Newsletter July, 06

Table of Contents:

Editor's Remarks

The plan for this newsletter was to produce an edition that, for the first time in many months, did not concern itself primarily with the Jihadis, Islamic issues, and terrorism.  Fat chance and faint hope; the cascade of Jihad-related events in the last several months proved overwhelming.

Of particular note is Iran's rush to develop nuclear arms, and the belligerent tones from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are frightening – particularly when he apparently belongs to an extremist sect within the 'Twelver' interpretation of Shi'ism that most Iranians follow.  Ahmadinejad, according to several accounts, believes that the return of the 12^th Imam, the Mahdi, can be induced by provoking a severe crisis.  When he was mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad sought to make the city worthy of the Mahdi, the one anointed leader who will bring all of Islam to triumph. This trumps al Qaeda's stated intention of merely bringing about the revival of the Caliphate.

Ahmadinejad has also been promising the coming destruction of Israel (which, when coupled with Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs should make everyone uneasy).  Iran is also the backer of Hizbollah – the outlaw terrorists of South Lebanon -- who have suddenly emerged with new artillery rockets and missiles to provoke Israel into an invasion of Hizbollah's sanctuaries.  This is not so much an anti-guerrilla sweep as it is the start of an Iranian-Israeli war, and there are many places that this could go, and many of them ugly indeed.

Beyond this, Canadians have seen our troops cope with a Jihadist offensive in Afghanistan in recent months and the arrest of one cell of 17 wannabe terroristsÖ and there are many more still being watched by Canadian police.

Lies, Damned Lies and Footage 

The April 2006 newsletter offered a quote from the British writer Terry Pratchett:  "A lie can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on."

More evidence of this proposition has been coming in during recent months from both Hamas and Hizbollah

One of the more disturbing – or cynical – characteristics of Islamic Fundamentalists is the insistence that everyone who dies for the cause is a 'Shaheed' or martyr.  However, they have long made a leap to the conclusion that someone who becomes a Shaheed doesn't need to have volunteered for the honor.  The status of a martyr being so attractive – or, more accurately, having been marketed as being such a spiritual privilege – it was natural that all who fell in combat were so described.  Then, to avoid criticism from, other Palestinians when the Israelis dropped a smart bomb through the roof of a terrorist's hideout and killed the women and children he was hiding behind, why, they became Shaheed too.

More...

A War Worth Fighting? 

Much of this article may seem repetitive to some, but repetition is often necessary — particularly when trying to bring bad news to people.

Repetition is especially necessary in discussing our ongoing World War — the Jihadist War. And in war, there are only three possible outcomes for a society: You can lose, you can win, or (if very lucky) you can postpone the decision until circumstances change.

It took very little time for Western public attitudes to cool toward Israel’s robust self-defence against Hizbollah in southern Lebanon; and far too many people tend to view the fighting in Iraq as being separate from that in Afghanistan. The distinctly frightening nuclear sabre rattling from Iran, the arrest of 17 ‘home-grown’ accused Jihadis in Canada, and the hideous number of deaths on a crowded commuter train in India all seem to many people to be separate and unconnected issues. The triumph of a Jihadist Somali militia, the escalating deaths in Thailand, or the tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan are also mistakenly seen as unrelated issues. Moreover, nobody gives much thought to the recruiting drive by radical Islamists inside Western prisons, the abuse of women in Muslim countries, or the lobbying efforts of the Council on American-Islamic Relations inside North America.

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Crusades, Schmusades...

One of the more irritating features of ideologues is their highly selective sense of history, in that they remember a few carefully chosen tidbits extremely well and have no clue about the context of almost everything else. The same is also true of many Muslims, even those of benign intent as well as the supporters and sympathizers of the Jihad movement.

The one point that arrives again and again concerns the Crusades mounted by the Europeans into the Holy Land during the Medieval era. There usually isn’t much profit in comparing historical grievances (God knows, everyone has a few if they want to make a fuss about something or other). However, having become tired of hearing of sundry massacres perpetrated by the Crusaders — and there were several — maybe it is time to look at the other side of the ledger of Christian vs. Muslim grievances.

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Alexander Mackenzie’s Bookshelf

We love the Great and Dear Leaders

North Korea is fanatically hermitical, and the ruling Dynasty seems extremely guarded about their true past. Yet a dedicated and skilled reporter can learn much. Bradley K. Martin is just such a reporter, having spent 25 years on the Asian beat and visiting North Korea several times. Oddly, he was just invited back even after the first edition of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty (St. Martin’s Press, New York 2^nd edition 2006) hit the shelves.

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"I’m a reliable witness, you’re a reliable witness, practically all God’s children are reliable witnesses in their own estimation — which makes it funny how such different ideas of the same affair get about."

-- John Wyndham, Out of the Deeps

"When power is scarce, a little of it is tempting."

-- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaiden’s Tale

"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men."

-- Edmund Burke

And this just in from the Middle-East-Explained file:

"The existence of a well-defined problem does not imply the existence of a solution."

-- Gregory Benford, Tides of Light