Category: International

Free Speech, International, Politics

Critic Of Vlad Putin Assasinated
Boris Nemtsov †
Boris Nemtsov †

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

In another setback for political change in Russia, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down by several men who shot him four times in the back while he traversed a bridge along with a Ukrainian woman. Boris was to speak before a peace rally denouncing Russian involvement in the hostilities in the Ukraine, economic policies, and other issues.

Boris, a former deputy-prime minister, is an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The crime scene was within two hundred meters of the Kremlin.

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Criminal law, International, Religion

Jihadi John Unmasked

jihadi-john-split-without-credit-1-762x428Jihadi_JohnWe finally have a face to go with the name of the infamous Islamic State murderer known as “Jihadi John.” He is Mohammed Emwazi and is shown here in a Pittsburgh Pirates hat from his time at the University of Westminster. He turns out to another militant from a well-off family and someone who seemed successful in society as we have seen in other cases. This will make it easier for the United States which, according to Attorney General Eric Holder, has made capturing or killing Jihadi John a priority.

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Academia, International, Media, Religion, Society

Islamic State Posts Video Of Destruction of Mosul Museum

Screen Shot 2015-02-26 at 7.37.49 PM

Yesterday, we discussed another massive book burning by Islamic State as well as reports of the destruction of ancient art pieces. The latter report appears true after ISIS posted a video of its militants taking sledgehammers and drills to ancient art work and statues going back to the 7th Century. The actions are reminiscent of the infamous destruction of the famous giant Buddhas of Bamiyan.

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Academia, International, Religion, Society

Islamic State Burns Over 8000 Rare Books As Demonstration of Faith

AQMI_Flag.svgThe_House_of_Leaves_-_Burning_4We have previously discussed the burning of rare books by Islamic State. Now, a new report says that the group has burned more than 8,000 rare books and manuscripts in Mosul. They then reportedly bombed the Mosul Public Library according to the director of the library. A new video also shows ISIS fighters smashing works of art, including a 9th Century figure.

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Science, Society

Study: The Gerbils Did It

250px-GerbilBurying_Plague_Victims_of_TournaiI had one as a kid named Garibaldi. Millions of people embraced them as pets. However, a study is attributing one of the greatest plagues in history to the cute little rodents: the bubonic plague. While long blamed on rats hiding away on ships, the scientists at the University of Oslo in Norway now believe that the 14th Century plague began with gerbils via the Silk Road.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Indonesia Under Fire For Executing Mentally Ill Man As He Begged For Last Rites

images-2125px-Flag_of_Indonesia.svgAn execution in Indonesia had led to the withdrawal of ambassadors after an international outcry over the treatment of Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, a Brazilian man who was a paranoid schizophrenic accused of drug dealing. Moreira was reportedly dragged from this cell and denied last rites with a priest. He soiled himself and was quickly hosed down before being thrown in front of a firing squad.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

Kuwait Sentences Opposition Politician To Five Years For Asking Ruler Not To Rule Autocratically

220px-Sheikh_Sabah_IVMusallam al-Barrak, an outspoken former member of the Kuwaiti parliament, appears to have his answer. Al-Barrak appealed to Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah (right) in a 2012 speech not to impose “autocratic rule.” He was later arrested and has now been sentenced to five years in jail.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

The Crime Of “Shameful Movements”: Saudi Vice Police Raid Birthday Party And Arrest Men For Dancing

220px-Juliana_Tea_Party170px-Ministry_of_Interior_Saudi_Arabia.svgIn Saudi Arabia, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is a religious police force that has been a constant presence in the Kingdom arresting woman having coffee with colleagues or forcing young girls to burn to death in fire rather than run out without their scarves. Then there was the time that the religious police in Dammam marched into a popular dinosaur exhibit and shut it down without any explanation of why the dinosaurs threatened the virtue of good Muslims. Then there was the flogging of a women who insulted them. Then there are the round ups of religious people for simply praying at home. Then there is the arrest of a man for standing in line with his wife at a grocery store. The list goes on and on. The latest entry is the arrest of young men for simply dancing at a birthday party. Birthday parties have been denounced by Saudi clerics as unIslamic, but this the first such arrest that many can recall that did not involve dancing with women.

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Academia, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Islamic Scholars Present An Open Letter To ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi

A consortium of one hundred and twenty Islamic Scholars have placed onto the internet an Open Letter to Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi denouncing the organization’s violent and extremist actions in the Middle East. The letter, in the form of an interactive website, provides the world with an opportunity to read a perspective of the Islamic State’s affront to civilization from an academic analysis by scholars. The letter addresses the fundamental and basis in canon for disputing the claims of Al-Baghdadi that his is the only pure and legitimate form of Islam–refuting his claims of divine assent.

The original, in the Arabic, is presently being translated into other languages. The English is presently available.

There has been unfortunately much misconception in the Western World that there lacks true dissent to the terrorist outrages in the Muslim World.  This letter can serve a secondary goal to educate those in other cultures having concerns.

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International, Politics, Religion

Vengeance as Policy

By Mike Appleton, Weekend Contributor

“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”

-Herman Melville, Moby Dick

The response to the grotesquely brutal murder of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh on February 3 was intense and swift. Within hours after the Islamic State released its obscene video, Jordan hanged two al-Qaeda prisoners. Thousands of Jordanian citizens marched through the streets of Amman in a demonstration joined by Queen Rania. The young pilot’s father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, demanded “revenge, severe revenge for the blood of Muath.” Tribal elders, who only recently were arguing that Jordan should withdraw from the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, now called for retribution in the name of “Muath the Martyr.” By the following day, Jordanian F-16s were bombing ISIS targets in Syria.

The conservative media in this country promptly labeled King Abdullah II a hero. On Fox & Friends, Elisabeth Hasselbeck praised him for “stepping up with strong leadership and clarity, ” adding, “What is our president doing?” Even Charles Barkley weighed in, publicly expressing his wish that President Obama were more like the Jordanian king.

Please excuse me if I refrain from joining the fawning multitudes.

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International, Politics, Society

Thailand Government Bans Surrogacy For Foreign Parents And Others

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

flag-of-thailandIn what has become both controversial for several groups and will be likely frustrating for couples who have few options for having children of their own genetics, the Thai government has introduced legislation that bans foreign couples from utilizing the services of its citizens for surrogacy for commercial means and other types based upon demographics of the contracting parents. The government cities that it has concerns that their nation will become “The Womb of the World” where social and economic issues could be distressful to young women and cause issues with society as a whole.

Yet, the law seems to have become more than this. Additional restrictions levied affect specific demographics of married couples and for homosexual couples especially.

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Science, Society

Saudi Cleric: Earth Does Not Move And Sits At Center Of The Universe

0d2b602e-181e-48e5-a6e4-57331c579cec_16x9_600x338We have previously discussed the sometimes curious notion of an intellectual in Saudi Arabia. The fact is that I have met many brilliant Saudi academics and that fact is that every country has their wing nuts. However, Saudi has had a litany of these respected clerics or academics spouting nonsense. The latest is Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari who corrected a student and told him that it is a myth that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Al-Khaibari’s defense of the Ptolemaic system would seem a few hundred years out of date but he appears to view geocentrism as commanded by Allah.

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Bizarre, International

The White Powder Movement: Krispy Kreme Pulls Its Planned “KKK Wednesday” Events

DonutPowedered-768926150px-KKK.svgIt appears that White Power and White Powder do not mix. The UK Krispy Kreme branch has made a hasty retreat from its promotion for a new event: KKK Wednesday. No, the donut chain insists that it was not trying to get a neo-Nazi niche market. It was supposed to stand for Krispy Kreme Klub. The news will likely be a disappointed for all of those rotund Ku Klux Klan members seeking a donut with just the right white glaze and segregated flavors. A company spokeswoman has apologized “unreservedly for the inappropriate name of a customer promotion at one of our stores.”

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Bizarre, International, Religion, Society

Detroit Man Asks Strangers If They Are Muslim And Then Stabs Them When They Answer That They Are Not

635597831540837830-Thomas-Terrence-Lavaron-39-YOA-Date-of-Photo-February-14-2015-e1424208036672-300x211Terrence Lavaron Thomas, 39, is a curious representative of the Muslim faith. First, he already stabbed to people at random because they were not Muslims. Second, when arrested, the alleged faithful felon had drugs in his possession. Violent and a drug user. I wonder what Sharia law would do with Mr. Thomas in a place like Saudi Arabia.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Journalist Films Anti-Semitic Reactions To His Walking Through Paris Wearing Yarmulke

25BE5ACF00000578-2956040-The_clip_shows_the_reporter_for_Jewish_news_outlet_NRG_as_he_is_-m-24_1424122602146Below is a very disturbing video of the responses that Zvika Klein, a reporter for Jewish news outlet NRG, received when he walked through streets of Paris wearing a yarmulke and a tzitzit (knotted ritual tassels). The video shows the level of anti-Semitism even in our capital cities around the world.

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