The threat of Islamic fundamentalism rising up in and pouring out from Central Asia, is a popular theme of those who design Western security – or hydrocarbon – strategies. It is in order to exagerrate the threat from Central Asia that the US and UK use the Karimov regime to torture “Confessions” out of Central Asian “Al-Qaida” members.
Al-Jazeera has this week been running a feature documentary by Michael Andersen, a Danish journalist who really does know Central Asia, It should be required viewing for anyone with an interest in the “War on Terror”. You can still catch it on Al-Jazeera today and tomorrow, or throught this link.
A little off topic Craig, but I was wondering if you have seen Rory Stewart’s “The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia Part 1”?
When he discussed, in situ, Lawrence’s secret mission to map the border regions of the Ottoman Empire, using an interest in the archaeology of the region as cover, I was expecting at least a big wink to camera, but the moment of supreme irony passed unremarked. Perhaps it was just a teaser and he is planning to “come out” in Part 2.
Owen, what you wrote is on the topic, not off it.
The clip was about what is happening. You wrote the reason why it is happening. Just as you cannot understand why there are so many wars and dictatorships in the Middle East now if you don’t think about what created the Middle East we have now, its maps with petty states, where each and every boarded is artificial and disputed.
As you mentioned this was created by the likes of Lawrence to insure perpetual wars, petty states governed by puppet dictators, each replaced by a son more brutal then his father.
Central Asia is the same, and has the same cause. The only difference is the Middle East mess was mainly the work of the British, with the French and the Americans playing a minor role, while central Asian mess was the work of the Russians with the British and Chinese playing a minor role.
These petty states means their is no international balance of power, until such balance is achieved their will be perpetual war. The nations of central Asia and the middle east are so small and petty, that they are an open invite to other nations of the world to invade and interfere. If the West stops interfering, it will openly mean that invasions will come from the North or East. The solution has to come from those nations themselves to restore the balance of power. The people of those nations have to remove and replace their rulers and reunite in to a nation large enough to deter interference and invasions. As the man with a beard in the clip said, Muslim nations need to reunite in to their Khilafah.
‘Bloody Stupid Johnson’ spouting over-exaggerated terrorist threats usually followed by over-exaggerated ability of security services to protect us.
Of course the terrorist rating has been raised to soften us up for Blair’s appearance at the Iraq Inquiry.
http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=560
Essential reading. Meanwhile the West wrings its public media hands over Haiti which it had already brought to its impoverished knees long before the earthquake.
Meanwhile Straw washes his hands like Pilate, over the catastrophe of Iraq where the disaster was not only tenfold that of Haiti but wilfully illegally executed and no natural disaster. I think Elizabeth Wilmshurst should make a public submission to the Chilcot Inquiry. If she is asked she should make sure she goes for no walks in the country beforehand.
Meanwhile Frances Inglis faces the prospect of many years in jail for the death of her son, – as in the background Jack Straw and Tony Blair smirk like baboons having got away with mass murder.
What do we have to do for the UK to regain its integrity in foreign policy – or was it always dodgy like this?
Orwell was right in so much detail apart from the year. Government policy and Government policy perception management simply exist in totally different unrelated spaces now.
“Owen, what you wrote is on the topic, not off it.”
I agree it has some relevance to the wider geo-political-historical situation, Arsalan. I wrote “slightly off-topic” because the precise geographical region being referred to at that point in the programme wasn’t Central Asia.
“I didn?t realise that Terry Pratchett knew Alan Johnson until recently and that he?d based his Discworld character ?Bloody Stupid Johnson? on him.
?Bloody Stupid Johnson? is notorious for his complete inability to produce anything according to common sense or accepted science.. He also has an annoying habit of misinterpreting figures.”
Based? … more like an in-depth profile!
The biggest threat in Central Asia is China. Since they already occupy a large chunk of it (East Turkistan) and are eyeing up land in Kazakstan.
Perhaps they know of some upcoming CIA false flag operation.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/asia_pacific/exclusive+mumbai+terror+suspect+warned+of+attacks/3511237
This bloke was working for the Americans and he planned the Mumbai killings to get India to attack Pakistan.
Perhaps if the CIA were banned there’d be no terrorism and we could all get back to living normally.
I susepct that’s not what they want though. This is the Blair legacy for Britain.
do the conspiraloons at this site really believe that the Mumbai attacks (especially the one at the synagogue) were a “CIA false flag operation”?
Larry … the only ‘conspiraloons’ l know are from my own Government. This level of hysteria regarding terrorist threats is farcical when compared to the total lack of hysteria when we had the numerous bombings and shootings in the Northern Ireland ‘troubles’.
To some extent, I agree with that. In fact, I quit smoking recently in part on the basis of decisions regarding real risk.
Nonetheless, I think we know what to expect if Muslim extremist terrorists are able to move radiological or radioactive materials into the center of London.
For instance.
Then why, Larry (who may know about St Louis but clearly knows nothing about London) pray tell, are the muslim terorists any more likely to do that than the IRA terrorists – who also had International funding and support.
No, I don’t know what to expect. Everyone will be amazed? The normal procedures for dealing with a dirty bomb will then be followed? Muslims will rightly say ‘these people are not representative of Muslims, just as your Mr McVeigh was not representative of Americans’? Everyone will go back to normal?
For instance.
And peacewisher’s point is right.
For instance.
peacewisher, there are distinctions in life. For instance, the Shining Path is different than that Japanese cult that put sarin gas in the subway some years back. It’s fairly clear that the nutjob ideology of Muslim extremists (especially their beliefs about what happens to them after they’re martyred) is a bit different than the political beliefs of Irish Catholics.
For one thing, Muslim extremists put a premium on suicide attacks.
I’m sure you can think of other distinctions.
“Muslims will rightly say ‘these people are not representative of Muslims”
It wasn’t just Muslims who said that. Even the silly George W. Bush said that Islam was a religion of peace.
is everyone here so dense that you can’t figure out distinctions between two different terrorist groups?
Oh, I see, to plant a dirty bomb as you were suggesting, you have to have a ‘nutjob ideology’ consisting of martyrdom?
No, you don’t. You start the timer and fuck off. Have you not seen any films?
But nice to know there ‘are distinctions in life’: I can see them in your own posts. Brave, good IRA terrorists, without a ‘premium’ on suicide attacks; nothing like nasty bad suicidal terrorists with beards, or right wing terrorists with guns and explosives.
‘Terence Gavan sentenced for explosives, firearms and terrorism offences’
http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_releases/103_10/
For instance.
Spartan: “Larry … the only ‘conspiraloons’ l know are from my own Government. This level of hysteria regarding terrorist threats is farcical when compared to the total lack of hysteria when we had the numerous bombings and shootings in the Northern Ireland ‘troubles’.”
I think that this type of risk-barometer thing is only going to have a short shelf-life. Despite what Michael Moore believes people think, most people can’t be kept permanently in fear by raising and reducing “threat levels”. People learn to take weather forecasts seriously because they see and experience correlations to what weather forecasters say and what happens. If rain is forecast there’s a good chance rain will come that day and so you’ll take an umbrella. If terror is forecast people soon switch off after so many false alarms.
In fact, the only people I know who truly live in this kind of terror, permanantly are the paranoid loons such as Truthers who think their government actually cares about how they live their daily lives and spend all their time feverishly imagining conspiracies aimed at them and their freedoms. The fact that their fantasy dissidence poses no threat to anyone at all seems to escape them.
Oh, but Spartan. I do note there is an incredibly amusing amount of cognitive dissonance on this blog. Arsalan Goldberg, for example, is in no doubt that if radical Muslims (or Muslims in his view) ever get hold of more sophistiated and destructive weaponry then he says they WILL use it and he pretty much expects it to happen. Many other posters here seem to nod along with him and then say that only the government or the Zionists, or whoever is pushing this view.
If Arsalan’s forecast ever comes true will you ever give credit to those Arsalan says are prepared to do this? Or will you find another way to blame the Matrix or whatever else you subscribe to?
Jesus, M & J, angrysoba. ‘Give credit to those Arsalan says are prepared to do this’? I thought you were rational.
And, by the way, you’re not living here, with its talk of spy drones in the sky (we’re getting those, apparently) and terrorism and political betrayal and fear. Walk down Oxford St sometime and look at the faces. A population can be made to fear, even with no results.
It shouldn’t, obviously. But I think from my own small view of the capital, it can.
“Jesus, M & J, angrysoba. ‘Give credit to those Arsalan says are prepared to do this’? I thought you were rational. ”
I mean give credit in the sense that while a lot of people here smirk at the idea of those Arsalan Goldberg identifies as being willing and able to do it, they always have to play some bizarre parlour game of “cui bono” and making excruciating arguments about how it was probably the Gubmint or the Jews wot dunnit.
Hey, some people even think natural disasters are the fault of the aforementioned:
http://angrysoba.blogspot.com/2010/01/joooos-haarp.html
“A population can be made to fear, even with no results.”
Are you kidding?
This is one thing that made me believe that Michael Moore was talking garbage by telling people they were peeing their pants with fear all the time.
They don’t. Truthers and paranoids fear all the time. The reason why they tell everyone else that they are in a state of fear is because they project their own feelings.
Looks like AngryLarry is back to his Islam bashing.
Many nations have nuclear weapons.
Just as many have conventional weapons.
weapons are made to be used.
Some nations use them for imperialism while others use them for defense.
Who is currently using their weapons for imperialism?
Is it the Muslims?
If so which Non-Muslim countr has been invaded by Muslims in the last 50 years?
In the last 100 years?
In the last 150 years?
in the last 200 years?
Now, take that time period, and ask yourself how many countries did America invade?
Who should we fear?
Someone mentioned what would happen if Muslims get hold of radioactive material.
To answer this I will tell you many Muslim countries have radio active material. And one has Nuclear weapons. have they been used?
No!
Which is the only country to have used nuclear weapons?
America!
So whose radioactive material should you fear?
OK if you are going to say “the great Satan will use its radioactive weapons only on military targets while Muslims might use theirs if they get them on civilians”.
America did not use them on a military target, they did not nuke a airfield, a military base, a navel base or even a weapons factory. They dropped their nuclear bombs on two cities.
Theirs is the weapons the world should fear.
And then Angry decides to twist my words as he has done all over this forum and his own with his typical racist twist.
So to him when I replied to his Larry incarnation, that Muslims do not fight to die, but they die to fight. If they didn’t have to die to inflict casualties they wouldn’t need to, Larry’s racism instantly told him I meant Muslims would Nuke cities if the had those weapons.
While to all right thinking people here, it would mean, “If Muslims had fighter planes to fight your fighter planes etc”.
And I believe one day we will have such things. That they will come when we replace the puppet rulers of our countries, unite then fight.
I do not believe we will ever behave like the Americans and drop nuclear bombs on cities. This is because we worship God, while they worship Money.
Blaming it on the government is fair: at least, our government was not elected to wage aggressive warfare, it was elected in a surge of peace & optimism and has squandered that for a chance to still play the world stage. These are real people, with a mandate from the electorate which has been ignored.
Blaming it on the ‘Jews’ on the other hand is just – words fail me – gross. Just as attempts to portray Muslims as mad suicidal extremists is gross.
But what does it avail us, if we sit here, condemning violent extremism out of hand, while our society continues to exploit and kill in the name of our government? Does it matter that you think ‘the Jews (and/or Muslims) are not to blame’? Or that someone else says ‘yes, the Jews and/or Muslims are to blame’?
I’d say it does matter, because the people who are saying the latter are aiming for power. And the nonsense can only get worse if they achieve it.
“Nonetheless, I think we know what to expect if Muslim extremist terrorists are able to move radiological or radioactive materials into the center of London.”
We could certainly make a guess, based on what happened when some bunch of Russians did exactly that, just a few years back.
Richard, and?
As for fear, asoba, you’re right.People who feed into other’s people’s fear are sick, but it is a problem if you follow this at all. Because we have endless, surreal TV, telling us there is nothing to be afraid of, while the news reports tell us exactly otherwise. Which is why I generally stick to comedy. I hope, though, feeding into fear is different to swapping perspectives on this board with people who are willingly here, and have faced the fear (yeah) already. That’s why I’m here, anyway.
Notice that I compared every Muslim country combined against just one country. Remebering Muslims make up 1/4 of everyone.
Now lets talk about deaths. How many people has America killed?
I am just talking about the Government here. Not American terrorists or criminals.
Then compare that to everyone killed by a Muslim, any Muslim during the same time period. Shall we say the last 10 years, 20 years 50 years how about the last 150 years?
What do you get?
Forget the “bearded suicide terrorist” this is the 21st century and as ‘Technicolour’ tells this is the age of the ‘spy in the sky’ –
The Nato forces now depend on a range of killer robots, largely designed by the British Ministry of Defence labs privatised by Tony Blair in 2001. Every time you hear about a “drone attack” against Afghanistan or Pakistan, that’s an unmanned robot dropping bombs on human beings. Push a button and it flies away, kills, and comes home. Its robot-cousin on the battlefields below is called SWORDS: a human-sized robot that can see 360 degrees around it and fire its machine-guns at any target it “chooses”. Fox News proudly calls it “the GI of the 21st century.” And billions are being spent on the next generation of warbots, which will leave these models looking like the bulky box on which you used to play Pong.
Clunk click every chip!
source – Independent