27 Sunday Jul 2014
Tags
I have already given this too much time.
Al-Shabaable (Somalia)
Hamacide
HaMafia
HamaNazis
HamAsshole
Islamic Ji-We-Sawed
Muslim Botherhood
Talibanned
TaliBrigand
WannabeeCaliph BadDaddy of the Islamic Hate in Syria and Iraq
Your turn.
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24 Thursday Jul 2014
I haven’t been funded for focus, and that has led to a broad reading experience in this area but not mastery of any part. What I have been able to do is distill some themes and and reintroduce some basics and that has led to some terse formulations that others may use to springboard into new journeys and (a phrase I’ve been using lately) _come forward_ of familiar but perhaps stuck historical positions.
An example: Hillel the Elder (35BCE-10CE) | Jesus-Paul-Constantine | Muhammad.
It’s a poem.
Putin-Assad-Khamenei | Putin-Yanukovych | Russia-China
The world knows how they do business. 🙂
On the Middle East Conflict —
Soviet Era – Pan-Arab Nationalism | Malignant Narcissist Manipulation – Autocratic Totalitarian Culture
Arab vs Persian Islamism | Fascist Theocratic Kleptocracy
Now you can take a puzzle piece like Bashar al-Assad and see how and where it fits, and the same may be done with Hamas. The language-conveyed expectations and myths expressed by either either may also be codified, bounded, known, and dismissed, evolved, or otherwise put into perspective.
The “Middle East Conflict” has nothing to do with human rights or real estate. It has to do with civilizational self-concept, human behavior, the embrace of ethics and ideals, and allowance or permit or what Assad represents — or Hamas or the iIDF — and then simply choices about a bored child’s question: “What do you want to do now? How do you want to live now”?
I would like to see a global evolving peaceful cultural polyphony smooth along a little bit with planning and tuned toward greater human potential and its realization.
That is a form of believer’s humanism.
Don’t say you didn’t ask.
😀
Someone asked for my opinion on a thread.
Another drop of e-paragraph elixir.
Hamas made a lot of promises on its way into power — everything was going to be okay by their claim — but they are malignantly narcissistic, a familiar profile for dictators, and while glorifying themselves, they have also cheated, intimidated, manipulated, and plundered much of Gaza (and the world, considering the plethora of funding streams involved) and now demand that Israel cease to exist (truly, that was Mashaal’s within the last day or so) to fulfill their own grandiose delusions about themselves. Like a bad daddy (trust me), it’s hard seeing them accurately when they’re close and a little unbelievable seeing them from a distance either in space or time.
. . . how do you feel about the information imparted by Electronicintifada, the International Solidarity Movement, the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, Code Pink 🙂 , Ma’an News Agency (I actually kind of like them as they seem to report about as much as they can without drawing party thugs into their offices, i.e., they leave information out of their stories, e.g., they’ll report arrests but not causes for the same)?
http://www.meforum.org/522/the-smoking-gun-arab-immigration-into-palestine There are a lot of partisan “hate-peace peace groups” for the middle east conflict on Facebook. Some are barbaric. Some are collegial. A few are open. The true divide if interpreted through the filter of political psychology:
Adhesion to Loyalty vs Promotion of Integrity.
I don’t lie to you or anyone (or deceive people who are somehow different from myself) or spin this material, and if at times I’m . . . then I’m wrong. I apologize about it, make amends or corrections, and move on.
In a mafia state — doesn’t have to be religious — a loyal lie may better than survival than the telling of an uncomfortable truth. It just takes more courage to tell the truth, and it helps to tell the truth in an atmosphere more encouraging of it. Where partisan intimidation is present — and lies are invented, told, and sustained to either pander to listeners or to develop power over the same — things don’t work so well, partially because everything becomes based on lies.
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23 Wednesday Jul 2014
Tags
There’s a Syrian section in this piece — https://conflict-backchannels.com/2014/03/19/its-hard-helping-you-when-you-are-anti-semitic-among-other-things/ — that tells when I followed leads (online) toward the Facebook presence of the Syrian revolution, it didn’t take long to find what could be interpreted here as Sunni-based anti-Semitic cant about a step removed from the common browsing public, but I’m not sure I’m that common.
🙂
Sometimes I keep “clicking” around a problem.
The Syrian state view and opposition world view that have as a habit of mind ready and vicious (and vacuous) anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist rant haven’t a palatable program for the secular or humanist and post-Enlightenment drivers of the western mind.
The absence of a sympathetic modern human program for the state (Assad’s baggage) and the axis of power that represents political absolutism opposite NATO has tragically kept NATO in position to avoid nuclear Russia while also assigning permit for the disaster to Russia (which pledged $10 million for Syrian relief while spending $51 billion on Sochi).
At the end of each day, whatever our civilizational and religious affiliations may be and their related “self-concepts”, what the Jewish contingent and “Greco-Roman Judeo-Christian” civilization represents is the amassed historical weight of hard won western principles and values.
It’s not that a Jew is worth more than a Muslim, or vice versa, or that the Northern Hemisphere has ruthlessly enslaved the Southern Hemisphere or other such manipulative tripe. It — agape, love, the foundation of a good ethics and experience of a good life — is about dwelling on such an observation as, say, “whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world” (Hillel repeated by Muhammad) and dwelling on the meaning of that long enough to get it and develop some empathy and regard for other souls.
That empathy is not a given in nature: it’s cultivated.
These that get far astray do some damage — and then they do what they do under many ideological banners.
I’ll see how I feel about that on in the morning.
Maybe I’ll like it.
Maybe I won’t.
I don’t like the overuse of “dwelling” but will leave it as authentic verbal jazz.
A little more and I will drop the conversation.
Some social scientists believe that any attitude devolves to some set of beliefs having valence (good thing / bad thing) and intensity (not too bad . . . extremely bad) and primacy. Our legacies in culture and religion, in name and early acquired messages about ourselves (as early as “language uptake”) seem to me primary because we forget having learned such things and then we go an build on them throughout our lives. Our survival includes the perpetuation of these signifying elements of our existence. I think they’re important and believe in evolutionary cultural polyphony but a few have problems with that. Add greed, hormonal motivation, psychological problems, and so fascist dictators and followers are born, and when they grow up and become like BadDaddy with his Islamic Hate terrifying the neighborhood, they are hard to switch off.
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23 Wednesday Jul 2014
Tags
fascism, Gaza, Islamic Jihad, Islamic State, Mosul, political analysis, politics, terrorism, Turkey
The groups that comprise “Islamic Jihad” do worse than push innocents out in front of their violence: they hide in plain sight, infiltrate target communities, and creep forward with programs of intimidation, theft, and murder until they have a developed opportunity to surface in an attack. From Boco Haram to the “islamic State” north of Baghdad, that’s how they work. Moreover, noting Turkey’s apparent cooperation with the Islamic State (underscored by its failure to call the NATO card in on the takeover of its embassy in Mosul), containing this force calls for active blocking and dismantling wherever it is found.
The agony experienced in Gaza may be only prolonged by indecision as regards the “islamist” enterprise and the full spread of its overt objectives, including the genocide of the Jews, and its underlying motivations related to malignant and unbridled narcissism and the criminality it generates.
The note responds to the suggestion that civilians in Gaza be allowed into Egypt to flee the fighting on the strip. However, as all know, and not least the Egyptian military, “the terrorists” look like anybody when it suits them, and Egypt has appropriately restricted traffic through the Rafah Crossing.
The allusion to Turkish cooperation with the “Islamic Stat” stems from a WordPress article, possibly reposted here, asserting that “ISIS gets men and $800 million from Turkey” (Money Jihad, July 8, 2014). The body of that piece appears to have been based on a piece in The Algemeiner (June 22) that no longer appears online.
😦
Was the Algemeiner report real?
Has the report allegedly appearing there been suppressed?
Welcome to journalism from the web’s second row seat to history (and see the addendum to this piece).
Be that as it may, I’ve compiled a short list of articles having to do with the character of the Turkish-ISIS relationship. The salient points that might be best defended via online information sourcing:
For about a month now, Erdogan’s government has muzzled the press and the opposition with regard to the Mosul hostage crisis:
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has taken all measures to keep the public in the dark on the issue. The prime minister first warned the media on June 15 not to write or talk about the developments in Mosul. A Turkish court followed up on the warning the next day by imposing a gag order to all print, visual and Internet media. The government is now applying a similar gag order to opposition party members in parliament, denying their requests to be informed about the issue.
The situation is so absurd that on look-up, this header appeared just last week: “Iraqi Kurds Offer Turkey Intel on Mosul Hostages” (Hurriyet Daily News, July 16, 2014).
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_isil-seizes-turkish-consulate-in-mosul-takes-diplomats-captive_350080.html – 6/11/2014.
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_isil-seizes-turkish-consulate-in-mosul-takes-diplomats-captive_350080.html – 6/12/2014.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/daloglu-nato-turkey-syria-isis–al-qaeda-mosul-iraq.html – 6/11/2014. “Turkey not asking NATO for help with ISIS.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html – 6/14/2014.
http://english.cntv.cn/2014/06/16/ARTI1402877168646586.shtml – 6/16/2014. “NATO chief to visit Turkey amid worsening situation in Iraq.”
http://www.danielpipes.org/14486/turkey-isis – 6/18/2014 – “Turkish Support of ISIS.”
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/06/turkeys_new_neighbor.php – 6/21/2014.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/zaman-salih-muslim-turkey-blind-eye-isis-mosul-syria-iraq.html – 6/23/2014 – “Syrian Kurdish leader: Turkey turns blind eye to ISIS.”
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/zaman-isis-turkeys-mosul-consulate-headquarter-iraq.html – 7/17/2014.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_hostages-relatives-davutoglu-has-been-testing-our-patience_353461.html – 7/20/2014.
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/07/23/turkeys-top-cleric-calls-new-islamic-states-caliphate-illegitimate/ – 7/23/2014.
One Turkish opposition politician estimates that Turkey has paid $800 million to ISIS for oil shipments. Another politician released information about active duty Turkish soldiers training ISIS members. Critics note that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has met three times with someone, Yasin al-Qadi, who has close ties to ISIS and has funded it.
Apparently, as comment reflects, The Algemeiner article was that by Daniel Pipes from which the above excerpt was taken.
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22 Tuesday Jul 2014
Tags
The absurdity of Israel’s Gaza campaigns requires an entirely new terminology for the conduct of wars. “Enemy combatants,” “theater of war,” “innocent civilians,” “casualties of war” all have ambiguous meaning in Gaza. There is nothing casual about why so many Gazans die; these deaths are tragically predictable and predetermined. Hamas builds tunnels for terrorists and their rockets; bomb shelters for the people of Gaza never entered the Hamas leaders’ minds.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/thane-rosenbaum-civilian-casualties-in-gaza-1405970362 – 7/21/2014.
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18 Friday Jul 2014
Tags
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Israeli-hospital-treats-Hamas-PM-Haniyehs-granddaughter-332193 Military hardware and supplies look alike all over the world, but between some states, their purposes are very, very different.
Egyptians control the Rafah Crossing, not Israel, and they are not happy either with the Muslim Brotherhood in their state or in Gaza. http://thecairopost.com/news/118936/news/rafah-crossing-is-red-line-egypts-fm
In addition to routinely providing health services to children from the Preoccupied Territories (the barbaric and lethal spread of anti-Semitic rhetoric is what has really happened in the Arab world) — http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/08/02/increase-in-palestinians-treated-in-israeli-hospitals/ ,
Until recently, and for obvious reasons, Israeli universities have provided education services to qualified Palestinian students.
There are many other areas in business and trade in which Israelis and Palestinians participate together or partner. News about Cisco and Sodastream, about Qualifying Industrial Zones, and any number of Israel-based advocacy and peace program organizations are easily found on the web. In fact, one would have to exercise willful blindness to mistake a terror-suppressing security wall for a concentration camp enclosure.
The only Gestapo, SS, and Nazis in Gaza are the fascist Hamas and similar Jew-hating genocidal fascist organizations.
What did those do with the Jews of Gaza who had been nearly continuously on the strip, validated by archaeological evidence, for 3,500 years?
What has happened to their property — greenhouses, synagogues, cemeteries?
The prompt: a vicious visual comparison of military images matching IDF and Nazi elements — soldiers, barbed wire, concrete barriers — devoid of context or honest interpretation.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/01/confronting_hamas_genocidal_je.html
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=20&x_article=1618
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/03/gaza-arbitrary-arrests-torture-unfair-trials –
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4192/human-rights-palestinian-islamic-culture –
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/human-shields-are-hamass-pr/article19602451/ – “Israel doesn’t want to shed civilian blood. Hamas needs it – especially from its own civilians.”
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2014/07/hamas_instructs_gazans_to_lie.html
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8076.htm#_edn1
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/#article/part1
While Gazans Suffer in Poverty, Leaders of Hamas Live in Luxury
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3308/gaza-millionaires
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17 Thursday Jul 2014
An introduction to “Students for Justice in Palestine”:
The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) today exists as a consortium of campus “clubs” throughout the American and Canadian college systems which work to oppose the existence of Israel and to promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the Jewish state. There are at least 80 chapters of these clubs on campuses throughout the US and Canada. The SJP goes under other assorted names on some campuses. Names such as Palestine Solidarity Committee or Students for Palestinian Equal Rights are also common. In Canada, some SJP chapters have adopted the name Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), or Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), while others use similar sounding names but advocate for the Palestinian “revolution”or resistance against the Israeli and US governments when they are perceived as allies together against “Palestinian” irredentist goals. The SJP could be said to operate on the campuses in a classic Rico Statute style of infiltration as a method of promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement throughout the USA and Canada via a “grass roots movement.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/lee-kaplan/backgrounder-the-students-for-justice-in-palestine/ – 7/17/2014.
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16 Wednesday Jul 2014
But in an astonishing admission this week, the Palestinian representative to the UN Human Rights Council, Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, suggested that things are not so simple. (Watch the YouTube clip here.)
Speaking on July 9th to Palestinian Authority TV, Khraishi told a very blunt and very inconvenient truth: the rockets fired from Gaza toward Israel are “each and every one a crime against humanity whether it hits or misses, because it is directed at civilian targets.” While he argued that settlements were also a crime against humanity, he challenged the idea that ICC prosecutions would be a one-way street. Noting that he was not a candidate in any elections, and so he could speak the truth, he went on . . . .
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/alan-johnson/will-palestinians-take-israel-icc-probably-not – 7/15/2014.
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