President Barack Obama and other leaders have stressed that the greatest victims of Islamic extremism are not Christians and Jews but Muslims. This week produced another tragic example. Yemen’s top Salafi cleric Samahan Abdel-Aziz, also known as Sheikh Rawi, was found in the southern port city of Aden, Sudan after he gave a sermon denouncing the Islamic State and Islamic extremism. He had been tortured before he was killed.
Aden was liberated by government forces in July but the city remains volatile and dangerous. Affiliates of extremist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups are active in the city.
Abdel-Aziz was kidnapped by gunmen outside his mosque late Saturday after he gave a sermon denouncing al qaeda and the Islamic state. He appears to have died for his effort to protect his faith from the extremism of these terrorist organizations. I do not know much about the views of this cleric, but the fact that he was murdered after a sermon shows the grotesque view of these extremists. They are unwilling to tolerate even clerics who hold opposing views. The murderers appear to believe that Allah will reward them to not just torture but the murdering of people who hold opposing views on the meaning of Islam.
po
C’mon. We are not Syria. I’m not crazy about Congress but we are not even close to bombing each other although I’m not so sure what will happen if we put Mespo in charge. We are not Haiti, no matter how many climatic events we share. You are silly to make such linkages or draw such conclusions.
The federal student loan default is an aberration. He didn’t address it or show up as requested for 29 years. Sounds a bit like Cliven Bundy who I hope will spend many years in jail for failing to pay grazing fees for using MY land. But I am pretty sure there is no move to jail people for student loan defaults and to broadcast such foolishness in to put you into the Hillie camp. The rest of that paragraph has merit and makes me very unhappy.
The Rutherford Institute does some good work but anybody who has any dealings with Lew Rockwell (noted anti-Semite) or the Koch brothers Cato Institute bears careful scrutiny. His scary Glenn Beckian Buy Gold The Government is Stealing Our Guns and Building FEMA Camps is more porn – just like Turley’s anti-Muslim porn.
I guess there’s no harm in collecting rain in barrels and vegetable gardens are nice, but if you also start stashing guns and ammo I’m gonna ask Hillie to send you some of her meds.
If there were 353 reported terrorist attacks in 2015, then the 452 suicide bombings in 2015 are not considered “terrorist attacks”. The beheadings, throwing people off of buildings, etc. also not counted in the ” 353 reported terrorist attacks”.
I’ve yet to find HOW some sources define a terrorist attack or a terrorist act. If there are a number of very subjective different definitions from multiple sources, then it complicates any objective effort to accurately estimate the level, and sources, of these attacks.
PR
yes, I garden, am working on building a system in my basement for growing greens and herbs, and possibly some hydroponic fish, shrimp and plants system 🙂
As for S. Arabia, don’t get me wrong, they are to blame fully for their actions, but my point is that they are propped up by us. Without US support, there is no s. Arabia. When king abdullah died, and our elected leaders were running around crying that we lost a great man, a moderate, I laughed my ass off, then cried at the level of deceit being shown.
So, without the US protecting and supporting the saudi, the monarchy would not exist. So we use each other to propel our interests. When we funded and armed the Taliban against soviets, we did it through the saudis. When we use alqaeda to fight another group, we do it through saudis, and when we wanted to take out Assad, we did it through he saudis. That is how our weapons are arming those various groups which we claim to be fighting against.
And when we wanted to challenge Iran and Hezbollah, we do it through Isis.
The point is that there is no Middle east conflict past or present that does not display the fingerprints of the West. Considering that it has been for the longest time our main source of oil, and also considering our doctrine that our source of energy is a national interest issue, it is understandably geopolitical, but immoral still.
As for Yemen, Mespo is very clearly wrong, as the links we provided show. Yemen has always been a tough place. it was backward and tribal. It was divided in north and south yemen until recently. Traditions there call for blood feuds that would take out whole villages. Their traditions were unmovable, until the Saudis started funding extremist groups.
So, your parallel is right in that in any gang/mafia covered area, most of the population is not involved in the criminal activity, but the tiny minority is armed, violent and willing to cause harm to pursue their agenda.
Isis is 30000 troops in a population of millions… the shiite militias armed by the US were a tiny minority in Iraq… the neo-Nazis in Ukraine, whom the US is also supporting, are tiny compared to the population, yet in either case we wouldn’t claim that either population is defined by the extremists holding them hostage.
And…just in case I haven’t stated it clearly enough yet, it is where Mespo is VERY wrong!
Again, Very wrong 🙂
Mespo, chicken little han?
When the sky falls down, don’t come to my house for food and shelter!
Actually, I am not worried about islamisc extremism, I am worried about domestic extremism, from angry white guys with a chip on their shoulder and their finger on the trigger. There have been precedents, you know.
Additionally, I am worried about false flag operations, fake terrorist events staged to fully turn us into a police state, and to increase our bombing of foreign countries, as happened in France. And if you wonder why that would happen, I say because it has always happened, false flag operations are the tools by which power entrenches itself and the military -industrial complex makes its money. It is happening daily in Turkey, happened in Ukraine and will happen here too.
https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map
And about false flags
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24799.htm
Finally, Ia m worried about climate change, between flood and drought, and drought and flood, we are in trouble. And don’t take my word for it, there is a scientific consensus on it.
Lsays:
“Our food system is pretty good, our distribution is pretty good, our USPS is good, our parks are beautiful, no nuke meltdowns, we make very fine weapons, we have lots of churches, we have great libraries, we have great universities, our private schools can be very good, so can public schools in upper middle class suburbs, some cities have good transportation systems, we have fine orchestras (who struggle) and museums (who also struggle), we do have great doctors and some great scientists, social security and medicare keep millions of the elderly from miserable ends, medicaid takes care of many more poor, CHIP takes care of many sick poor kids, iphones and the internet works, there is a never ending amount of (terrible) TV, a few people write very good books and make good movies, I am steps away from the grocery store whose selves are full, the drug store, the bank, the FDIC works, our air is pretty good (except in Texas) we are still fighting to keep our water clean …
L, same thing was said about Syria…until it wasn’t. Same thing was said about any empire right before it wasn’t. That’s the nature of the beast, that it crumbles at the height of its might, the summit, and on the other side of the summit, there is the precipitous descent.
Right now, the only ones to claim “”move on , there is nothing to see here”” are the ones intent of keeping business as usual, the mainstream media and oligarchs’lackeys.
Being a realist does not mean being pessimistic, I keep planting my trees and herbs, I keep building my house, I keep raising my chickens, I keep being engaged politically and keep taking on new projects WHILE making sure I have alternate source of power, than I can collect rain, that I have enough dry goods to last us a while…
What do we have in common with Haiti? Any time a storm hits, we lose power.
The aftermath of Katrina happened right here (hurricane and its aftermath). Flint happened right here.(infrastructural failure) Colorado happened right here (flood and its aftermath). Texas happened right here (drought and its aftermath). And as climate change gets worse, we are sure to see worse and worse events that the government will be incapable of handling it.
Meanwhile, people are now arrested for student loans delinquency, as we are one of the only major democracies where higher education is not free. .
Children are now locked up in adult prisons.
A sizable portion of a town population is illegally tasked via arbitrary arrest and fines to supplement the budget deficit.
The police shoot first and claims fear as reasonable defense, and of 9 cases of illegal homicides to show up before the supreme court, the SC sided 9 times out of 9 with the police.
If the below doesn’t scare you, you are a braver man than I am 🙂
http://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/whats_in_store_for_our_freedoms_in_2016_more_of_everything_we_dont_want#st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=/
God made nuclear bombs for a reason. Hiroshima was a test. ME is next. I am not talking Maine.
L’Observer,
Why so cranky? There is no need to be sarcastic. I do not follow Alex Jones. There is plenty in Bloomberg and the WSJ to give one pause as to the state of the economy and our currency.
Also, apparently our government must follow Alex Jones since
http://www.ready.gov/
recommends we all “prep” for natural disasters and other problems.
Prairie Rose
Worried about the strength of the dollar and agree that the ruble or whatever other currency he was finding more reliable than the US dollar? Be my guest -follow his advice. And keep current on your favored Alex Jones reporting.
Let me know when he gets a column in the WSJ or Bloomberg.
The plight of dogs in Russia (where they were mass euthanized in advance of the Olympics) and China (where they are eaten, sometimes even kidnapped pets), is also routinely in the news.
And yet, dogs and cats are killed and/or eaten every day, sometimes in the US. Should we not cover it?
Doglover:
“Over 40 murders occur in the US every day. Governments knowingly provide poison water to cities. Ignorance, hate, fear, and violent atrocities are not limited to Islam.”
And they’re in the news too, right?
The spread of extremism in the Middle East is news. I have followed the plight of women under Sharia Law before it was cool. Many in the US have no conception what it’s like to live under either a repressive regime, dictator, or extremism, be it the Middle East, China, or any of the war-torn African nations.
Requesting such atrocities not to be covered because it happens all the time is nonsensical. Do you want to make it easier to ignore? Shining the light of public scrutiny on world events helps shape public opinion about where our country spends its money, with whom we align, threat assessment, immigration requirements such as screening out extremists whenever possible, and how we can help people such as women who are abused in these countries.
I think such news also underscores the heroism and courage of those who strive to reform such countries from the inside. It makes the Muslims who stood up to ISIS to protect Christians on a bus even more brave, because it is well known the atrocities ISIS commits because it is in the news .
Strange how the public at times seeks to be uneducated.
Alicia M – great reporting
L’Observer,
Grocery stores have about 3 days worth of food. If something stops the trucking, the shelves will empty quickly.
The electric grid is aging and vulnerable.
Po and I must read the same sites about the economy and the dollar. It is propped up.
Do you garden, po? Wheat and beans will only last so long.
Po,
“escalation of terrorism with western aggression”
I agree with this to a point, but you yourself pointed out that Saudi Arabia has sectarian issues with its neighbors. Very likely Saudi Arabia is essentially hiring those westerners to do its dirty work. Is it only western aggression? No. Hidden Saudi aggression is also there, as you pointed out on another thread. The Saudis are using western powers like a thug uses a gun (though western powers are only too happy to participate for their own reasons).
Mespo is probably right about that poor Sufi cleric being in the minority in Yemen. Po, you said that the closer a country is to Saudi Arabia, the more radical it tends to be. Yemen is right next door. Perhaps they do not call themselves Wahabists, but I doubt they are moderate. Saudi Arabia’s Wahabism has influenced them. If nothing else, the cowed population is overrun with radicals. Kind of like people refusing to talk to the police about a crime in a high-crime area.
Po/L:
If Trump wins, I wouldn’t want to be in any terror organization. And the odds are no one will be for very long. As for your survivalist, Chicken Little bent and utter fear of the future, don’t be so glum. These Barbarians will pass the way they always do: by their own hand while holed up in some bunker. We’ll be energy independent by 2020 and experiencing another economic golden age while the Middle East sinks back into Third World status. I do notice Arab migrants are flocking to the West instead of Westerners flocking to the caliphate. Maybe they’re better observers of the state of affairs than you two.
po
argle bargle. and no, no, no, no, no, no , and no. You don’t know who the hell is writing it and what are their criteria but no one has discovered them so it is true. Oh man. That’s unicorn talk.
Except Turkey. They are moving along towards WW!!!.
Our food system is pretty good, our distribution is pretty good, our USPS is good, our parks are beautiful, no nuke meltdowns, we make very fine weapons, we have lots of churches, we have great libraries, we have great universities, our private schools can be very good, so can public schools in upper middle class suburbs, some cities have good transportation systems, we have fine orchestras (who struggle) and museums (who also struggle), we do have great doctors and some great scientists, social security and medicare keep millions of the elderly from miserable ends, medicaid takes care of many more poor, CHIP takes care of many sick poor kids, iphones and the internet works, there is a never ending amount of (terrible) TV, a few people write very good books and make good movies, I am steps away from the grocery store whose selves are full, the drug store, the bank, the FDIC works, our air is pretty good (except in Texas) we are still fighting to keep our water clean (except Flint) NIH does well, the electric grid hasn’t fallen down, gas is cheap, fires get put out. murders are down, there are promising breakthroughs on cancer, the East coast has good train service, and the last I read the dollar was strong and the ruble was sinking, Cuba and Iran will open up…
I could probably do as long a list of broken things, but as Eric Idol said:
https://youtu.be/SJUhlRoBL8M
po
re: 1200 killed
You said this year. That’s 2016. Your link includes much more.
Your link is without credibility. Who are these people who developed the database? What’s with Facebook? Without cause?
Worthless argle bargle.
L, I rounded down, and yes, lost track of my years, meant 2015. AS of for link, since FBI doesn’t keep track of stats, it is left for volunteers to handle it. So far that resource remains undebunked…so until it does, it is a valid source.
As for without cause, I should have added VALID cause. valid is rather subjective, I agree, what a cop deems valid I might not agree with
.
Actually, dollar is NOT very strong. it is artificially propped up right now. Even Iran, which is resuming selling oil, is not accepting dollar, just Euro or rubble. russia has agreed to sell oil to china for rubble too, which DEFINITELY challenges the pretodollar, and therefore the dollar.
Additionally, with Russia, Iran, China and India working on their own trade block, and trying to tie the south America, they can manage without the dollar, which directly impacts not only its global value but also its primacy.
As for Libya, it was thriving. That’s a fact. It being a dictatorship did not affect the economy or supplies availability. That is why a great many african migrants went to Libya instead of Europe.
What system isn’t deficient? I cannot think of one!
As for the pentagon, they keep asking for more money, which they spend as fast as they can in order to justify asking for more. We are held hostage because none of our leaders is willing to challenge the pentagon’s budget. The feeling sof our general is something our leaders do not want risk bruising, that’s being held hostage.
We are on the verge of bankruptcy, indeed…our financial system is artificially propped up…and most of the economists I read suggest another crash is imminent, and this one will sink us.
So, I have not much room for hope right now…so water it is, but not the Flint kind 🙂
I bought big barrels and am saving rain water. Also stocking up on dry goods, beans, wheat and the like…Turkey is working on starting WW,and I fear they will be successful.
When every single system is deficient right now
Not true.
including the supreme court as evidenced by the last week and the next months
True
when the whole country is held hostage by the pentagon and its hunger for more money
Yes, they are hungry but we are not held hostage.
, when all our infrastructure is crumbling,
True but not yet crumbling
when cops are shooting people dead at the tune of 1200 this year alone, and this without cause
Prove it.
, when education is crumbling
We’re NOT Finland!
, when hate groups are growing in numbers and daring,
True,
when congress is bought and sold,
True, true, true, true
we are on the verge of bankruptcy
Baloney
yet clamoring for more wars
Many are. Not everyone.
,right after we just dismantled another thriving country, Libya, to worry about islamic terrorism in the ME is mindboggling to me.
Libya thriving? Baloney. But it’s not good to kill dictators without having a backup.
We invaded Iraq only to relinquish it to Iran…Libya to the ISIS, afghanistan bck to the Taliba and to ISiS, Syria to Russia
True
…meanwhile Russia, China, India are challenging the hegemony of the dollar
Crazy talk. Dollar is very strong. Russia and China are having a great deal dollar trouble now.
…the empire is crumbling, as all all empires do. Start prepping food and water.
Water is a problem. Particularly out West. And in Flint. Maybe Dust Bunny (among the missing) can offer suggestions.
Over the top for me, po. I was just picturing Trump as pres and Mespo as his defense secretary. Sorta like Jack D. Ripper in Strangelove.
Can I pick just one opinion and get a citation? 1200 dead from cops this year? Don’t believe it..
Here it is, L, pretty crazy but getting very normal much too soon.
http://killedbypolice.net/
po, I’m getting the impression that you can’t stay.
Who knows. Maybe that East Indian that may be up for the Court will have to go, too. More than a few docs that I know, too. Engineers? Who needs ’em! Maybe the Bundys have a few in their merry band.
Don’t feel too bad. Looks like this is not going to be a very good place to live anyway.
Agree with you, L, It is fascinating to me how otherwise smart people are falling for the pitchfork thing when their country is being robbed daily right under their noses.
When every single system is deficient right now, including the supreme court as evidenced by the last week and the next months, when the whole country is held hostage by the pentagon and its hunger for more money, when all our infrastructure is crumbling, when cops are shooting people dead at the tune of 1200 this year alone, and this without cause, when education is crumbling, when hate groups are growing in numbers and daring, when congress is bought and sold, we are on the verge of bankruptcy yet clamoring for more wars,right after we just dismantled another thriving country, Libya, to worry about islamic terrorism in the ME is mindboggling to me.
We invaded Iraq only to relinquish it to Iran…Libya to the ISIS, afghanistan bck to the Taliba and to ISiS, Syria to Russia…meanwhile Russia, China, India are challenging the hegemony of the dollar…the empire is crumbling, as all all empires do. Start prepping food and water.
Careful with the hubris, Mespo.
It’s going to be a long time before the world is oil independent. Please confer with China, Japan, India,and Europe before you get ready to kick them in the testicles. And I wouldn’t bet the farm that we don’t find that we need a little bit of that oil, too.
And po is right. Where are the stats on wahhabism in Yemen? I am ready to concede there is a growth in their influence, but mainstream when the Saudis are bombing the sh*t out of them? Your article left me with the impression of ‘a little here, a little there’ but nothing getting close to mainstream. A bunch of factions and tribes, and militias. Maybe in somebody’s world that makes it easier to convert everyone, but when you’re pounding the sh*t out of them and starving their children?