The Geopolitics of Islam, less useful than dangerous: Links post 1 for Nov. 14 – 2014

What I refer to in the title is how many governments and regimes used to use the fact of Islam as a method for projecting force for more traditional geopolitical struggles such as Russia/Soviet V. US/W. Europe and many other example of same. Now that turns out to be not such a good idea.

1. Pakistan: Ready or not they are coming: 

(This article contains an image of the leaked document to which it refers. Here is a larger version of that document)

South Asia: Pakistani intelligence agencies have warned the provincial governments and other law and enforcement agencies regarding the mounting threat from the ISIS militants. Recently a secret document was leaked in which Pakistani Agencies were sending information about the ISIS (Daish) activities in Pakistan.

According to the letter, dated 31st October, Daish or ISIS has recruited 10,000 to 12,000 fighters from the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kurram tribal district in FATA. In that letter it is also mentioned that ISIS has offered some banned Islamic organizations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) to join hands in Pakistan. Both of these organizations are Anti-Shia like ISIS. ISIS (Daish) has also formed 10-members Strategic Planning Wing, which will target the Army installations in Pakistan as Pakistani Army is working hard to eliminate these terrorists from the North of Pakistan.

2. Islamic State commanders liable for mass war crimes: U.N.

(Reuters) – Islamic State commanders are liable for war crimes on a “massive scale” in northeast Syria, where they spread terror by beheading, stoning and shooting civilians and captured fighters, U.N. investigators said on Friday.

Their report, based on over 300 interviews with witnesses and victims, called on world powers to bring the commanders before the International Criminal Court for both war crimes and crimes against humanity.

(Report  —  video of IS beheading)

3.  Thailand: 2 killed in Pattani insurgent raid

Two suspected insurgents were shot dead and five others surrendered following a raid on hideouts in Pattani’s Nong Chik district in the early hours of Friday.

A combined team of soldiers, police and local officials rounded up the suspects wanted in security-related cases at Khok Tanod village in tambon Kholor Tanyong in Nong Chik district at about 3am, said…

4. A Turkish Quest to “Liberate” Jerusalem

Both Turkey’s President Erdogan and its Prime Minister Davutoglu have declared countess times that Gaza and Jerusalem (in addition to Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Somalia, and the Maghreb) are Turkey’s “domestic affairs.”

In truth, there is no mention of any city’s name in the Qur’an.

Turks have a different understanding of what constitutes an occupation and a conquest of a city. The Turkish rule is very simple: The capture of a foreign city by force is an occupation if that city is Turkish (or Muslim) and the capture of a city by force is conquest if the city belongs to a foreign nation (or non-Muslims).

For instance, Turks still think the capture of Istanbul in 1453 was not occupation; it was conquest.

In a 2012 speech, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (then Prime Minister) said: “Just like Mecca, Cairo and Istanbul are cities of the Qur’an.” In truth, there is no mention of any city’s name in the Qur’an. Never mind.

5. The ignorance of the boycott brigade

On 16 December 2013, a pre-eminent academic disciplinary body, the American Studies Association (ASA), used the occasion of its annual conference to push through a boycott of Israeli universities. This unprecedented attack on academic freedom came on the back of campaigns organised by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which, in its most recent incarnation, began in Britain in 2005 and rapidly migrated to the US. Cary Nelson, former president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), describes the BDS campaign as ‘the most influential current version of a long-term effort to delegitimate the state of Israel’.

6. At this moment live, is a major ‘multi faith’ event taking place at a major Episcopalian cathedral in Washington DC. I hope that someone like Stephen Coughlin can look at this after the fact and see if it is another trick like the one played on the Pope at the Vatican Rose Garden this summer. Meanwhile, here is Diana West’s view of this event and an article at Gates of Vienna and also here about the same.

Thank you M., Don C., Yucki, Diana West and all who sent in material. More to come.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

27 Replies to “The Geopolitics of Islam, less useful than dangerous: Links post 1 for Nov. 14 – 2014”

  1. #1 I wonder what the chances of a nuclear exchange between ISIS and Iran once ISIS gets its hands on some of the Pakistani nukes? We all know this is the reason they are going into Pakistan.

  2. So is South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool going to reciprocate and allow Rev. Canon Gina Campbell, the Episcopal cathedral’s director of liturgy to have a Christian sermon in his mosque on Sunday?
    No? I did not think so.

  3. ITALY – Tor Sapienza Rome mayor jeered near refugee centre

    (AGI) Rome, Nov 14 – Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino ( Leftist ) was jeered during a visit to the city’s Tor Sapienza district on Friday.

    The area’s refugee centre has been the focus of protests and clashes fuelled by local residents over the last few days. Mr Marino said the city council would concentrate its efforts on ensuring that the area was kept respectable and safe, as befitted the spirit of welcome embodied by the city. . .

    https://www.agi.it/en/italy/news/rome_mayor_jeered_near_refugee_centre-201411141855-pol-ren1034

    Buffone! Buffone! = clown ! clown !

    • REUTERS Rome evacuates children from immigrant center as violence mounts

      ( the children are in fact the youths we see at the very beginning of the video … and like the one at 0:34 )

      http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/13/us-italy-immigration-violence-idUSKCN0IX29120141113

      Rome’s mayor ordered the evacuation on Thursday of 45 children from a center for immigrants that has been under attack for four days by local people.

      Mayor Ignazio Marino said the building, which houses around 70 people including a few homeless Italians, had been “seriously damaged” and the children were no longer safe there.

      The center in Tor Sapienza, a poor neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of the capital, has become the latest focus for resentment that has built up over years when Italians have struggled with falling incomes and rising unemployment.

      Violence erupted on Monday night when protesters shouting insults at the immigrants threw stones at the center and set rubbish skips outside the building alight.

      A heavy police presence has failed to quieten residents, who accuse the migrants of drug trafficking and prostitution. Protesters have continued to hold marches and throw stones and bottles.

      Prosecutors have opened an investigation to identify those responsible, Marino’s office said in a statement, adding that “Rome rejects all forms of violence, racism and xenophobia.”

      In September Corcolle, another eastern suburb of Rome, was the scene of similar violence and there have been other recent attacks on immigrants in the capital.

      The tensions have helped fuel a surge in support for the anti-immigrant Northern League party, led by 41-year-old Matteo Salvini who took over the party a year ago.

      On Saturday Salvini, who is frequently accused of fanning violence, was attacked in his car by students when he turned up at a Roma encampment in Bologna which some locals, supported by the Northern League, say should be closed down.

      Mario Borghezio, an outspoken Northern League member of the European Parliament, said he would visit Tor Sapienza on Friday and bring the residents the “solidarity” of Salvini.

      ( Mario Borghezio = 2:07 on the video )

      video :

      • Gotta respect people who stand up for themselves – at long last. They’re no hysterical cranks; they’re just working people.

        • ITALY – Nov 14 2014 -Stop Racism – Protest of the Muslim migrants and the African refugees in front of the Parliament in Rome –

        • And they are the ones who will save the West, our self proclaimed elite leaders will not do anything.

      • RT video – Italy: Police prevent anti-immigration protest in Rome

        Police called a halt to a planned anti-immigration protest in Rome on Friday, since the action was unauthorised. Authorities reportedly feared the outbreak of clashes between left-wingers and the anti-immigration protesters.

        After a police officer had told the gathered crowd to leave, the demonstrators waited for Mario Borghezio of the Northern League (Lega Nord) party, whose political programme calls for greater regional autonomy for the northern regions and stricter anti-immigration measures.

        0:00 I repeat, this demonstration has not been authorized, that’s why you have to leave from here!”

        0:31 “Even a demonstration supporting legality and solidarity can’t happen because of the threats by violent people who don’t want citizens to express themselves in these terms.”

        0:45 “I’ll tell you something. If I were a citizen of Rome I’d feel the need to create a movement for the independence of Rome, because Rome needs special laws. It’s absurd that a city like this is only governed through municipalities that have no power, autonomy and means at all.”

        1:05 “Rome, we will set you free! We will come back if necessary!”

  4. Boko Haram militants ‘seize Nigerian town of Chibok’ (BBC, Nov 14, 2014)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30058879

    “Boko Haram militants have seized the north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok, from where they kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.

    Militants attacked and took control of the town, in Borno state, on Thursday evening, residents who escaped told the BBC.

    Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted villages around Chibok over recent months.

    The group says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.

    The schoolgirl kidnappings in Chibok caused worldwide outrage and sparked a social media campaign.

    A senator for Borno state, Ali Ndume, told the BBC Hausa service that security forces posted in Chibok, a relatively small, mainly Christian town, ran away when the insurgents attacked….”

  5. Iraq troops ‘push Islamic State from oil town of Baiji’ (BBC, Nov 14, 2014)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30052714

    “Iraqi officials say their forces have driven out Islamic State (IS) fighters from the oil refinery town of Baiji, 200km (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

    Gen Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi told Iraqi state TV that the town “had been completely liberated”.

    There are still reports of heavy fighting around the oil refinery, which is Iraq’s largest.

    IS seized Baiji in June during a lightning advance through northern Iraq and laid siege to the refinery.

    The group, which also controls large parts of northern Syria, has been the target of a US-led military campaign since August….”

  6. ISIS leader purportedly says coalition ‘terrified, weak’ (CNN, Nov 14, 2014)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/13/world/meast/isis-leader-al-baghdadi/index.html

    “The speaker in an audio message posted Thursday on an ISIS social media account claims to be leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

    He is heard saying the U.S.-led coalition to destroy ISIS is “terrified, weak and powerless.” CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the online message or when it was recorded.

    The 17-minute audio says the coalition’s effort has been a “failure” and the coalition will be “forced” to “send ground forces to their deaths and destruction.”

    The speaker also urges Islamic State fighters to take their battle everywhere and “light the Earth with fire upon all tyrants,” and mentions U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan to deploy 1,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq “under the claim they are advisers.””

  7. Iraq: Bomb Blast Kills 15 in Northern Baghdad (abcnews, Nov 14, 2014)
    http://abcn.ws/1xYbcMU

    “Iraqi hospital and police officials say a car bomb has gone off in a busy market area in northern Baghdad, killing 15 people and injuring 34.

    The death toll from the nighttime blast in the Gorayaat area took to 34 the total number of people killed in bomb blasts on Friday. It was the largest of four bombings in and around the city on Friday, mostly targeting Shiite areas.

    The total number of injured now stands at more than 80, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which bore the hallmarks of Sunni militants.”

  8. Looks like famous Muhammadan medicine is not as desirable these days (as some loony leftist would like to make us believe)…

    Sources: Algerian President Hospitalized in France (abcnews, Nov 14, 2014)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sources-algerian-president-hospitalized-france-26919403

    “Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been admitted to a hospital in France, two French officials said Friday.

    The ailing 77-year-old leader was admitted to the Clinique d’Alembert in Grenoble on Thursday, the officials told The Associated Press. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

    Neither official could say why Bouteflika was hospitalized.

    He has been hospitalized in France several times, most recently in January for what his office called a routine checkup.

    Last year Bouteflika was hospitalized for four months in Paris after suffering a stroke.

    Algeria’s presidency on Friday declined to comment on Bouteflika’s health or his whereabouts.

    Bouteflika has led Algeria since 1999. He was re-elected to a fourth term in April, despite being totally absent from the election campaign, and he has rarely been seen in public since. His opponents have claimed that he is not physically fit to rule.

    Concerns over Bouteflika’s health began during his second term in 2005, when he secretly entered the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris for a bleeding ulcer.

    Power in Algeria is concentrated in the hands of the president, who rules in an uneasy consensus with top military, intelligence and party officials. He has no obvious successor, and there are fears that his death could ignite a struggle for control among the elites.”

  9. Someone Interrupted Muslim Prayers At National Cathedral

    In a “a dramatic moment in the world and in Muslim-Christian relations,” the National Cathedral is currently hosting Jumu’ah, the Friday prayer said by Muslims. And because love, respect and understanding is too much of a concept for some people to understand, a person interrupted the service. Of course.

    According to reports, a woman yelled “Jesus Christ is Lord!” before being removed from the Cathedral. A group of motorcyclists planned to protest “the Islamization of America” outside the D.C. house of worship.

    Pic – Protestor escorted out of Washington National Cathedral as Muslim prayer service gets underway ( link on the page )

    Organized by South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Society of North America, Muslim Public Affairs Council and The Nation’s Mosque, certain people are pretty worked up about the service, with the Reverend Franklin Graham calling it “sad to see.”

    In a release about the event, Rasool, who helped organize the event with Cathedral liturgical director, the Rev. Canon Gina Campbell, said, “This needs to be a world in which all are free to believe and practice and in which we avoid bigotry, Islamaphobia, racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Christianity and to embrace our humanity and to embrace faith.”

    The service can be watched here. ( link on the page )

    http://dcist.com/2014/11/of_course_someone_interrupted_musli.php

    video – CAIR Board Chair Roula Allouch Speaking Prior to Friday Prayers at Washington National Cathedral

  10. And now a new concept : SHIAPHOBIA !!!

    AFP – Shiite community leader sees bigotry spreading to new shores

  11. Exactly what we (dont) need…

    #BBCTrending: Syrian ‘hero boy’ video faked by Norwegian director (BBC, Nov 14, 2014)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-30057401

    “Millions of YouTube viewers have been captivated by the ‘Syrian hero boy’ who manages to rescue a little girl while under gunfire. Now a group of Norwegian filmmakers have told BBC Trending they are behind it. They say it was filmed on location in Malta this summer with the intention of being presented as real.

    Lars Klevberg, a 34-year-old film director based in Oslo, wrote a script after watching news coverage of the conflict in Syria. He says he deliberately presented the film as reality in order to generate a discussion about children in conflict zones.

    “If I could make a film and pretend it was real, people would share it and react with hope,” he said. “We shot it in Malta in May this year on a set that was used for other famous movies like Troy and Gladiator,” Klevberg said. “The little boy and girl are professional actors from Malta. The voices in the background are Syrian refugees living in Malta.”

    Were they comfortable making a film that potentially deceived millions of people? “I was not uncomfortable,” Klevberg said. “By publishing a clip that could appear to be authentic we hoped to take advantage of a tool that’s often used in war; make a video that claims to be real. We wanted to see if the film would get attention and spur debate, first and foremost about children and war. We also wanted to see how the media would respond to such a video.””