Showing posts with label Radical Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radical Islam. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
What Does The New Arab Revolt Mean For The Western World
Daniel Pipes writes an interesting article today regarding the conflict that is exploding and intensifying in the Middle East and Africa. I'd highly suggest you read it: http://bigpeace.com/dpipes/2011/03/01/the-new-arab-revolt/
The following is my reply to his ideas. I will add Dr. Pipes' commentary if he responds.
Your optimism is encouraging Dr. Pipes. And your thought that "Conspiracy theories have been the refuge of decayed rulers, not exuberant crowds." seems eloquently self-evident. But I'm concerned about what happens a couple of moves into the game.
Would you concede it as likely that radical interests are fueling this general status of revolt? The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. are far are in a far more advantageous place from which to achieve their strategic goals once the tyrannical rulers are removed. Isn't this a replay of 70's Iran where the liberals were instrumental in overthrowing The Shah?
Once the "kumbayah's" died down, and The Shah was in exile, the theocracy seized power. Wouldn't the modern day equivalent result in a more unified, anti-West "Axis of Islamofaciscm"?
While I can't imagine any liberty-concious, freedom-loving individual would support the Quadaffi's of the Middle East, wouldn't a push (from the EU, UN, NATO, US) toward a more orderly transition to regionally realistic democracy be advantageous to everyone? My fear is that the Western "powers that be" will naively support and champion the cause of individual freedom, only to have the end result of a far greater global menace, and a drastically worse human condition for the so-called newly free.
I explored this last month when I wrote:
http://rwreagan1.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-powerful-government-less-freedom.html
Please allow me to sincerely and humbly submit that your knowledge of the region, and geopolitics in general, is far greater than mine. But I would appreciate your thoughts (or those of anyone willing to offer their insight) regarding what will happen when the tyrants have been toppled. Are we saving ourselves from drowning only to be burned at the stake?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Nazis Of The New Millenium
Here's an interesting exercise in history repeating. Just take the following report from the AP, replace Hezbollah or Shiite with Nazi, Israel with "the Jews", and take a look at what you end up with:
The Third Reich's leader told his Nazi guerrilla group Wednesday to be prepared to invade the Jews, a day after the Jewish defense minister warned that the quiet along the tense border could erupt into violence.
The comments by the two sides illustrate the fragile situation along the frontier since they (Jews and Nazis) fought a bitter, six-week war in the summer of 2006. The war ended in a U.N.-brokered truce but officials on both sides of the border believe it is only a matter of time before hostilities resume.
"I tell the holy warriors of the Third Reich to be ready for a day when, if war is imposed on us, your command might ask you to control the Jews," Nazi leader Adolf Hitler said in a televised speech Wednesday. The Galilee refers to land in northern Israel.
On Tuesday, Jewish Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the Jewish military's northern command and told soldiers there that the quiet along the frontier might not last.
"This is not forever and it could under certain conditions deteriorate, and then you will have to be called on again, with everything you learned in training," he said. "Today the units are better trained and more prepared but there is always more to be done and you need to be ready for every test."
The Nazis and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Jews dead.
Also Wednesday, a Nazi cell commander who escaped from an Egyptian prison during the country's recent uprising appeared at the Nazi rally. Adolf Hitler, better known as Der Fuerher, held up a Nazi flag and raised his hands in a V-for-victory sign Wednesday during the rally in Beirut.
The Nazi militant group says that Hitler was among the thousands of prisoners across Egypt who are believed to have escaped or been set free shortly after the revolt against longtime President Hosni Mubarak erupted Jan. 25. But this was his first public appearance.
Hitler was convicted in 2010 along with 25 others of spying for the Nazis and plotting attacks in Egypt.
Now read the article as it was actually written:
Hezbollah's leader told his Shiite guerrilla group Wednesday to be prepared to invade northern Israel, a day after Israel's defense minister warned that the quiet along the tense border could erupt into violence.
The comments by the two sides illustrate the fragile situation along the frontier since they Israel and Hezbollah fought a bitter, six-week war in the summer of 2006. The war ended in a U.N.-brokered truce but officials on both sides of the border believe it is only a matter of time before hostilities resume.
"I tell the holy warriors of the Islamic Resistance to be ready for a day when, if war is imposed on us, your command might ask you to control the Galilee area," Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech Wednesday. The Galilee refers to land in northern Israel.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the Israeli military's northern command and told soldiers there that the quiet along the frontier might not last.
"This is not forever and it could under certain conditions deteriorate, and then you will have to be called on again, with everything you learned in training," he said. "Today the units are better trained and more prepared but there is always more to be done and you need to be ready for every test."
Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
Also Wednesday, a Hezbollah cell commander who escaped from an Egyptian prison during the country's recent uprising appeared at the Hezbollah rally. Mohammed Youssef Mansour, better known as Sami Chehab, held up a Hezbollah flag and raised his hands in a V-for-victory sign Wednesday during the rally in Beirut.
The Shiite militant group says that Mansour was among the thousands of prisoners across Egypt who are believed to have escaped or been set free shortly after the revolt against longtime President Hosni Mubarak erupted Jan. 25. But this was his first public appearance.
Mansour was convicted in 2010 along with 25 others of spying for Hezbollah and plotting attacks in Egypt.
Source
If you haven't been concerned about the recent surge in radical Islam around the world, perhaps it's time you should be.
The Third Reich's leader told his Nazi guerrilla group Wednesday to be prepared to invade the Jews, a day after the Jewish defense minister warned that the quiet along the tense border could erupt into violence.
The comments by the two sides illustrate the fragile situation along the frontier since they (Jews and Nazis) fought a bitter, six-week war in the summer of 2006. The war ended in a U.N.-brokered truce but officials on both sides of the border believe it is only a matter of time before hostilities resume.
"I tell the holy warriors of the Third Reich to be ready for a day when, if war is imposed on us, your command might ask you to control the Jews," Nazi leader Adolf Hitler said in a televised speech Wednesday. The Galilee refers to land in northern Israel.
On Tuesday, Jewish Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the Jewish military's northern command and told soldiers there that the quiet along the frontier might not last.
"This is not forever and it could under certain conditions deteriorate, and then you will have to be called on again, with everything you learned in training," he said. "Today the units are better trained and more prepared but there is always more to be done and you need to be ready for every test."
The Nazis and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Jews dead.
Also Wednesday, a Nazi cell commander who escaped from an Egyptian prison during the country's recent uprising appeared at the Nazi rally. Adolf Hitler, better known as Der Fuerher, held up a Nazi flag and raised his hands in a V-for-victory sign Wednesday during the rally in Beirut.
The Nazi militant group says that Hitler was among the thousands of prisoners across Egypt who are believed to have escaped or been set free shortly after the revolt against longtime President Hosni Mubarak erupted Jan. 25. But this was his first public appearance.
Hitler was convicted in 2010 along with 25 others of spying for the Nazis and plotting attacks in Egypt.
Now read the article as it was actually written:
Hezbollah's leader told his Shiite guerrilla group Wednesday to be prepared to invade northern Israel, a day after Israel's defense minister warned that the quiet along the tense border could erupt into violence.
The comments by the two sides illustrate the fragile situation along the frontier since they Israel and Hezbollah fought a bitter, six-week war in the summer of 2006. The war ended in a U.N.-brokered truce but officials on both sides of the border believe it is only a matter of time before hostilities resume.
"I tell the holy warriors of the Islamic Resistance to be ready for a day when, if war is imposed on us, your command might ask you to control the Galilee area," Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech Wednesday. The Galilee refers to land in northern Israel.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the Israeli military's northern command and told soldiers there that the quiet along the frontier might not last.
"This is not forever and it could under certain conditions deteriorate, and then you will have to be called on again, with everything you learned in training," he said. "Today the units are better trained and more prepared but there is always more to be done and you need to be ready for every test."
Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
Also Wednesday, a Hezbollah cell commander who escaped from an Egyptian prison during the country's recent uprising appeared at the Hezbollah rally. Mohammed Youssef Mansour, better known as Sami Chehab, held up a Hezbollah flag and raised his hands in a V-for-victory sign Wednesday during the rally in Beirut.
The Shiite militant group says that Mansour was among the thousands of prisoners across Egypt who are believed to have escaped or been set free shortly after the revolt against longtime President Hosni Mubarak erupted Jan. 25. But this was his first public appearance.
Mansour was convicted in 2010 along with 25 others of spying for Hezbollah and plotting attacks in Egypt.
Source
If you haven't been concerned about the recent surge in radical Islam around the world, perhaps it's time you should be.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Why Did CBS Cover-Up The Rape of Lara Logan In Tahrir Square?
Dateline — Egypt:
“[60 Minutes] correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, ‘Jew! Jew!’ as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo’s main square Friday.” Powerful reporting on an important story. Two problems: It didn’t run until yesterday, and CBS didn’t run it. The quote is from the New York Post. And it was The Wall Street Journal that reported “the separation and assault lasted roughly 20 to 30 minutes.”
But CBS? They sat on their own story. For five days, as reporters reveled amid giddy celebrations in Tahrir Square, and as President Obama praised President Obama’s handling of the Egyptian crisis, CBS reported nothing.
Only when other media had the story did CBS break the news that its own chief foreign correspondent was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault.”
Five days of silence — not even “60 Minutes” coverage of the Egypt story. No mention of the “mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy” who attacked their own reporter. How is that not news?
Some women journalists, like WGBH’s Callie Crossley, complain that CBS should never have reported the story, that Logan should be treated like a rape victim in the United States.
But I’m with liberal columnist Richard Cohen of The Washington Post: “The sexual assault of a woman in the middle of a public square is a story . . . particularly because the crowd in Tahrir Square was almost invariably characterized as friendly and out for nothing but democracy,” Cohen wrote.
Watching the same complicit media we all saw, Cohen notes most journalists covered the mobs “as if they were reporting from Times Square on New Year’s Eve, stopping only at putting on a party hat.”
Even CBS’s own statement said Logan was “covering the jubilation” and was attacked “amidst the celebration.” Having 200 “good guys” gang assault a female reporter while screaming “Jew! Jew!” doesn’t fit the narrative. Is that why CBS sat on the story?
Or is it the cultural issue? A rape in a bar is a sex crime. But a pack of political protesters who rape a “Jew” in public is a story about culture.
Rapes happen everywhere, it’s true. And political protests are a global phenomenon, too. But as Slate.com’s Rachel Larimore says, “there’s a huge difference between flipping over a truck and spraying friends with beer and prying a woman away from her security detail and sexually assaulting her.”
Larimore wonders if “Logan’s attack [is] an anomaly, or is it to be expected from men raised in a culture that treats women as lesser citizens?
“[60 Minutes] correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, ‘Jew! Jew!’ as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo’s main square Friday.” Powerful reporting on an important story. Two problems: It didn’t run until yesterday, and CBS didn’t run it. The quote is from the New York Post. And it was The Wall Street Journal that reported “the separation and assault lasted roughly 20 to 30 minutes.”
Only when other media had the story did CBS break the news that its own chief foreign correspondent was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault.”
Five days of silence — not even “60 Minutes” coverage of the Egypt story. No mention of the “mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy” who attacked their own reporter. How is that not news?
Some women journalists, like WGBH’s Callie Crossley, complain that CBS should never have reported the story, that Logan should be treated like a rape victim in the United States.
But I’m with liberal columnist Richard Cohen of The Washington Post: “The sexual assault of a woman in the middle of a public square is a story . . . particularly because the crowd in Tahrir Square was almost invariably characterized as friendly and out for nothing but democracy,” Cohen wrote.
Watching the same complicit media we all saw, Cohen notes most journalists covered the mobs “as if they were reporting from Times Square on New Year’s Eve, stopping only at putting on a party hat.”
Even CBS’s own statement said Logan was “covering the jubilation” and was attacked “amidst the celebration.” Having 200 “good guys” gang assault a female reporter while screaming “Jew! Jew!” doesn’t fit the narrative. Is that why CBS sat on the story?
Or is it the cultural issue? A rape in a bar is a sex crime. But a pack of political protesters who rape a “Jew” in public is a story about culture.
Rapes happen everywhere, it’s true. And political protests are a global phenomenon, too. But as Slate.com’s Rachel Larimore says, “there’s a huge difference between flipping over a truck and spraying friends with beer and prying a woman away from her security detail and sexually assaulting her.”
Larimore wonders if “Logan’s attack [is] an anomaly, or is it to be expected from men raised in a culture that treats women as lesser citizens?
I would point her to the 2008 broadcast on the Al-Aribiya network of a female lawyer arguing that it’s OK for Muslim men to sexually assault Israeli women, because the Jews
have “raped the land.”
Or this week’s story of Hena, the 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl raped by a family member, then sentenced to 100 lashes by Muslim authorities for having sex out of wedlock. After 80 lashes, Hena died.
There are stories like this — and Logan’s — every week, all with the same cultural denominator.
For the record, Logan isn’t Jewish. And because she’s not Muslim, there’s no possibility she’ll face the lash.
But Lara Logan is a story. Why did CBS work so hard not to tell it?
Source
have “raped the land.”
Or this week’s story of Hena, the 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl raped by a family member, then sentenced to 100 lashes by Muslim authorities for having sex out of wedlock. After 80 lashes, Hena died.
There are stories like this — and Logan’s — every week, all with the same cultural denominator.
For the record, Logan isn’t Jewish. And because she’s not Muslim, there’s no possibility she’ll face the lash.
Source
Monday, February 14, 2011
Obama's Supporters Want to Declare Him an Atheist, But Even They Don't Really Know
President Obama‘s coddling of Islam has many Americans questioning his national-security judgment, if not his intentions. In his administration’s muddled response to the crisis in Egypt, one clear message came from all the president’s men: A new government in Cairo “has to include a whole host of important nonsecular actors,” as stated by White House spokesman Robert L. Gibbs. The hitch is that in the Middle East, nonsecular means radical Islamist, like the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, in the middle of this global clash of civilizations, Mr. Obama‘s own religious disposition is being questioned – and not from the right, but the left.
On his HBO show “Real Time” on Friday, host Bill Maher said of Mr. Obama, “I think he’s a centrist the way he’s a Christian – not really. … His mother was a secular humanist and I think he is.” When Princeton University professor Cornel West challenged Mr. Maher‘s point about Mr. Obama‘s religion, saying, “He changed his mind on the God question, brother Bill,” the comic retorted, “It’s like when he says ‘I struggle with gay marriage’ – you don’t struggle with gay marriage, you’re fine with gay marriage.” Another guest – who insisted Mr. Obama has “always been pretty centrist” – helpfully reminded that Mr. Obama “did go to church before he was a candidate for the presidency.” That church, of course, was presided over by the racist, anti-American, hate-spewing Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Bill Maher can be a funny guy. His website flashes the crack, “It doesn’t make me un-American to say I’d rather live in Paris than in places where cheese only comes in individually wrapped slices.” Aside from the fact that bashing France is a national pasttime and a pretty reliable measure of patriotism, a man who prefers unpasteurized fromage can’t be all bad. That said, his humor has a very tangible dark side, especially when it comes to faith.
In the past, Mr. Maher has called Christianity “the ultimate hustle” and ridiculed the fight of good versus evil as a shakedown: “If God gets rid of the devil – and he could, he’s all powerful – well, then there’s no fear. There’s no reason to come to church. There’s no reason to pass the plate.”
Liberals hate it when anybody throws their own gaffes back in their faces. Media Matters can chuck bricks at us all they want for taking purported cheap shots at the president. This debate over Mr. Obama‘s religion is happening among his most ardent supporters, just like the birther flames being fanned by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Hawaii’s Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Mr. Obama‘s critics just sit back and laugh while Democrats do their dirty work for them. With friends like Mr. Maher, Mr. Obama doesn’t need enemies.
Source
On his HBO show “Real Time” on Friday, host Bill Maher said of Mr. Obama, “I think he’s a centrist the way he’s a Christian – not really. … His mother was a secular humanist and I think he is.” When Princeton University professor Cornel West challenged Mr. Maher‘s point about Mr. Obama‘s religion, saying, “He changed his mind on the God question, brother Bill,” the comic retorted, “It’s like when he says ‘I struggle with gay marriage’ – you don’t struggle with gay marriage, you’re fine with gay marriage.” Another guest – who insisted Mr. Obama has “always been pretty centrist” – helpfully reminded that Mr. Obama “did go to church before he was a candidate for the presidency.” That church, of course, was presided over by the racist, anti-American, hate-spewing Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Bill Maher can be a funny guy. His website flashes the crack, “It doesn’t make me un-American to say I’d rather live in Paris than in places where cheese only comes in individually wrapped slices.” Aside from the fact that bashing France is a national pasttime and a pretty reliable measure of patriotism, a man who prefers unpasteurized fromage can’t be all bad. That said, his humor has a very tangible dark side, especially when it comes to faith.
In the past, Mr. Maher has called Christianity “the ultimate hustle” and ridiculed the fight of good versus evil as a shakedown: “If God gets rid of the devil – and he could, he’s all powerful – well, then there’s no fear. There’s no reason to come to church. There’s no reason to pass the plate.”
Liberals hate it when anybody throws their own gaffes back in their faces. Media Matters can chuck bricks at us all they want for taking purported cheap shots at the president. This debate over Mr. Obama‘s religion is happening among his most ardent supporters, just like the birther flames being fanned by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Hawaii’s Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Mr. Obama‘s critics just sit back and laugh while Democrats do their dirty work for them. With friends like Mr. Maher, Mr. Obama doesn’t need enemies.
Source
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