Archive for the ‘Geopolitics’ Category
To those who say only the poor are jihadists…
There are plenty of examples, but I came across this today while doing some research:
In perhaps the single deadliest bombing in Iraq, a car bombing on Feb. 28, 2005 that killed 125 teachers and police recruits at a health clinic in Hilla, was executed by a U.S.-educated Jordanian lawyer.
Palestinian ‘history’
[I]n the history of the world, Palestine has never existed as a nation. The region known as Palestine was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their ancestral homeland. It was never ruled by Arabs as a separate nation.
Foreign aid workers and Afghans murdered in riots, blame falls on U.S. pastor
General David Petraeus, the top commander of both U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, says that the recent Qur’an burning in Florida has inspired multiple deadly riots in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called last month’s Qur’an burning by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. “a crime against the religion and the entire Muslim nation,” and demanded that Pastor Terry Jones be brought to justice.
This incident demonstrates that in Afghanistan, we are fighting a war against an enemy who often has few ideological differences with the population we are trying to protect. The Taliban and the Afghan people both seek the establishment of Islamic sharia law, which explains President Karzai’s demands to bring Jones to justice. Under sharia law, burning a Qur’an is considered blasphemy – anything disadvantageous to Islam can be considered blasphemous – and may be punishable by death.
While the Qur’an burning has destabilized the security situation for our troops in Afghanistan, it only provided the catalyst for those whose sensitivities are on a hair-trigger anyways. The problem isn’t burning books – it’s the ideology that inspires people to take to the streets, injuring and killing innocent Afghans (including at least one child) and aid workers in retaliation for the burning of a book.
Americans should read books instead of burn them, but when something so simple can inspire riots and murders around the world, pyrophilic “outreach centers” aren’t the ones with the problem.
In: Articles, Geopolitics, Religion · Tagged with: Afghanistan, Islam
MB leader Qaradawi puts hit out on Qaddafi
In case you missed it, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi issued a “fatwa” against Muammar Qaddafi on Al-Jazeera TV (via MEMRI):
“I hereby issue a fatwa to the officers and soldiers who can kill Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi: Whoever among them can fire a bullet at him, thus relieving the country and the people of him, should do so. This man wants to annihilate the people, so I am protecting the people.
“I rule that whoever can fire a bullet, and relieve us, as well as Libya and its great people, of this man’s evil and danger, should do so.”
Transcript and video are available at MEMRI.
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: Libya, Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Is film ‘Iranium’ so damaging Iran doesn’t want Canadians to see it?
[Originally published at The US Report]
A scheduled screening of a controversial new documentary in Canada has reportedly caused threats of violence, protests, and even a request from the Iranian embassy for its cancellation.
The Free Thinking Film Society of Ottawa, which shows films with a “healthy and patriotic respect for Western culture and traditions,” had planned on showing Iranium to an audience at the Canadian National Archives on Tuesday evening followed by a special appearance by Middle East expert Clare Lopez, who appears in the film. Iranium addresses the dangers posed by a nuclear Iran and is scheduled to premier on February 8. However, the Iranian embassy sent an official request to cancel the screening over the weekend, and the Archives received numerous complaints and threats.
The Archives also received two suspicious letters Tuesday afternoon connected to the event, prompting officials to shut down the entire building. A hazardous materials team responded to the incident, and concluded that the letters were safe. Officials determined that complaints and threats accompanying the Iranian request posed too serious a security threat, and the National Archives decided to cancel the event.
“I’m outraged that in the capital of Canada the Iranians have been able to shut down a movie,” said the film society’s president, Fred Litwin. “Bad enough in Tehran, but in Ottawa?”
The Iranian embassy has not responded to attempts to contact them.
“That the mere prospect that this film, which is a factual review of the threat to international stability from the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program, should prompt such a fearful response from Tehran, I think, is testimony to the vulnerable status of the mullahs’ regime,” Ms. Lopez told The US Report. “That regime knows it is going to be held to account by its own people, whose aspirations for liberty will not be denied.”
Canada’s Heritage Minister James Moore and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney both voiced their disapproval of the decision to cancel the event, and Mr. Moore ordered the event to go ahead, albeit with appropriate security measures.
“Canada does not accept attempts from the Iranian Embassy to dictate what films will, and will not be shown in Canada,” a statement from Mr. Moore’s office read.
Lopez applauded the minister’s decision and says she will attend the event when it is rescheduled.
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: Canada, Iran, Iranium
Former CIA agent says Iran WILL use their nuclear weapons against the West
Reza Khalili would know, he was a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is interesting to see that Islamic end times prophecy mirrors that of Christians – just from the other side. John Bernard has more at Let Them Fight.
In: Geopolitics, National Security, Religion · Tagged with: CIA, Iran
What Hezbollah is fighting for
“We are not fighting you so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you.”
- Hussein Massawi, former leader of Hezbollah
In: Geopolitics, In Their Own Words · Tagged with: Hezbollah
Be fruitful and multiply
Did you know that Muslim countries compose more than half of the world’s 50 fastest-reproducing countries?
The top four nations are Muslim: Niger is the world’s most fertile nation with 7.68 births per female, followed by Uganda at 6.73, Mali at 6.54, and Somalia at 6.44.
In fact, 29 of the top 50 nations are Muslim. Nearly all non-Muslim nations in the top 50 are African.
The first Western power is Israel (ranked 76th worldwide) with 2.72 births per female, the next being the United States (124th) with 2.06. A nation’s fertility rate must be at least 2.1 for a society to hold at replacement levels.
This reminds me of the quote from a somewhat prophetic Houari Boumédienne, the former President of Algeria and Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement:
“One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends.
“Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”
While each mother from Sub-Saharan Africa is popping out six to seven potential jihadists, the population of Western nations is in a downward spiral. This is very bad news when you consider that our so-called allies have already lost their resolve to fight the jihadist threat; preferring to let the U.S. do all the work as they watch the clash of civilizations from the sidelines.
The jihadists may not have the economy or technology to beat us, but they certainly have the will and the numbers. Sooner or later, the West will be too weak and indifferent to fight, and that means that the jihadists have won already.
Note – all figures are from the 2010 CIA World Factbook.
Pakistan’s support of the Taliban
“The Taliban will always remain in Afghanistan, and Pakistan will always support them.”
- Gen. Hameed Gul, former Director of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service
In: Geopolitics, In Their Own Words · Tagged with: ISI, Pakistan, Taliban
Who is behind Stuxnet attack on Iran?
A powerful computer virus is attacking Iran’s nuclear program, and evidence indicates a targeted cyber attack from a national intelligence agency.
The Stuxnet worm targets German-manufactured Siemens software systems found in automated industrial systems like those in Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor. Since Stuxnet’s discovery in June, information technology analysts have now had time to study the worm, determining that due to its advanced nature and ability to exploit security vulnerabilities and using stolen security certificates, the worm may have been created by a national intelligence agency.
According to Mahmoud Jafari, the project manager at Bushehr, Stuxnet has not affected the site’s main computers, but has attacked several personal computers. Iran’s semi-official IRNA news agency and other media have reported the worm has infected some 30,000 computers.
Jafari stated that Bushehr’s October launch date will not be affected. The plant has experienced numerous delays, and Iran has not yet offered an explanation why they have pushed back their recent Sept. 2 deadline. Sources for the Israeli Debkafile news service estimate that some 3,000 centrifuges at the Natanz facility have stalled.
Another IRNA report states that the extent of the attack is unclear, and that it could take two or three months to repair the infected systems. However, the damage could increase as two or three newer versions of the worm are now spreading.
According to Fox News, Pentagon Spokesman Col. David Lapan said the Department of Defense can “neither confirm nor deny” whether it is behind the attack.
Stuxnet has also affected computers in India, Indonesia, and Pakistan, but the majority of attacks have been against Iranian systems.
[Originally published at The US Report]
In: Articles, Geopolitics · Tagged with: cyberwarfare, Iran
