Friday, September 22, 2017

Ben Hubbard does what he does best: produces propaganda for the Saudi royal family

Look he summed up the life of King Faisal: "One ruled Saudi Arabia for 11 years, outlawed slavery, spread public education and introduced television to his country."  This is the man who was first to declare Jihad (in the religious fanatical meaning of the word), the man who fought progressive, secular movements thoruhogut the world, the man who was a benefactor of every reactionary anti-communist movement in the region and beyond, the man who inspired the alliance of Islamist political forces in the Cold War, the man who sponsored the fanaticism of Ibn Baz, who would inspire Bin Laden and his ilk, the man who used the oil wealth to fight the war in Yemen, the man who solidified the alliance between the house of Saudi and the religious Wahhabi establishment.  King Faisal was one of the most notorious anti-Semites in the entire contemporary history of the region, and he funded anti-Semites in the world.  But for Ben Hubbard, he "ended slavery and brought television".  In fact, he did not want to end slavery but the regime of King Saud in its last year, championed progressive issues especially in the economic and oil sphere, and Faisal did not want to appear less progressive and Western powers supported his coup in return for the ostensible reforms which he announced.  Slavery in the kingdom did NOT end in 1964.