. They are VERY well protected here.

Now if they evacuate that could be funny as not only the US Embassy staff would have the right to be evacuated but every American citizen here as well. And that would make about 70.000!

They would have to send the Nimitz!

So today Jade finished her exams and has now 3 weeks holiday ahead. My fish man Hussein is bringing fresh fish and prawns to the house, Jelly got enough drinks, and all is well apart from me having to spend another week in this Bedouin Alcatraz out here in the desert as they, my client, don't want me to leave, which is truly pissing me off. They know that, so I shall take full advantage of it!

But otherwise it is quite calm in town now and listening to Super Hooters speech last night I'm just curious what's gonna happen next. They have very valued points, the current President is a joke, and the only problem is that the international community, US, UK and UN mainly, all have to come up and say "But he is the rightful leader, so we have to follow protocol!"

I say fuck that! The Hooters are right, the guy got fuck all done, actually just moved 20.000US$ of new furniture into his house recently, and perhaps one should let them do and maybe let them show if they can do better. Since they are in Sana'a there are no kidnappings or executions of foreigners, and the only think happening is them and Al Qaeda trying to fuck each other, which ain't such a bad thing really.

I'm just curious were Saleh and his son Ahmed are gonna pop up in all of this. They sure will, I just don't know how and when.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good to hear you and your family are fine, Mo.

After Benghazi, American embassies in the Middle East and Africa upped Marine security presence and I remember reading that the number of Marines at the American Embassy in Sanaa was further increased in September last year, after the Houthis made a significant power play. But, I'm curious as to where your figure of 70,000 Americans living in Yemen came from?

Anyway, if the Houthis settle into power and hold it, I too expect to see Saleh return in some sort of governing capacity within a year or two. It will be interesting to see how that plays out and how Saudi Arabia responds to the power shift. The Houthis are claiming that this week's "revolt" is in protest to terms of the control structure outlined in the new Yemeni constitution. I don't really see them receding though, even if the terms were amended.

It's good that the Houthis are not targeting foreigners in Yemen at this time. But, I think AQAP is looking to reclaim prominence and riding high after the Paris attacks. They have a history of kidnapping, as you well know. I always wish the best for your family and hope you lean towards being more cautious for the time being. I wanna visit your boutique in Lombok someday, after all...

[HairOfTheDog]

I see two Japanese Nationals have now been kidnapped by ISIS with a 48 hour deadline to pay $200 million, or they will be executed. I would link the article but I really don't feel like giving these pieces of shit excuses for humans any more air time than a few lines of text. My feeling is that Abe will pay the money; he will want to avoid a repeat of last time.

It's a catch 22. You pay, you fund them. You don't, two people, who don't deserve to, die.

Japan is in a tough spot, for sure.

I don't believe Prime Minister Abe will pay the ransom. There would be too much condemnation from other countries and he'd be putting a price tag on other Japanese nationals in Islamic countries.

If IS really expected payment, I think they would have approached Japanese officials privately, not in a very public forum. And, I think the ransom amount would have been more reasonable. This is a show of power and global-reach by IS, in my opinion, not an income-generating strategy. IS doesn't want to be dwarfed by the resurgence of al-Qaeda.

Japan has very limited military and very strict protocols for using it. To the best of my knowledge, they don't have the types of operatives to facilitate a rescue attempt on their own. Even if they did or they got assistance from other countries, I don't think the hostages have much of a chance. The US and Britain sadly haven't been able to rescue the last four hostages.

But, I sure hope the Japanese hostages can somehow be saved, without paying off the terrorists.

[Midwest Spy]

^ No Dice, HotD.

I actually think Japan will pay up, and IS is waiting for that victory, when the West capitulates publicly, and pays them off.

If Abe stays strong, those two will suffer the same horrible fate as the others, and I, unfortunately, think that has to be.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, MS, it feels macabre betting on whether the hostages will be killed or not, but you're on.

I bet that Japan refuses to pay.

We'll know soon enough.

[Midwest Spy]

I don't really want to bet on it, either.

I'm sure Japan is getting a ton of input from western allies telling them to stand firm and don't pay.

A tough spot to be in for Abe.

The hostages too.

[crash]

I don't believe Prime Minister Abe will pay the ransom. There would be too much condemnation from other countries and he'd be putting a price tag on other Japanese nationals in Islamic countries.

If IS really expected payment, I think they would have approached Japanese officials privately, not in a very public forum. And, I think the ransom amount would have been more reasonable. This is a show of power and global-reach by IS, in my opinion, not an income-generating strategy. IS doesn't want to be dwarfed by the resurgence of al-Qaeda.

Yeah.. I dunno.

I just find it very weird that ISIS has come out and asked for a ransom for the first time. It's very much not their modus operandi. It makes even less sense if they are not expecting to be paid. Agreed though, they would have probably had more chance of securing a payment from the Japanese had it been negotiated out of the spotlight like the deal that was done to free the two Italian women from the Nusra Front/al Qaeda.

Abe is in a tight spot. If he does nothing he faces blowback from his own country like he copped after the In Amenas incident. If he pays, he faces gloal blowback for putting a price on the heads of a hostage, as you say.

[Duchess]

I've been reading about beheadings. They are still a legal form of punishment in some places in the world but they aren't always used just because they can be.

In Saudi Arabia they are in public but are not publicized, no pictures nor video are allowed to be taken. They are legal in Yemen too. Have you ever seen one, Mo? Gives me the willies just thinking about them.

I posted about the woman who was recently beheaded in the streets and I just read the man who took the video, a cop, was arrested and charged with something to the effect of tarnishing the reputation of the country.

[Mohammed]

No, here they don't do beheadings but actually put the person on to the ground and hold and AK to the back of their heads.

Now from what I heard regarding those 200 million for the Japanese is actually a bit hilarious. At least I think so and it must be Jihad Joe with his British style that came up with that idea. Japan said it will add 200 million to the international forces fighting IS. Next day then they put up those 2 Japanese guys on TV and ask for 200 million or else.

They are getting quite cheeky with their Fuck You! messages I say.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm sure Japan is getting a ton of input from western allies telling them to stand firm and don't pay.

That would be the advice of the US and the UK, no doubt about it.

However, some European countries have a history of paying. It's done privately and often through a third party so as not to look as though the hostages' home country caved. But, the practice has been investigated, verified, documented, and recognized for years.

In some cases/countries, the government doesn't actually put up the money and instead advises an employer or organization as to how to go about raising it.

-$91.5 million has been paid to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in exchange for the release of French, Swiss, Austrian, and Canadian tourists.

-$5.1 million has been paid to the Shabab for the return of Spanish tourists.

-$29.9 million has been paid to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for the return of French, Finnish, Austrian, and Swiss tourists.

France has paid the highest ransoms consistently. Thus, unsurprisingly, French citizens have been the most targeted by Islamic terrorists. So, money paid to al-Qaeda by the French may have actually helped finance the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo.

If the Japanese hostages were being held secretly and a less outrageous ransom amount was being demanded, I'd be more inclined to believe that Japan would follow the lead of countries that pay. But, you might be right; Japan might pay anyway. I sure hope they don't. I think it's a recipe for disaster; save a couple at the risk of many more.

[HairOfTheDog]

No, here they don't do beheadings but actually put the person on to the ground and hold and AK to the back of their heads.

Now from what I heard regarding those 200 million for the Japanese is actually a bit hilarious. At least I think so and it must be Jihad Joe with his British style that came up with that idea. Japan said it will add 200 million to the international forces fighting IS. Next day then they put up those 2 Japanese guys on TV and ask for 200 million or else.

They are getting quite cheeky with their Fuck You! messages I say.

It was a few days after Japan's pledge of $200 million in humanitarian aid that IS made the ransom demand, but still very quick and certainly no coincidence. Abe hadn't left the Middle East when the demand was made.

I don't think it's hilarious, but it is kinda like the Islamic terrorists are saying, "you wanna join the game, let's play". It's been done before with Japan.

In 2004, followers of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq beheaded a Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda. It was just after Japanese soldiers were deployed there to do humanitarian work. If there was a price on Koda's head, that wasn't publicized. But, the terrorists demanded that Japan pull out of Iraq within 48 hours. PM Koizumi refused the demands, so the terrorists videotaped Koda's beheading and dumped his body in Baghdad wrapped in an American flag.

[Mohammed]

That was actually one of the turning points here. When the Qatar Embassy paid 3 mill US$ for that silly Swiss teacher woman from Hodeidah that was kept with Al Qaeda for a year, and then followed it up by doing the very same thing for the Austrian and 2 Finish folks who decided to go for a leisurely stroll thru town, hence ended up in the back of a Land Cruiser.

Seriously, try this. Walk around your town after a stunt like that with a 3 million dollar bounty on your head. It sure spices up any sort of simple shopping trip!

Flying recently Qatar Airways and making the experience as well as the one on their airport, I say fuck Qatar!

Anyway, watching a recent spot on the BBC news about the life of those boys in Paris, I have come up with a new theory of mine.

Islam - Religion of Terrorists or Tupac's Legacy and a Rappers Delight?!

As they were showing the past of one of the brothers that made Je suis Charlie a world wide phenomenon, something became very obvious. He was a Muslim, AND! he was a .... Rapper!

There he is on stage, holding his mic, and doing the Eminem. Most probably going on about something like "Yo, yo Mo" Now why this is interesting is simply for the fact that even in Germany it was known Rappers that joined the Jihad, and apparently even that by now famous Jihad Joe, the British beheader of Syria, is or was known in the UK's rapper scene. They are all .... rappers!

And it makes sense. Why? Look at all the other religions. You got the chanting, you got the songs, you got the meditating, but it was Islam that actually gave birth to the idea of rap. Not for nothing it was first all black folks who converted to Islam. Muhammed Ali, Karim Abdul Jabar, the list is endless. So then they started praying in the Mosque and all of a sudden they went "Hey!", no doubt shortly after followed by "Yo, yo, check check" Because that's what they do in a Mosque!

Not necessarily going Yo Yo, but rapping. Or at least laying down the fundamental fundament for it. Because that's how they pray. I'm listening to it every single morning here so I know. They don't have necessarily prayers they recite, no, they just read across the book. No matter if it says "If you want to take a loan make sure it is signed by at least two witnesses, and even if a witness is a woman that's alright" or "Don't go to pray when you're boozed up and topple over while praying cos you gonna look like shit on the floor like that", they will actually not only read it out to you during their session, but more importantly, sing it!

Plus, then they got their fucking loudspeakers! I mean who wouldn't take that idea further once you experience it and feel close to that field. Like Tupac or Snoop Dog. Now add to that all that Gangsta shit that came with it in the States, the glorified violence, bitches and hoes, eh voila, Jihad Joe is born!

So if you imagine a camp somewhere in the desert in Iraq full of those IS boys, what do you think what music they listening too? Trance or Techno? Don't think so. The necessary Ecstasy for that would make them feel all to soft and cuddly, and nobody wants to see cut off heads while tripping. Classic or Country? Mozart or Dolly in the Desert? For sure not. I even doubt it's Death Metal even so it would be somewhat befitting, but I just can't see those boys flinging themselves around in a mosh pit, so my best guess is it's some hard core Rap Crap. Public Enemy Number 1 jumps quickly to mind as anything else that involves fucking up every cop'n hoe cos they say so.

So it's not Islam or Muslim's per se we have to be worried about, but those that pray quickly, loudly, and somehow constantly seem to grab their balls while doing so.

Now you know so you know what to be watching out for!

[username]

You may be on to something, Mo.

Bag Daddy....

[aussiefriend]

*boom boom* that was very good User! I am sure it's your sense of humor that keeps you sane.

[aussiefriend]

you guys are all sexist. Mohammed posts a short novel and no one calls him out on it, I post something about a murder victim and you people are all over me like a coyote on a pork chop.

[FAHQTOO]

you guys are all sexist. Mohammed posts a short novel and no one calls him out on it, I post something about a murder victim and you people are all over me like a coyote on a pork chop.

You have far too much intelligence to not see the obvious.

So you say...

[crash]

you guys are all sexist.

Look at Julia over here..

Nobody called Mo on it because he posted relevant information to the thread in a witty and clever way, something that clearly escapes you; from both an author's and reader's perspective.

Just because you have a vagina doesn't mean you get to cry sexist every time you feel under appreciated or don't get your own way.

[sally]

you guys are all sexist. Mohammed posts a short novel and no one calls him out on it, I post something about a murder victim and you people are all over me like a coyote on a pork chop.

It's not because we're sexist, it's because no one gives a shit about a dead whore in Australia. You can find them all over the world, they're a dime a dozen.

[Mohammed]

Don't you worry Aussie, you just go on girl and I will sure be right behind you with my pom pom's and keep cheering you on no matter what!

But, I'm curious as to where your figure of 70,000 Americans living in Yemen came from?

This came actually as a surprise to me too. But then thinking about it, it did make sense. During the first bombings in 2011, when basically the whole shit started to happen, we had every 2 weeks security meetings at our restaurant here with some of the diplomatic and security staff of town.

My neighbour and dear friend that time was Elisabeth, the second in charge of the US Embassy. The Japanese Ambassador told her that he is calling all his citizens on a daily basis to check if they are ok, and if they are doing the same, to which she smiled and said "Well, you have about 50 Japanese in the country at this moment, if we would do the same, we would have to call about 70.000."

Remember those shops I mentioned? In earlier times there was a huge amount of Yemeni's leaving the country. Plenty went to the UK and their shipyards, then you had a large amount of the security forces being trained in East Germany, Saudi Arabia of course, and then you had a large amount going to the States and opening shops there. We have the cities of Ibb and Taiz here, which are famous for being build by American money as they call it. Since about 30 years.

Everything was going well really, as you had this huge diaspora, kind of like Somalia, outside the country, and they had jobs and send money back home. And then it got fucked up.

The former President Saleh went and clapped the shoulders of your good ole buddy Saddam. When he invaded Kuwait. And all shit broke loose!

In a matter of days all Yemeni's had to pack their bags in Saudi and return back home. Visa restrictions all across the globe were put into place, and life as they new it yesterday changed dramatically as about 2 million working people found themselves back in their home country without any jobs and nowhere to go. Except those that had by then already American or European citizenships.

This was one of the factors that took this country deeply down as I experienced it myself.

As I was trying to motivate the guys here, some of them working since 10 years in the same position of peeling potatoes, telling them that thru the gain of knowledge and some ambition, working in a kitchen took me to some wonderful places across the planet and making some excellent money at a young age, they looked at me and said "But where do you think we can go?!"

I couldn't argue with that. Sadly so.

This place got 24 million seriously nice folks and one could actually do the same like the Philippines did, taking them into the service industry all across the globe. The hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, and supermarkets all over, including or especially Dubai and the whole UAE, Oman, Saudi, Qatar and Bharain, are filled with Philippino's. You could use the young people from Yemen to do the same. But you can't!

They are not even allowed anymore in the UAE. The few I met in Oman absolutely love it there. Obviously.

Now the American bunch on the other hand is somewhat of an elite here. They all seem to have large amounts of cash, build massive villas here and speak with wonderfully colourful American accents. The only problem I have with them is their kids as they drive around in their flashy cars and just behave atrociously in a way that says "Hey, I'm back home in my cowboy country, wazzup dude!" throwing garbage around, showing off their Glocks and just acting like mentally disturbed John Waynes. Or Little Waynes.