Une enquête de Forbidden Stories révèle un système clandestin de détention et de torture au Mali, inspiré des méthodes utilisées par les forces russes en Ukraine.
An investigation by Forbidden Stories reveals a clandestine system of detention and torture in Mali, inspired by methods used by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Testimonies: simulated drownings, electrocutions, and Russian music played at full blast to drown out the screams of detainees.
At least six bases have been identified as sites of detention and torture, including in San, Sévaré, and Kidal.
The investigation also implicates the complicity of Malian forces during joint patrols and in bases where these abuses are alleged to have occurred.
Since August 2024, the Wagner Group has been replaced by Africa Corps, placed under the direct control of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The crimes documented in Mali must not go unpunished. Independent investigations and international prosecutions are necessary.
The Theatre Commander, Joint Task Force North West, Operation FANSAN YAMMA (JTF NW OPFY), Major General W.B. Idris, has attributed the… pic.twitter.com/gWnM2phG5x
The Theatre Commander, Joint Task Force North West, Operation FANSAN YAMMA (JTF NW OPFY), Major General W.B. Idris, has attributed the proliferation of sophisticated weapons in the hands of terrorists and bandits across Nigeria to the collapse of Libya, saying the resulting flow of illicit arms across the Maghreb and Sahel continues to fuel insecurity in the region.
The commander made the remarks on Thursday during an interactive session with defence correspondents at the Headquarters of Operation FANSAN YAMMA in Gusau, Zamfara State, while responding to questions following a comprehensive operational briefing on the command’s activities.
Addressing the question of how terrorists continue to acquire sophisticated weapons despite ongoing military operations, Major General Idris said the collapse of Libya created one of the largest illicit arms trafficking networks in Africa, with weapons finding their way into the hands of terrorist organisations, transnational criminal groups and other violent actors operating across the Sahel.
“It is a well-known fact that the proliferation of arms in the Maghreb region became much worse after the fall of Libya. Most of these weapons eventually found their way into the hands of terrorists and criminal elements that are determined to destabilise countries across the region, including Nigeria,” he said.
The Theatre Commander explained that the challenge extends beyond Nigeria’s borders, stressing that the country’s security architecture has increasingly adopted a regional approach to counter the transnational nature of terrorism.
According to him, the Armed Forces of Nigeria have strengthened operational collaboration with neighbouring countries through intelligence sharing, coordinated border patrols and joint security initiatives aimed at preventing the movement of terrorists, weapons and logistics into Nigerian territory.
He disclosed that troops under Operation FANSAN YAMMA work closely with security forces from the Republic of Niger along the extensive Nigeria-Niger border stretching through Sokoto and adjoining operational sectors.
Similarly, he noted that troops under Operation SAVANNAH SHIELD maintain active security collaboration with forces of the Republic of Benin to secure Nigeria’s western border and deny criminal elements freedom of movement across international boundaries.
The process is also a useful punishment, though taking longer than originally planned.
A US appeals court has rejected immigration authorities’ push to re-detain Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, who is facing deportation for his activism against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza https://t.co/EyrDKIQCPzpic.twitter.com/kIq1r51TaV
[Townhall] A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s effort to re-detain Badar Khan Suri,
… who is seriously connected. His wife, the America-hating American citizen Mapheze Ahmad Yusef Saleh, is the daughter of Ahmed Yusef, an advisor to Ismail Haniyeh — Hamas’s prime minister in Gaza until he was zapped during the 2023-24 war — and now chairs Hamas’s Committee to Break the Siege in Gaza, on which dear Mapheze serves along with agitating for the cause here in the US, for which she was scheduled to be deported alongside her beloved hubster after his student visa for peace process studies was revoked…
a Georgetown University postdoctoral researcher from India known for his pro-Palestinian advocacy.
Reuters reported that the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that federal immigration law did not bar a lower-court judge from ordering Suri’s release. The court found that Suri’s claims of violations to his due process and free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution could be heard in federal court.
Suri remains free as his immigration case proceeds. The case began when the researcher was detained by federal authorities over his criticism of the Israeli effort to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the terrorist group slaughtered over 1,000 Israelis on October 7, 2023.
That’s ok. He isn’t going to run off, and I’m sure that until he is actually deported the FBI will have both of them under all the kinds of observation, with backup from Shin Bet for the Gaza end, and probably somebody doing the same for his connections in India.…
The decision conflicts with rulings from other appeals courts in similar cases involving pro-Palestinian activists.
Badar Khan Suri is an Indian national who held a J-1 exchange visa while working as a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He lived in Rosslyn, Virginia, with his wife, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian heritage, and their three children.
According to The Hoya, immigration officers detained Suri outside his home on March 17, 2025, under a rarely used provision of immigration law that allows removal of noncitizens whose presence is seen as having adverse foreign policy consequences. Officials shuffled him through several facilities in Virginia before transferring him to a detention center in Texas, where he was held for almost two months.
The authorities pointed to his social media activity supporting the Palestinians and opposing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, along with posts by conservative groups about his academic work. Officials also noted his family connection through his wife to her father, a former Hamas official who left the group more than a decade earlier.
However, Suri himself has never explicitly expressed direct support for Hamas.
Yes, he has. Check the Related links below.
Suri challenged his detention through a habeas corpus petition in federal district court in Virginia, arguing his treatment was retaliatory and unconstitutional. In May 2025, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered his release on bail and blocked his immediate removal. The Trump administration appealed and sought to re-detain him while the case continued.
Suri celebrated the ruling. “Today reaffirms my faith that an independent judiciary remains the truest guardian of liberty, due process, and the rule of law,” he said. “I am profoundly grateful to the judges who upheld these constitutional principles and gave my case the careful, deliberate consideration it deserved. I remain, as ever, committed to the pursuit of justice through lawful and peaceful means.”
Once again showing the entire thing is a pointless exercise to maximize cynicism as they get the distinct pleasure of defying Presidents Trump and Putin, plus PM Netanyahu, all in one blow.
[IsraelTimes] Foreign Ministry denounces move as a ‘moral failure’; Washington warns of ‘consequences’ for what envoy calls ‘procedural overreach, backroom deals and misuse of UN posts’.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday to extend the term of UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk for four more years, in spite of opposition from Israel, the United States and Russia.
Turk has been a harsh critic of Israel’s conduct in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... UN member nations rejected a US proposal to delay the vote until the end of next week as well as a Russian proposal to extend Turk’s term just until the end of the year. The vote in the 193-member General Assembly to reappoint Turk was 144-10, with 13 abstentions.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... , who has worked closely with Turk in the past and steps down in December, proposed the second four-year term for Turk when his existing term expires in October.
No other human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... chief has served two full terms.
The Foreign Ministry had called Guterres’s re-proposal of Turk a "moral failure" and said the choice should be left to the secretary-general’s successor.
Turk has condemned what he calls Israel’s "mass killing" in Gaza, while some, including his own staff, have expressed regret that he did not call the killings a genocide — an allegation Israel vehemently denies.
While Turk got strong support, the votes and speeches also reflected concern that Guterres quietly nominated the Austrian lawyer this month after private consultations, with no public discussion.
US deputy ambassador Jeff Bartos warned before the vote that reappointing Turk would prove that the General Assembly "is dysfunctional" and that the vote "was quietly shoved onto the agenda at the last minute to bypass meaningful review.
"Make no mistake, if this assembly tolerates procedural overreach, backroom deals and the misuse of UN posts, there will be consequences," he warned. "The United States will immediately reassess our engagement, participation and funding."
More reduced spending? Just the thing the country needs.
The Trump administration already owes nearly $4 billion to the UN for its regular dues and for the separate budget for UN peacekeeping operations.
Russia’s deputy ambassador, Dmitry Chumakov, said Guterres had sown discord among UN members and accused Turk of "political bias" and promoting "Western geopolitical interests under the pretext of concern for human rights."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The Iranian Armed Forces will kill one American soldier for every Iranian killed. This statement was made on July 24 by General Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces, as reported by the Tasnim news agency.
"For every proud citizen of Islamic Iran killed, one American service member will be killed. We have prepared free tickets to hell for you," Iran's state broadcaster quoted Abdollahi as saying.
Abdollahi stressed that this rule will now become the final official formula for conducting military operations.
Tensions in the Middle East escalated three weeks after the US and Iran signed a memorandum ending the conflict. In early July, the US announced the end of the ceasefire and resumed attacks on Iran. Washington also announced the resumption of a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The IRGC began launching retaliatory strikes against US targets in the Middle East.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] Iran has no interest in a ceasefire with the US. Iran has commented on Trump's chatter that Iran allegedly wants negotiations.
Iran is currently not interested in a ceasefire and sees no point in temporary ceasefires that would give the US a chance to catch its breath after Iranian strikes, build up its forces, and then attack Iran again. Iran also sees no point in new mediation efforts that are unable to achieve any results due to the hegemonic and greedy behavior of the US. Iran has also warned that it will consider any country that assists the US in attacking Iran an accomplice to aggression against it and will act accordingly.
Strikes against ships in the Strait of Hormuz that ignore Iranian rules will continue. The Houthis also joined in, attacking Saudi tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait overnight. Oil prices have already risen above $100 per barrel this morning. Trump's chatter about negotiations, as has been stated earlier, stems from a desire to get out of this war while saving face.
Iran is preventing him from doing so, presenting him with a dilemma: either cave in to Iran or launch a ground operation against Iran/start stripping Iran of its energy resources. Both scenarios ruin any chance the Republicans have of holding on to power after 2028.
PS. The satellite image shows partially destroyed US infrastructure at a base in Kuwait.
PS2. Iran announced that it had completely destroyed an Amazon data center complex in Bahrain tonight. There had been previous air strikes against it, rendering the complex inoperable. The remaining buildings were destroyed overnight, and the complex was effectively completely destroyed.
Posted by: badanov ||
07/25/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[248 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Hitting Amazon is a good way to get your Prime privileges revoked.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/25/2026 8:26 Comments ||
Top||
A massive escalation with Iran appears imminent. Let’s look at the hints.
Over the past few weeks, dozens of U.S. aerial refueling aircraft have landed in Israel, and special operations forces have deployed to the region. Squadrons of fighters have been staged across the Middle… pic.twitter.com/KOnwonR9D9
A massive escalation with Iran appears imminent. Let’s look at the hints.
Over the past few weeks, dozens of U.S. aerial refueling aircraft have landed in Israel, and special operations forces have deployed to the region. Squadrons of fighters have been staged across the Middle East, and bombers at bases in the United States and the United Kingdom sit on high alert, ready to ramp up operations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Israeli alert levels are, meanwhile, at their peak, with the Air Force and the Intelligence Directorate singled out. Home Front Command soldiers have been told to expect call-up orders; reservists and the recently discharged have been notified. Municipalities have begun reopening public shelters across the country, and it was recently revealed that Mossad Director Roman Gofman visited Washington roughly two weeks ago to meet with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and White House officials.
The Houthis, for their part, declared a blockade of Saudi Arabia, threatened the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and then hit two Saudi tankers. With a second of the world’s great choke points now in play, the pressure to act decisively rises accordingly.
Then there are the words of Donald Trump, at once the most and the least reliable indicator of what is coming. “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” he said yesterday.
That “massive attack” will likely fall into one of three buckets.
Summarizing: 1. Iran’s energy infrastructure, incl. Kharg Island; 2. the nuclear program, incl. senior personnel and uranium; 3. the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... said Friday that he had not decided on whether to launch major strikes on Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... yet, as Tehran was now getting "serious" in talks with Washington.
His comments came after reports that an increasingly frustrated Trump was meeting senior advisors to discuss launching a large-scale military operation against Iran.
"No I haven’t," Trump told journalists in the Oval Office when asked if he had made a decision. "Look, we’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious as the days go by, for maybe the obvious reason."
Trump said Iran had a choice between making a deal or facing a "much higher level" of strikes, after nearly two weeks of US attacks and Iranian strikes across the region that have left a ceasefire in tatters.
The United States says it is carrying out the strikes to stop Iran closing the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Iran has carried out attacks on US bases that have killed four service members.
"We’re locked and loaded and ready to go. But we’re talking to them, so I think while we’re talking, we’ll see what comes of it. I believe... they’re very serious. They should be," Trump said.
The war that Trump once predicted would last four or five weeks is now nearing its fifth month, and is weighing on the Republican’s approval ratings ahead of crucial midterm elections in November.
’MASSIVE ATTACK’
The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported earlier that Trump had met advisors on Friday to discuss whether to escalate the conflict, while the Axios news outlet quoted the US leader as saying on Thursday that he was considering a "massive attack" on Iran.
Two Iranian officials cited by The New York Times Thursday warned that the next stage of the escalation in fighting between Washington and Tehran would include Iran striking Tel Aviv.
Trump separately doubled down on comments in an earlier social media post in which he said he believed that Russia and China were not arming Iran, despite reports that both countries were giving Tehran intelligence to target US forces.
"I mean, I will tell you that President Xi said he will not partake, and President Putin said the same thing. I think you know I trust them," Trump told news hounds. "I don’t think they’d want to have me disappointed."
Earlier in a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump had warned Moscow and Beijing not to sell weapons to Iran.
"If they did, it would be very bad for them — certainly not in their best interests," he wrote.
US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday, and Iranian armed forces responded by firing at US bases in neighboring Arab countries and warning people there that they could strike non-military buildings used by US personnel.
SAUDI-LED COALITION HITS HOUTHIS
The entrance to the Persian Gulf has so far been the focus of a war that has killed thousands in almost five months, stoked global inflation and fanned fears of an economic downturn.
The Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s, who control northern and western Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... , have announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , which has diverted millions of barrels of oil each day by pipeline to the Red Sea to skirt Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
After the Houthis said they had struck two Saudi tankers on Thursday, Trump said he would hold Iran accountable for any further attacks by the fighters.
On Friday, several strikes hit Yemen’s Hodeidah port, eyewitnesses said. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it carried out a "proportionate military response operation" that targeted Houthi military sites in Hodeidah governorate.
IRAN THREATENS US FORCES
The US military launched air strikes on Iran late on Thursday and early on Friday, for a 13th consecutive night of attacks, prompting Iran to fire at neighboring Arab countries that host US bases.
US missiles struck a Revolutionary Guards Navy headquarters in the Ziba Kenar area of the Caspian Sea province of Gilan, according to a security official in Gilan quoted by Iranian media. Provincial authorities said US projectiles had also struck the port city of Bandar Anzali, according to the ILNA news agency.
Four people were killed and five injured in a US attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, the state broadcaster IRIB said.
In a statement carried by Iran’s Fars news agency, the Revolutionary Guards warned the populations of Gulf countries of potential strikes against US military personnel who may be using "buildings in cities as locations to direct their crimes."
In a statement on X, the Iranian health ministry said 59 people had been killed and 666 maimed since the resumption of festivities with US forces in late June. It does not differentiate between military personnel and civilians.
Iranian media cited the head of Iran’s top joint military command as saying Iran would kill a member of the US forces for every Iranian killed.
The war has killed 18 US service members. The Pentagon said on Monday that 100 service members had been injured since July 7 and 96% have returned to duty. Officials have told Rooters that more than 500 US troops have been injured so far.
PAKISTAN SEEKS RENEWED TALKS
The attack on the Saudi tankers on Thursday in the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait boosted oil prices 7% to top $100 per barrel for the first time since May.
However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... by around 1600 GMT on Friday, Brent futures were down more than $4 to a little over $96.
Sources said Pakistain was exploring a path towards a resumption of stalled talks between the US and Iran over ending the war, following a push initiated by China.
Exploratory discussions took place during a visit by Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to Islamabad this week — his second within the last 10 days, three Pak sources said.
TANKERS REROUTING, SHIPPING INSURANCE RISES
The Houthi attacks forced several other tankers to turn around and head north through the Suez Canal, potentially using a much longer route to reach Asia by sailing around Africa. Shipping insurance costs through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies on Thursday, sources said. Still, half of the 18 ships exiting Bab el-Mandeb on Thursday were carrying crude oil, including two Chinese supertankers. The number of tankers crossing through the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, the lowest since May 7.
A Houthi front man said Friday that the Iran-backed terror group was not blocking traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait into the Red Sea, adding that the group’s position was "limited to a maritime blockade that only affects the Saudi side."
The US and UK were planning a high-level conference that will bring together European and Middle Eastern bigwigs to discuss protecting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios.
The conference, to take place next week, has not been scheduled. But it is meant to include defense ministers and military chiefs from participating countries.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and military chief Dan Caine are slated to attend, according to the report.
US WARNS CITIZENS IN MIDEAST
The Iranian army said it had attacked US military equipment depots at al-Adiri, officially named Camp Buehring, in northern Kuwait, and the positions of US troops at Camp Arifjan and at Camp Doha, near Kuwait City.
In the early evening, Kuwait said its air defenses were intercepting "hostile" targets launched from Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had significantly damaged a surveillance tower used by the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
They also said they had attacked a US barracks and fighter jets in Jordan, and a US barracks and spy balloon as well as Patriot air defenses in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdish region, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Jordan’s army said it had downed seven Iranian missiles and six drones, state TV reported, and that the attack had caused no material damage or casualties.
Several blasts sounded near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops, an AFP journalist said. Explosions were heard after air defenses were activated, according to the journalist, who also saw drones hovering over the city and smoke rising in the airport area.
The US embassy in Baghdad said US citizens in the Middle East should exercise caution and remain on heightened alert.
Posted by: badanov ||
07/25/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[429 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The Free World & the US need to $hit or get off the War Wagon pot.
The several Iranian Islamic leaders claiming to be in charge, are not going to honor any agreement longer than it takes them to rearm and start up again. Which has been repeatedly proven.
A total clean slate of the current radical leadership is really the only viable solution.
#2
Two Iranian officials cited by The New York Times Thursday warned that the next stage of the escalation in fighting between Washington and Tehran would include Iran striking Tel Aviv.
#7
Thanks TW - my bad. Checked to see if the embassy was open and it's closed - because it's Saturday! Failure to perform due diligence.
Looks like Iran is deliberately not striking at Israel until after Israel strikes first. Which is a very interesting approach for the situation. Of course Iran could be waiting for ramp congestion to max out before swinging first - but Iran does seem to be playing a deliberate tit for tat game here, in response to US attacks at this point.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
