War and solitary confinement

It should be easier to understand why we freedom-loving Americans keep 80,000 Freedom-Loving American prisoners in solitary confinement than to understand why we human beings, for all of recorded history, without regard for creed or economic theory, slaughter one another with such determined lust:  at least in theory winners in War get something of value for their victory; no one gets anything of value out of keeping men in indefinite solitary confinement. Saudi's hanging malefactors is humane compared to solitary confinement.

Read theGuardian article below, then write to  Liberal Governor Jerry Brown c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814, and ask that he immediately end the solitary confinement practice at the prison at Pelican Bay.

There!  I feel better, though I have accomplished naught.

I awoke hi morning with "Singing in the Rain" in my head.  Don't reckon solitary confinement men awake with such tuneful tunings.  

Pelican Bay, California

Pelican Bay exercise yard, one hour a day

 

The human touch

Home at Pelican Bay

An American home

Nor many in Syria, either.

Syria in today' news:

Ah, but War is Glorious.

Such manly men!

To kill or die for one's beliefs!

To find a Virgin or some loot!

Who but a coward would stay at home!

By the time I turn 90, in 10 more years, I hope to understand the genesis of human beings' singular yearning to hurt one another. Jelly fish don't do it, nor do panthers nor germs nor big-brained dolphins.  I don't even know why I sometimes feel a desire, still, seldom now, to inflict ham on another.

Only we human animals, perhaps alone in the Universe, hurt one another, and with such abandon.  Why do we do it?  I eagerly await your disclosure.

d

According to NSA, it's he end of the world as we know it.

Sunday the Guardian reported

new study sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.

The study is based on a new cross-disciplinary 'Human And Nature DYnamical' (HANDY) model about which I have some doubt: there are so many different "human natures," perhaps seven billion f them; and I don't know a scientific way of choosing one among them.  The Daily Kos has a link to the HANDY study which would not open for me. Perhaps the model itself prescribes a meaningful definition.

The HANDY model selects a number of advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations which were both fragile and impermanent and reasons by analogy (I think) to our own industrial civilization, finding may congruences.  The study focuses on two key solutions if our civilization is to avoid collapse:  the need

to reduce economic inequality so as to ensure fairer distribution of resources, and to dramatically reduce resource consumption by relying on less intensive renewable resources and reducing population growth.

Whether or no the study is empirically sound, its proposed solutions are intuitively sound.

Will we grapple with them?  The Daily Kos' conclusion:

Nice to know that there is a solution.  Simple it is not.  The missing part here is how to get it done and in time.

I think we could deal with income inequality if we had a wold government that could impose a graduated tax, and I don' see that ever happening, short of a world-wide collapse.

~~~~~~~~~~

The study focuses on the Roman Empire, and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta Empires.

I had not heard of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires and was surprised at the collapse of the Han, for the Han are ow fully in control of China, the greatest competitor of the US.

so I looked them up.  Here's what I found.  From Wikipedia [footnotes omitted]

The Mauryan Empire

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 322 to 185 BCE. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic plains (modern Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh) in the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent, the empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (modern Patna).[1][2] The Empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India, taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great's Greek armies. By 320 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander.[3]The Maurya Empire was one of the world's largest empires in its time, and the largest ever in the Indian subcontinent. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam. To the west, it conquered beyond modern Pakistan, annexing Khorasan, Balochistan, south eastern parts of Iran and much of what is now Afghanistan, including the modern Herat[3] and Kandahar provinces. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded a small portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga (modern Odisha), until it was conquered by Ashoka. Its decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Sunga Dynasty in Magadha.
Under Chandragupta, the Mauryan Empire conquered the trans-Indus region, which was under Macedonian rule. Chandragupta then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Under Chandragupta and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture and economic activities, all thrived and expanded across India thanks to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security.
After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced half a century of peace and security under Ashoka. Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism has been said to have been the foundation of the reign of social and political peace and non-violence across all of India. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Mediterranean Europe.[3]The population of the empire has been estimated to be about 50 - 60 million making the Mauryan Empire one of the most populous empires of all time.[4][5]Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW). The Arthashastra and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary sources of written records of Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath has been made the national emblem of India.

The Gupta Empire

The Gupta Empire (Sanskrit: गुप्त साम्राज्य, Gupta Sāmrājya) was an ancient Indian empire, founded by Maharaja Sri Gupta, which existed from approximately 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent.[1] The peace and prosperity created under the leadership of the Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors.[2] This period is called the Golden Age of India[3] and was marked by extensive inventions and discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art, dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy that crystallized the elements of what is generally known as Hindu culture.[4] Chandra Gupta I, Samudra Gupta the Great, and Chandra Gupta II the Great were the most notable rulers of the Gupta dynasty.[5] The 4th century CE Sanskrit poet Kalidasa credits Guptas with having conquered about twenty one kingdoms, both in and outside India, including the kingdoms of Parasikas (Persians), the Hunas, the Kambojas, tribes located in the west and east Oxus valleys, the Kinnaras, Kiratas etc.[6]The high points of this cultural creativity are magnificent architecture, sculptures and paintings.[7] The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma and Vatsyayana who made great advancements in many academic fields.[8][9] Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era.[10] Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.[11] The earliest available Indian epics are also thought to have been written around this period.
The empire gradually declined because of many factors such as substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories and the invasion by the Huna peoples from Central Asia.[12] After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. A minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by Vardhana ruler Harsha Vardhana, who established an empire in the first half of the 7th century.

 The Han Empire

The Han dynasty (also known as the Han Dynasty, simplified Chinese: 汉朝; traditional Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn Cháo; Wade–Giles: Han Ch'ao; IPA: [xân tʂʰɑ̌ʊ̯], 206 BC – 220 AD) was an imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms (220–280 AD). It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty (9–23 AD) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han into two periods: the Western Han (206 BC – 9 AD) and Eastern Han (25–220 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history.[3] To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to itself as the "Han people" and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".[4]The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government, known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States. The Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation,[5] defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BC) launched several military campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries. These campaigns expanded Han sovereignty into the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, divided the Xiongnu into two separate confederations, and helped establish the vast trade network known as the Silk Road, which reached as far as the Mediterranean world. The territories north of Han's borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Emperor Wu also launched successful military expeditions in the south, annexing Nanyue in 111 BC and Dian in 109 BC, and in the Korean Peninsula where the Xuantu and Lelang Commanderies were established in 108 BC.
After 92 AD, the palace eunuchs increasingly involved themselves in court politics, engaging in violent power struggles between the various consort clans of the empresses and empress dowagers, causing the Han's ultimate downfall. Imperial authority was also seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion. Following the death of Emperor Ling (r. 168–189 AD), the palace eunuchs suffered wholesale massacre by military officers, allowing members of the aristocracy and military governors to become warlords and divide the empire. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, the Han Dynasty ceased to exist.
The Han Dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC). The coinage issued by the central government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD). To pay for its military campaigns and the settlement of newly conquered frontier territories, the government nationalized the private salt and iron industries in 117 BC. These government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han period, and the lost revenue was recouped through heavily taxing private entrepreneurs. The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. From the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 AD. Science and technology during the Han period saw significant advances, including papermaking, the nautical steering rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics, the raised-relief map, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer employing an inverted pendulum.

Images from the web:

The Maurya Empire

The Gupta Empire

The Han Dynasty

Poetry of Emperor Wu's reign:

A Chinese calligraphy of the poem

The Sun Rises and Sets

Would there be an end to sunrise and sunset?

The times of nature and the lie-span of people are different.

That is why spring is not my spring,

Summer is not my summer,

Autumn is not my autumn,

Winter is not my winter. 

The floating life of people is being drained out slowly,

In the pond of four seas.

Isn’t it the same everywhere if we looked all over.

I know what would be my pleasure,

To ride on the six dragons  is my sole desire.

I would be greatly gratified,

If I could really drive the dragons in the upper atmosphere.

Ah,

How come the yellow horses  haven’t come down,

They are not in sight anywhere!

This song was devoted to the Deity of Sun at suburb sacrificial ceremonies. Sima Xiangru, who rewrote the verse, knew he could not surpass Qu Yuan who wrote about the Deity of Sun in the 《Nine Songs》, he therefore wrote from the triangle of people’s worship of the Deity. In particular, Emperor Wu of Han himself believed that men can become celestial beings. “My only pleasure is to drive the six dragon in the sky” might be the Emperor’s own words. Some people say this poem is a perfect lyric with unique imagination and fantastic ideas. I think the poem provides much food for thought when it compared the short life-span of people to the infinite universe.

A handy timeline:

Is Russia trying to muscle in on the US-China Great Game?

According to today's New York Times, influential [ethnic] Russians want to break of f relations with the United States, restart the Cold War, and reestablish the Soviet Union.

Influential US Senators, e.g., McCain, Graham, and Cruz, want the same thing, though their reasons differ. McCain and Graham wanted the US to go to war with Russia over Russia's dispute with Georgia over South Ossetia's secession from Georgia; and want war with Russia over Crimea's presumed secession fro Ukraine.

The Russian faction sees the US gaining power in all the former members of theSoviet Union, and believes Russia should regain he influence it once had, and join or rejoin China in a struggle with he West for World Supremacy.

I believe thee Russian critics are right that ethnic Russians are losing power in Russia and have cause for alarm, just as ethnic Europeans are losing power in the United States, causing alarm among Republicans, who are overwhelmingly ethnic Europeans.

A quotation from the Times article:

Virulently anti-American, Mr. Dugin has urged a “conservative revolution” that combines left-wing economics and right-wing cultural traditionalism. In a 1997 book, he introduced the idea of building a Eurasian empire “constructed on the fundamental principle of the common enemy,” which he identified as Atlanticism, liberal values, and geopolitical control by the United States. 

Consider, from the Russian point of view:

••  The Russian South Caucasus is filled with ethnic nonRussian Muslims who are willing to die to establish Sharia in their Republics [a "Republic" is similar to a"State" in he US.].  Ethnic Russians are willing to kill Muslims by the thousands to prevent that change.  Dagestan is the current flash-point.



••  Five of Russia's Republics have a majority of folks who accept the Dali Lama as their spiritual and temporal leader .  These republics, if Tuva is typical, seem indifferent to whomever the current "ruler" of Russia happens to be.

••   Six Turkic-speaking nations were once members of he Soviet Union. Four of the most sable of hem now have formed the Turkic Council with Turkey and are aligned with Turkey, a NAATO member.  If Azerbaijan has its way, Turkic-speaking nations will become a third power in  central Asia, controlling vast flows of oil and natural gas, standing ready to be a countervailing power between Russia, China, and the US for control of the mild of Asia...

The Turkic Council - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.   

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are not currently official members of the council due to their neutral stance; however, they are possible future members of the council.

Variations in Turkic-speaking peoples

••  Turkmenistan, which has the last remaining Soviet dictator,  has the world's second largest reservers of natural gas.  The US is pushing hard to convince affected nations to create a pipe line froTurkmenistan to India, as an alternative to the Iran-Pakistan Pipeline.

The pipeline has the unenviable task

 of' crossing Pashtun and Baloch territories.

TheTurkmenistan pipeline, if built, would align Turkmenistan with US interests.

••  Georgia is on Russia's troubled southern border;  is home to US air and troop facilities; has applied for NATO membership; and -- along with former Soviet Union member Azerbaijan -- expressed an interest in joining the European Union.

••  Azerbaijan, once loyal to Russia and also on its southern border, is enjoying great relations with American oil companies, to whom it sells billions in oil each year.  It is the most European of the former Soviet countries.

Azeris speak Turkic intelligible in Turkey, and have some two million countrymen living in North-Azerbaijan, a rich province in Iran:  feet in many fires.

••  The US rings Russia with military bases.



American might doesn't look so ominous until you look at the World from the North Pole, with Canada and Greenland near neighbors to Russia.

Compare Russia's foreign bases.  From Wikipedia:

Russia has several military bases in foreign countries, especially on the territory of the former Soviet Republics. One of the largest Russian military bases is called the Black Sea Fleet base, which is located in Sevastopol, Ukraine. Other significant bases exist in Armenia, Tajikistan, Georgia (In the disputed regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia).

Wikipedia misses the naval base in Syria, and may miss others.

••  Russia still has enough Bombs to destroy the world and so enjoys a mandatory deference, but so do many nations now.  Mutual Assured Deterrence still seems to work.

••  Most important:  Russia is out of the running for world leadership.

 The Great Game, which Russia and Britain played for a century, is now played between the US and the Han in China, and Russia and Britain watch, envious, on the sidelines.  See, e.g., a well-written article in The Hindu, reprinted after he jump.

The Han are set to rival the US in economic power in the near future, and economic power has replaced trench warfare as the way to World Control.

A Han dance troupe in North Carolina

I think because the Han are so homogenous and tribal, they have no use for anyone but other Han [if you doubt, ask any Uighur, Tibetan,or Formosan].  Russia might be able to play second fiddle to the Han, but will not be an equal partner, which will not sit well with Russophiles who want a new Cold War.

I want the US to come out on Top in the New Great Game, because it is a polyglot nation -- like it or not, ye Doubters -- and China is not.  A polyglot nation is at a disadvantage when it comes to taking unified stances, and at an advantage when taking advantage of the many points of view its populace brings to the table means more congruence to the Wold.  If the US can only get its economic house in order, it'll prevail.  I look to Obama more than to Cruz for guidance on how to do that.

Sit tight, World.  The Game is again afoot.  We might yet have our Nuclear Winter, so longed for by Hawks around the Globe.

The Hindu articles is after the jump.

The Saudi, the Qatari, the GCC, and the West

This Reuters analysis of GCC infighting is interesting and long over-due.The most important question it raises is this:  if the Saudi don't want to relay on the Wet for protection, why should the West spend billions protecting he Saudi?  If there are geopolitical reasons why  the West should spend billions protecting the Saudi from price competition from Iran, shouldn't the West get a significant break in oil prices?

The Saudi, first among all the rich countries in the world, have resisted the Enlightenment's discovery that the people should be sovereign in theirs own country.  Saudi object to any group that supports the election of rulers.  That is the reason the Saudi engineered the ouster of he admittedly-inept Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt, and is at odds with Turkey, a democratic Muslim state.

[Oman is a Socratic Muslim dictatorship, viewed from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the only one of the Gulf States I would support.]

There can be no peace in the Middle East so long as the Saudi remain dominant.  I would not support Qatar's support for an regime change in Syria, and I am happy to see it push for an elected regime rather than one imposed by the Saudi.

Durell

From Reuters U.S.

Qatar rift is pivotal test for disunited Gulf families

Thu, Mar 6 2014

By Angus McDowall and Sylvia Westall

RIYADH/KUWAIT (Reuters) - A breach between Qatar and some of its Gulf Arab neighbors is a pivotal test for a three-decade-old union of monarchies formed to stand united when threatened by common enemies.

The six neighbors have struggled for years to transform their alliance from a simple security pact into an integrated economy. But plans for a customs union, integrated power grids and a joint military command remain unfinished or unrealized.

Critics of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) blame its inadequacies on petty jealousies, border disputes, or the perceived dominance of its biggest member, Saudi Arabia.

If the allies can no longer reach broad agreement on how to navigate the political troubles afflicting the region, then the main point of their partnership is in question, say analysts.

Born more out of fear than greed, the GCC, which also includes Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, has managed to present a united front at times of threat ranging from Iranian revolution to Iraqi invasion..

The club was born in 1981 to counter the revolutionaries who had toppled Iran's Shah, a fellow dynast familiar to Gulf Arab leaders, two years earlier. As Iran and Iraq embarked on an eight-year war, survival became the watchword for the GCC.

Now, even as most Gulf Arab economies are booming and the GCC touts itself as a rare outpost of stability in a turbulent region, the member countries have never appeared more divided.

"Will the GCC kill itself?" ran Thursday's headline in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai.

Wednesday's statement by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain that they were withdrawing ambassadors from Doha and all but accusing Qatar of undermining their internal stability was unprecedented as a public display of divisions.

BROTHERHOOD

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are incensed by Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which they regard as a dangerous political enemy. They are also cross about Doha's backing for more radical Islamist groups in Syria.

The UAE summoned the Qatari ambassador in February after Qatar-based Brotherhood cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi condemned the UAE as was against Islamic rule, a remark the UAE described as insulting and shameful.

UAE media quoted Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah as saying the comments did not reflect Qatar's views. Sources close to the cleric said he would not stop speaking his mind.

Qaradawi told Reuters Saudi Arabia was backing those who "are far from God and Islam" in Egypt - the military-backed authorities that overthrew an elected Islamist president.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are leading backers of rival Syrian rebel groups, and they and other Gulf states are the principal external forces supporting key players in Egypt and Yemen.

Acting together they could effect regional change. Apart, they risk dragging the Gulf into the post-Arab Spring quagmire.

A Gulf Arab diplomat said the decision to recall the envoys was taken after a meeting of GCC foreign ministers on Tuesday at which it became clear Qatar would not change its approach.

"After this meeting they decided - the Saudis, the Emirates and Bahrain - to take this kind of step," the diplomat said.

"It is a very negative step in our experience as a group, in this organization."

There have been plenty of previous rifts among the six dynasties, which sometimes appear to regard each other as rivals rather than partners, but they have never involved such an airing of dirty linen or come at such a dangerous time.

Unlike in the past, the Gulf states cannot count on strong Arab allies with large armies to see off external threats.

Gulf citizens see their region as the last bastion of security in the Arab world, with Iraq and Syria in conflict, Yemen and Libya in chaos, Egypt destabilized and Lebanon and Jordan undermined by turmoil in neighboring states.

SIBLING RIVALRY

Critics of the GCC deride its failure to fulfill its promises, such as a currency or border union. Despite big arms purchases, all its members remain dependent for their defense on alliances with Western powers, principally the United States.

The Gulf countries refer to each other in official statements as "full brothers", the closest blood relationship in a society traditionally built upon large polygamous families.

But they have often nursed sibling rivalries in disputes ranging from border demarcation and foreign policy to occasionally unflattering portrayal of rulers in each other's state media.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar in particular have had a series of disputes, including border clashes in 1992 that led to several deaths and a five-year period from 2002 when Riyadh had no ambassador in Doha after arguments about al-Jazeera broadcasts.

Qatar and the UAE also fell out in the 1990s when Dubai gave refuge to a former Qatari emir who was ousted in 1995, and Doha has crossed swords with Bahrain. Smaller-scale rows have periodically flared up between Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE.

At root, these spats and the GCC's slow pace in creating a stronger union have often resulted from the fundamental imbalance among a group of countries in which Saudi Arabia has a bigger population than the other five combined.

Political analysts say some in the smaller countries have seen the GCC as a ratification instrument for Saudi policies.

"Becoming a mediating power in the region has upset a lot of governments who think we are too small. But we are here to say we are not small, we believe in our role and will continue it," said a source close to the Qatari government.

SAUDI FRUSTRATION

For Saudi Arabia in particular, the disunity is a source of frustration. Riyadh has pushed hard since late 2011 for the GCC to forge a closer union on a shared foreign and security policy.

The personal initiative of King Abdullah, the idea emerged as a response to the Arab Spring and fears of Iranian interference and represents an important building block of Saudi efforts to become less dependent on the West.

But in December Oman said outright it did not want to be part of such a union, weeks after angering Riyadh by facilitating secret U.S.-Iranian talks that the Saudis fear will reduce international pressure on Tehran.

Kuwait stayed above the fray this week, talking of acting as a mediator when its emir returns from a medical trip overseas, but refraining from joining the pressure on Doha.

"The Saudis are strongly committed to the unity of the Gulf states, and they want other states to take their share of responsibilities towards the people of the Gulf," said Saud al-Sarhan, director of research at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh..

"Saudi Arabia is taking control of regional and Arab security, and slowly bringing to an end the era of reliance on foreign partners for strategic priorities," he added.

(Additional reporting by Amena Bakr in Doha and Rania el Gamal and Yara Bayoumy in Dubai; Editing by William Maclean and Andrew Roche)

__________________

Web images follow:

Saudi Arabia:

Qatar

Kuwait

United Arab Emirates

A sand storm engulfs Dubai

Dubai

Bahrain

U.S. military bases in Bahrain

The Royal Family

Other families

Saudi causeway to Bahrain playgrounds

Oman

 Suntan Sultan Qaboos bin Said,whom I think, 

viewed from a Polynesian Island

in he middle of the Pacific Ocean

reflects Socratic virtues.