STARBUCKS IN THE ARAB WORLD

A starbucks in the Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai. But then, Dubai is there for the money and has long since sold itself to the tourists. But what a ceiling!

I stumbled across this cute little blog, Iraqi Mojo, this morning and have a few posts from it I wish to share with you. It is lighter material than I usually post but very significant in the overall scheme of things. It makes you wonder about things to be sure. As always I add my $.02 Snippits and Snappits in green.

The Bootleg in Iraq

By Iraqi Mojo
December 24, 2009
Posted January 6, 2010

Over the years I have heard Arabs and Arab Americans calling to boycott Starbucks because its CEO (a Jew!) allegedly shares his wealth with Israel.

THANK YOU TO ALL STARBUCKS CUSTOMERS
This is my previous post on Starbucks from a few years ago regarding the letter hoax allegedly posted by the owner of the company.

As Arabs and Arab Americans continue to preach "resistance" and hate the "puppet" government of Iraq, and as Arab terrorists continue to wage war on innocent Iraqis, often targeting small cafes, in nine Arab countries customers buy frappuccinos without worrying about terrorism or "resistance":

24 Starbucks in Egypt, which has cooperated with Israel in stopping weapons smuggling into Gaza, and has been accused of strangling Gaza's economy.

More than 90 Starbucks in the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc), host to a US Air Force base.

10 Starbucks in Qatar, along with Al Jazeera headquarters and a very important US military base called "CENTCOM".

71 Starbucks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including 26 in Mecca (holy cappuccino!). In 1991 KSA hosted almost a million foreign troops, 73% of whom were American.

16 Starbucks in Lebanon.

10 Starbucks in Jordan, home of Zarqawi and the deranged sons of Salt.

12 Starbucks in Bahrain, host to a US Naval base.

7 Starbucks in Oman, which makes its military bases available for use by the US.

72 Starbucks in Kuwait, which makes its air bases available for use by the US and is also host to a few US Army bases.

There have been more than 1,700 suicide bombings in Iraq.

A little more basic in Northern Kuwait.

PS: As an afterthought (again!) I thought I should explain that in 2007:

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.

And in 2005:

Who are the suicide bombers of Iraq? By the radicals' account, they are an internationalist brigade of Arabs, with the largest share in the online lists from Saudi Arabia and a significant minority from other countries on Iraq's borders, such as Syria and Kuwait.

The roster of the dead on just one extremist Web site reviewed by The Washington Post runs to nearly 250 names, ranging from a 13-year-old Syrian boy said to have died fighting the Americans in Fallujah to the reigning kung fu champion of Jordan, who sneaked off to wage war by telling his family he was going to a tournament.

Since 2004, Iraq has been the only country in the Arab world that is ruled by Shia.

I had to revise this post a few times because I kept finding more Arab countries with Starbucks and it took some time researching the American military presence in each country. Also I tried to read it from the perspective of somebody who has little understanding of the history and sectarian nature of the conflict.

Are the Arabs not the biggest hypocrites in the world?

To be honest, I don't think any one culture has a handle on being the most hypocritical because when you move up to the elite levels of their societies, they are very similar in having nothing but contempt for us lower forms of being. Their motives and actions are always nothing more than self serving.

HOWEVER, when you speak of the KSA here, you have a nation that sides with America yet supplies Wahhabi oriented militants to as many anti-American places it possibly can.

The "Royal Saudis are so corrupt one cannot help but wonder if they are not Zionist beneath the surface. This would explain also the apparent complete lack of commitment to anything Palestinian. If I have my facts wrong, please correct me cordially for my knowledge leaves much to be lacking on this issue.