I was thinking about a new post when I
ran across something in my paper that just couldn't be forgotten, and I had to pause to listen. We
are all too familiar with the darkness that mankind has in abundance.
But every once in a while there is a flicker of light that reminds
us that humanity has another side.
50 comments:
Just a reminder for those who have access to CNN, Fareed Zakaria will have a special on at 9:00 pm Monday, May 11 on ISIS. He had a small clip from that on his Sunday show. Apparently Lee was right in that their goal is to fight American forces on the ground, for whatever reason. At least that is according to the German reporter who was allowed into Mosul, Iraq and interviewed various people there.
Hmmm...my two commenters have gone quiet...I will have to fill the void...
A new Bin Laden story by Seymour Hersh. For this to be true too many people would have had to lie, including the Seal who wrote a complete book about the incident. I am starting to wonder if Hersh is the one with fabrication issues.
Hersh has certainly made some big stories over time, but he's made some pretty sketchy allegations in the past too. I suppose he probably believes his story here, but that might mean only that he's not quite cautious enough when dealing with Muslim fundies (who're some the biggest conspiracy kooks around). I think the fact that his usual employer, The New Yorker, wouldn't publish this is probably an indication they found his ‘evidence’ too sketchy to support the allegations.
I suppose he probably believes his story here...
I almost hope that is the case, otherwise he is playing fast and loose with his integrity as a journalist. But as it is he is implying such a wide ranging conspiracy as to make it almost impossible to be true. It's just strange.
Btw, a slight correction in the time on that CNN special. It is 9:00 Eastern time, 8:00 Central.
I don't know that there was much of anything new in Zakaria's special. Much of it seemed to be old news. They had already revealed the bit about ISIS wanting American boots on the ground.
Analysis of ISIL threat.
"Analysis of ISIL threat"
I must beg to differ.
"This is the warning the world deserves to hear. Because the
leader of the free world refuses to look with clear eyes at the chief
security challenges of the 21st century: the fruits of radical Islam.
***
" Of course, it's hardly a surprise President Barack Obama refuses to
acknowledge all this in plain terms -- the president and his national
security advisers have too often proven naïve, with a dangerous habit
of viewing the world not as it is, but as they hope it could be.
***
"Once again, the president and his advisers appear to have either
ignored or failed to recognize the trajectory of events in the Middle
East.
***
"Indeed, President Obama's refusal to simply call a problem like
radical Islam by its name strongly suggests he is unwilling to make the
difficult decisions that must be made today if we are to stand a
chance of defeating radical Islamist groups."
Damn little analysis of ISIS was offered, and what little there was happened to be mostly wrong.
This was a simple, almost certainly domestically politically inspired, polemic.
As one would expect, Seymor Hersh's new book is getting cut down by a lot of other poltical writers.
And, on a different subject, the ex-Deputy Director of the CIA has a brief piece on Benghazi. (It may help to explain why the current--I think this is the eighth--Congressional inquiry into Benghazi is generating news these days mostly for their habit of regularly announcing they are issuing more subpoenas, which will certainly lead to…even more subpoenas)
…a brief piece on Benghazi…
[Lee]: This was a simple, almost certainly domestically politically inspired, polemic.
Well, yes, you are probably right in that.
And, yes, it was short on detailed analysis. However, the average American, at whom it appears directed, is probably not going to want to spend time on that. They want the highlights, or lowlights, if you will.
It did have a short clip from the special on CNN though, if you wanted to watch that. I can try to find the whole thing elsewhere to link to. Perhaps it is on YouTube by now.
Anyway, the following statement is in error in that it was not Syria that gave rise to ISIS, but as the CNN special pointed out, the Iraq War. It was the yeast to start the bread dough.
The Syrian jihad gave rise to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which now uses Syria as a rear operating base to support its jihad in Iraq, which could soon spill over into Jordan. Plus, Libya is now being used as a rear operating base by ISIS and other global jihadist elements striving to redraw the map of the Middle East, even as they plan attacks in Europe and North America.
The Arab Spring, and the rebellion in Syria that was started in hopes of riding on its coattails, gave ISIS the opportunity to gather strength. This was kneading the bread dough.
***
The baking process:
According to data compiled by Jones, from 2010 through 2013, the number of Salafi jihadist groups increased by 58%. These groups are fueled by Salafiyya Jihadiyya, an ideology that not only informs the agenda of al Qaeda, but is the source code for the agenda of the al Qaeda offshoot ISIS.
***
The finished loaf:
ISIS controls a large amount of territory in the Middle East, and the group is rapidly growing its ranks in places such as Libya and Afghanistan, while at the same time inspiring and plotting attacks in the West.
And, although ISIS is trying to "out al Qaeda" al Qaeda, resorting to attention winning stunts to boost its profile on television sets around the world, al Qaeda itself is no less of a threat to the United States and our allies today than it was in January 2014.
It now awaits someone to start nibbling, and for some reason it is the United States it is hoping to lure back in.
To that end we are seeing increasingly horrible scenarios playing out in Iraq (especially). And recruiting via social media seems to be given a high priority in ISIL's planning, as its propaganda is more sophisticated than in the past.
We have a U.S. Marine chopper missing in Nepal, six Marines onboard plus the flight crew. They were going in to help with the recovery from today's (fairly large) earthquake.
Hersh may very well be onto something—what did the Pakistanis know, when did they know it, and how much did they help?
Now this would make a good book. Given the internal politics of Pakistan I could see where we might give cover to some people within that country's government who may have helped us.
We have a U.S. Marine chopper missing in Nepal, six Marines onboard plus the flight crew.
Mechanical difficulties?
"I can try to find the whole thing elsewhere to link to."
Wasn't anything new there you said. Even the part about ISIS hoping to drag America back into a boots-on-the-ground war against ISIS isn't new to anybody's been paying attention. Lot's of people ain't been paying attention I guess, I'd include possibly the authors of that polemic you put up. Either they don't know that ISIS wants to draw us back in there, or they don't care, ‘cause they kinda neglected to mention that.
"…ISIL's…propaganda is more sophisticated than in the past."
They've been leaps and bounds ahead of al-Qaeda on that front almost from day one.
Contrary to what your authors seem to believe; the two groups do have quite different agenda and quite different tactics.
"Mechanical difficulties?"
Most likely.
…a brief piece on Benghazi…
His book might make an interesting read.
Either they don't know that ISIS wants to draw us back in there, or they don't care, ‘cause they kinda neglected to mention that.
Perhaps they want to accept the challenge?
"Mechanical difficulties?"
Most likely.
Chance of survivors then.
"Perhaps they want to accept the challenge?"
The thought has occurred to me. That means they want to accept the challenge without first getting agreement from the American general population; spring it on the general population later as a faite accompli. That's a recipe for an unpopular war, as we've seen in the past more than once. An unpopular war is hard for a democracy to win. So, I figure them for stupid arrogance just about any way I figure it.
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"Chance of survivors then."
Possible. Last I heard an Indian chopper thought he heard the pilot complaining about a fuel problem, but the Indians didn't hear or see any indications of a crash. So, maybe he got it on the ground in one piece. The mountains could be blocking radio transmissions, if they made it to the ground al
"if they made it to the ground alive"
Meanwhile, back in Russia, it appears that the the plot thickens with regard to the Nemtsov murder.
Nemtsov report: Hundreds of Russians killed in Ukraine
Syria's Mercenaries: The Afghans fighting Assad's war
"…it appears that the the plot thickens with regard to the Nemtsov
murder."
I think that's pretty much blown over. Nobody's gonna get in trouble for that except maybe a couple of hired hit men who're not gonna rat out their bosses.
And the Afghans seem to be more like conscripts than mercenaries. They're Afghans though; they will fight; give ‘em weapons and a captain, and they'll fight.
Possible coup in Burundi, the North Korean defense chief executed with anti-aircraft guns, and 43 members of a religious minority in Pakistan killed in an attack on a bus.
Sometimes you gotta wonder about this world...
The winner of the "Draw a cartoon of Mohammed " contest in Garland, Texas was an ex-Muslim from Albania. He got $10,000 and a 24 hour head start, and has taken his cash and disappeared. He is now in hiding. The New Yorker I hope it was enough.
He got $10,000 and a 24 hour head start, and has taken his cash and disappeared. He is now in hiding.
Okay, that would be funny, if it weren't so sad.
What these activists say about Islam and their right to say it are different issues, now entangled. By attacking the cartoon gathering, the gunmen in Texas have reframed the argument about it in favor of their enemies. Without their attack, the focus would have been on the bigotry of the cartoon exercise. It is now also on freedom of thought—“not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate,” as Oliver Wendell Holmes declared.
Yup, exactly. And every time there is a beheading by ISIL, a hacking attack on a blogger in Bangladesh, or any other violent act, it is Islam and its moderate followers that lose.
" And every time there is a beheading by ISIL, a hacking attack on
a blogger in Bangladesh, or any other violent act, it is Islam and its
moderate followers that lose."
You've apparently not been following the hell-raising on FoxNews and Radio Right-Wing about how it's Pamella Geller (the event organizer and a fairly noxious woman) who's getting trashed in the media?
Back from a long weekend in Prague. Wonderful city. Now to check up on what ya'll have been bickering 'bout since last I checked in...
Lynnette:
"And every time there is a beheading by ISIL, a hacking attack on a blogger in Bangladesh, or any other violent act, it is Islam and its moderate followers that lose."
Well, to play devils advocate, what is Islam and who is interpreting it right? You?
Since the Koran is supposed to be the words of Muhammed, that book is pretty much cementing what Islam is. Since Muhammed and the Koran is infallible in the view of most muslims (and if not, are they muslims at all?). So we can pretty much establish that in a muslim dominant society the rules of the Koran goes.
Then there are the Hadiths. That's where a lot of the anti-jew or anti-infidel hate mongering stems from. Are the Hadiths for real and represent Islam? Well, I guess that would be a case for the learned elders of Islam to answer. I have so far not heard that many repudiations from their quarters though.
What I hear is: "No-No this is not Islam" in quarters where Islam is not dominant; and then "this is Sharia law and the Profet's will" as soon as Islam is dominant.
BTW, I intend to read the Seymor Hersh story and then comment on it. It's long and I don't have the time to read the whole piece right now.
I will read it with a completely open mind as I see either scenario (that I have come to by the headlines) as plausible.
BUT: I don't see that either story, if it turns out to be true, would really matter.
If the US found BinL and smoked him alone as they say. OK good hunting.
If the Pakis sheltered him, no big surprise, and then gave him up, still no big surprise, and the US smoked him on their guard - well - good hunting.
Whatever the case it's not likely to affect the US. They did what needed doing and smoked Bin Laden.
It might end up as an embarasment for the Pakis though. But I doubt any new version will get past their domestic spin on things.
You've apparently not been following the hell-raising on FoxNews and Radio Right-Wing...
I try to avoid them at all costs. lol!
[Lynnette]: And every time there is a beheading by ISIL, a hacking attack on a blogger in Bangladesh, or any other violent act, it is Islam and its moderate followers that lose
Marcus: Well, to play devils advocate, what is Islam and who is interpreting it right?
Good question.
My statement reflects my feeling that a set of beliefs, in this case Islam, will not last long if it manages to alienate a majority of its would be followers. While we certainly have an extreme group of people interpreting Islam as a very fundamentalist movement, I would hazard a guess that the majority of its followers do not agree with that view, otherwise this violence would be the norm for all, and it isn't.
What I hear is: "No-No this is not Islam" in quarters where Islam is not dominant; and then "this is Sharia law and the Profet's will" as soon as Islam is dominant.
Possibly so. Perhaps the answer is for Islam, or any religion for that matter, not to be dominant. It's called the separation of religion and state. I am strongly for it, myself.
"…; and then ‘this is Sharia law and the Profet's will’ as soon as
Islam is dominant."
Marcus
"Possibly so."
Lynnette
Or, maybe not.
Indonesia is the largest (by population) Islamic nation on Earth. We don't hear much of this crap coming out of Indonesia (where they still whack Islamic extremists when they catch them--cite--they've got a problem with them, but it's new, and it's Arab Islam spreading into Indonesia). Pakistan elected a woman Prime Minister in 1988 (she's dead now; whacked by Paki extremists, but that's an offshoot of Arab Islam too; financed and nurtured by the Wahabi sect out of Saudi Arabia for years and years before it finally tore Pakistan into a low-grade, semi-permanent civil war). Don't get much trouble coming out of Bangladesh, or Malaysia (although, Malaysia, like Pakistan, now has a problem with Islamic trouble coming in.) Most of west Africa and sub-Saharan Africa finds Islamic extremism to be the new and coming thing, but didn't have much trouble with it in past years.
This is a fairly recent phenomenon, and I think it can be traced back pretty much in a straight line from everywhere it now is, to Saudi Salafism and/or the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood (the latter being a 20th century phenomenon differing from Saudi Wahabism most significantly in not having made a deal with the House of Saud), both are Arab movements in origin. (Iranian Shia fundamentalism is also fairly new, although Islam isn't new to Iran, but that's a whole ‘nother explanation goin’ on there.)
Let's not overlook, however, that good ol’-fashioned Islam teaches the integration of ‘church and state’.
American style separation is explicitly rejected by the religious tenets of Islam--all Islam. But, for many years most Muslims chose to overlook that, just as we tend to overlook the exhortations to kill the witches and stone adulterers to death and some other stuff like that.
Furthermore, integration of church and state were the norm in the dominant western Christianities since the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine. It remained the dominant norm in Roman Catholicism, and even in the various Protestant rebellions thereto, until probably the 17th-18th centuries (the new United States of America set a good example there), and it is still popular, in varying degrees, in some of the Christian Orthodox communities.
"I try to avoid them at all costs."
Ah, well, they're getting seriously bent that anybody would point out that the Charlie Hebdo cartoons were crap, and Pam Geller is a seriously noxious woman in her own right, and they get especially bent when anybody questions whether or not they should be defaming Muslims in general for the actions of a minority of Muslims. (Right-wingers need enemies; Muslims are the enemy now, although it was Jews just 30 years ago, Catholics too, to a lesser extent; now it's just the Muslims, so they gotta maintain their purity there and be suspicious of all Muslims until they prove themselves peaceful by voting for Republicans and supporting the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian areas, and denouncing all the other Muslims, or whatever it is they're supposed to do.)
@ Lynnette,
Interesting editorial take on Bush's ‘Iraq’ problem. This guy says Republicans know in their own hearts that they need a candidate who doesn't remind the press and the voters that it was Dubya who intentionallyh blew up the status quo in the Middle East, otherwise they can't blame the mess on Obama's supposed lack of backbone, as is their fondest hope. Obviously, a candidate named "Bush" isn't gonna let them pretend the Bush ‘Democracy Project’ away into forgetfulness as they clearly hope to do.
The Iranians have tried to jack another ship in the Persian Gulf. CNN
That cite looks interesting, but I'm out of time for tonight. I'll have to read it tomorrow.
Don't get much trouble coming out of Bangladesh...
There's been a rash of blogger hackings over there recently.
...the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood...
I read that they are dipping their toes back into Syria.
American style separation is explicitly rejected by the religious tenets of Islam--all Islam. But, for many years most Muslims chose to overlook that,...
A wise choice, that. There was a reason people who founded our country wanted that separation.
Obviously, a candidate named "Bush" isn't gonna let them pretend the Bush ‘Democracy Project’ away into forgetfulness as they clearly hope to do.
Unless, perhaps, he says that knowing what he knows today he would not have invaded Iraq...
The Iranians have tried to jack another ship in the Persian Gulf.
I saw that. What, are they feeling the need for attention, or something? Or are they trying to encourage the US to resume escorting ships through the Gulf? They're starting to remind me of the North Koreans who have been rattling their nuclear weapons in a desperate bid to be relevant.
"Unless, perhaps, he says that knowing what he knows today…"
Still, the name ‘Bush’ will serve as a reminder throughout the election that in fact it was not Obama who blew up the Middle East. (Jeb has finally answered as you suggested.)
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"That cite looks interesting…"
Or, maybe not. I think I got the wrong link in there.
The Obama administration's meeting with the six Gulf Oil States has ended peacefully; that's sumpthin’ I guess. Clearly, the Gulf states wanted renewed guarantees that the United States considered itself principally responsible for their defense, and also that the United States would get more deeply militarily involved in Syria, and they didn't get either.
This is a fairly recent phenomenon, and I think it can be traced back pretty much in a straight line from everywhere it now is, to Saudi Salafism and/or the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood (the latter being a 20th century phenomenon differing from Saudi Wahabism most significantly in not having made a deal with the House of Saud), both are Arab movements in origin.
The source of the ideology is here, yes. But the spread has been helped a great deal by the internet. The cite that you linked to was from 2001 and things have changed quite a bit since then. Then these groups may have been separate entities with localized goals, but with the rise of social media and the underground Web they have been given a chance to compare ideas, and hatred. A lot of these sites, like Facebook, only became big fairly recently, after the Iraq War started. We have seen the loose collection of hackers called Anonymous arise since then, and we are seeing the more violent groups take advantage of the same avenues.
Or, maybe not. I think I got the wrong link in there.
Well, if anything else, it shows how quickly things can morph into creatures we are not prepared for. On balance 14 years isn't that long in the scheme of things.
Hmmm...nor is 25...I feel the need for a global climate change post coming on...lol!
Clearly, the Gulf states wanted renewed guarantees that the United States considered itself principally responsible for their defense, and also that the United States would get more deeply militarily involved in Syria, and they didn't get either.
It seems we are considering getting more involved in the South China sea
It looks like the helicopter in Nepal crashed and burned. They have found wreckage and some burned bodies. *sigh*
Ice shelf near collapse
Okay, I'm off to sprinkle grass seed in the areas of my lawn I murdered a few weeks ago...
"It seems we are considering getting more involved in the South
China sea."
Yeah, I was reading an article the other day from a fella bemoaning all the Republican chatter in connection with ‘National Defense’ and gettin’ tough and all that, and all of them talkin’ ‘bout Arabs and none of ‘em talkin’ ‘bout China.
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