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January 21, 2010
Tariq Ramadan Beats City Hall
Yesterday U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton granted a waiver of the bar on U.S. entry imposed on Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, in response to the the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals' recent landmark decision in the denial of a U.S. visa to Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan. The visa denial had been based on Ramadan's ostensible "material support of a terrorist organization," in the form of charitable contributions to two organizations, one French and one Swiss, providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. The U.S. State Department later retroactively determined that the donation recipients supported Hamas, and that Ramadan, as a "material supporter of terrorism," was effectively barred for life from the U.S. - in spite of the approved work visa petition that should have allowed him to take up the teaching position he had accepted at Notre Dame University.
Continue reading "Tariq Ramadan Beats City Hall"
Posted by evaluna at 08:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Religious Misunderstanding Causes Flight Diversion, With a Twist (or several)
But for once, a Muslim wasn't the cause; this time, a paranoid and/or ignorant passenger mistook an Orthodox Jewish ritual object for a bomb, with hilariously idiotic results.
(My grandfather was right, darnit - he always avoided tefillin like the plague, to the extent that he would ditch Hebrew school, but wrap a rope tightly around his forearm in proper tefilln style, so his parents would see the welts on his arm and wouldn't figure out that he hadn't gone.)
Seriously, where will the stupidity and/or madness end?
Posted by evaluna at 07:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 21, 2009
Al Qaeda fil Maghreb and Sahelian Illusions
Maghreb Politics Review has a smart critique of the American extra-territorial seizure of supposed AQIM plotters (from Ghana) for trial in New York: US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs “Link”
The comment is spot on relative to the strangely superficial and paranoid American approach to AQIM.
And the complaint is littered with attempts to illicit anti-American sentiments from the marks, who rarely return with anything more damning than a “God Willing” or two. Clearly the US government expects that everyone who hates America is on the same page, plotting across ideological lines, continents, and religions to hurt us. By selling drugs. To Europeans.
The counterpoint of blind nationalism here is blind paranoia, the thought that everyone must be scheming about you behind your back, that all “evil doers” are doing evil as part of a grand conspiracy to bring you down. If you wave several million dollars in front of three people from one of the poorest countries in the world, do you think when you say “You love Al-Qaeda, right?” they’ll launch into a subtle discussion of international terror? Or will they say “Oh yeah, you’re my brother cause we hate America too! And I’ll take that %50 up front in Euros.”
But this is par for the US government anti-terrorism law enforcement. The policing enforcement of US terrorism policy is as hamfisted as the military “war on terror”, except that the policing war is usually motivated by the desire for good domestic press. They tend to create their own terrorist plots, convince criminal idiots to accede to the plans invented by the US, and then arrest the patsies. The example of the recent Bronx terror plot in which the FBI informant took several not very bright young men recently released from jail, created a plot, bought gifts for them until they agreed to help, gave them the supplies, and then arrested them as “dangerous Al Qaeda terrorists.” Of course there are real terrorists out there, but it’s much easier to disrupt plots you invent yourself.
Emphasis added. Quite.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 12, 2009
Onion on Ft Hood
Nice little entry on Ft. Hood massacre reaction by the indefatigable (whatever that means) Onion.
FORT HOOD, TX—Following Army psychologist Nidal Malik Hasan's shooting rampage on the Fort Hood military base . . . fellow Muslims across the nation sent him a message today, saying "thanks a fucking bunch, asshole," to the 39-year-old killer. "Hey, great, eight years of progress right down the shitter" . . . .
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 20, 2009
Lewistful Thinking Reconsidered: A Conversion Narrative
However valuable Bernard Lewis may have been as a historian, his influence on recent academia/military/political thinking vis a vis MENA, has always been horribly worse than useless, but nevertheless quite significant. This account of a former academic disciple's ditching Lewis when encountering reality is worth reading if only to hear that when he encountered reality on the ground "with Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington as my guides, I ha[d] no way to make sense of such an encounter."
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:29 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 09, 2009
The Real Itchin' in Religion: Not the Text, Stupid
Some insightful, as in "I wish I'd said it" commentary, some days back by blogger "Thoreau" at Unqualified Offerings. Adapted below from a lead post and then some later comment by him, he notes in passing some things of direct relevance to those who look at issues of religion and violence and traditionalism, etc. specifically as regards the largely Muslim Middle East and the alleged Muslim requirement to go forth and jihadify. In sum, the idea that people are driven, or even set their norms, by some robotic response to purported permanent religious injunctions in the sacred writ is non-real world, i.e. not religion as actually practiced by real people anywhere. (And to add to his commentary, I would note that most sincere religious observance/piety/consciousness in people tends to proceed from the poetic part of the individual human character as well as the social and cultural.) His discussion started with the tension alleged between religion and science; see below the break here for fuller quote.
Continue reading "The Real Itchin' in Religion: Not the Text, Stupid"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:56 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 06, 2009
Obama Talking to Just Arabs/Iran/MENA?
So says the Jakarta Post. That's in Indonesia. Jakarta, that is, not the Post. Well, the Post too but there are Posts everywhere.
At least three - democracy promotion, religious freedom and women's rights - of his seven points are more relevant to a region who's [sic] governments are bastions of despotism than [to] the average Indonesian,. . . . for the majority of Indonesians - Muslim or otherwise - these three issues are fundamental ways of life already held dear. . . Not surprisingly Indonesia's most eminent Muslim thinkers were products of Western scholarship, not Al-Azhar or Arab Universities . . ..But in Cairo he put an Arabic frame on a cultural dialog which most Muslims may not relate to.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 21, 2009
Maghreb, Mirages of Ungovernable Somalia on the Atlantic bis
Insofar as this gets out of the usual Middle Eastern centred blithering on, perhaps a return to the issue of Ungovernable Spaces is worth another post.
FT - Algerian militants strike from eyries
The group seems to have since decided to restrict itself to military and security targets, although civilians often end up as collateral damage. Experts believe the change in tactics could mean the group has been weakened or that it has decided to try to spare civilians to avoid alienating the population.Emphasis added.
“The suicide bombings tarnished them in the eyes of the people,” says Hmida Layachi, a newspaper editor and expert on Algeria’s Islamist groups. “They were losing the image that they were only fighting the rulers so they started avoiding operations in Algiers and other big cities.”
He believes there are 800 to 1,200 militants in the mountains of central and eastern Algeria in comparison with an estimated 40,000 armed insurgents during the 1990s.
AQIM also has groups in the Sahara desert in the south of the country. These have been roaming the borders with neighbouring countries, recruiting and training militants from Mauretania, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. The groups in the desert are small,but perform a crucial function by ensuring that a smuggled weapons and explosives reach their colleagues in the north.
A US military official says: “Right now if it weren’t for the logistic supply from southern Algeria and northern Mali, the group would be on its last leg.
This may or may not be true (I would be inclined to think it has some degree of truth in that the vast spaces of the Sahara are indeed hard to control and generally not actually worth controlling), but it certainly is a perception with no small degree of policy driving value.
Insofar as the Somali pirating has reminded EU & North American policy makers how very, very annoying ungoverned places can be, and how much paranoid fear of Al Qaeda drives foreign policy, I would hazard the opinion this sort of activity will have outsized impact on EU & NA engagement with the Maghreb and the Sahel.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 30, 2009
A Chechen in Every Potshot? Dubai Assassination
Stretching out our Dubai trilogy to 4, Chechen on-again off-again military leader, Sulim Yamadayev, who was apparently against the Russians before he was recently for them, was just shot to death while staying in the UAE. (There appears to be a pattern of exiled adversaries of current pro-Russian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov dying in a veritable Fodor's list of the world's more glamorous cities.) It appears Dubai's gendarmes have made an arrest. In all the unhappy news about Dubai, let's not hope for "free fire zone" to replace a currently economically bumpy "free trade zone." Importing Russian affairs has typically hitherto had only a recreationally carnal implication.
In the end, though, this is probably more a Chechnya-Russia story here than a Gulf one.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 09, 2009
Gaza: A Modest Proposal
At risk of delving into the Israel/Palestine issue, where people too often yell, scream throw things, and put words into my mouth, I'd like to see what the denizens of Aqoul think of this idea for a cease-fire in Gaza, and where to go afterward, which is part of a larger plan to eliminate conflict by addressing socioeconomic inequalities, and which would also address other conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Continue reading "Gaza: A Modest Proposal"
Posted by evaluna at 07:32 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
December 30, 2008
Gaza round, all ye clowns: Open thread
Try to keep the hyperpartisanship down in this more heat than light subject. Observations, etc. on the latest, have at it. But when in doubt, note sentence 1 here again.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:50 PM | Comments (19) | TrackBack
December 14, 2008
But. . . is it good for the shoes?
(Apologies to an old parochial expression.) President Bush encounters one meaning of leading a sole superpower when a journalist in Baghdad tosses his footwear at the US head of state. The arch terrorist reportedly shouted "This is the End". Jim Morrison is sadly incapable of comment.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:48 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
November 04, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama MENA Open Thread
Looks like America's first Hawaiian-bred, Kenyan-derived, Indonesian-educated, 1960s-born, Muslim-middle-named President-elect is about to be. What does the success of Obama/Biden portend, if anything, for the Middle East North Africa region? Obama's foreign affairs team seems not wildly new, at least in terms of the conventional US spectrum. Some discussion has already started on the monthly open thread.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:31 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 17, 2008
Yemen Goes South: Open Carnage Thread
Latest news indicates 16 or so dead in an apparent attempted raid on the U.S. Embassy to Yemen. This account, based on Yemen insider sources who work hard to bring the discussion quickly around to the expected "you need to send us more money, dammit", indicates it was a successfully stopped large-scale raid, and likely it was al-Qaeda (now there's some serious sleuthing!). Comments on the event from Aqoulites, friends, enemies, etc. . . . have at it.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 20, 2008
Sunny & Bomby Algeria,: Al Qaeda's Club Med tourist destination
Algeria sadly seems to be taking a turn for the worse, with Iraq style car bombs targeting - Iraq style once again - police stations and recruiting stations and doing so in a series. (Perhaps Emaar may wish to revise its plans for its Tourism City at Cite Colonel Abbas to something focused perhaps on AQIM personal development centres?
This follows earlier this month more Iraq style suicide car bombings; sadly the Americans seem to have actually been able to export some of Iraq's political culture.... just not the part they thought (although certainly the part I've expected). (Also from NY Times: this not useless overview on Al Qaeda fil Maghreb al Islami
Continue reading "Sunny & Bomby Algeria,: Al Qaeda's Club Med tourist destination"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:44 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 14, 2008
3-judge panel declares "do-over" on Arar case
According to the Center on Constitutional Rights, the US Second Circuit of Appeals has decided to re-open the case of Maher Arar, the Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was deported to Syria by the US while transiting through JFK airport in New York. The case will be re-heard on December 9.
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Posted by tomscud at 07:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 02, 2008
Arabic Translation Peeve, vol 200: Is this the Best the Army can do?
Check this out. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mr. 9/11, provided in Arabic answers to questions in the trial of bin-Laden's driver. Here is what our competent Arabic translators of our front-line fighting forces in the war on terror, as edited by our leading media, in a trial under a global microscope, provide as one answer of his:
“As the American Army (we) have drivers, cooks, crewmen and legal personal,” Mohammed wrote. . . "We also, are human beings ... we have interests in life. ...You can not understand terrorism and Al-Qaida from 9/11 operation.”Rant below.
Continue reading "Arabic Translation Peeve, vol 200: Is this the Best the Army can do?"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:18 PM | Comments (29) | TrackBack
July 06, 2008
Bring Us Your Poor, Your Tired, Etc., Unless They're Iraqi Refugees
The U.S. is currently patting itself on the back for admitting a whopping 6,480 Iraqi refugees to the U.S. since the start of U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, designed in response to the special needs of Iraqi refugees. While the admission of 4,872 Iraqi refugees to the U.S. this fiscal year is certainly an improvement over last year's total of 1,608, it's only a fraction of the 27,940 specially vetted referrals from UNHCR, let alone of the more than 4 million internally and externally displaced Iraqis.
Continue reading "Bring Us Your Poor, Your Tired, Etc., Unless They're Iraqi Refugees"
Posted by evaluna at 01:05 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 25, 2008
Background of the Boumediene vs. Bush case
As a follow-up to the recent US supreme court decision, it’s interesting to note that, Lakhdar Boumediene and the five other Algerians who were arrested with him were not captured in combat, but in their homes in Bosnia, a case of the “extraordinary renditions”, making even their status as “unlawful combatants” questionable.
They were naturalized Bosnian citizens, who the US authorities in Bosnia wanted extradited based on secret evidence (tapped conversations with “coded references to a terrorist plot” between one of the Algerian Bosnians and a relative of his who worked as a janitor in the Sarajevo US embassy, and other phone calls to a Pakistan based suspected terrorist). Several accounts seem to indicate the US would have exercised heavy Rambo-style pressure to obtain their arrest:
U.S. pressure to have the group extradited to the U.S. continued to mount. Initially, it boiled down to "if you are not going to convict them, just let us know when do you plan to release them and we will arrest them." A day before their detention ended, SFOR commander Gen. John Sylvester and U.S. Ambassador Clifford Bond met with top Bosnian and Muslim-Croat Federation officials and plainly told them if they did not hand over the group, Bosnia would pay a very high price. They added that they were through with Afghanistan and were just looking for another place to continue the struggle against terrorism. The message was quite clear, especially since they stressed that President George W. Bush was personally interested in the matter.
Continue reading "Background of the Boumediene vs. Bush case"
Posted by Shaheen at 08:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 08, 2008
To Qaeda or Not to Qaeda: Terror, Genesis & Reaction
With all apologies for the weak punditry, but with reference to Mathew's fine book review in our reviews section, an interesting article of tangential or no t so tangential relevance regarding American squabbling over whether Al Qaeda is dead or lone live Al Qaeda as a threat. One nexus point in the two discussions, radicalisation - and perhaps a certain purist ideological approach in the US as to 'real' sources.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 01, 2008
Martyr, She Wrote: Zawahari Slammed For Males-Only Al-Qaeda
Hell hath no fury as a wannabe mujahedah scorned, it seems. Ayman al-Zawahari's comments, that al Qaeda cannot accept female fighters, has alot of pro-al Qaeda women's abayas in a wad. Websites are full of anger over his suggestions that they should be stay-at-home moms, merely nurturing, raising and feeding the next generation of pointless mass murderers. (I don't know if Rosie the Riveter or Zenobia or Xena, Warrior Princess would approve either side in that debate.) Via Thoreau at Henley.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:11 AM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
May 28, 2008
Keffiyeh & Donuts: Ad Cancelled Because of Scarf Threat
Can it get dumber than this? Probably, but you'd have to work at it. The disturbing part is not the initiation of an attack on an ad because of a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, it's that the anything-but-small-time ad sponsor would roll over so quickly, with no counterreaction against them for doing so. (Bonus related question: What is it about nationalism and, in other contexts than this, feminism, that makes such issues out of headgear?)
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:56 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 25, 2008
Why Jihadis Heart Mauritania (Bled l-Moops)
As longtime fan of `Aqoul, I feel it's about time I gave some back. Eerie has kindly accepted a guest post, so, here goes: an expanded version of a recent post from my own North Africa blog. Hope you enjoy.
Side introduction: While I personally don't share Alle's politics on Western Sahara (largely due to my analysis that another little shitty Mauretania is hardly a good thing), he is a smart observer of the area. Enjoy. -- Collounsbury.
PS: the Moops titling is mine, couldn't resist
Time for an update on Mauritania -- my special, dysfunctional little darling among the Maghreb countries -- and on why I think this complex but fascinating desert backwater may yet become of interest to Messrs. bin Ladin and Bush alike.
First the basics: Mauritania, squeezed in between Senegal, Mali, Algeria and Western (or: Moroccan) Sahara, is at the western extreme of the Arab world, and little known even to most of its neighbours. The population is small (under 3,5m.), the area huge (over 1m. km2) , and as the square-cut borders suggest, it is an entirely colonial creation. Back in the days, France needed to fill the space between Senegal, rowdy Touareg tribes, and Spanish Sahara with something, and in 1960 that something proclaimed itself the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Straddling the Sahel, it joins two very different worlds: rocky desert flats suitable only for nomadism dominate the northern two thirds, while the Senegal valley to the south has lush farmlands. Ethnic groups and living-styles are spread accordingly, and as could be expected, north/south relations have been acrimonious.
Continue reading "Why Jihadis Heart Mauritania (Bled l-Moops)"
Posted by alle at 07:08 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
May 09, 2008
Get your Kicks / On Beirut / Sects' Dissects
An open thread for discussion of Lebanon at the crossroads . . . again. And who'd have guessed Nasrallah would provide the fireworks for Israel's 60th anniversary? Followup full posts from our expert team are welcome and encouraged, with removing the horrid tasteless lyrics allusion-pun above from its lead position as added incentive.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:26 AM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
April 23, 2008
Another Good Conspiracy Theory Down the Drain
Al Qaeda says an Israeli conspiracy didn't do 9/11. And, it adds, Iran started the Israel conspiracy rumor. Is that itself a conspiracy rumor?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:43 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
Open Thread on Carter, Hamas, and Stuff
Belaboring, distatefully, the last general subject area, we turn to Jimmy Carter's statement that Hamas was ready to accept Israel at some point in some way. Hamas itself seems to disagree. To me, it appears to be a conflict of spin. Hamas will not, for ideological reasons, recognize Israel but they appear to be willing to accept a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, and say they would accept a popular referendum to honor a truce to go no further. With spin, that can be seen as de facto acceptance of the Palestinian Authority's current or future recognition of Israel. Sounds alot like China and Taiwan, actually. (Which situation can erupt at any time, but probably won't as long as mutual prosperity keeps rearing its ugly head.) Anyway, unlike the previous thread where I had a strong opinion and not much time or interest to engage, as I was asserting something obvious, here I am inactive because I have no strong opinion or time, so it is just an open thread for those interested.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:15 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
January 18, 2008
Lebanon as the new Iraq
Nir Rosen has an exhaustive article on the story of Fatah al Islam in Lebanon and the summer's battle in the Nahr al Barid camp. There's too much to summarize (frankly, I need to read it again to try and get all the moving pieces straight), but his basic conclusion as to who sponsored the group was that both the Syrian government and the Future movement tried to coopt it, but failed to do so, and that the group's real commitment was to an al Qaeda-style global jihad.
The whole article is worth reading (if slightly mind-numbing in its complexity), but I'm just going to quote the concluding paragraphs:
Continue reading "Lebanon as the new Iraq"
Posted by tomscud at 04:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 28, 2007
Sheikhs' Sure Booty: Your Empire At Work
Finally figuring out what anyone here could have told them years ago, US forces in Iraq have earned at least a B-plus in Empire-Building 101 -- not that that's a good thing, but it can salve a sore wound for an indefinite period. The principle is to use local power structures as your surrogates, basically by bribing them. This USA Today story details it well. (Thanks to a Klaus call, we have a link for the original stick-figure anti-insurgent plan offered by a later-killed US soldier here.)
Tribal sheiks . . . have seats on most of the city councils and the provincial council. . . . Many tribes run construction and trucking businesses and benefit from U.S. and Iraqi government reconstruction projects. The contracts with U.S. forces allow sheiks to hand out jobs, and thus maintain power.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 04:39 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
December 27, 2007
Sindhs of the father: Benazir Bhutto dead thread (open)
Benazir Bhutto, ex-Pakistani prime minister, is now an ex-person. Have at the whole set of issues in this open thread, o dear readers. Others of the Aqoul team may post more detailed entries on this most unpleasant passing of the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. (BTW, I don't know who those people are who say 'why do Muslims never go out in the streets venting their anger when al-Qaeda or other extremists* do a terrorist act?') Well, clearly, they sometimes do.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 06:22 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
December 24, 2007
Holiday Fuzziness, Algeria, Al Qaeda and Iraq
As fuzzily cheery such news as interfaith warm and fuzzy declarations (which have their utility although as I consider them rather normal in my experience, I find them boring), of rather more interest perhaps is an uncharacteristically interesting commentary from NYT via the FT on one of the Algerian suicide bombers from last months bloody nonsense in Algiers which is interesting reading paired with FT's Quent Peel's commentary on the "socialist timewarp" that is Algeria, and the Kremlinesque opacity of its political sphere.
Continue reading "Holiday Fuzziness, Algeria, Al Qaeda and Iraq"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 16, 2007
Competent Adults in Charge? The Iraq Surge's Non-Failure
Not often do I get to be more right than Jim Henley, but here I claim it though I can't document my earlier growing sense that The Surge would turn out better than we cynics first expected. (The last time he was wrong, which goes back years, so was I, as when he predicted that Ariel Sharon would not go through with the Gaza withdrawal.) But now he is surprised that violence has not rebounded in Iraq since The Surge in a way he has predicted. I am far less surprised however and, although I started as a Surge Cynic as shown here, I have come to feel after more information that there has been a good chance of some sustained suppression of the violence. More on why, below.
Continue reading "Competent Adults in Charge? The Iraq Surge's Non-Failure"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:58 AM | Comments (28) | TrackBack
November 27, 2007
Hirsi Ali: Ideological Chameleon
First, I curse SP for pointing out this latest interview with the infuriating headline: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: My life under a fatwa. Boys and girls, we've been over this before. A fatwa is not an ummah-wide execution order, it is a ruling issued by an Islamic scholar in response to a specific legal question. I wrote about this distinction almost two years ago, when Wafa Sultan told the New York Times that Dr. Ibrahim al-Khouli had issued a "fatwa" when he called her an atheist during a TV interview.
Listen, you credulous glurge-sucking Western journalists, just because some idiot Ayatollah lobbed one at Rushdie almost two decades ago doesn't make every random statement by a Muslim (scholar or fanatic) a fatwa. Nor is a fatwa binding across the universe (else a lot of Muslim women with plucked eyebrows are going to hell). Of course, the f-word does score a lot of publicity amongst the chattering classes, which is why every faux reformer wants one.
But let's get on to the actual article, shall we?
Continue reading "Hirsi Ali: Ideological Chameleon"
Posted by eerie at 09:44 AM | Comments (31) | TrackBack
November 03, 2007
Strategery, Indeed: Lewis and Huntington
I have to borrow from the discussion on the previous thread the quotation below. It's from a book review of at-best mixed value but by someone with the knowledge to make the statement. Tell me its assertion is false. Please, God, please......
Continue reading "Strategery, Indeed: Lewis and Huntington"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:14 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
October 25, 2007
The Magic Kingdom
Last week, I decided it would be interesting to watch The Kingdom, an action movie that followed four FBI agents sent to Saudi Arabia to investigate a massive attack on an American housing compound. I went not because I expected it to be intellectually stimulating (it wasn't) or because I figured I'd learn useful things from the film (I didn't), but because I wanted to see how Hollywood portrayed Saudi Arabia. Save for the surfeit of British villains, Hollywood is a useful barometer of American perceptions of a particular part of the world; there is a reason so many bad guys were Russians during the Cold War.
Continue reading "The Magic Kingdom"
Posted by dubaiwalla at 11:40 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
October 20, 2007
Souq Heil: What's Up With This Cocked-Arm Gesture?
The sunbats are out doing their Islamofascism Awareness week hate-fest, with the usual bigotries and idiocies, but I do have to agree though on the reaction engendered by this photo (I've seen others like it) of what appears to be the Hizbollah 3rd Bandana battalion. Is it what it appears to be -- a militaristic fascist salute, or has it some other significance? UPDATE: With the aid of commenter M, we learn it is indeed a political-militaristic "Roman salute" but apparently a Fascist-era Lebanese custom that transcends sectarian lines (is that a good or bad thing?). Enjoy (thanks M) this collage of Lebanon's main Christian party, and chief Lebanese allies of Israel, doing the Teutonic taxi hail. (Cache it in, before they get hip and delete.)
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:06 PM | Comments (31) | TrackBack
October 11, 2007
Ayaan Hirsi Ali proves that even stupidity is dangerous
Today I was mulling over how the average person might view Ayaan Hirsi Ali based on the image she has cultivated for herself. A commenter on Brian Whitaker's blog captured this perception quite well:
Below is a segment from an colunm written a couple of days ago by Sam Harris & Salman Rushdie. It from the LA Times."Hirsi Ali was immediately forced into hiding and moved from safe house to safe house, sometimes more than once a day, for months. Eventually, her security concerns drove her from the Netherlands altogether. She returned to the U.S., and the Dutch government has been paying for her protection here -- that is, until it suddenly announced last week that it would no longer protect her outside the Netherlands, thereby advertising her vulnerability to the world.
Hirsi Ali may be the first refugee from Western Europe since the Holocaust. As such, she is a unique and indispensable witness to both the strength and weakness of the West: to the splendor of open society and to the boundless energy of its antagonists. She knows the challenges we face in our struggle to contain the misogyny and religious fanaticism of the Muslim world, and she lives with the consequences of our failure each day. There is no one in a better position to remind us that tolerance of intolerance is cowardice."
Try telling Ayaan Hirsi Ali that Islam Is not fascism.
There are two problems here. One is that (ill-informed) people apply the actions of a few murderous whackjobs to an entire religion. The second is that Ayaan Hirsi Ali actively encourages this misconception by making grossly uneducated assertions about Islamic tenets/beliefs, which are then lapped up by people who don't know any better.
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Posted by eerie at 08:14 AM | Comments (58) | TrackBack
October 04, 2007
Technology and Counterterrorism: Machines are Still Stupid
My job demands a lot of research and analysis. Most of the time, I can't keep up with the sheer volume of incoming information and have to cherrypick items that seem significant. This is a common problem among analysts, particularly ones tasked with monitoring and evaluating trends (e.g. financial markets, politics). Data mining has been used extensively in a variety of sectors to parse information so that analysts can deal with it more effectively. Of course, figuring out what to mine is key because one can easily succumb to the GIGO problem without realizing.
Recently, I came across a press release about Arizona University's Dark Web Portal, a resource for counterterrorism analysts.
Funded by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies, Hsinchun Chen and his Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Arizona have created the Dark Web project, which aims to systematically collect and analyze all terrorist-generated content on the Web.
Ha. The hyperbole begins.
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Posted by eerie at 07:19 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
September 26, 2007
Abu Aardvark on The Surge & The Sunni Leadership
A personal favorite political magazine's blog presents a personal favorite political institute's video of an Aqoul favorite blogger Marc Lynch, aka Abu Aardvark, speaking at a conference at the CATO Institute on THE SURGE. The professorial Father of Aardvarks opines about the recent Iraq Sunni insurgent-US military cooperation, but bases his insights on Arabic language media and internet communications of Sunni community leaders. The conclusions he arrives at are basically that the Sunni leaders are stating to their very anti-US constituency that cooperation with the USA is merely tactical and the result of insurgent victories which forced the US to assist them in certain common aims of fighting al-Qaeda and fighting some Shiite militias. They view the government and al-Sadr as "Iranian" and they eventually want the entire US occupation out. In addition, the conditions are such that further sectarian fragmentation is underway and no matter how long the US stays, it appears the conditions will remain ripe for sectarian war. Informed readers, have at it.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 13, 2007
Iran War On the Way: More Evidence
It appears that I may have been right to call attention to those saying a war on Iran is being rolled out by the Administration. An informed and expert source in DC affirmed it to me as well a few days back. And it looks like the usual suspect sources are now marketing it. (Love the part where we can mysteriously tell that the Germans really want us to attack even as they back away from sanctions against Iran. Saying "no" when they really mean "yes", those Teutonic teases!) Michael Ledeen appears to be the one whose job is to incite the converted; he who says that al-Qaeda and Iran are interchangeable terms and at one point called Dubai, an "Iranian colony". Man, all them dang camel jockeys are the same and interchangeable, and that thinking is how one manufactures a war. Anyway, Aqoulites and Aqoulite wannabes with Iran-specific knowledge are needed to weigh in, now and in the future.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:19 PM | Comments (19) | TrackBack
September 09, 2007
Quick Roundup of News on Roundups
{Sarcasm} Here's a headline you'd never expect to see. I'm shocked, shocked. . . . {/sarcasm} (Iraq)
Now here's a headline you'd really never expect to see. (Israel)
Here's an interesting roundup about al-Qaeda leader roundups. For a variety of reasons, this Abu al-Yazid guy seems the most interesting and dangerous , specifically as he reminds me in terms of his alleged internal likeability, technical profession (accountancy/fundraising), energy, and tactical sense of a rather successful violent insurgent of the past. Insurgencies can use good accountants and fundraisers.
And, just for yucks, bad news for anyone planning to have online virtual sex with Osama bin-Laden.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 06:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 07, 2007
Bin-Laden Versus Bin-Laden, same day
Osama bin-Laden on Sept. 7 2007* -- "19 young men were able, by the grace of [God], the Most High, to change the direction of [America's] compass."
Osama bin-Laden on, um, Sept 7, 2007 -- "burning living beings is forbidden by our religion, even if they be small like the ant, so what of men?"
In addition to terrorist, criminal, fanatic, and other filth-and-foul words, we can now add "what a fatuous dick".
Continue reading "Bin-Laden Versus Bin-Laden, same day"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:11 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 02, 2007
Tehran: A Sore US Wrecks? Iran War Looming?
The informed blogosphere and newsosphere are abuzz with rumors* that a US war, or a sustained attack (i.e.war), on Iran is being put out for aggressive marketing by Administration innards this week. Events will prove this true or false. Regardless of the rightness or wrongness of such a thing, if it is being planned, I do wonder if the questions and considerations below have been addressed.
Continue reading "Tehran: A Sore US Wrecks? Iran War Looming?"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:28 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
August 08, 2007
British "leftism" fails to address terrorism
Liberal Muslims living in the UK are increasingly angry towards the British government for its "leftish" "politically correctness" in addressing Islamic extremism and terrorism, according to Adel Darwish writing in TheMiddleEast. He notes that British prime minster Gordon Brown has outlawed the term "war on terror" and claims that after the Glasgow airport attack, neither Brown nor British home secretary Jacqui Smith "used words like Islamists, or Muslim terrorists; music to the ears of British muslim "leaders" (mostly self styled) and leftist commentators":
As refugees from the violent suppression and censorship of 1970s Arab-nationalism, liberal Arab journalists in London acknowledge their affiliation with the West. And it is they who saw more clearly than their British liberal and leftist colleagues the danger that the UK's lax immigration policies, and its ideologically driven multi-culturalism and political correctness policy, poses to liberal thinking Muslims desperately trying to reform the minds of young Muslims.As Abdul Rahman Al Rashed, former editor of Asharq Al-Awsat, whose daily column is a cornerstone of the paper's liberal message observed: "I, and people like me, kept saying to the British authorities, you are allowing radicals in this country. These people were chased out of their own countries [for terrorist activities], and the British government chose to let them in. They [the British welfare agencies] pay for their housing and even pay for their lawyers to argue to allow them to extend their stay. This system is on auto-pilot."
Posted by secretdubai at 11:19 AM | Comments (31) | TrackBack
June 30, 2007
When the Guardian goes all Biblical...
...things are getting critical:
The attacks are something that say: what we are engaged in is far bigger than politics. This is about a battle between good and evil. The timescale is long, the cause is far greater than the arrival or departure of a Prime Minister or even a single war, even those in Iraq or Afghanistan. The threat will remain high for the foreseeable future.
Continue reading "When the Guardian goes all Biblical..."
Posted by secretdubai at 07:50 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
June 16, 2007
Gaza Stripped: Two Demi-Quasi-States, One People
It appears the folks who rather justly complain of having no country, now appear to have two. Well, three, if you count the old Likudnik view of Jordan. Or in the negative numbers, if reality functions as a point of reference.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:59 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
June 12, 2007
Desperately Seeking Sudan: Key War on Terror Ally
This Baltimore Sun story is not too much of a surprise for those who connect the dots and are somewhat informed. "Sudan has secretly worked with the CIA to spy on the insurgency in Iraq . . . . The relationship underscores the complex realities of the post-Sept. 11 world, in which the United States has relied heavily on intelligence and military cooperation from countries, including Sudan and Uzbekistan, that are considered pariah states for their records on human rights. "
Now does anyone know of any Hariri connection?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:42 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 02, 2007
How Do You Say "Chutzpah" in Arabic?
The Department of Homeland Security, in a nod to the U.S.' long tradition of aiding those huddled masses who yearn to breathe free (or at least yearn to refrain from having their heads blown off), has announced that a whopping total of 60 Iraqis will shortly be admitted to the U.S. as refugees - but only if they pass the required security checks, of course.
Continue reading "How Do You Say "Chutzpah" in Arabic?"
Posted by evaluna at 12:00 PM | Comments (33) | TrackBack
May 23, 2007
Keep your Sunni side up: Lebanon conspiracy theory #637
Seymour Hersh propounds this conspiracy theory of sorts regarding the rise of Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon. I don't buy it offhand, but there's plausibility in a Saudi role in promoting Sunni anti-Shiite counterweights, with US winks and nods. Any takers?
What I was writing about was sort of a private agreement that was made between the White House, we're talking about Richard -- Dick -- Cheney and Elliott Abrams, one of the key aides in the White House, with Bandar. And the idea was to get support, covert support from the Saudis, to support various hard-line jihadists, Sunni groups, particularly in Lebanon, who would be seen in case of an actual confrontation with Hezbollah -- the Shia group in the southern Lebanon -- would be seen as an asset, as simple as that....There is a supreme overwhelming fear of Hezbollah and we do not want Hezbollah to play an active role in the government in Lebanon and that's been our policy, basically....
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:23 PM | Comments (42) | TrackBack
April 14, 2007
Casablanca Breakfasts & Bombs
At the request of eerie, and following on my AM observation, a quick reflexion on the fact my fine hotel breakfast this AM was disturbed by a bomb. Well, two bombs really.
9:00 am GMT, two deluded fools blew themselves to bits thankfully only killing themselves and injuring some poor lady near the American cultural center.
[updated story: Guardian story
Saturday's two bombers detonated their explosives in the middle of a boulevard that runs behind the American Language Center, killing themselves and wounding a woman, the official said, adding that the three suspects were arrested in the neighborhood, which is dotted with high-rises, hotels and diplomatic missions, including the U.S. consulate.[end update]After the arrests, another explosives belt was found beside an upscale hotel in the same neighborhood struck by the bombings, the Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy.
Continue reading "Casablanca Breakfasts & Bombs"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:54 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
April 12, 2007
Algeria / al Qaeda in the Maghreb: Bombing & Open Discussion
Per Antiquated Tory's request on the New Month entry, an open thread for discussing Algeria and the implications of recent events in North Africa.
Continue reading "Algeria / al Qaeda in the Maghreb: Bombing & Open Discussion"
Posted by eerie at 12:31 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
March 19, 2007
Encore Rock the Casbah: Casablanca Terror & Mohammed al Faiz - A Proposal on Aid
I should start by admitting that that when our Permanent Anon inquired about Mohammed Faiz, I had a somewhat (or even rather) dismissive reaction. A dismissive reaction that was utterly wrong and misplaced. Faiz for those who don't know, is the supervisor and by family, owner, of an internet cafe in a poor neighbourhood in the Moroccan city of Casablanca who stopped an attempted bombing there.
My original reaction was, effectively, yeah, he did a good deed and possibly for his own interest (e.g. frightened he might get in trouble), so what?
On reflexion and on review of international and domestic press that effectively highlight the recidivist takfiri suicide bomber Raydi, I have changed my mind. And indeed apologize for my superficial reaction.
Continue reading "Encore Rock the Casbah: Casablanca Terror & Mohammed al Faiz - A Proposal on Aid"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:56 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 14, 2007
Rock the Casbah bis: Casablanca Bombings
Unfortunately I still lack time to delve into the Casablanca bombing this past weekend, and must soon to airport make, however a quick round-up of some materials I think are decent:
- Reuters - WP round up of the local Moroccan press indicating planning was perhaps more extensive than the initial event suggested. I'd note that I caught on the local Sat TV the Moroccan TV's images of the truck taking away the bombs. One rather big ass dump truck.
- WaPo backgrounder on the bombers whose profile rather resembles that of the 2003 bombers.
My observation, which is a prelude to my long-overdue and incomplete post on Maghreb spillover and drivers for the problem is the Poli Sci 'wisdom' re poverty and economic frustration not being drivers for Islamist neo-Salafi terror is bollocks. Some portion of course is purely ideological and would exist without any economic-situ driven radicalisation, but it is clear to me up close that a significant and important portion is driven by economic factors, and socio-economic frustration. That some radicals, espeically leaders come from more wealthy backgrounds says nothing about causation, any more than the presence of wealthy Left radicals in the 19th and early 20th centuries disproved a general observation of radicalisation being driven by economic issues in that period, in Europe, etc.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:38 PM | Comments (32) | TrackBack
February 23, 2007
The Jack Bauer Effect
Sometimes when I'm out with the girls, I'll get fed up of talking about fashion or relationships and say something provocative just to stir things up. Most of the time, it's just martini-fuelled commentary about our celebrity-obsessed culture, the impact of widespread economic illiteracy, the exploding market for self-help books, etc. Whatever pops into my head, really.
A few weeks ago, while the ladies were chattering about Britney Spears' latest meltdown, I tapped my fingers on the table and said, "Do you think Americans might be more accepting of torture because of Jack Bauer?"
Having long ago accepted my mercurial oddball tendencies, they shrugged and returned to their original conversation. I, however, became rather fixated on the idea and spent much of the evening muttering to myself about cultural icons and their ability to shape popular opinion.
Continue reading "The Jack Bauer Effect"
Posted by eerie at 03:12 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
January 26, 2007
"From Iraqi society to societies in Iraq" - Some further thoughts
I just published this article on Niqash, but since the guidelines of that project (it is financed by various European foreign offices & U.N. agencies) mandated a very balanced tone and - rightly so - doesn't allow for us editors to engage in conjecture and speculation (however informed & sound) ... I thought I should use Aqoul to (1) point to the article and (2) expand upon some themes.
(The article in question is also my last work for Niqash as the project has ended and there is no telling if there will be any follow-up. I am thus also looking around for "something new", as they say, so do feel free to contact me if you want to hire me.)
Update: Added a few links for further reading (Twice)
Continue reading ""From Iraqi society to societies in Iraq" - Some further thoughts"
Posted by MSK at 01:24 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
January 14, 2007
War with Traditional Islam
An interesting blog post from military specialist and commentator Col. Pat Lang (a real colonel, unlike my old Col appellation, a mere shortening of my name) on War Against the Boogey Men, critiquing the American approach to the Iraq war and the larger engagement with the Middle East.
The item that caught my eye was this:
"Freedom" and "Islamic Fascism" clearly have "special" meanings here. I say that "freedom" as the bushies use the term is code and really means westernization and "globalization" in the sense that we want to see the world "ironed out" flat so the it meets the egregious Friedman's dream of a homogeneous world. "Islamic Fascism" means, I think, simply "Islam." That is, Islam as it has been understood by millennia of Muslims. That is, as an all encompassing view of the world and man's relationship to God. "Ah, but these are not real Muslims," I can hear the outcry now. Rubbish. We non-Muslims can not dictate to any particular group of Muslims what Islam means to them. We want an Islam similar in its role in life to the emasculated role that Christianity plays for most Americans in their lives? Sorry! We do not get to choose for them. There wil be a reaction to what I have written here. It will be similar to the outrage vented on me by a former congressman from the Midwest who went on and and on about the nice ladies who come to his office to tell him that Muslims are a peaceful lot. Peaceful? Yes? Within limits.My analysis leads me to the belief that we are fighting against traditional Islam.
Emphasis added.
Continue reading "War with Traditional Islam"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:06 PM | Comments (77) | TrackBack
December 03, 2006
We interrupt this pogrom: radio test of anti-Muslim hatred
Playing provocateur, radio talk show host Jerry Klein in the Washington DC area decided the time was right to call for Muslims in America to be required to wear crescent tattoos or armbands, which drew a few outraged phone calls. But then the more interesting ones came in: "What good is identifying them?...You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans." And: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country...they are here to kill us." After an hour of tossing out this littlegreen, I mean red, meat, the host annouced that he wasn't serious and then added some comments of his own.
Continue reading "We interrupt this pogrom: radio test of anti-Muslim hatred"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 29, 2006
US & Iraq: Imbecilic Navel-Gazing as Strategy
I read and was told that the major US media (or to adopt the childishly imbecilic Neo-Bolshevik speak of the American blogs, "Mainstream Media") has finally gotten around to calling the Iraqi civil war, a civil war. I rather foolishly thought that this might be welcomed among the more cogent and cogniscent corners of online commentary as a breath of fresh air and a good point of departure for actually bloody well tackling the disaster looming in front of the US of A, rather than childishly whinging on about terminology and pretending if only they don't bloody admit how bad it is, some magical intervention will somehow rescue them from the now inevitable disaster. I do say invevitable, for the Americans have already lost - as the Soviets already had two or three years before they could bring themselves to admit it.
But no. Rather, even into the center regions of the American Whankatariat, idiotic, droolingly cretinous idiotic denial, and simple minded self regarding idiocy is the result. The essential objection as far as I can tell (once I peel away the piss-poor half-informed and 1/4 understood history of Shia and Sunni, of Arab and Kurd - typical "they've always been" rubbish) - is that calling a spade a spade may lead the US to flee the field.
Continue reading "US & Iraq: Imbecilic Navel-Gazing as Strategy"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:24 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
October 11, 2006
Tash ma Tash: Serious Saudi Satire or Child's Play?
The Tash ma Tash controversy rages on and has been adequately reported in both Arabic and non-Arabic media as well as on the blog of our own Lounsbury. However, apart from the obvious religious knee-jerk reaction that has sadly come to be expected when the world is dealing with something apart from sombre doom and gloom of the Wahhabi institution, there have been some interesting and disturbing reactions that reflect some entrenched attitudes towards free speech and criticism.
The attitude towards comedic parody laced with political observation differs widely. In Egypt for example, despite the long-standing heritage of presidential domination and totalitarianism, political satires, most prominently Mohammed Subhi's "Mama America", get away with a lot and resonate with the concerns of the Egyptian public. The Egyptian actor Adil Imam's "Al-Irhabi" (The Terrorist) in the 90's was one of the first indigenous Arabic works to tackle and put a human face on the phenomenon of homegrown terrorism and Syria's Duraid Lahham has a long history of political satire, the play "Ka'sak, ya Watan" ("Cheers, o homeland") being one of the most moving works deriding the weakness of the Arab states in confronting Israel, where hope in a bright Arab future is metaphorically killed off in the death of Dureid's new-born baby Ahlam (= dreams).
Continue reading "Tash ma Tash: Serious Saudi Satire or Child's Play?"
Posted by Meph at 04:32 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
October 03, 2006
My Fieldtrip to the Right Blogosphere
Apart from daily scans of the Aggregator, I don't have a lot of time to spend reading blogs of any political/religious stripe. I'm not sure how often our contributors venture out into the wider blogosphere either, let alone cultivate relationships/flamewars with other blogs. My mental image of 'Aqoul somewhat resembles a secluded house on the outskirts of a chaotic city, a bit like Professor X's mansion (I'm sure this will lead to a bizarre side discussion on which X-Men are most like our authors/regulars, but let's try to stay focused).
In any case, I don't follow the daily mumblings of ignorant morons wanking on about dhimmitude and the infinite evils of Islam, nor do I routinely comment on blogs other than this one. Perhaps I'm a victim of the echo chamber effect, but I think it has more to do with wanting to spare myself the frustration of seeing the same Islamophobic glurge repeated over and over until it magically becomes fact.
Continue reading "My Fieldtrip to the Right Blogosphere"
Posted by eerie at 08:16 PM | Comments (35) | TrackBack
October 02, 2006
The reality of Islam and the Republic
I almost missed this fairly important note in the Financial Times on European Islam and the wild-eyed whinging that seems to be becoming the rage in certain circles in North America regarding the Muslim minority in Europe: The reality of Islam and the Republic.
First, the author of the opinion piece, FT’s European Editor, has an excellent summary of the mythology, playing off of a recent publication, Integrating Islam: Political And Religious Challenges in Contemporary France.
Continue reading "The reality of Islam and the Republic"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 19, 2006
Arar Commission Report Released
A quick note to draw attention to the release of the Maher Arar Commission report (helpful timeline available here). I had a chance to skim the report and the fact-finding document; neither one casts Canada's security services in a favorable light. The report is the result of immense public pressure to investigate Canada's role in Arar's "extraordinary rendition" by US authorities and subsequent torture at the hands of Syrian military intelligence. Now that Arar has been cleared of any wrongdoing, the media is having a field day over the commission report's scathing indictment of the Mounties.
It is of course important to note that the commission's ability to gather information was limited by the US State Department's refusal to cooperate. In light of this decision, I found it rather telling that portions of the report were censored to protect "international relations" as well as national security. In any case, it was found that Canadian authorities did not participate in Arar's actual deportation to Syria, though the intel supplied to US authorities likely played a part in their decisionmaking.
Continue reading "Arar Commission Report Released"
Posted by eerie at 10:47 PM | Comments (26) | TrackBack
September 07, 2006
Funny, they don't look Jewish: the bin Laden 9/11 video
One can hope that the diseased conspiracy theory in many Arab and Muslim places that Israel and/or "the Jews" (and/or the US Administration) pulled off 9/11 will suffer its own 9/11 with the release of an al-Qaeda video showing bin Laden and the perpetrators together. It has apparently run on al-Jazeera. I haven't seen it yet, but our illustrious regional and vernacular-speaking readers can provide more details on it, and how far it might go in putting Middle East 9/11 Conspiracy Theory numbers 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 6.0, 8.0, 112.0-117.0, and 234.0-256.0 to rest. Hmmm, wait a minute, only a small number of Muslims were killed at the World Trade Center, perhaps they were all warned in advance?
Continue reading "Funny, they don't look Jewish: the bin Laden 9/11 video"
Posted by Top Secret Anonymous Guy at 09:50 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
August 23, 2006
Do-It-Yourself Profiling and Islamophobia
Following up on Matthew's barbuphobia entry, I would like to draw attention to some relatively minor yet rather disturbing events. Mere blips, but indicative of a growing acceptance of Islamophobia as an appropriate response to the current situation in MENA and the West.
Via Progressive Islam, the media has reported two separate incidents where passenger hysteria led to the ejection of Muslims from a plane. On a Malaga-Manchester flight, passengers overheard two Asian men speaking "Arabic" and refused to fly until they were removed. Similarly, a Canadian doctor returning home from a conference in Denver was escorted off a plane because one of the passengers found his behaviour suspicious and reported it to the flight crew. He was reciting evening prayers.
Continue reading "Do-It-Yourself Profiling and Islamophobia"
Posted by eerie at 04:46 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
August 10, 2006
More Death in the Levant: A Personal Note
David Lelchook was cut down by a Hizbullah rocket landing in or around Kibbutz Sa'ar, Israel on August 2. He was bicycling, unsuccessfully, to a bomb shelter. The rest of his family had relocated to the south for safety. He was hit by the explosive force of the random projectile. I didn't know him or his views, but I have known his sister for quite some time. Reading the latest news the other day, David's rare surname jumped out. A phone call confirmed the relation.
Continue reading "More Death in the Levant: A Personal Note"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 05:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2006
Another death fatwa for the war?
I don't know if MEMRI has translated this one yet.
Continue reading "Another death fatwa for the war?"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:12 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 02, 2006
Jihadist Prudence: Gitmo Tribunal Decision
For those interested, a text of the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision can be found here. That's the very recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the military tribunals President Bush established by Executive Order for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The decision is a bit convoluted given that the Court had to first torture the interpretation of a very specific law which prohibited courts from hearing these habeas corpus petitions made by Gitmo prisoners. (The Court reasons that the prohibition doesn't apply to those petitions, such as Hamdan's, which had already been filed when that anti-habeas law was passed in 2005.) While I favor the overall result of the case, I do share dissenting Justice Thomas' pique at the majority's sleight of hand jurisprudence and their evasion of the application of plain language and common sense on that particular issue.
Continue reading "Jihadist Prudence: Gitmo Tribunal Decision"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:38 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 25, 2006
The Goofy Florida US "Muslim" Cult
I have caught some limited coverage of this.
I have to say that while American authorities were doubtless justified in arresting these retarded gits, the circus announcement and characterisation as some kind of Muslim terror cell linked to al-Qaeda, that Sr. authorities such as Gonzalez indulged in, is either mendacious or retarded itself. First, the Moorish Science loons are hardly Muslim at all, and second, the plot itself bordered on the comical. A bunch of unemployed whanker loons is not something to make a huge deal out of (although for political reasons, I suppose, although it does tend to piss away street cred). Doing so smells of fairly short-termist scare-mongering politics and pandering to Islamophobia.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:17 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
June 18, 2006
Somalia: Islamic Courts & Women's Progress
A quick note on a interesting arty in The Washington Post on the role of women in backing The Islamic Courts movement that seems to be well on its way to taking power in Somalia and displacing the "secular" warlords.
If there is one item that most at once irritates and amuses me about Western and American commentary specifically is the weird gullibility in the usage of "secular" versus "Islamist" - although in a sense it is relavatory of why secularism has or is failing in the MENA region and many parts of the Islamic world - where "secular" seems to mean "any corrupt bunch of idiots presently in power who are not overtly and ostentatiously 'Islamist' in political orientation."
If this is the "secularism" being offered, and indeed backed by the West and America specifically, does anyone think it should be suprising that, whatever bitter individuals like Hirsi Ali Magaan say for the consumption of the fearful Westerner, secularism is losing ground?
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:36 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
May 24, 2006
You Say You Want A Revolution? Chechen Sufism vs. Islamist Terrorism
In a hilariously ironic turn of events, it seems that the Russian Federation central government is now encouraging Chechens to return to observance of their indigenous flavor of Sufism , after 200 years of official anti-Islam policy ranging from denial that observant Muslims even existed to active persecution of believers. Well, I suppose that if you think your alternative is acceptance of a line of thought held by the charming folks who held a theater full of innocent civilians hostage, anything must seem like an improvement.
Continue reading "You Say You Want A Revolution? Chechen Sufism vs. Islamist Terrorism"
Posted by evaluna at 09:59 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 02, 2006
America's great "success"
Government spin is always a wondrous thing, but rarely can one enjoy something so blatant as this:
Washington -- Thanks to the successes of the U.S.-led multinational counterterrorism effort, terror organizations are now smaller and more sophisticated, and more challenging than ever to bring to justice, says Ambassador Henry Crumpton, coordinator of the State Department’s counterterrorism office.
"Successes" that make an enemy more dangerous and even harder to fight? Yep, we're all immensely thankful for those.
Continue reading "America's great "success""
Posted by secretdubai at 09:14 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
April 26, 2006
Sinai: the Bombing Fad, Egypt and the decline of good solid craftmanship
Well, it appears as if a whole fad for the youngsters has broken out in the Egyptian Sinai, bombing the neighbors.
While I am sure it is all good clean fun the Egyptian state wil take a dim view of what it claims is the Sinai Bedouine's new hobby.
Continue reading "Sinai: the Bombing Fad, Egypt and the decline of good solid craftmanship"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:47 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
April 24, 2006
Dahab: Why Egypt's anti-terrorism strategy just doesn't work
The first time I went to Dahab was in the early 90s. Back then it was the "Goa of the Middle East" - a conglomeration of hut camps on a 2 mile stretch of coastline, a gorgeous coral reef less than 50m off the beach, relaxed attitudes and plenty of hash to go around. It was the perfect spot to relax after the throngs of the Nile valley, the chaos of Cairo, or the religious zealotry of Jerusalem. Initially a place through which one passed on the way from Africa to Asia, or Europe to Africa (or the other way around), it soon became a destination unto itself, attracting Israeli and European teenagers and students who wanted to "get away from it all" but didn't have the cash to travel far.
Continue reading "Dahab: Why Egypt's anti-terrorism strategy just doesn't work"
Posted by raf* at 06:20 PM | Comments (40) | TrackBack
Takfiri Encore: Dahab, Egypt Resort Bombed
Sadly it appears that the murderous Takfiri / al-Qaeda scum have struck again, in Dahab, the quasi hippy-ish Egyptian resort on the Red Sea coast of the Sinai.
Initial Reuters reporting suggests bombing of the Dahab market area. Dahab is heavily frequented by Egyptians, although foreigners also have a presence there.
Al Jazeera has an initial report of 12 dead and 90 injured.
[Updated: FT has via William Wallace and Heba Saleh Bombs in Egypt point to desert terrorists an interesting article on the Daheb bombings]
Continue reading "Takfiri Encore: Dahab, Egypt Resort Bombed"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:25 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
March 18, 2006
The Kills Are Alive With The Sound of Music: The Al-Qaeda Soundtrack
Fellow blogger, Chris Roach, an American paleoconservative*, writes a relatively nuanced reflection on the use of music in al-Qaeda recruitment/propaganda videos. Although his recurrent Islamophobia (more in other entries) can be irritating at times, allowing for that, this attempt to get at the stylings of Arabic music and the esthetics of Islamic art may contain some thoughtful criticism of music or good artistic debate fodder, even if wrong. "There is something jarring about this experience," he writes, "listening to lyrical and well-crafted music, most often in the classically minor key of the orient, while viewing awful images of murder and mayhem."
Continue reading "The Kills Are Alive With The Sound of Music: The Al-Qaeda Soundtrack"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:57 AM | Comments (83) | TrackBack
February 15, 2006
Maghreb & Rumsfeld (Updated)
Following up on my earlier post on Rumsfeld and his commenton the Maghreb, a somewhat clearer article from FT on the trip:
Rumsfeld treads warily to enlist north Africans in war against terrorism
A bit of commentary on the idiocies (required in large part, but still idiocies):
Continue reading "Maghreb & Rumsfeld (Updated)"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:12 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 13, 2006
More Reasons Why Torture is a Bad Idea
Because junior military personnel can't be trusted to have the common sense to know when they are going to kill people, that's why:
The two Afghans were found dead within days of each other, hanging by their shackled wrists in isolation cells at the prison in Bagram, north of Kabul. An Army investigation showed they were treated harshly by interrogators, deprived of sleep for days, and struck so often in the legs by guards that a coroner compared the injuries to being run over by a bus...
But really, we can't blame the poor kids, can we, because how could they be expected to know what rules to follow?
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Posted by evaluna at 06:55 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 12, 2006
Dim, Dim, Dim: Maghreb not an al Qaeda kinda place because...
Leaving aside the main thrust of the arty in question from The Financial Times (that being the US planning or considering to sell arms to the nasty little clique of generals in Algeria), the American Specialist in Idiotic Statements & Failed Occupations, had this to say about the Maghreb and al Qaeda:
Before arriving in Tunisia on Saturday, Mr Rumsfeld said he did not believe the Maghreb was a likely place for al-Qaeda to take root because extremism was not tolerated by the governments of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
Bloody idiot. What a complete bloody idiot. Why has this completely deluded fucking incompetent egocentric bumbler not been axed? Or in the alternative, how long can the American policy establishment continue its deluded focus on States alone?
Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:54 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
December 20, 2005
The Munich Wars
Mona Eltahawy over at the Shark argues that Spielberg's upcoming flick looking at the 1972 Munich killings of Israeli Olympic athletes and the subsequent retaliatory killings by Israel should encourage reassessments of myths on both sides of the divide.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 13, 2005
Joseph Nye the PR Guy: "Soft Power" in Iraq
Just saw Joseph Nye speak on the subject of “Can Democracy Defeat Terrorism?”, a talk which ended up being mostly about Iraq and what U.S. policy should be in that neck of the woods. "Soft power" is his term for what in other fields of endeavor is sometimes called “hearts and minds,” or maybe “public relations”- the idea that convincing people of the merit of your position by diplomatic means is more effective than doing so by force, and at a lower cost.
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Posted by evaluna at 11:10 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
December 03, 2005
Torture, U.S. Foreign Policy, and International Law: The Truth Can Sting
I had the opportunity this week to hear John Yoo, the author of the infamous U.S. Justice Department torture memo speak in justification of physical mistreatment of alleged Al-Qaeda operatives because they are ostensibly not protected by the Geneva Conventions, debate a prominent human rights law expert on the legality of this practice under U.S. and international law. (Disclosure: I’ve known Doug Cassel professionally for years, and in a prior life was privileged to provide interpretation services for his expert testimony in political asylum cases.) This memo has been used by the Bush administration to justify interrogation methods which any normal person with morals would agree constitute mistreatment of alleged Al-Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan and Guantánamo.
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Posted by evaluna at 10:39 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
November 20, 2005
Items to Amuse: Morocco accounces an al-Qaeda network broken
Well, via the national media I am led to understand that Morocco has broken a terror network tonight (or very recently).
Perhaps this explains the wierdness with the 50th anniversary celebrations with last minute announcements and changed venues, and all that.
I have to suspect things might have been a bit tight.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:03 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 04, 2005
And in other Ramadan related news, Al Qaeda goes for the "Yes we are bloody minded barbarians, thank you very much" award
On the wires, Al Qaeda in Iraq (yes, I know, it's very much a poorly controlled franchising thing, but hey, lessons in brand management - bad and good) has called for getting down to the really fun business of blowing up foreign infidels and Shia as well one should think.
I did like the cited slaves of the cross phrasing, it actually has a nice ring to it. Much more interesting than that ugly non-sense, "Islamofascist" the American Bolshy Right, its fellow travellers and assorted semi-literates have taken to using. They should take rhetoric lessons from the al-Qaeda people (who are actually, all things being equal, somewhat good at rhetoric - that and of course senselessly blowing up innocents, but can't ask for everything in the world).
Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 03, 2005
Iraqi Oil Minister: Not Dead Yet
This morning we had the fine news that the Iraqi Oil Minister most unsportingly was not blown up, despire the increasingly sincere attempts on the part of the Sunni Arab factions. "I'm not dead yet" as he might say.
See: FT article: Iraq oil minister survives bomb attack - October 3 2005, 08:42 (Reuters)
Posted by The Lounsbury at 09:20 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 30, 2005
ECSSR warns on Al Qaeda
An editorial by the UAE government-run Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, reported by Associated Press, warns that Al Qaeda is busy recruiting and sinking roots into the region:
"The United Arab Emirates has so far been spared even though it has been a key player in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. Authorities have arrested at least two alleged high-profile al-Qaida members, passed laws against money laundering and kept a close watch on Islamic charities.
"Terrorism specialists have said Dubai was an ideal logistical hub for al-Qaida because of its liberal, cosmopolitan lifestyle and freewheeling business rules. Other gulf states, such as Bahrain and Qatar, could also be targeted because of their close ties to the United States. Like Dubai, they are home to a huge expatriate work force."
The report doesn't single out any specific country as a target, but is warning of a collective danger to the growth and stability of the region:
"Despite all the regional disputes over Iraq, it must be agreed that defeating al-Qaida is an Arab and Islamic goal... . The result of the battle against terrorism in Iraq is linked to stability in the Middle East," the report said.
Posted by secretdubai at 04:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 06, 2005
Ideological Rifts
One of my more bizarre side-projects involves keeping track of fatwas released by Muslim scholars on the subject of terrorism and the proper conduct of jihad in the service of Islam. Shortly after the London bombings, a number of Muslim groups in Western countries rapidly issued fatwas and/or press releases condemning terrorism and suicide attacks against civilians. These carefully-worded rulings revealed a broad spectrum of opinions in Muslim communities, perhaps even a deep divide between conservative and “liberal” Muslims (see my earlier entry on Canadian Muslim groups).
Last week, Asharq Al-Awsat published an article about a controversial ruling issued by Abu-Basir al-Tartusi, a prominent Salafi ideologue living in London:
London-Based Salafi Scholar Issues Fatwa Prohibiting Suicide Operations
Syrian ideologue Abd-al-Munim Mustafa Abu-Halimah, also known as Abu-Basir al-Tartusi, said on his website under the headline "A Word of Warning About Suicide Operations: "I have received 1,000 questions about these operations, which are for me closer to suicide than martyrdom. They are haram (Forbidden) and impermissible, for several reasons." Al-Tartusi, who lives in London, cited in the fatwa that he issued the day before yesterday some of the (Prophet Muhammad's) sayings, among them: "Anyone who harms a believer has no jihad." He said this is for someone who merely harms a believer, so imagine if he kills him, and kills him deliberately." He also cited the saying of the Honorable Messenger: "One who kills a non-Muslim does not find the winds of paradise; its wind is to be found from a 70 years walk"…
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Posted by eerie at 01:20 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 05, 2005
Yorkshire Bombers - British Muslims shocked
An item worthy of attention:
British Muslims Shocked by Video of Bomber
Well, this makes the denial and the excuse making coming out of the mouths of what we might call "the usual suspects" unsupportable (although certain deluded and or mendacious elements will continue to do so, just as they do in regards to 11 Sep).
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 31, 2005
The Bridge Stampede: Iraq, Chaos and Security
The deadly accident today in Iraq, where several hundreds (and indeed perhaps near a thousand) pilgrims were killed in a stampede over a bridge over the Tigris calls for some reflexion and comment. (See The Financial Times Up to 700 Iraqis feared dead in bridge stampede
Well nigh a thousand dead. Certainly it is rightly the prime lead on the Arab Sats (excuding CNBC which weirdly is trying to reproduce American dot com day-trader obsessiveness over the Saudi stock market) and the tragedy, the sheer pathos of the event - a stampede based on a false (or who knows, perhaps not....) rumour of a suicide bomber that ends up killing far more than any single suicide bomber (ex of course a truck or car bomber) might.
(As an aside, does that ridiculous Fox News call these Iraqi/Arab on Iraqi bombers 'homocide bombers' in its continued flaunting of absolute illiteracy?)
Continue reading "The Bridge Stampede: Iraq, Chaos and Security"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:54 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
August 26, 2005
Economist - a fine arty on Jihadis as Anarchists
A bit late I admit, but I get my Economist a week late, and very much prefer the print edition to online reading. Being primative.
The article in question:
For jihadist, read anarchist
I very much enjoyed this as this is something that I have been making as a point in several conversations online, in regards to the neglected similarities to the radical anararchist movement of the end of the 19th century in Europe and the Americas.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:48 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 04, 2005
On Terror, Tea Cups and Jumping - Re Conclusions
If I may permit myself a snide aside based on this article:
London Bombers Used Ordinary Materials, and in partial connexion with my own note, Tempests & Tea Pots regarding a rather overdone, hysteric to an extent and generally ridiculous and poorly informed online debate on terrorism.
Continue reading "On Terror, Tea Cups and Jumping - Re Conclusions"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 28, 2005
Fatwas Against Terrorism
From the State Department:
Muslim-American Scholars Issue Fatwa Condemning Terrorism
The Fiqh Council of North America has issued a fatwa against terrorism:
The scholars based their ruling on several Quranic passages, including the verse, “Whoever kills a person [unjustly]… it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” (Quran 5:32)
I mentioned this verse a while back, to make a point about terrorists in Iraq "justifying" their behaviour by using apostasy as a loophole. That loophole was closed by a group of clerics in Jordan, one day before the London bombings.
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Posted by eerie at 10:11 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Terror & Ideology - A Resume
We've been talking quite abit about this, naturally given London, Sharm esh-Sheikh and the like. I think a small wrap up, as well as a compare and contrast, especially with some recent reports and editorials, may be useful. So, below the fold I think the expression goes, a longish commentary and perhaps a slight Lounsbury-ish rant:
Continue reading "Terror & Ideology - A Resume"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:52 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
July 26, 2005
Combating Terrorism, Part II, or: Why Do They Still Hate Us?
Why Do They Hate Us? Not Because of Iraq
In a recent New York Times op-ed piece (free registration required), Olivier Roy questions the nature of the relationship between Islamic terrorism and the Israel/Palestine conflict; after all, many of the splashiest Islamic terrorist acts of the past few years have taken place either on the periphery of the parts of the Islamic world that have traditionally drawn Western attention (e.g. Afghanistan, Chechnya), places that haven’t been part of the Muslim world for several centuries (Spain), or places which only recently have experienced an influx of Muslims (England, the U.S.)
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Posted by evaluna at 10:28 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
July 23, 2005
Combating Islamist Terrorism: Policy Approaches
Militant Islamist ideology is not a recent phenomenon, the concepts have been around for decades. It was popular with Muslim youth in the 1960-70s, particularly after Sayyid Qutb published Signposts on the Road, a bestseller in the Islamic world that continues to influence Islamist ideology today. At the time, enthusiasm for nationalism was waning and writers like Qutb were disgusted with the corruption of secular authoritarian governments and the perceived erosion of Islamic principles in Egypt and across the Middle East. The answer was of course a return to religion, and a firm rejection of jahiliyya, the state of ignorance and barbarism that occured in the absence of Islam (historically, this term refers to the pre-Islamic period).
So why has this sort of thinking been adopted more recently by a segment of young European Muslims? What is the source of their disenchantment and frustration and how can European (and North American) governments address this issue without compromising ideals such as tolerance and multiculturalism?
Continue reading "Combating Islamist Terrorism: Policy Approaches"
Posted by eerie at 12:04 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
Egypt: Bombings
Explosions in Red Sea Resorts kill at least 20
Sharm el-Sheikh has hosted many international summits and peace conferences. Last year, I had planned a trip to the Sinai (Dahab) but cancelled it in favour of Hurghada because of a bombing near the Egypt-Israel border.
Mubarak may see this as an opportunity to lock down Egypt even more, police presence was enormous when I visited last December, just a few months after the Taba bombings.
Posted by eerie at 07:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Beirut: Monot Street bomb
I'll make this short, because I'm sitting here at home typing this, when I could be going looking for fine (or, likelier, mediocre) Scottish product to finish the day off with.
Monot Street got bombed. 1 killed, 7 injured. But Monot Street.
Monot Street, for those not in the know, is the finest source of pure night-clubbing Lebanese Protest Chyx (as seen in a warblog near you about four months ago) in the world. There is no rival.
I was walking back down from watching BATMAN RETURNS (good flick, by the way) via Rue Monot, and saw a bigger than usual crowd, especially for before 10 PM on a Friday. Plus, instead of all trying to get into some night club, they were looking at something further down the street. There were also a bunch of military vehicles nosing their way down the way. As I got further, some harassed middle-aged guy in army fatigues was shouting at the various pimped-out lounge-lizards to "Please disperse. Stay behind the lines." (Or something like that. In Arabic.)
I took off on a side street, stopping to ask some guy walking the other way with a big honking camera: "Shu saar? Kaan infijar?" "Yes, bomb." At which point I found a coffee shop with a TV on.
Fortunately, the bomb was at 9:45 PM, at which time the Street is hardly even warmed up yet.
I'd like to use this space for a very special message for whoever is making all these bombs: Would you sad sons of bitches please get a life? What, are you afraid the sad speccy anoraks in London are going to get ahead of you in the cross-continent bomb-laying sweeps? It isn't funny, it isn't clever, it isn't even scary. It's just a pain in the ass. Go do salsa dancing lessons or something, I hear it's a great way to meet chyx.
Fuckers.
Posted by tomscud at 04:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 17, 2005
Everyone's an Apostate
...When you’re Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Zarqawi says Qaeda forms wing to fight Shi'ites
Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said his group had formed a new armed wing to fight the Shi'ite militia Badr Brigade, according to an audio tape attributed to him and posted on the Internet on Tuesday.
"We in al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq announce the formation of a military brigade named Omar Brigade, to cut off the symbols and factions of the treacherous Badr Brigade," said the voice on the audio tape which sounded similar to previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi.
Badr Brigade is the military wing of the Shi’a SCIRI (Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq) party. It claims to have transformed into a purely political organization, but most Iraqi Sunnis remain unconvinced.
Continue reading "Everyone's an Apostate"
Posted by eerie at 02:31 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
e-Jihad
In this week's Economist (subscription content, unfortunately), the notion of "Radicalism by Internet" was brought up as a potential explanation for how disaffected second- or third- generation Muslim youths seek out and discover online mentors who possess both the ideological and practical skills necessary for orchestrating terrorist attacks in Western countries:
As an incipient extremist group grows more obsessive, and its weaker brethren fall away, hard-core members often withdraw from the mosques. Indeed, a big recent trend in European Islam, says Mr Roy [Olivier Roy is a noted scholar in this field, not as cool as my favourite Frenchman Gilles Kepel, but this is just my opinion] is the mass withdrawal by militants from mosques that are under surveillance. This has made extremism even more elusive, and the internet’s influence even greater. To a large extent, “the internet has replaced Afghanistan” as a source of training and inspiration for militant Muslims, says Stephen Ulph, a scholar working for the Jamestown Foundation, an American think-tank.
Posted by eerie at 04:41 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Islam & Terror - Profounder Reflections
As noted, I remain submerged in corporate flackery and spin, but I wanted to bring several items to everyone's attention.
First, the esteemed Abu Aardvark has two important posts up:
Murphy: Can Islam's leaders reach its radicals?
and
Continue reading "Islam & Terror - Profounder Reflections"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
Muslims in Europe - London Bombings as Domestic Terror and Suicide
Being frightfully busy writing corporate propaganda (otherwise known as responding to transparency in quarterly reporting by - as the French rather wonderfully put it, putting heavy make up on the accounts), I am afraid this is as much an open post as anything.
Nevertheless, The Financial Times and other sources report that the identity of the actual bombers, who do indeed appear to have been suicide bombers, has more or less been established.
Continue reading "Muslims in Europe - London Bombings as Domestic Terror and Suicide"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:01 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
July 12, 2005
Explosion in Antelias
Radio and TV in Lebanon are reporting a large explosion at the Pointure roundabout in Antelias, a Christian suburb north of Beirut. TV pictures are showing people very badly injured, being loaded into ambulances, and blackened, twisted cars. Apparently, (outgoing) Defense Minister Elias Murr has been injured in the explosion. Murr, though Greek Orthodox, is traditionally associated with the pro-Syrian wing of Lebanese politics.
Nothing yet on aljazeera.net, naharnet, or bbcnews.com.
Update: BBC News story says 2 injured (as does the al jazeera ticker), one of them Murr.
Update again: 2 dead, 12 injured. Murr is injured. Al Jazeera story. Naharnet story.
Posted by tomscud at 03:42 AM
July 07, 2005
He who warns is excused?
This is a response to Simon W. Moon's question in an earlier entry about the London bombings. Referring to the translated statement alleging al-Qaeda responsibility, he asked:
What is the "He who warns is excused." bit about?
Google just turns up similar letters and a couple of stories from long ago times whose significance is not clear.
Continue reading "He who warns is excused?"
Posted by eerie at 11:17 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Father of Aardvaarks on London
I am about to piss off to the club to do my usual things, which include supporting the Great Cuban Revolution for Impoverishing the Countryside by consuming its products and writing either semi coherent rants, engaging in semi coherent rants with other club members, networking, and finally, incongrously whipping out the laptop in fits of inspiration (or desperation, very hard to tell the difference really).
In that vien, I wanted to share something serious, the quick comment by the Father of Aardvark(s) on London and its meaning:
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2005/07/london__a_decis.html
Continue reading "Father of Aardvaarks on London"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:07 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
London Bombings
We're all watching developments in London, obviously. The al-Qaeda statement claiming responsibility was apparently published in Arabic on al-Qal'ah, should anyone feel inclined to translate/comment.
Update - Wikimedia has a screenshot:
BBC has translated the statement.
Posted by eerie at 12:34 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
