The Middle East new conflict – Doomsday scenario

Having lived in many countries that are ruled by dictators and police states you are accustomed to innocent people being framed and fabricated evidence used to put them in prisons for a very long time.

The latest plot the US authorities claims that they foiled was a bizarre attempt to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington by an Iranian US citizen defies belief as it happens in a free and democratic system.

This evidence was coming as the development in the Middle East and the Arab spring is toppling many pro-US and Israeli friends who are falling one after the other and the Saudi to destabilise the region is gathering pace.  Let us not forget that it is the Saudi intelligence who send their suicide, trigger happy bombers to kill Shia children and families in Iraq, Pakistan and Lebanon and their tanks and Army to crush Shia citizens in Bahrain as well as the World Trade Centre in NY.

Of course fabricating evidence is not alien to American politics with the fake evidence of WMD that led to a war that more than 100,000 Iraqi’s lost their lives as a result).

This plot which has been concocted by US friends in the region and implemented by the Saudi and Gulf dictators aims to crush the new Arab democracy movements in the region, and to support dictators, and then proceed to Isolate and attack Iran by changing the regime in Syria and attacking Hezballah in Lebanon, destabilising Iraq and eventually creating a small conflict between the UAE and Iran which may lead to a small regional war giving the US and Israel the perfect execuses to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities.

On paper this may seem to be the perfect plan for US friends but what has not been taken into consideration fully are the aftermath of a war that may lead to instability of the region, disrupting the world’s energy supplies, the break up of many Gulf states and the rise of new movements with power and money to change the whole world.

The powers to be will ultimately be dragged in one of the world’s most sensitive regions leading to the most disruptive war with far reaching consequences that may extend to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the Gulf countries. All of this may deal a knockout punch to the global financial system.

Saad Al-Saraf

http://mediareachstar.wordpress.com

What is the Saudi/American plan for the new Middle East?

Since the creation of the Middle East, the Saudi government aided by a new Wahabi religious order and with the support of the Saudi intelligence services have been promoting one strategy, which is to weaken progressive Arab countries, and undermine their stability through military coups, issuing fatwa’s inciting religious hatred. The Wahabi religious leaders in Saudi Arabia preach to their followers religious hatred encouraging their followers and mercenaries to kill en mass and supporting terrorists, military invasions and assassinations. The Saudi’s are behind the funding and supporting most of the extreme Muslim groups and terrorist organisations bent on creating havoc and destructions.
You will be forgiven to see the Saudi regime promoting democracy in Syria, Libya and other Arabic countries while their regime is considered to be the most corrupt and undemocratic and does not tolerate decent and all expressions are suppressed with extreme violence.
Now the Saudi’s are talking about the possibility of women voting in the next 4-5 years but not allowed to drive a car. The Saudi’s are trying to show the west that they are moving with the time, a sentiment that most of the Arab populism does not believe.
If the Saudi government are serious about being seen to be liberal and modern they need to do the following:
1. Ask their religious Wahabi’s to stop issuing fatwa’s declaring Christians and Shia Muslims to be infidels and any one who kills them goes to heaven.
2. Surrender these religious Salafi Fatwa issuing killers to the Interpol and International Human Rights Court to be tried for crimes against humanity
3. Apologising to all the victims and those killed and maimed as a result of them supporting terrorist movements
4. Compensating the families of the victims of their atrocities

Will Formula 1’s decision to stage the Bahrain Grand Prix come back to haunt them?

The decision by Bernie Eccleston to hold Formula 1 in Bahrain will do untold damage to the F1 brand reputation and standing to be held in a country where human rights campaigners and people who have demonstrated peacefully are languishing in prisons or in hospitals.

It is a well documented fact that Bahraini doctors were tortured for treating innocent demonstrators who were shot by foreign troops, which the government brought in from Saudi & the UAE to suppress the demonstrations by the deprived native population.

Imagine how the majority of Bahraini citizens and consumers would feel about brands taking part in a race, which appeals to the minority who oppress them.

Brands such as Macdonald, Burger King, Nike, KDD, Pepsi, Coke, KFC, P&G had been boycotted in the Middle East by Arab young people and had seen their sales nosedive following ill judged decisions by brands insensitive to the consumers they rely on.

The cartoons against prophet Muhammad in a Swedish newspaper saw Arla Foods $550 million sales in the Arab world collapse in a matter of weeks.

Brands can exert more pressure on F1 to switch to a different destination or risk been despised by the Arab population (Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen and many more) which despise the actions of the Bahrain government against its people.

International Brands will be well advised not to participate in the Bahrain F1 and be seen to be closer to their consumers rather than dictators.

Saad Saraf

CEO

Mediareach Advertising

www.mediareachstar.com

F1 copy

Glossy magazine targets Arabs in London

A new magazine has been launched in London to target the Arab community in London.
Hella (Arabic for Hello) is a bi-monthly glossy upmarket magazine targeting the affluent high net worth Arab residents and the business people in London.
The publisher Saad Al-Saraf said that this an exciting new launch that will be followed by a number of other projects aimed at the affluent Arabic population in London which are estimated to be 450,000 strong with the majority of the population originating from Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, and Gulf countries. In the summer months a further 100,000 Arabs fly into London from the Gulf countries (Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait).
Arabs adore London and have invested a staggering sum in excess of £100 Billion in property, finance, commerce & investments. Hella London is distributed to more than 25,000 rich Arab residents who live and work in the UK.
The profile of Arabs includes businessmen, property developers, Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, Company directors, accountants and celebrities.
Hella London reports on fashion, health, property, investments, education, food and lifestyle. Hella London is a 64 pages glossy magazine that is delivered to Arab homes and businesses in and around London.
A strict advertising policy is in place therefore only selected brands can advertise in the magazine. (Alcohol. Tobacco, Gambling, Pornography)

www.mediareachstar.com

Islam and the Arab Spring revolt

 

Arab flower grows in Iraq, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan

The dilemma that is gripping the US and the West is what to do about the spring revolts that are sweeping the Middle East? Do they understand it and how are they going to deal with the consequences?
To understand the issue further one must go back to history to find some answers.
Since the death of Prophet Mohammad Muslims from the Umayyad clan went against Prophet Mohammad’s will and renegade against his chosen successor Imam Ali, that came to be known as the Sunni faction of Islam, which since then started waging a sinister campaign of killing, imprisonment against Ali and his followers (Shia). Sunni rulers paid religious leaders to defame Ali and the followers of the prophet ever since. Consecutive Sunni’s rule of the Islamic empire passed the throne from one corrupt ruler to another and the decline of the Islamic empire started.
The Shia followers of Prophet Mohammad and his family insisted on justice, human rights and equal rights for the oppressed and were subsequently imprisoned and killed by successive regimes till this day.
I feel that the same racist and destructive forces underline some of the Sunni revolts as they still think Shia’s are infidels and they still send their “rent a suicide bombers mob” to Shia gatherings and events to kill and maim as many as they can.
As an Iraqi, I am well aware that the second largest groups of suicide bombers in Iraq after the Saudi mindless thugs were Libyans from Benghazi and would only question the “A wolf in a sheep clothing”, AlQaeda in Libya is trying to sell to the West!
It is time for the UK, EU and the USA to realise what they are getting into and demand that Sunni Islamists and their religious leaders acknowledge that Shia’s are Muslims and renounce the killing of innocent families and children.
The US must exert real pressure on despotic regimes to talk to the opposition and work in partnerships to build their country together.

Saad Al-Saraf
www.mediareach.co.uk
www.mediareachstar.com

Immigration – A menace or a blessing for UK Business?

Politicians in the UK and the media use the issue of immigration as a political football that can be kicked in whichever direction they wish, in order to appease middle-England’s concerns and capture some high-impact headlines. But are we putting ourselves at risk of scoring an own goal due to an ignorance of the UK’s labour market and the issues facing UK businesses?

The media agenda tends largely to set narratives positioning immigrants as the ‘villain’ under an umbrella theme of them being an ‘issue’ that needs to be dealt with and the country is being stormed by ‘illegals’ and ‘benefit scroungers’.

After all the debate, furore and opinion, the main issue still remains which is that the immigrant labour force is still needed to manage and work in jobs that the native population isn’t always willing to fill. The labour force issue isn’t going to be solved until either the native population can afford to or is willing to take on low-level menial jobs and it certainly won’t be addressed with a strict quota of only highly qualified IT staff from India.

We estimate that the 2011 Census will put ethnic and multicultural audience across the UK at 15% of the total population and with an increasing number of people arriving from Accession countries this number is likely to increase in an ever-expanding global market place.

However if you look at the multicultural groups who have been in the UK for decades like the South Asian, African Caribbean and growing Arab population, it is evident that the vast majority are contributing hugely to the labour force and the UK GDP. In fact estimated figures put the financial contribution at £150 billion (11% of the UK GDP). (according to ONS, IMATN, UN)

When tracking the migration flow of labour workforces around the world (US, UAE, Germany, UK) you will clearly notice that migrants are a group of people who have a significant purchasing power, once they are established within a country, ultimately helping to stimulate the economy.

Multicultural communities in the UK have a higher than average spend on television sets, mobile phones, white goods, cars, financial services and money transfers abroad, to name but a few of the elements they spend on.

If the UK fails to secure the labour force it needs to help the economy grow, then the adverse effect on productivity and a businesses bottom line will suffer, especially in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and the vibrant service industry. Ultimately, the UK will be in a weaker competitive position globally and less able to take on the emerging BRIC economies like India, China, Russia and Brazil.

And this is touching only on the benefit to the UK’s economy from a domestic perspective. Once we better integrate new migrants into the UK and they feel part of and accepted by wider society as equals, UK businesses can tap into their intimate knowledge of foreign markets for export from local knowledge, shopping habits, consumer needs to cultural habits. The possibilities are endless and the potential is huge!

Saad Saraf
CEO
www.mediareach.co.uk
www.mediareachstar.com

http://mediareach.wordpress.com

http://alsaraf.wordpress.com

Are the West behind the troubles in the Middle East?

Arab flowers

For the first time you would be forgiven to believe that all these incidents are unrelated, but if you read in depth it is clear that the West has a bigger hand at work.
In Libya when the country is producing around 4 million barrels of oil and the whole population is not more than 5 million people the struggle was not as such between pro and anti Gaddafi supporters as it was between the UK and FRance on one hand and the US on the other.
If you look at the oil map you will see that US oil majors had contracts in the west of Libya while the UK and French oil companies had contracts around Benghazi.
The revolt was going well till America looked the other way and allowed Gaddafi to quell the revolt in the west of Libya and then advance towards Benghazi.
Days earlier a mission from the UK government with security officers flew to Benghazi to meet with the opposition and agree a plan of action but the operation went horribly wrong and the visitors got apprehended.
It is safe to assume that the UK and French were not happy about the US taking all the oil contracts in Libya as they did in Saudi and Kuwait so they decided to go it alone and ordered their forces to start action without consulting Nato.
These actions has created a rift between all invading parties which spent days in Europe undergoing a damage limitation excersize to patch the rift with the coalitions.
The west is certainly not that interested democracy in the Middle East and have overlooked armies from Saudi and Qatar invading Bahrain to quash the democracy seeking majority Shia population. You can immediately see the double standards at play by the West and I can therefore coin the phrase ” It’s the oil stupid”.

Saad Al-Saraf

www.arabialine.com

www.mediareachstar.com

www.salaamcommunications.com

Did the US create murdering dictators in the Arab world?

For the past five decades the invading western powers had one agenda in the Middle East, which was to promote stability at the expense of the rights of the local people. This strategy has produced some of the world’s most vile dictators who tortured and massacred their people and used the state apparatus (Police, Army and security) to suppress and quash the aspirations of their people. These regimes which litter the Arab world has produced supper rich multi billionaire ruling families at the expense of ordinary citizens who struggle to earn ends meat.
The new democratic change in Iraq has once again fuelled the aspiration of the Arab masses and rekindled the desire and hope to build a just and fair society.
The West sponsored regimes have resorted to the only option they know which is to kill and torture their people but this time the world media is watching thanks to the advances in social media which is creating an embarrassment of the Western nation.
In a final act of desperation these despotic regimes are opening the gates of hell by turning sects against each other. In Egypt Mubarak bombed Christian churches and tried to blame it on the Muslims and in Bahrain and Saudi the regimes are encouraging Sunni rag tag mobs to fight and kill Shia’s and start a sectarian war so they can stay in power for longer. This scenario will increase the tension but the game is bound to fail, as the young generation Arabs are fully aware of all the dirty tactics Arab dictators have been playing.
The Arab population were encouraged to see how few determined Lebanese youth defending their country against the invaders were enough to break the legendary reputation of the Israeli army which terrified Arab regimes for more than 3 decades. Arab youth have seen the cynical and negative role played by Arab regimes and the betrayal by Arab regimes against Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq.
It’s a new dawn and a promising future in the Middle East.

Saad Al-Saraf
www.mediareachstar.com

What the hell is going on in the Middle East?

Arab Spring

Is the trouble in the MIddle East a new phenomenon or is there any other reasons we are not aware of?
People all over the world are watching with amazement at government collapsing one after another at a rate of one government a week.
You are forgiven if this is all overwhelming and hard to take in, but those in the Middle East have been forecasting this end for decades.
In fact since the death of Prophet Mohammad Muslims close to the Umayyad dynasty rebelled against the Prophet chosen successor Imam Ali and the rule of the Islamic empire was passed on from one corrupt ruler to another.
The Shia followers of Prophet Mohammad and his family insisted on just rule, human rights and justice for the oppressed and were subsequently imprisoned and killed by successive regimes till this day.
What we see now a day is a continuation of the old policy but this time the lies and disinformation the Arab and Gulf regimes is not washing any more and Western government at ill ease to go with the crimes and atrocities committed by rulers against defenceless women, children and innocent people.
It is time for the UK, EU and the USA to exert real pressure on despotic regimes and for once do the right thing and side with the people against the dictators.
If this policy is not followed then the West will have no friends to do business with in the years to come and the power will shift East.

Multiculturalism is the banging stick for ethnic communities?

Now that the discussion around the ‘multiculturalism has failed’ speech by David Cameron at the Munich Security Conference has calmed a little I felt it was an appropriate time to have a sensible debate about the issue. Having worked in the UK’s multicultural marketing industry for over 23 years, I feel that I’m in a very good position to provide a little insight.

In the Speech Mr Cameron suggested that the British state, in era gone by had actively encouraged different cultures, communities and ethnic groups to live separate lives. In my vast experience I find this quite hard to believe. The Government could be accused of not doing enough to integrate new migrants into British society, but I don’t believe they are actively encouraging this.

As an Iraqi migrant myself who has lived in the UK for over 28 years, I know what the experience of moving to a new country feels like. I was lucky that I came here to study and through the university experience was able to integrate better because I could speak the language and was in an institution where it was difficult to avoid meeting local students and immersing into the local culture.

If we’re accusing new migrants of coming to UK and not making the effort to integrate better into wider society, then maybe we should look at a few case studies of British emigrants.

Let’s say Spain for example. British emigrants to Spain are caricatured (ITV’s Benidorm), as moving to the country for a quieter life and lots of Sun Sea and sangria. However, a large number of Brits moving to the country tend to live amongst other Brits and even create a mini industry for themselves flogging British food and goods and consequently not learning the language. Does the scenario sound familiar?

Let’s move a little further afield. Dubai. Now, Brits, and you could even argue migrants to Dubai from other countries to, move there for the lifestyle and work opportunities. But from the many accounts of local people, Brits and migrants from other countries tend to live a very exclusive life amongst themselves, and not really integrated better with the locals.

The point I’m making is that a new migrant moving to a new country always looks for familiarity and a little comfort to settle them in. It’s not exclusive to the UK or Europe; it’s an instinctive human reaction for comfort and survival. That’s why you have new migrants moving to areas around the UK where they find other people who are either from their mother countries and know the newcomer’s language and culture. Australians and South African for example who have moved the UK, don’t really have the language barriers that other migrants may have but how do you then explain the high number of Aussies and Saffas living in South West i.e. Wimbledon and Putney?

My fear is that every time there is a debate about multiculturalism, it always harbours undertones of ethnicity, terrorism, and fear. Mixing the debate does generate headlines and even appeases some right wing groups that the Government is seen to be doing something but it doesn’t address any issues and, as is the case now, brushed under the carpet until the next time a speech on the issue is needed.

I don’t believe multiculturalism has failed. I think Government policy has failed because as with some of the examples above, migrants who come to this country, and to any country for that matter, want to make a living and add to that countries economy, But if the local culture is hostile and they have no opportunities to integrate better into wider society, then how does Mr Cameron expect this to work?

In my experience multiculturalism is working. We have multi-million pound businesses and industries, which have come about as a result of immigration. New communities have added to the culture, art, make-up of local communities from sport, music, food to events and celebrations that have added to the wider publics’ awareness of international cultures. That can only be beneficial in a global multicultural world, and Britain, with its experience should be leading the way!

Saad Saraf

CEO

Saad has been the ultimate driving force and the visionary behind the development and growth of multicultural marketing. His agency Mediareach Advertising has helped hundreds of ethnic and companies communicate effectively with the UK’s and Europe diverse customers.

Saad Saraf is highly regarded in the advertising industry and is a council member of the IPA and head of the diversity group.

He has written a number of papers and the recent report for the IPA (Multicultural Britain in March 2010).

 

www.mediareach.co.uk
www.mediareachstar.com
www.salaamcommunications.com