FTAC – On the Post-Soviet Quadratic Conflict

20 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation

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To be flip, Obama appears to be maintaining the middle east’s new imbalance of power. smile emoticon

As regards sectarian favoring of any kind, he has referred to involvement in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere by characterizing such conflicts in a catch-all: “another dumb war in the middle east” — and “dumb” because war cannot and will not decide anything having to do with the nature of God.

Those who have visited or followed BackChannels, e.g., https://conflict-backchannels.com/…/ftac-on-separation…/ know that the present Moscow-Damascus-Tehran axis of power promotes and sustains by example of the Syrian Tragedy medieval absolute power. Different talks — same walks: what Putin, Assad, and Khamenei share is the will to completely control their constituencies to serve themselves. One possible Obama Administration underlying strategy: avoid the hot war with Russia over the character of 21st Century Feudalism vs 21st Century Modernity and quietly (!) drawn down the mess-making capacities of the feudal axis. As much has nothing to do with identification as a Shiite Muslim per se — only identification with the medieval worldview that (in the mind) makes the distinction so important.

As regards the Sunni side of this most complex quadratic puzzle, U.S. aid and trade are inseparable from Sunni-led state defense capacities, and as much has been so for Jordan and Saudi Arabia for some time.

The ocular, as it were, through which one views these conflicts — I sometimes call the same the “Islamic Small Wars” — is through an etching of the behaviors plus zones of influence set through the Soviet Era — the Cold War — and transitioned through time in Putin’s neo-feudal Russian revanche.

The 24th anniversary of the dissolving of the Soviet will take place the day after Christmas, i.e., December 26.  The occasion must have then seemed quite the gift to the pro-democratic and foreign policy oriented of the United States.  However, influencing the transition turned rocky with the ebullient activity of unbridled Russian mafia and the machinations of the once “Party privileged” to remain privileged.  Blame Berezovsky if you must (you must) — at least he’s a safe bet for criticism — and otherwise welcome to the “Vertical of Power” and the New Nobility.

The “quadratic conflict”?

(Medieval vs Modern) x (Sectarian vs Plural / Shiite vs Sunni / Post-Soviet Arc vs NATO + Alliance ME)

As regards standard American and western cultural values, the politics become convoluted as western defenses include some cooperation from Sunni-associated powers, e.g., the Kingdom and Turkey (whether or not Erdogan likes it — and, of course, he can’t like it, but he’s out of the Shiite-associated loop that wobbles around the beleaguered regime in Damascus).

None but close family pay attention to 24th anniversaries but when a state reaches such a milestone and the dysfunctional family of nations has been yoked to its internal politics and foreign affairs, some notice might be in order, for a year plus six days from this one, there will be a 25th Anniversary of that most singular and wondrous of near historical events.

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Link – Naima Nas on Islam, 9/11, Faith

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Philology

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I don’t know how everyone else acquires their faith or lack of! But I do know how I found mine (I found it after 19 lost souls blew themselves up and took 3000 innocents souls with them ! This was not a religion I wanted to be a part of! So I picked up the scripture with no commentary and read it for myself. God was in there. They were not ! ). The short compressed version of what is religious never gave me faith. It gave me fear and nothing else. I am not suggesting that we should not fear God. Oh, we should fear him alright! We should tremble in awe of the day we shall all answer to why was a single drop of blood spilt in His name. And if the only answer we have is : “er, em, well, Sheikh Know-It-All said Jerusalem must have an Arabic and Muslim governor at all time even at the risk of fast tracking the apocalypse. We listened to him because he looked quite pious, sounded well versed you know. Oh, and he had a zillion followers on Facebook, Twitter and everything!” If that is all we have got to answer for then I am guessing we all are going to have a serious problem on the day. Because that is not an answer that will get anyone a pass into second grade never mind into heaven!

Nas, Naima (blogged by Sarah Perle).  “Jerusalem by Naima Nas, Egypt.”  Yala Press, December 15, 2015.

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FTAC – On Empiricism and Power

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation

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There may be subjective experiences, but there’s is no “whose truth” in empiricism, and especially as regards forensic investigations and the courts (open, of record) and processes the support them. The feudal lords of any era would, of course, control the courts and influence or control the clergy, dealing themselves the power to rule capriciously. As regards the leverage provided by metaphysical beliefs to provoke mobs, there is no end or settlement: what human would presume to know the nature of God? 🙂 The structures built atop such assertions lend themselves to arguments that cannot be resolved — in Obama’s term pluralized, “dumb wars”.

Among observers — detectives, journalists, lawyers, scientists — one viewer always views only a portion of the crime, parade, or war, so there’s room for “whose report” but as data developed with integrity compiles into contribution to case, hypotheses, and theories, that subjective character becomes increasingly objective plus + “valid and reliable” — and the same remains challengeable forever although challenges may stop as they drift into absurdity.

Perhaps loyalty to one point of view or another proves power because someone (by way of intimidation or reward) has developed the ability to get others to see as might be wished.

https://conflict-backchannels.com/…/quote-manipulation…/

The blog represents only a developing perspective, of course, but the reference points and their sources may all be examined. We do not have to live in a world “framed” by the caprice and foibles of the powerful. The public has tools more powerful than the same and can in good conditions hold the same to account.

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FTAC – Egypt – Russian Airliner Crash

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Politics, Russia

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The Kremlin’s cry that “the terrorists done it” has been challenged recently by Egyptian claims that no evidence of a bomb or bombing had been found in the related forensic investigation.  Says Egyptian Streets (Dec. 14, 2015), “Preliminary investigations into the Russian airplane that crashed in Egypt’s North Sinai killing all 224 passengers on board have revealed no signs of terrorism, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation.”

Oh what evil webs some may weave — one hedges where empiricism falters on ambiguous evidence or too little evidence: BackChannels would place Egyptian doubts regarding the Russian assertion of the plane’s having been sabotaged (by having a bomb put on board) before takeoff in Egypt within the following framework.

Post-Soviet, post-KGB neo-feudal now FSB Russia has developed its own “War On Terror” designed to destabilize and fracture NATO and allied or cooperative states.

Muslims may know the epigram, “All of the evil is in one room and lying is the key.”

Through the KGB, the Soviet established a reputation for deceitful and disingenuous action and speech, and in the post-Soviet environment, that nefarious spirit may be expressed, this with reference to the Moscow Apartment Bombings, through possible “false flag” operations designed to manipulate “the masses”. https://conflict-backchannels.com/library/russian-section/ Karen Dawisha’s book may be especially helpful in untangling some of the real life detective mysteries produced by the post-Soviet regime.

On rare occasion, but it happens, the fireman is the arsonist, the hero the creator the monster to be subdued. So it may go with Putin’s feudal revanche in which “Putin vs The Terrorists” — the political display of power proven effective in producing the nationalist fervor that wins elections — is an important fixture and image in Russian politics.

So the motive may be there.

Still, I and most modern observers (as opposed to medieval ones who feel their loyalties constantly tested) would rather have an empirical analysis of the crash than any useless collection of bold political assertions.

Given that all politics involves presentation, i.e., some show-and-tell business, one might ask whether any, most, or some political organizations possess more integrity than others.

The question’s fair today, for the theme most central to a spectacle in which the modern world — and the modern soul — struggles with the medieval involves the relative weight of a “loyal lie” to the possession of a possibly lonely integrity as regards an authentic and solid cognizance of the truth.

In the old biblical story in which “God proves” Abraham, the test is never defined but potentially involves either a test of absolute obedience to God or, much more interesting, a test of Abraham’s conscience and courage to speak back to God in defense of the life of the son he and Sarah had waited so long to have.  God sees to it that Isaac lives (while a ram is made to die in his place) and never again speaks directly to Abraham.

BackChannels’ preferred argument: the test of conscience, courage, and, perhaps, Abrahams integrity as a father.

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Link – Trump’s Deja Vu – 2004 Staff Report – National Commission on Terrorist Attacks

11 Friday Dec 2015

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The story begins with “A Factual Overview of the September 11 Border Story.” This introduction summarizes many of the key facts of the hijackers’ entry into the United States. In it, we endeavor to dispel the myth that their entry into the United States was “clean and legal.” It was not. Three hijackers carried passports with indicators of Islamic extremism linked to al Qaeda; two others carried passports manipulated in a fraudulent manner. It is likely that several more hijackers carried passports with similar fraudulent
manipulation. Two hijackers lied on their visa applications. Once in the United States, two hijackers violated the terms of their visas. One overstayed his visa. And all but one obtained some form of state identification. We know that six of the hijackers used these state issued identifications to check in for their flights on September 11. Three of them were fraudulently obtained.

Eldridge, Thomas R., Susan Ginsburg, Walter T. Hemple II, et al.  “9/11 and Terrorist Travel: Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.”  August 21, 2004.

Of late, BackChannels’ reading has involved turning from one chilling, albeit bureaucratise nonfiction, page to the next.  Perhaps with the right coffee or spirits, another reader might set aside the latest McCarry (I’ll have to read him) or Silva (plenty of that here for the winter) and settle into the kind of obscure monograph that packs a moan a minute:

Once the operation was under way, the conspirators attempted to enter the United States 34 times over 21 months, through nine airports. They succeeded all but once. Border inspectors at U.S. airports were unaware of the potential significance of indicators of possible terrorist affiliation in conspirators’ passports and had no information about fraudulent travel stamps possibly associated with al Qaeda. No inspectors or agents were trained in terrorist travel intelligence and document practices. The culture at the airports was one of travel facilitation and lax enforcement, with the exception of programs to interdict drug couriers and known criminals.

Enough said — the staff report “9/11 and Terrorist Travel” is online, free, and, if it’s read, certain to add old flavor to the latest web chat about immigration and travel into the United States.

Reading at length — reading for hours — is practically a lost art but one nonetheless practiced around BackChannels.  The source of the tip to the publication cited above:

Gray, Mitchell.  I Heard You Were Going On Jihad: How a Minnesota FBI agent may have prevented a second wave of attacks before 9/11 and exposed the Oklahoma terror network.  Minneapolis: Mill City Press, 2015.

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FTAC – On Separation – Medieval from Modern

10 Thursday Dec 2015

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Acknowledging issues, re-perceiving or just seeing the medieval world as something different and disturbing (!) may be a large step not only for Islam but for the world in general. The NATO opposition has taken a Great Leap Backwards that includes “The Terrorists” — and it requires “The Terrorists” as a foil for sustaining feudalism. If there’s to be, say, a Great Walk Forward, it may involve ejecting that part of the past, starting with “The Terrorists” and responding appropriately and universally (not to Muslims only) wherever tragedy takes place.

Reference for comment: Watanabe, Teresa.  “American Muslims Raise More Than $100,000 for families of San Bernardino Shooting Victims.”  Los Angeles Times, December 8, 2015.

Shimmer always applies.

Pakistan’s Lal Masjid issues may or may not have deep purchase in the mosques of the west, but what the related imbroglios (2007 or 2015) represent most certainly exists and is not compatible with the benefits — including freedoms and privileges — of living in a modern world.  As regards that “modern world” — the world of the democratic open societies; the world devoted to human dignity, rights, and security as far as can be extended to all; the world invested in broadening the reach of the benefits of cooperation in economics, law, human health and performance and science and technology; that world that in fact has put the readers of this blog on the World Wide Web — it needs to expand to envelope the remnants of state medievalism, i.e., the worlds of highest-level political corruption, crime, and patronage.

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FTAC – Trump – Playing Into the Medieval Hand?

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

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Axis Putin-Assad-Khamenei opposes European Union solidarity and NATO as part of the dreams of each are attached to the feudal / medieval world: to survive in power, each needs a heightened nationalism within as well as without, and “Islamic Jihad” and “Islamic Terrorism” serve that political vision.

Trump may be a powerful businessman but when it comes to post-KGB / KGB-style Political Theater, he’s an infant crawling up to the base of a volcano.

I know this forum has . . . but in the greater world surrounding that feud, states have an argument going about power itself and the medieval structure that encourages and supports “absolute power”, the power of a “great leader”, and the modern world that shifts the basis for that power to the private realm and for the public, most often through democracy, distributes political power into a more globally responsible and responsive system.

The medieval world and the “malignant narcissist” may have traveled together — there are certainly histories involving some misery-making kings — but here comes a station in time in which we don’t want to put that medievalism in front of us. While Trump has the urge to deal directly and firmly with what he knows of terrorism, he may not have the broad picture of states of affairs. Obama may be more cognizant, but his play appears to have been for time — and time helps — but it’s anyone’s guess as to whether he will address medieval precepts vs modern ones in what is forming up as his “lame duck” year.

Democracy may not be the answer in every place in which people suffer, but the medieval barbarism and tyranny on display in Syria, Iraq, and Iran — barrel bombings and beheadings, enslavements and capricious imprisonments and hangings — make no case at all for themselves and, indeed, beg for wholesale self-destruction and abandonment.

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Link – About Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, and the San Bernardino Massacre

07 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Pakistan

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The Red mosque was a spiritual centre of the Jihadi wing in the ISI and the ISI’s Jihadi wing provided their support and aid to Maulana AZ in retaliation against Pak Army. GAR Brigade had links with Al-Qaeda’s international network and soon after when ISIS emerged, they maintained a connection with them.

Last year, in 2014, the chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz made it clear that he respects Islamic State (IS) because of similarity in their missions and has no repentance over supporting IS.

Dahri, Noor.  “The Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, ISIS Network & CA Shooting.” LinkedIn, December 6, 2015.

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