Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
If we take their word for granted their organization goes way back to the original caliphate of the Umayyads.
The problem with those analogies is that they are no more illuminating than 'Billy is a Scotsman and Billy is mean therefore all Scotsmen are mean'. They're just loopy generalizations. I'm particularly surprised that someone like TimT who says he has a lot of friends in the Middle East can't see the huge diversity. Lumping Middle Eastern Muslims together makes no more sense than expecting the Maronite Christians in Beirut to sort out the Catholics in the IRA.
I took two Lebanese producers to my favourite restaurant in Soho. Both attractive elegant trilingual and educated at universities in Paris and Canada. The owner asked where I'd been working. I said Beirut and introduced her to the two producers.
She said what a pity that Beirut had gone through such trauma because she'd heard it was really beautiful. She then said she'd been thinking of going to Egypt but she was put off because it's full of Arabs "and I can't stand Arabs!".
She then went to get our drinks and one of the girls said 'that was really offensive. We're Arabs'. I was really taken aback. It wasn't something I would have said but it didn't occur to me that they could be defined as Arab
When you talk of these of rotten apples I think of people like them who have less in common with the loonies in Paris than I do
Only Roger I don't lump ME muslims together. I attack the centres of authority of the religion. What I rail at is this supposition that there is an organized moderate Islam. There is not. There are moderate muslims aplenty, but the power structures at the core - where it matters, the ultimate interpreters of Islam - are not moderate.
I would be interested in your view on Gulen. In many ways his is a 'moderate' Islam (though I stiill don't like it), and he has millions of followers in Turkey and the wider Islamic world.
He's also very much a political operator, and has been pulling the strings in Turkey for years. This has led to a rather hilarious bust-up with Erdogan.
The problem with those analogies is that they are no more illuminating than 'Billy is a Scotsman and Billy is mean therefore all Scotsmen are mean'. They're just loopy generalizations. I'm particularly surprised that someone like TimT who says he has a lot of friends in the Middle East can't see the huge diversity. Lumping Middle Eastern Muslims together makes no more sense than expecting the Maronite Christians in Beirut to sort out the Catholics in the IRA.
I took two Lebanese producers to my favourite restaurant in Soho. Both attractive elegant trilingual and educated at universities in Paris and Canada. The owner asked where I'd been working. I said Beirut and introduced her to the two producers.
She said what a pity that Beirut had gone through such trauma because she'd heard it was really beautiful. She then said she'd been thinking of going to Egypt but she was put off because it's full of Arabs "and I can't stand Arabs!".
She then went to get our drinks and one of the girls said 'that was really offensive. We're Arabs'. I was really taken aback. It wasn't something I would have said but it didn't occur to me that they could be defined as Arab
When you talk of these of rotten apples I think of people like them who have less in common with the loonies in Paris than I do
Only Roger I don't lump ME muslims together. I attack the centres of authority of the religion. What I rail at is this supposition that there is an organized moderate Islam. There is not. There are moderate muslims aplenty, but the power structures at the core - where it matters, the ultimate interpreters of Islam - are not moderate.
Whereas Roger doesn't know that the Lebanese are Arabs. Nice of him to parade his ignorance so publicly :-)
Indeed. But what would I know. I have only been visiting the region for 50 years (i.e. since I was a child), lived in Yemen for 3 years, speak the language, and have spent time in every Arabic country save Tunisia, Libya and Oman. I couldn't possibly understand the diversity of the Arab world.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
Otherwise, perhaps consider the idea that Kuffar pronouncing on true islam dim, misleading, and irrelevant.
Or perhaps you should try Gulen, who has a massive movement of millions behind him?
Recalling that Islam attaches the utmost regard to the sanctity of human life and citing the verse of the Quran that states “killing an innocent person unjustly is like killing all of mankind,” Gülen remarked that the protection of human life is one of the fundamental values in Islam. “A true Muslim can never be a terrorist and a terrorist can never be a true Muslim,” he said, reiterating the famous remarks he made right after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, by the al-Qaeda terrorist group. According to the Islamic scholar, it is impossible for a Muslim who has fully learned and understood Islam to become a terrorist, and a real Muslim would never intentionally commit an act of terrorism and a terrorist cannot be considered a real Muslim.
I still haven't got a handle on Gulen. He's either the biggest charlatan in existence or a potential moderate way forward for Islam.
The problem is that an "innocent person" is an innocent Muslim. Kafir do not count as human. They can be killed, raped, brutalised with utter umpunity for there is no punishment under Sharia for anything done to a Kafir.
Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the (hearts of) the Enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. (Qur'an: 8:60)
That horrible piece of shit Choudery said exactly that on the BBC, (re "innocent people"
A secretly recorded talk at a mosque given by Hamza had him recorded saying explicitly you can do what you like to the kuffar.
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
The problem with those analogies is that they are no more illuminating than 'Billy is a Scotsman and Billy is mean therefore all Scotsmen are mean'. They're just loopy generalizations. I'm particularly surprised that someone like TimT who says he has a lot of friends in the Middle East can't see the huge diversity. Lumping Middle Eastern Muslims together makes no more sense than expecting the Maronite Christians in Beirut to sort out the Catholics in the IRA.
I took two Lebanese producers to my favourite restaurant in Soho. Both attractive elegant trilingual and educated at universities in Paris and Canada. The owner asked where I'd been working. I said Beirut and introduced her to the two producers.
She said what a pity that Beirut had gone through such trauma because she'd heard it was really beautiful. She then said she'd been thinking of going to Egypt but she was put off because it's full of Arabs "and I can't stand Arabs!".
She then went to get our drinks and one of the girls said 'that was really offensive. We're Arabs'. I was really taken aback. It wasn't something I would have said but it didn't occur to me that they could be defined as Arab
When you talk of these of rotten apples I think of people like them who have less in common with the loonies in Paris than I do
Only Roger I don't lump ME muslims together. I attack the centres of authority of the religion. What I rail at is this supposition that there is an organized moderate Islam. There is not. There are moderate muslims aplenty, but the power structures at the core - where it matters, the ultimate interpreters of Islam - are not moderate.
Whereas Roger doesn't know that the Lebanese are Arabs. Nice of him to parade his ignorance so publicly :-)
Indeed. But what would I know. I have only been visiting the region for 50 years (i.e. since I was a child), lived in Yemen for 3 years, speak the language, and have spent time in every Arabic country save Tunisia, Libya and Oman. I couldn't possibly understand the diversity of the Arab world.
You should have been in the diplomatic corps.
Ha! I was.
I knew it, Hercule Poirot is an amateur compared to me (joking).
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
If we take their word for granted their organization goes way back to the original caliphate of the Umayyads.
I wouldn't be surprised if [Corbyn's] sympathised with the Costa Rican position at some point over the last 30 years. They haven't had a military since 1948:
Yes, he has. In 2012 he said:
Wouldn't it be wonderful if every politician around the world instead of taking pride in the size of their Armed Forces did what Costa Rica have done and abolished their Army, and took pride in the fact they don't have an Army.
And that their country is near the top of the global peace index. Surely that is the way we should be going forward.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
That is what Tel Aviv says.
This is the second time today you've made insinuations about Israel. Are they a convenient bogeyman for you to blame for anything you don't understand?
"Daddy, why do people have to die?" "Well son, there's this country called Israel ..."
At what point do we have to swallow hard and admit that just maybe, Trump isn't going to fall away?
After the first debate way back in August I said on PB that Trump is going to stay as the frontrunner at least till Christmas. If Trump is still there after the new year then it's all about if someone can beat him in Iowa rather that Trump fading away.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
Otherwise, perhaps consider the idea that Kuffar pronouncing on true islam dim, misleading, and irrelevant.
Or perhaps you should try Gulen, who has a massive movement of millions behind him?
Recalling that Islam attaches the utmost regard to the sanctity of human life and citing the verse of the Quran that states “killing an innocent person unjustly is like killing all of mankind,” Gülen remarked that the protection of human life is one of the fundamental values in Islam. “A true Muslim can never be a terrorist ble for a Muslim who has fully learned and understood Islam to become a terrorist, and a real Muslim would never intentionally commit an act of terrorism and a terrorist cannot be considered a real Muslim.
I still haven't got a handle on Gulen. He's either the biggest charlatan in existence or a potential moderate way forward for Islam.
The problem is that an "innocent person" is an innocent Muslim. Kafir do not count as human. They can be killed, raped, brutalised with utter umpunity for there is no punishment under Sharia for anything done to a Kafir.
Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the (hearts of) the Enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. (Qur'an: 8:60)
That horrible piece of shit Choudery said exactly that on the BBC, (re "innocent people"
A secretly recorded talk at a mosque given by Hamza had him recorded saying explicitly you can do what you like to the kuffar.
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
Most Muslims don't consider non-Muslims as scum. It's important to remember that.
But, there is a sub-culture that does think precisely that.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
That is what Tel Aviv says.
This is the second time today you've made insinuations about Israel. Are they a convenient bogeyman for you to blame for anything you don't understand?
"Daddy, why do people have to die?" "Well son, there's this country called Israel ..."
This post is about how old ISIL is. The Tel Aviv correspondent says it goes back to 2008.
Regardless , when was the first or second time I blamed Israel for this particular atrocity ? I have blamed Israel for many an atrocity in Gaza and the West Bank. Yes. But Paris is not in Gaza.
"Whereas Roger doesn't know that the Lebanese are Arabs. Nice of him to parade his ignorance so publicly :-) "
When you go through the airport at Beirut there are three gates. One for foreigners another for Lebanese and a third for Arabs. With a Christian Muslim population of 40 60 and where their first language was French followed by what they call 'Lebanese' and 'Arab' is often used by the educated Lebanese derogatorily it is less ignorant than you suggest
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
I'm not sure how having affairs and what not means they are sexually repressed. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The BBC Turkey Correspondent Mark Lowen says a Syrian passport found at the scene of the attack has big implications.
"The authenticity of the passport is still unclear: Frontex, the EU's border agency, warned earlier this year that Syrian passports were being forged as they were more likely to be accepted for asylum.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
I'm not sure how having affairs and what not means they are sexually repressed. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Righties know how to swing, daddy-o. Lefties are just squares, nibbling their nutloaf and reading each other earnest diatribes. Peace out.
I give a talk to bankers and one of the topics is the duty to speak up about wrongdoing. What I say is this:-
“A trader sees a pile of shit near him. And he goes “Well, it’s not mine.” And walks away. And others do the same. And yet others see the pile and think it’s fine for it to be there and so they add to it. And eventually the pile becomes so big and smelly that people can’t move far enough away and it has to be cleaned up. That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is LIBOR and the FX scandal and every scandal there has ever been in banking. No-one saw anything, no-one heard anything. No-one said anything. They moved away and held a hankie to their nose and pretended it had nothing to do with them. But it’s not good enough to say “I am not a rogue trader. I don’t manipulate markets or insider deal or cheat my clients.” That may all be true. But when an industry has as many problems over such a long period in pretty much every organization and in every part of those organizations, saying that isn’t good enough.
That shit sticks to your shoe. That smell hangs around you. We are all tainted in this industry by what the bad guys do. Just as bad money drives out, so bad guys drive out the good. And it’s time – long past the time, frankly – for the good people to drive out the bad. And that’s why we all have to speak up. Because if you don’t, it’s your hard work, it’s your professional reputation, it’s your integrity, it’s your good name which is tainted. People will see you – however unfairly – as the same as the bad guys.”
Why am I sharing this?
FWIW, I'm ashamed of what my industry has become. Too many people lost sight of the fact that they exist to serve their clients. They were greedy - not always for money, but for peer recognition, for success, for plaudits. And the firms made too many mistakes - promoted the wrong people, thought short term, didn't judge risks correctly.
Banking should be a boring job, a quiet job, one which exists to help clients achieve what they need. Conflicts should be avoided - which probably means monoline firms - and I remain to be convinced that publicly quoted, limited liability companies are the right thing for our industry, our clients, our regulators, employees and other stakeholders.
I want Trump to win the prez. I want Marine Le Pen as POTFR.
Geert Wilders in charge of Holland would just be a delicious bonus.
Add in Farage as PM post EU ref and full house!
A seriously left wing friend of mine emailed me, yesterday, saying he'd had enough and wanted "all Muslims driven out of Europe", "every imam imprisoned", etc. It was wholly blood curdling. I had to calm him down.
And this is a lifelong, intellectual Labour voter.
Perhaps he is entirely unusual and just a middle aged grump. Yet I think not. I reckon the mood out there is shifting radically.
You seem to have too many "left wing" friends. Someone befriending you, are you sure you are not imagining things after some strong stuff ?
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
What a pointless inaccurate statement. Completely overlooking Lib Dems such as Oaten and Huhne and Labour parliamentary people such as Lord Sewell and Ron Davies.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
That is what Tel Aviv says.
This is the second time today you've made insinuations about Israel. Are they a convenient bogeyman for you to blame for anything you don't understand?
"Daddy, why do people have to die?" "Well son, there's this country called Israel ..."
This post is about how old ISIL is. The Tel Aviv correspondent says it goes back to 2008.
Regardless , when was the first or second time I blamed Israel for this particular atrocity ? I have blamed Israel for many an atrocity in Gaza and the West Bank. Yes. But Paris is not in Gaza.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
Poor little middle easterners - can't do anything unless someone from the CIA tells them to, and how to do it.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
What a pointless inaccurate statement. Completely overlooking Lib Dems such as Oaten and Huhne and Labour parliamentary people such as Lord Sewell and Ron Davies.
Remember that in Labour minds nowadays, they're all Tories (tm).
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
What a pointless inaccurate statement. Completely overlooking Lib Dems such as Oaten and Huhne and Labour parliamentary people such as Lord Sewell and Ron Davies.
It wasn't pointless. The point was to have a dig at the naughty Tories!
A word, fella. When you have to resort to blowing up cripples in wheel chairs to get your point of view across, you've lost the moral high-ground already...
I want Trump to win the prez. I want Marine Le Pen as POTFR.
Geert Wilders in charge of Holland would just be a delicious bonus.
Add in Farage as PM post EU ref and full house!
A seriously left wing friend of mine emailed me, yesterday, saying he'd had enough and wanted "all Muslims driven out of Europe", "every imam imprisoned", etc. It was wholly blood curdling. I had to calm him down.
And this is a lifelong, intellectual Labour voter.
Perhaps he is entirely unusual and just a middle aged grump. Yet I think not. I reckon the mood out there is shifting radically.
There was a lot of intemperate language on here yesterday. I genuinely believe it was mostly venting.
I don't hate Muslims; that would be daft. I do get riled by their apologists; it speaks volumes about their attitude to non-Muslims that they feel we need to be restrained from an orgy of bloodshed.
I'd rather just ban people from invoking Islamophobia and/or racism every single fecking time it's pointed out that some Muslims have attitudes and practices that are incompatible with western liberal democracies, and the people that have to change are those Muslims, not the rest of us.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
I'm not sure how having affairs and what not means they are sexually repressed. Quite the opposite, in fact.
It's how they end up in bizarre sex scandals and the volume of them that shows that their childhoods were not that ordinary.
The list of bizarre Tory sex scandals is quite a long one, not that Labour doesn't have a few, Blair and Murdoch's wife, Lord Sewel, those were funny the last one in particular, but no innocent people seem to have been damaged by the Labour ones or getting their affairs mixed up with government affairs.
Here we have a cabinet minister in a plot to blackmail him by his party's own senior officials.
Otherwise, perhaps consider the idea that Kuffar pronouncing on true islam dim, misleading, and irrelevant.
Or perhaps you should try Gulen, who has a massive movement of millions behind him?
Recalling that Islam attaches the utmost regard to the sanctity of human life and citing the verse of the Quran that states “killing an innocent person unjustly is like killing all of mankind,” Gülen remarked that the protection of human life is one of the fundamental values in Islam. “A true Muslim can never be a terrorist ble for a Muslim who has fully learned and understood Islam to become a terrorist, and a real Muslim would never intentionally commit an act of terrorism and a terrorist cannot be considered a real Muslim.
I still haven't got a handle on Gulen. He's either the biggest charlatan in existence or a potential moderate way forward for Islam.
The problem is that an "innocent person" is an innocent Muslim. Kafir do not count as human. They can be killed, raped, brutalised with utter umpunity for there is no punishment under Sharia for anything done to a Kafir.
Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the (hearts of) the Enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. (Qur'an: 8:60)
That horrible piece of shit Choudery said exactly that on the BBC, (re "innocent people"
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
Most Muslims don't consider non-Muslims as scum. It's important to remember that.
But, there is a sub-culture that does think precisely that.
"Whereas Roger doesn't know that the Lebanese are Arabs. Nice of him to parade his ignorance so publicly :-) "
When you go through the airport at Beirut there are three gates. One for foreigners another for Lebanese and a third for Arabs. With a Christian Muslim population of 40 60 and where their first language was French followed by what they call 'Lebanese' and 'Arab' is often used by the educated Lebanese derogatorily it is less ignorant than you suggest
It's worth reading Fawwaz Traboulsi [ from Tripoli ] 's book: A History of Modern Lebanon recommended to me by a Maronite.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
I'm not sure how having affairs and what not means they are sexually repressed. Quite the opposite, in fact.
It's how they end up in bizarre sex scandals and the volume of them that shows that their childhoods were not that ordinary.
The list of bizarre Tory sex scandals is quite a long one, not that Labour doesn't have a few, Blair and Murdoch's wife, Lord Sewel, those were funny the last one in particular, but no innocent people seem to have been damaged by the Labour ones or getting their affairs mixed up with government affairs.
Here we have a cabinet minister in a plot to blackmail him by his party's own senior officials.
But being sexually repressed means you feel discomfort expressing your sexuality. Which is evidently not true if they are going around bonking everyone and everything
I want Trump to win the prez. I want Marine Le Pen as POTFR.
Geert Wilders in charge of Holland would just be a delicious bonus.
Add in Farage as PM post EU ref and full house!
As far as I'm concerned, insurgent Right governments across the Western world would be a dream come true
It will be insurgent populism really, based on a crackdown on immigration. It is unlikely any of them will actually win though I expect populist parties and candidates to perform well for the next few years at least
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
With Labour it is money, with Tories it is sex, was ever thus
At what point do we have to swallow hard and admit that just maybe, Trump isn't going to fall away?
I hope he doesn't. Trump's radical non-interventionism in foreign policy is in my view the only way of preserving America as a world power for a few more decades, and preventing massive bloodshed and turmoil around the world.
When Stalin abandoned Lenin's policy of 'permanent revolution', which required Marxist revolution around the world, in favour of 'socialism in one country', it preserved the USSR for another 50 odd years. We must now see the end of the 'full spectrum dominance' aim of US foreign policy, in favour of serious retrenchment. The alternative, a defiant refusal to accept a world of multiple independent powers, and a determination to press home the US' current perceived military superiority before it can no longer be funded, will lead to a cataclysmic world conflict.
I want Trump to win the prez. I want Marine Le Pen as POTFR.
Geert Wilders in charge of Holland would just be a delicious bonus.
Add in Farage as PM post EU ref and full house!
A seriously left wing friend of mine emailed me, yesterday, saying he'd had enough and wanted "all Muslims driven out of Europe", "every imam imprisoned", etc. It was wholly blood curdling. I had to calm him down.
And this is a lifelong, intellectual Labour voter.
Perhaps he is entirely unusual and just a middle aged grump. Yet I think not. I reckon the mood out there is shifting radically.
Yes, there is certainly a mood for much tougher border controls at the very least, certainly outside of Islington and Camden. I think the 'everyone take a refugee' attitude of a few months ago has swiftly died a death
In the eyes of IS, only they are the true Muslims.
The 99% of people who would call themselves muslims (or who we would call muslims) are, to them, not muslims.
If that were so, then why don't those 99% scream that the IS actions are not done in the name of Islam, but instead some weird psychopathic invented form of Islam of their own making, undertaken by people who are on the fast track to the seventh level of hell? I mean, if a group of Manchester United fans said the only true way to show you supported Manchester United was by beheading a City fan, then it's hard to imagine Reds fans quietly acquiescing to that notion of what constitutes a true supporter... But the Islam terraces are strangely silent.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
It's always the opposite practice of what they preach that gets most attention, it's cynicism like " the Tories preach morality while being naughty in bed, Labour preaches equality while stuffing their pockets, LD preaching they are squeaky clean when they are doing both".
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
It's always the opposite practice of what they preach that gets most attention, it's cynicism like " the Tories preach morality while being naughty in bed, Labour preaches equality while stuffing their pockets, LD preaching they are squeaky clean when they are doing both".
Yep. Major got so much flak because of his cant about "Victorian values".
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
That is what Tel Aviv says.
This is the second time today you've made insinuations about Israel. Are they a convenient bogeyman for you to blame for anything you don't understand?
"Daddy, why do people have to die?" "Well son, there's this country called Israel ..."
This post is about how old ISIL is. The Tel Aviv correspondent says it goes back to 2008.
Regardless , when was the first or second time I blamed Israel for this particular atrocity ? I have blamed Israel for many an atrocity in Gaza and the West Bank. Yes. But Paris is not in Gaza.
I mentioned nothing about the Paris attacks.
In that case why twice, I will say a THOUSAND times about Israel's atrocities on Palestinians.
I am talking of the Israel dominated by Ashkenazis. immigrants fromEurope.
The list of bizarre Tory sex scandals is quite a long one, not that Labour doesn't have a few, Blair and Murdoch's wife, Lord Sewel, those were funny the last one in particular, but no innocent people seem to have been damaged by the Labour ones or getting their affairs mixed up with government affairs.
Here we have a cabinet minister in a plot to blackmail him by his party's own senior officials.
Haringey, Islington, Leicester, Rochdale, Rotherham, the South Wales Valleys, Glasgow (the last two are ones that haven't been fully investigated yet)? Innocent people were not harmed by these?
You missed John Prescott, Robin Cook and Stephen Byers off your list of amusing sex scandals. In fairness, I don't think the unfortunate Mrs Cook was laughing after the way she was treated on Campbell's orders.
Reading your comments and the other seanT- wishing for deplorable, right wing regimes to assume power in the West. the likes of LePen, and Trump. Doubtless the Northern League in Italy too. It is just nihilistic politics, a couple of steps above ISIS, but on the spectrum- the spectrum that marched Europe to the totalitarianism of the 1930's.
The problem for the bourgeois left is that they never experience smart but contradictory opinions. So when they lose arguments, or elections - as they normally do - they are bewildered and bereft.
I want Trump to win the prez. I want Marine Le Pen as POTFR.
Geert Wilders in charge of Holland would just be a delicious bonus.
Add in Farage as PM post EU ref and full house!
A seriously left wing friend of mine emailed me, yesterday, saying he'd had enough and wanted "all Muslims driven out of Europe", "every imam imprisoned", etc. It was wholly blood curdling. I had to calm him down.
And this is a lifelong, intellectual Labour voter.
Perhaps he is entirely unusual and just a middle aged grump. Yet I think not. I reckon the mood out there is shifting radically.
There was a lot of intemperate language on here yesterday. I genuinely believe it was mostly venting.
I don't hate Muslims; that would be daft. I do get riled by their apologists; it speaks volumes about their attitude to non-Muslims that they feel we need to be restrained from an orgy of bloodshed.
I'd rather just ban people from invoking Islamophobia and/or racism every single fecking time it's pointed out that some Muslims have attitudes and practices that are incompatible with western liberal democracies, and the people that have to change are those Muslims, not the rest of us.
This must surely be the way forward. Do you want freedom of expression, equality for LGBTs, tolerance of other religions and other ways of life and at least an attempt at democratic forms of government - or do you want religious bigotry, segregation and intolerance?
As an atheist I am not particularly enamored by any religions but even I can see that mainstream official Christianity and Judaism as they are generally practiced in Europe - though they may still have some distance to go - are far beyond Islam in their acceptance of modern western culture.
We should no longer accept that certain sections of Islam can openly practice, preach and promote a culture that is so fundamentally different and opposed to ours.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
Can't think of any involving other parties, Labour maybe?
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
It's always the opposite practice of what they preach that gets most attention, it's cynicism like " the Tories preach morality while being naughty in bed, Labour preaches equality while stuffing their pockets, LD preaching they are squeaky clean when they are doing both".
Yep, agreed. I always have to laugh at those who preach 'family values' while having an affair though.
As for insurgent Right-wing governments across Europe, that sounds like a nightmare that could only be a dream on PB.
Tory scandal: Whether Mark Clarke is a good guy or a baddie is not important. Was the Cabinet Minister playing away from home ? Apparently, a death is involved.
Otherwise, perhaps consider the idea that Kuffar pronouncing on true islam dim, misleading, and irrelevant.
Or perhaps you should try Gulen, who has a massive movement of millions behind him?
Recalling that Islam attaches the utmost regard to the sanctity of human life and citing the verse of the Quran that states “killing an innocent person unjustly is like killing all lim.
I still haven't got a handle on Gulen. He's either the biggest charlatan in existence or a potential moderate way forward for Islam.
The problem is that an "innocent person" is an innocent Muslim. Kafir do not count as human. They can be killed, raped, brutalised with utter umpunity for there is no punishment under Sharia for anything done to a Kafir.
Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the (hearts of) the Enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. (Qur'an: 8:60)
That horrible piece of shit Choudery said exactly that on the BBC, (re "innocent people"
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
Most Muslims don't consider non-Muslims as scum. It's important to remember that.
But, there is a sub-culture that does think precisely that.
But this allows them to see non believers as cockroaches, white whores, decadent. It enables them to carry out types of behaviour towards non believers that they would not even contemplate being done to their own people.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
I'm not sure how having affairs and what not means they are sexually repressed. Quite the opposite, in fact.
It's how they end up in bizarre sex scandals and the volume of them that shows that their childhoods were not that ordinary.
The list of bizarre Tory sex scandals is quite a long one, not that Labour doesn't have a few, Blair and Murdoch's wife, Lord Sewel, those were funny the last one in particular, but no innocent people seem to have been damaged by the Labour ones or getting their affairs mixed up with government affairs.
Here we have a cabinet minister in a plot to blackmail him by his party's own senior officials.
But being sexually repressed means you feel discomfort expressing your sexuality. Which is evidently not true if they are going around bonking everyone and everything
Bear in mind, you couldn't be an openly gay tory until a few years ago.
Blackmailing gay politicians for political advantage has only recently become uncool.
The list of bizarre Tory sex scandals is quite a long one, not that Labour doesn't have a few, Blair and Murdoch's wife, Lord Sewel, those were funny the last one in particular, but no innocent people seem to have been damaged by the Labour ones or getting their affairs mixed up with government affairs.
Here we have a cabinet minister in a plot to blackmail him by his party's own senior officials.
Haringey, Islington, Leicester, Rochdale, Rotherham, the South Wales Valleys, Glasgow (the last two are ones that haven't been fully investigated yet)? Innocent people were not harmed by these?
You missed John Prescott, Robin Cook and Stephen Byers off your list of amusing sex scandals. In fairness, I don't think the unfortunate Mrs Cook was laughing after the way she was treated on Campbell's orders.
Criminal acts committed by organized crime and covered up by the local council is a different plate of fish.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
IS has a lot more than four years of fighting experience. If you can even get your facts straight then don't bother with the conspiracies.
Most ISIS members started their careers fighting in a civil war called the Syrian Civil War which started 4 years ago, though their leadership has plenty of it since at least the Iraq war, now get your facts straight before starting your conspiracies.
One of their leaders said its origins and early organisation went back to before 2008. I will take his testimony above yours.
That is what Tel Aviv says.
This is the second time today you've made insinuations about Israel. Are they a convenient bogeyman for you to blame for anything you don't understand?
"Daddy, why do people have to die?" "Well son, there's this country called Israel ..."
I am waiting for Surby to come out with the blood libel.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
Poor little middle easterners - can't do anything unless someone from the CIA tells them to, and how to do it.
Just had to be the Americans fault somehow.
Bizarrely ignorant that you feel they can be absolved of blame.
Irregular warfare means fomenting dissent and arming local groups to achieve your aims, rather than conventionally invading. America didn't invent it, but they have been doing it for decades - with Al Qaeda being one of their early success stories.
So far so good, but what do you feel may be the issue with doing this in Syria, where the armed groups are Islamists? And when they get killed, training thousands more in how to kill and equipping them to do so? Any chance of that going wrong do you think?
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
It's always the opposite practice of what they preach that gets most attention, it's cynicism like " the Tories preach morality while being naughty in bed, Labour preaches equality while stuffing their pockets, LD preaching they are squeaky clean when they are doing both".
Yep, agreed. I always have to laugh at those who preach 'family values' while having an affair though.
As for insurgent Right-wing governments across Europe, that sounds like a nightmare that could only be a dream on PB.
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that by the end of 2020 the leaders of the P5 on the Security Council could be Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Putin and Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader would almost be a liberal by comparison! In the G7 only Trudeau's Canada and Renzi's Italy are likely to resist the populist tide. Though I still think it will mainly produce parties of protest than parties of power
You ungrateful so and so. You remind me of John Cleese in the Life of Brian- what have the Yanks done for us?
I couldn't agree more with Rubio the other night when he said the world is a better place when the US is militarily dominant. You only need to look at the 1930's.
US military power protected us from totalitarianism after the 2nd World War, and that is after swinging the 2nd World War in our favour. Why did the heck did Stalin retrench? Because the Soviets were in awe off the US Military Industrial Complex
I accept that the US made some major blunders, but a serious retrenchment of US military power in these times terrifies the hell out of me.
At what point do we have to swallow hard and admit that just maybe, Trump isn't going to fall away?
I hope he doesn't. Trump's radical non-interventionism in foreign policy is in my view the only way of preserving America as a world power for a few more decades, and preventing massive bloodshed and turmoil around the world.
When Stalin abandoned Lenin's policy of 'permanent revolution', which required Marxist revolution around the world, in favour of 'socialism in one country', it preserved the USSR for another 50 odd years. We must now see the end of the 'full spectrum dominance' aim of US foreign policy, in favour of serious retrenchment. The alternative, a defiant refusal to accept a world of multiple independent powers, and a determination to press home the US' current perceived military superiority before it can no longer be funded, will lead to a cataclysmic world conflict.
Reading your comments and the other seanT- wishing for deplorable, right wing regimes to assume power in the West. the likes of LePen, and Trump. Doubtless the Northern League in Italy too. It is just nihilistic politics, a couple of steps above ISIS, but on the spectrum- the spectrum that marched Europe to the totalitarianism of the 1930's.
Incidentally, I'm going to add something about Islam from my own experience. A couple of years ago, I was teaching in an all-girls school. As it was in a city with a large Muslim population, there were a great many Muslim girls in the classes, as their families preferred single-sex education for religious reasons (the school itself was wholly secular).
Without exception, in my RE lessons (which I taught to about 70% of them, rather than history) I found them the most enquiring, open-minded and engaged pupils when it came to studying world religions - any world religions, not just Islam. They were the politest and most sensible in class discussions, carefully thinking through any response to a point they disagreed with and then putting a courteous response. It might have been one I didn't personally agree with, but it was always well-argued and intelligent. I also found they were the ones who were most upset by reports of Islamist atrocities, for the simple reasons that (1) they were sensitive and kind-hearted, and such things moved them and (2) it reflected badly on them and their religion.
By contrast, I also taught a number of girls whose parents were secular humanists and in particular, admirers of Richard Dawkins. Without exception, I found them close-minded, ignorant, and extremely aggressive. Their usual response to a difficult question was to shake their head and smile smugly, saying 'you're wrong' and leaving it at that (a trick they learned from Keith Porteous Wood, perhaps)? When you provided facts that showed their earlier knowledge was wrong - e.g. evidence that the Testimonium Flavium was partially accurate and Tacitus was not tampered with at all, or that Catholics in the Middle Ages did not believe the world was flat - they simply stated that the evidence was forged. They could not deal, on an emotional level, with the questioning of their religious beliefs.
That is not to draw a parallel between Richard Dawkins (whom, as Lucky Guy noted, has made a rare sensible observation on this atrocity) and the attackers of Paris. (It could be noted here that there have been a number of atheist atrocities committed in the past - Stalin and Mao were particular offenders - and again Dawkins has tried to downplay the role of atheism in their actions, something he can only do by misunderstanding the relevant material. But that's not strictly relevant, so I digress.) It is to point out that most Muslims do not go around actively seeking to kill people, or warping the world around their own views. While many, too many, do, and they need to be fought as hard as they can, we should not forget there will be Muslims who wear the hijab or even the niqab and never miss Friday prayers who will be firmly on our side as we confront these people.
(Before anyone asks, the practicing Christians varied.)
The Labour party's advantage is that soft left wing economics isn't that unpopular. The Labour parry's big disadvantage is that many of its natural supporter aren't left wing socially. They like some of Jezza's economic policies but they can't stand his Islington PC nonsense.
Unless there's a catastrophic economic depression, he and the Labour Party are toast.
So what can he do? He can't keep silent on his real thoughts forever. The nutter on the bus never does.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
It's always the opposite practice of what they preach that gets most attention, it's cynicism like " the Tories preach morality while being naughty in bed, Labour preaches equality while stuffing their pockets, LD preaching they are squeaky clean when they are doing both".
Yep, agreed. I always have to laugh at those who preach 'family values' while having an affair though.
As for insurgent Right-wing governments across Europe, that sounds like a nightmare that could only be a dream on PB.
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that by the end of 2020 the leaders of the P5 on the Security Council could be Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Putin and Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader would almost be a liberal by comparison! In the G7 only Trudeau's Canada and Renzi's Italy are likely to resist the populist tide. Though I still think it will mainly produce parties of protest than parties of power
Incidentally, I'm going to add something about Islam from my own experience. A couple of years ago, I was teaching in an all-girls school. As it was in a city with a large Muslim population, there were a great many Muslim girls in the classes, as their families preferred single-sex education for religious reasons (the school itself was wholly secular).
Without exception, in my RE lessons (which I taught to about 70% of them, rather than history) I found them the most enquiring, open-minded and engaged pupils when it came to studying world religions - any world religions, not just Islam. They were the politest and most sensible in class discussions, carefully thinking through any response to a point they disagreed with and then putting a courteous response. It might have been one I didn't personally agree with, but it was always well-argued and intelligent. I also found they were the ones who were most upset by reports of Islamist atrocities, for the simple reasons that (1) they were sensitive and kind-hearted, and such things moved them and (2) it reflected badly on them and their religion.
By contrast, I also taught a number of girls whose parents were secular humanists and in particular, admirers of Richard Dawkins. Without exception, I found them close-minded, ignorant, and extremely aggressive. Their usual response to a difficult question was to shake their head and smile smugly, saying 'you're wrong' and leaving it at that (a trick they learned from Keith Porteous Wood, perhaps)? When you provided facts that showed their earlier knowledge was wrong - e.g. evidence that the Testimonium Flavium was partially accurate and Tacitus was not tampered with at all, or that Catholics in the Middle Ages did not believe the world was flat - they simply stated that the evidence was forged. They could not deal, on an emotional level, with the questioning of their religious beliefs.
That is not to draw a parallel between Richard Dawkins (whom, as Lucky Guy noted, has made a rare sensible observation on this atrocity) and the attackers of Paris. (It could be noted here that there have been a number of atheist atrocities committed in the past - Stalin and Mao were particular offenders - and again Dawkins has tried to downplay the role of atheism in their actions, something he can only do by misunderstanding the relevant material. But that's not strictly relevant, so I digress.) It is to point out that most Muslims do not go around actively seeking to kill people, or warping the world around their own views. While many, too many, do, and they need to be fought as hard as they can, we should not forget there will be Muslims who wear the hijab or even the niqab and never miss Friday prayers who will be firmly on our side as we confront these people.
(Before anyone asks, the practicing Christians varied.)
Muslims don't think we are scum, they just think we are kafirs which we are, since we don't believe that the Koran is the truth.
Tyson, I think you are getting confused. Kaffirs are what white people under apartheid used to call the Africans they ruled. Muslims consider Jews and Christians to be 'dhimmi', because they are mentioned in the Qu'ran as the forerunners of Islam. Other religious groupings (specifically Hinduism and Zoroastranism in this context) were 'infidels'. Radical Islamists apply this label to all non-Muslims. Most Muslims do not.
The Labour party's advantage is that soft left wing economics isn't that unpopular. The Labour parry's big disadvantage is that many of its natural supporter aren't left wing socially. They like some of Jezza's economic policies but they can't stand his Islington PC nonsense.
Unless there's a catastrophic economic depression, he and the Labour Party are toast.
So what can he do? He can't keep silent on his real thoughts forever. The nutter on the bus never does.
It has been noticeable that when the BNP had some good election results, they were preaching a lot of traditional left wing economic ideas like renationalisation etc, and UKIP at the last election certainly stole some of the traditional Labour clothing. Both those parties were offering something closer to traditional Labour on economics, while going big we don't subscribe to the PC stuff that the modern Labour party is signed up to.
There appears to be some indications that the attacks in Paris may have a mix of general instruction of IS big chief Baghdadi and a relatively devolved execution. If they go for the full deck, they've done the following enemies so far: France, Russia, Hizbollah. Iran, the USA and I suppose ourselves are missing.
Certainly multiple sources in the Middle East seemed to know something was coming. The Saudis and Iraqis have now both claimed they warned a number of countries including the French.
Thankfully this charming individual is not on our BBC screens quite as much as he used to be. Instead we have to put up with the likes of Owen Jones.
It is inevitable that any of these "moderate" Muslims the Left puts up as an acceptable face of Islam will have some terrible views. "Moderate" generally means they think a legitimate Islamic state should do barbaric things, rather than non-state terrorist groups. If they truly thought shariah law was a bad thing, they'd have to leave Islam.
Incidentally, I'm going to add something about Islam from my own experience. A couple of years ago, I was teaching in an all-girls school. As it was in a city with a large Muslim population, there were a great many Muslim girls in the classes, as their families preferred single-sex education for religious reasons (the school itself was wholly secular).
Without exception, in my RE lessons (which I taught to about 70% of them, rather than history) I found them the most enquiring, open-minded and engaged pupils when it came to studying world religions - any world religions, not just Islam. They were the politest and most sensible in class discussions, carefully thinking through any response to a point they disagreed with and then putting a courteous response. It might have been one I didn't personally agree with, but it was always well-argued and intelligent. I also found they were the ones who were most upset by reports of Islamist atrocities, for the simple reasons that (1) they were sensitive and kind-hearted, and such things moved them and (2) it reflected badly on them and their religion.
By contrast, I also taught a number of girls whose parents were secular humanists and in particular, admirers of Richard Dawkins. Without exception, I found them close-minded, ignorant, and extremely aggressive. Their usual response to a difficult question was to shake their head and smile smugly, saying 'you're wrong' and leaving it at that (a trick they learned from Keith Porteous Wood, perhaps)? When you provided facts that showed their earlier knowledge was wrong - e.g. evidence that the Testimonium Flavium was partially accurate and Tacitus was not tampered with at all, or that Catholics in the Middle Ages did not believe the world was flat - they simply stated that the evidence was forged. They could not deal, on an emotional level, with the questioning of their religious beliefs.
That is not to draw a parallel between Richard Dawkins (whom, as Lucky Guy noted, has made a rare sensible observation on this atrocity) and the attackers of Paris. (It could be noted here that there have been a number of atheist atrocities committed in the past - Stalin and Mao were particular offenders - and again Dawkins has tried to downplay the role of atheism in their actions, something he can only do by misunderstanding the relevant material. But that's not strictly relevant, so I digress.) It is to point out that most Muslims do not go around actively seeking to kill people, or warping the world around their own views. While many, too many, do, and they need to be fought as hard as they can, we should not forget there will be Muslims who wear the hijab or even the niqab and never miss Friday prayers who will be firmly on our side as we confront these people.
(Before anyone asks, the practicing Christians varied.)
There appears to be some indications that the attacks in Paris may have a mix of general instruction of IS big chief Baghdadi and a relatively devolved execution. If they go for the full deck, they've done the following enemies so far: France, Russia, Hizbollah. Iran, the USA and I suppose ourselves missing.
Certainly multiple sources in the Middle East seemed to know something was coming. The Saudis and Iraqis have now both claimed they warned a number of countries including the French.
7/7 2005? Not forgetting attacks on Sydney, Madrid and Ottawa
Otherwise, perhaps consider the idea that Kuffar pronouncing on true islam dim, misleading, and irrelevant.
Or perhaps you should try Gulen, who has a massive movement of millions behind him?
Recalling that Islam attaches the utmost regard to the sanctity of human life and citing the verse of the Quran that states “killing an innocent person unjustly is like killing all lim.
I still haven't got a handle on Gulen. He's either the biggest charlatan in existence or a potential moderate way forward for Islam.
The problem is that an "innocent person" is an innocent Muslim. Kafir do not count as human. They can be killed, raped, brutalised with utter umpunity for there is no punishment under Sharia for anything done to a Kafir.
Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the (hearts of) the Enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. (Qur'an: 8:60)
That horrible piece of shit Choudery said exactly that on the BBC, (re "innocent people"
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
Most Muslims don't consider non-Muslims as scum. It's important to remember that.
But, there is a sub-culture that does think precisely that.
But this allows them to see non believers as cockroaches, white whores, decadent. It enables them to carry out types of behaviour towards non believers that they would not even contemplate being done to their own people.
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
It's well known Tories do sex scandals, Labour do money scandals and the Lib dems do pretty much anything else.
It's always the opposite practice of what they preach that gets most attention, it's cynicism like " the Tories preach morality while being naughty in bed, Labour preaches equality while stuffing their pockets, LD preaching they are squeaky clean when they are doing both".
Yep, agreed. I always have to laugh at those who preach 'family values' while having an affair though.
As for insurgent Right-wing governments across Europe, that sounds like a nightmare that could only be a dream on PB.
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that by the end of 2020 the leaders of the P5 on the Security Council could be Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Putin and Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader would almost be a liberal by comparison! In the G7 only Trudeau's Canada and Renzi's Italy are likely to resist the populist tide. Though I still think it will mainly produce parties of protest than parties of power
MikeK, can you actually not hear yourself when you make remarks like that?
I was pointing out that the Muslims I taught were well-behaved, well-adjusted and I have no doubt will be appalled by what has happened. You immediately assume I am an apologist for Islam, which I am not, and never have been.
Is it so difficult for you to understand those facts, which appear to conflict with your worldview? And if so, can you not spot the irony of that?
If it is of any interest, although I frankly cannot see how it is relevant, I am a liberal Christian who mostly attends Church of England churches, and have been for fifteen years when I converted from being an atheist.
Reading your comments and the other seanT- wishing for deplorable, right wing regimes to assume power in the West. the likes of LePen, and Trump. Doubtless the Northern League in Italy too. It is just nihilistic politics, a couple of steps above ISIS, but on the spectrum- the spectrum that marched Europe to the totalitarianism of the 1930's.
There appears to be some indications that the attacks in Paris may have a mix of general instruction of IS big chief Baghdadi and a relatively devolved execution. If they go for the full deck, they've done the following enemies so far: France, Russia, Hizbollah. Iran, the USA and I suppose ourselves missing.
Certainly multiple sources in the Middle East seemed to know something was coming. The Saudis and Iraqis have now both claimed they warned a number of countries including the French.
The French seems to have been warned by almost everyone. The Bavarian interception with Paris registered on the SAT NAV was the clearest indication. You could not get intelligence better than that.
Of course, our GCHQ knows all - after the event. Like WMD and the mobile biological lab which turned to be an Ice Cream van.
Attacks of the type in Paris are not random, the targets are not random, they are areas of high people density. Its no more complicated than that.
One major question is who made the explosive devices. All appeared to go off, all seemed remarkably stable for what is a basically unstable compound.
That takes skill, not a Youtube video.
Well ISIS has 4 years of fighting experience, plus a lot of western weapons in their arsenal, and plenty of members that may have been trained by westerners before they jumped ship to them.
Basically any syrian rebel who took a course in explosives making by lets say the CIA and disappeared would be a suspect.
Poor little middle easterners - can't do anything unless someone from the CIA tells them to, and how to do it.
Just had to be the Americans fault somehow.
Bizarrely ignorant that you feel they can be absolved of blame.
Irregular warfare means fomenting dissent and arming local groups to achieve your aims, rather than conventionally invading. America didn't invent it, but they have been doing it for decades - with Al Qaeda being one of their early success stories.
So far so good, but what do you feel may be the issue with doing this in Syria, where the armed groups are Islamists? And when they get killed, training thousands more in how to kill and equipping them to do so? Any chance of that going wrong do you think?
Ah our resident (or is it rezident?) apologist for Russia.
So, as Russia invaded Afghanistan and kicked this all off, it must therefore be their fault?
"Cabinet Minister in sex blackmail plot: Politician confesses to affair after Cameron aide is accused of scheme to film trysts A Cabinet Minister has alerted Number 10 about a sex blackmail plot It is claimed Tory director Mark Clarke planned to film the minister The minster came forward after Tory activist Elliot Johnson killed himself Mark Clarke has denied any bullying or attempted blackmail claims"
Hopefully Elliot Johnson's family get the justice they deserve.
Tories and sex scandal go together. It must be the public school hang ups.
LOL...Because the other parties never have sex scandals. It is rife across Westminster, you know like man of the people Labour Leader's etc.
Well looking at the volume of bizarre sex scandals in the Tory party since way back to at least the Profumo scandal, one has to say it seems there is a lot of sexual repression among Tory party members.
With Labour it is money, with Tories it is sex, was ever thus
No - the West Country. I accept therefore that my experience may not be typical and a friend of mine who taught in inner-city London (Shepherd's Bush, if memory serves) might have a very different view.
However, it was an experience several teachers in the area had had - I particularly remember one (Christian) teacher who had had to teach about homosexuality and homophobia to an all-Muslim class, and was beyond surprised to find that they were quite relaxed about what other people got up to in their own time.
In recent conversations with varied members of the less well off North London public, there has been a noticeable railing against any suggestion that all cultures are equal and a clear belief that some are superior/inferior.
Muslims don't think we are scum, they just think we are kafirs which we are, since we don't believe that the Koran is the truth.
Tyson, I think you are getting confused. Kaffirs are what white people under apartheid used to call the Africans they ruled. Muslims consider Jews and Christians to be 'dhimmi', because they are mentioned in the Qu'ran as the forerunners of Islam. Other religious groupings (specifically Hinduism and Zoroastranism in this context) were 'infidels'. Radical Islamists apply this label to all non-Muslims. Most Muslims do not.
Comments
He's also very much a political operator, and has been pulling the strings in Turkey for years. This has led to a rather hilarious bust-up with Erdogan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethullah_Gülen
He's the nearest to a moderate, influential Muslim leader I can think of. And I'm unsure whether I believe anything he says ...
Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the (hearts of) the Enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. (Qur'an: 8:60)
That horrible piece of shit Choudery said exactly that on the BBC, (re "innocent people"
A secretly recorded talk at a mosque given by Hamza had him recorded saying explicitly you can do what you like to the kuffar.
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
https://youtu.be/h4hpfqFt-0Q?t=26s
Thats just sh*t.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if every politician around the world instead of taking pride in the size of their Armed Forces did what Costa Rica have done and abolished their Army, and took pride in the fact they don't have an Army.
And that their country is near the top of the global peace index. Surely that is the way we should be going forward.
Full text here:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/heres-what-jeremy-corbyn-really-6438877
"Daddy, why do people have to die?"
"Well son, there's this country called Israel ..."
If Trump is still there after the new year then it's all about if someone can beat him in Iowa rather that Trump fading away.
A secretly recorded talk at a mosque given by Hamza had him recorded saying explicitly you can do what you like to the kuffar.
I believe a certain reasonably well known muslim journalist got caught out referring to non believers as kuffar as well.
Most Muslims don't consider non-Muslims as scum. It's important to remember that.
But, there is a sub-culture that does think precisely that.
Regardless , when was the first or second time I blamed Israel for this particular atrocity ? I have blamed Israel for many an atrocity in Gaza and the West Bank. Yes. But Paris is not in Gaza.
"Whereas Roger doesn't know that the Lebanese are Arabs. Nice of him to parade his ignorance so publicly :-) "
When you go through the airport at Beirut there are three gates. One for foreigners another for Lebanese and a third for Arabs. With a Christian Muslim population of 40 60 and where their first language was French followed by what they call 'Lebanese' and 'Arab' is often used by the educated Lebanese derogatorily it is less ignorant than you suggest
"The authenticity of the passport is still unclear: Frontex, the EU's border agency, warned earlier this year that Syrian passports were being forged as they were more likely to be accepted for asylum.
Banking should be a boring job, a quiet job, one which exists to help clients achieve what they need. Conflicts should be avoided - which probably means monoline firms - and I remain to be convinced that publicly quoted, limited liability companies are the right thing for our industry, our clients, our regulators, employees and other stakeholders.
I don't hate Muslims; that would be daft. I do get riled by their apologists; it speaks volumes about their attitude to non-Muslims that they feel we need to be restrained from an orgy of bloodshed.
I'd rather just ban people from invoking Islamophobia and/or racism every single fecking time it's pointed out that some Muslims have attitudes and practices that are incompatible with western liberal democracies, and the people that have to change are those Muslims, not the rest of us.
The list of bizarre Tory sex scandals is quite a long one, not that Labour doesn't have a few, Blair and Murdoch's wife, Lord Sewel, those were funny the last one in particular, but no innocent people seem to have been damaged by the Labour ones or getting their affairs mixed up with government affairs.
Here we have a cabinet minister in a plot to blackmail him by his party's own senior officials.
Most Muslims don't consider non-Muslims as scum. It's important to remember that.
But, there is a sub-culture that does think precisely that.
When Stalin abandoned Lenin's policy of 'permanent revolution', which required Marxist revolution around the world, in favour of 'socialism in one country', it preserved the USSR for another 50 odd years. We must now see the end of the 'full spectrum dominance' aim of US foreign policy, in favour of serious retrenchment. The alternative, a defiant refusal to accept a world of multiple independent powers, and a determination to press home the US' current perceived military superiority before it can no longer be funded, will lead to a cataclysmic world conflict.
I am talking of the Israel dominated by Ashkenazis. immigrants fromEurope.
You should read Shlomo Sand's books.
You missed John Prescott, Robin Cook and Stephen Byers off your list of amusing sex scandals. In fairness, I don't think the unfortunate Mrs Cook was laughing after the way she was treated on Campbell's orders.
This is perhaps the funniest Downfall yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERH0i71o2H4
As an atheist I am not particularly enamored by any religions but even I can see that mainstream official Christianity and Judaism as they are generally practiced in Europe - though they may still have some distance to go - are far beyond Islam in their acceptance of modern western culture.
We should no longer accept that certain sections of Islam can openly practice, preach and promote a culture that is so fundamentally different and opposed to ours.
As for insurgent Right-wing governments across Europe, that sounds like a nightmare that could only be a dream on PB.
Apparently, a death is involved.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3318983/Cabinet-Minister-sex-blackmail-plot-Politician-confesses-affair-Cameron-aide-accused-scheme-film-trysts.html
But this allows them to see non believers as cockroaches, white whores, decadent. It enables them to carry out types of behaviour towards non believers that they would not even contemplate being done to their own people.
Blackmailing gay politicians for political advantage has only recently become uncool.
I'm thinking about food now, I'm off.
Irregular warfare means fomenting dissent and arming local groups to achieve your aims, rather than conventionally invading. America didn't invent it, but they have been doing it for decades - with Al Qaeda being one of their early success stories.
So far so good, but what do you feel may be the issue with doing this in Syria, where the armed groups are Islamists? And when they get killed, training thousands more in how to kill and equipping them to do so? Any chance of that going wrong do you think?
I couldn't agree more with Rubio the other night when he said the world is a better place when the US is militarily dominant. You only need to look at the 1930's.
US military power protected us from totalitarianism after the 2nd World War, and that is after swinging the 2nd World War in our favour. Why did the heck did Stalin retrench? Because the Soviets were in awe off the US Military Industrial Complex
I accept that the US made some major blunders, but a serious retrenchment of US military power in these times terrifies the hell out of me.
Without exception, in my RE lessons (which I taught to about 70% of them, rather than history) I found them the most enquiring, open-minded and engaged pupils when it came to studying world religions - any world religions, not just Islam. They were the politest and most sensible in class discussions, carefully thinking through any response to a point they disagreed with and then putting a courteous response. It might have been one I didn't personally agree with, but it was always well-argued and intelligent. I also found they were the ones who were most upset by reports of Islamist atrocities, for the simple reasons that (1) they were sensitive and kind-hearted, and such things moved them and (2) it reflected badly on them and their religion.
By contrast, I also taught a number of girls whose parents were secular humanists and in particular, admirers of Richard Dawkins. Without exception, I found them close-minded, ignorant, and extremely aggressive. Their usual response to a difficult question was to shake their head and smile smugly, saying 'you're wrong' and leaving it at that (a trick they learned from Keith Porteous Wood, perhaps)? When you provided facts that showed their earlier knowledge was wrong - e.g. evidence that the Testimonium Flavium was partially accurate and Tacitus was not tampered with at all, or that Catholics in the Middle Ages did not believe the world was flat - they simply stated that the evidence was forged. They could not deal, on an emotional level, with the questioning of their religious beliefs.
That is not to draw a parallel between Richard Dawkins (whom, as Lucky Guy noted, has made a rare sensible observation on this atrocity) and the attackers of Paris. (It could be noted here that there have been a number of atheist atrocities committed in the past - Stalin and Mao were particular offenders - and again Dawkins has tried to downplay the role of atheism in their actions, something he can only do by misunderstanding the relevant material. But that's not strictly relevant, so I digress.) It is to point out that most Muslims do not go around actively seeking to kill people, or warping the world around their own views. While many, too many, do, and they need to be fought as hard as they can, we should not forget there will be Muslims who wear the hijab or even the niqab and never miss Friday prayers who will be firmly on our side as we confront these people.
(Before anyone asks, the practicing Christians varied.)
Unless there's a catastrophic economic depression, he and the Labour Party are toast.
So what can he do? He can't keep silent on his real thoughts forever. The nutter on the bus never does.
Certainly multiple sources in the Middle East seemed to know something was coming. The Saudis and Iraqis have now both claimed they warned a number of countries including the French.
First you dehumanise them.......
I was pointing out that the Muslims I taught were well-behaved, well-adjusted and I have no doubt will be appalled by what has happened. You immediately assume I am an apologist for Islam, which I am not, and never have been.
Is it so difficult for you to understand those facts, which appear to conflict with your worldview? And if so, can you not spot the irony of that?
If it is of any interest, although I frankly cannot see how it is relevant, I am a liberal Christian who mostly attends Church of England churches, and have been for fifteen years when I converted from being an atheist.
Of course, our GCHQ knows all - after the event. Like WMD and the mobile biological lab which turned to be an Ice Cream van.
So, as Russia invaded Afghanistan and kicked this all off, it must therefore be their fault?
Or is that different?
The Conservative Party needs to harden up on immigration if it wants to stay in office too.
However, it was an experience several teachers in the area had had - I particularly remember one (Christian) teacher who had had to teach about homosexuality and homophobia to an all-Muslim class, and was beyond surprised to find that they were quite relaxed about what other people got up to in their own time.
New Thread New Thread
Kaffir = Apartheid term
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir_(racial_term)