ISIS

In the Grip of Madness or an Opportunity to do the Right Thing? The Migrant Crisis

jimdroberts
Null
Maybe it’s time we thought about sharing the wealth, the privilege, and opportunities with all.

Not since the second world war have we witnessed the displacement of people on the level that we are seeing this year, and it’s a trend that looks likely to only worsen. The west has done so much to destabilize the middle east and north Africa, is now being invaded, all be it by a more harmless group of people than we often directly used, or funded to invade their countries with. We are now being asked to pay the price for our shameful foreign policies in these areas, and the question is quite simply whether we will be responsible for the mess that we have caused?

What we are witnessing is the collapse of the paradigms that have controlled people for the last three thousand years. People are more skeptical towards religion, peoples trust in economies and financial institutions has been lost, people have no faith in aspiring to the ideals of democracy, and finally we are seeing a complete disregard for national borders.

We have come to what might ultimately be a defining moment in ourselves as a species. We have arrived at a junction, a point in time when we must decide whether to go to the right (the far right) or to the left (the far left). There is no middle ground, there is no fence to sit on, burying our heads in the sand and waiting for the problem to go away is unlikely to work.

Ironically, Hungary a country whom prior to their acceptance into the E.U provided the E.U with large amounts of illegal immigrants, now has a nationalist leader advocating that a tougher stance be adopted to deal with the crisis. Even more ironically he does this in the name of protecting Christianity.

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has claimed Europe is in the grip of madness over immigration and refugees, and argued that he was defending European Christianity against a Muslim influx.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/migration-crisis-hungary-pm-victor-orban-europe-response-madness

 

Three years old, Syrian boy Aylan lies dead on a Turkish beach. His five year old brother’s body was found a short time later further down the coast.

Three year old Aylan’s aspirations to bring down European Christianity were quickly thwarted.

To the Far Right is so Wrong

How the world really looks.

 

And the beautifully coloured, pretty, illusion of a world as created by man. What does it mean to be e member of a country? Is identifying with your country more important than identifying with your own species?

What rights do any of us have to prohibit an individual from seeking out a better life for themselves and their family. We all have but one life, isn’t it reasonable for all of us to live it in as much comfort as possible? Is it unreasonable that those in immediate life threatening situations seek safety? I am not empowered to prevent someone from improving their lot, neither would I ever want to be. In fact isn’t it mankind’s responsibility to improve the collective well being of the species, this sounds too cold, simply isn’t it our duty to help one another?

 

Sharing the Solution

It is pure ignorance to extend preferential treatment to people that were fortunate enough to have been born within an imaginary border. For your quality of life to depend upon which side of a non-existent line you fell out of your mother’s vagina. Western privilege and greed are at the heart of this issue. Of course the migrants wish to reach Germany is it offers the best opportunities, even the Hungarian prime minister conceded that none of the immigrants entering Hungary had any intention of staying there.

Treat the Cause Not the Symptom

By far the most credible and more sensible right wing criticism of the handling of the migrant crisis has been a call to address the cause of the diaspora itself. This would require Europe to meddle further in Middle Eastern conflicts, something that Europe already did and that contributed greatly to this very crisis.  Even so, this suggestion isn’t without its logic, one does not need a PhD in Neo-Malthusian Economics to understand that Europe only has finite resources at its disposal, already has high unemployment, and an ever worsening division of wealth.

The Grand Plan

Europe’s approach to handling the refugee crisis has been one of two things, either inept, or stage managed. Either are as likely as the other, but if this is by design what do those in charge hope to gain from this. The answer is imply control, a greater level control of the people. Only in January of this year Islamic extremists brought Paris to a stand still. The news has constantly carried stories of Europeans leaving their home countries to fight for Islamic State. Doesn’t it now seem a somewhat cavalier, verging on downright irresponsible to open Europe’s borders to people from nations notorious for harbouring Islamic fundamentalism? This policy goes against all the logic that has been reported to us through the news since ISIS came on the scene, and it would be illogical for a place to do such a thing if they wish to keep their people safe. But that’s the catch, the E.U is not trying to keep its people safe, in fact they fully intend to bring as much peril to the streets of Europe as they can. ISIS insurgents forming terror cells across Europe is the only way such an army can bring a war to its enemies. ISIS have no interest in continuing the conflict in Iraq and Syria, locations where air superiority can be used against them. True terror will reign when ISIS engages in urban guerrilla warfare in the major cities of Europe. Tactically for ISIS this make sense as hiding among the civilian takes away western air superiority, it also brings the battle into a terrain they are experienced in, and most importantly it will bring terror to Europe, that whilst it lasts will be on a par with World War 2. Europe’s conventional counter terrorism tactics are not designed to handle an attack on such a large potential scale.

Fighting an enemy within a civilian population would facilitate  the removal of most our civil liberties in the name of safety, but as Benjamin Franklin said:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Russia Today has run a number of reports on a clandestine NATO operation known as Operation Gladio. An operation to support terrorism to destabilize countries

 

A BBC documentary suppors RT’s claims of Operation Gladio. Governments support a state sponsored terror network in Europe.

So what is the answer? Could this humanitarian crisis provide a way for terrorism as never seen before fought throughout Europe’s major capitals? We all know drowning toddlers, washed up on beaches is wrong, but such a significant movement of people tells us that there is great instability on Europe’s doorstep, should Europe just open the door and let it walk in? Unless this refugee crisis is dealt with compassionately and rigorously it could quite easily escalate into a whole new and more frightening situation

 

 

 

 

 

swarm

Fear and Loathing and Getting Recruited for ISIS – A savage journey to the heart of Jihadist ideology

jimdroberts

the few the proud the bearded

Out of a perverse sense of curiosity, out of loyalty to the absurd, in reverence of bad taste,  but mostly just as a result of old fashioned boredom, I have spent much of my weekend trying to apply for membership to Islamic State. I felt a need to put the endless news reports to the test, the media has repeatedly informed us that joining these maniacs should be a relatively straight forward task, and that it could be done online. It was Friday night, I had the time and a sick enough sense of humor to give this thing a shot, so I did.

Less than 5 minutes into my search for employment, I learned that Islamic State had recently produced an expensive and slick English language video designed at recruiting young British Muslims. The video entitled ‘Let’s go Jihad’, which at face value appears a somewhat whimsical title for what should ultimately represent quite a serious life decision. Although disappointed by the name of the video I decided that it would be only reasonable to watch it, after all I had come this far, and damn it I needed to learn more about my potential employer. How else could I be expected to feel comfortable making any long term commitments, because I had questions by jingo. Was there dental cover included in the health plan? What were the hours? Holidays? Pensions? Were they prepared to help with my relocation expenses? The practicalities of Jihad seemed endless, so putting my logistical concerns to one side I settled down and watched watched the following video:

http://jihadology.net/2014/06/15/new-video-nashid-from-al-%E1%B8%A5ayat-media-center-lets-go-for-jihad/

The video opens with what sounds like a deaf man blowing on a piece of tissue paper over a comb. Although these guys clearly demonstrated no appreciation for music, I decided that this was a luxury I could live without, afterall I gave up listening to music sometime back in the 1990’s, (a traumatic incident involving a dwarf, a rabbit and a head full of acid.) Not the most catchy of openings but I was willing to go further. Next I was requested to supplicate myself, while I admit that I haven’t been doing a lot of supplicating recently I didn’t consider it beyond my range. I felt that I was still in with a shot.

The third line, of what could never be described as a catchy tune, aroused my suspicions when it called for the ‘Nasheed to bomb the Kuffar for real’. Some rapid googling and I realized this wasn’t good. They appeared to be calling for any and every non-muslim to be bombed. While my knowledge of the Quran is limited, I find it hard to believe these could have been the words of Muhammad. For one I’m not sure bombing had been adopted as a military tactic back then. It was starting to look like ISIS were not an equal opportunity employer after all, and that this whole muslim, non-muslim thing might cause a problem. If this was the case I had no intention on letting these bastards off the hook that easily, I was still going to apply and then they could turn me down to my face. Anyway I still had to see if it was as easy as the media had said it was.

Now in my life I’ve been both lucky and unlucky enough to have been able to meet some of societies most psychologically unique people, but it was only now that I started to appreciate that ISIS recruits  a rare breed of maniac. People responding positively to ‘Let’s go Jihad’ are beyond my comprehension, most videos that promote things use enticement. I expected beaches, a bevy of beauties in burqas, minarets and mosques. Instead the video uses sheer, raw violence to make its appeal.  Machine gunning men bound in ditches would appear to even the least sane person to be profoundly inappropriate. With that said is it any more immoral than dropping a laser guided bomb on a family who’ve just sat down for dinner? It’s hard to find any morality or sense in the senselessness of war.The content of the video surpasses disturbing and it’s hard to imagine the mind that such a video could appeal to, but what is just as disturbing is the level of professionalism in its production, and the destructive power they appear to have at their disposal.

humvees
ISIS happily using the U.S made Humvee.
M198-Howitzer-ISIS-parade
ISIS are believed to have 52 American made M198 Howitzers capable of firing a shell 20 miles.
isisrusssiantank
ISIS have upto 30 Soviet built T55 tanks, although old they are still active in 50 armies around the world. They also have a smaller number of the newer T72.

I had initially understood ISIS to be a crackpot bunch of terrorist lunatics, with extremist religious views. A group that would die out once their own people had realised that they do not want to live under such a harsh regime. The truth is that ISIS have existed since 2000, they are well supported, well funded and well trained for such an outfit. They are extremely well armed having routed large sections of the Iraqi Army, they have seized great quantities of U.S made weaponry including heavy artillery, as well as Russian made tanks. They far exceed my understanding of a terrorist group. But perhaps their greatest weapon and threat is their appeal to young Muslims around the world. Muslims that have grown up watching western coalitions invade muslim countries, who have watched Israel use excessive force against the Palestinians. Children who have grown up with this as the status quo are perhaps easier to convince that somewhere there is a Jihad out there for them to fight.

Still I needed to put the media’s claims to the test and make contact with someone in charge of recruitment at ISIS, therefore I googled “ISIS Recruitment Form”, and surprisingly I was successful.

http://www.isisgroup.co.uk/recruitment/application.html

Rather cleverly their website poses as being for educational purposes and even supported by the British Council. As a further smoke screen to foil intelligence services you will notice a woman not wearing a burqa. I appreciated their savvy. Regretfully the link to their application form was broken, but they were forward thinking enough to provide the following contact details.

ISIS-Education-logo

We are always happy to discuss things with potential or returning employees. If you have any questions, please feel free to email our Recruitment team or give us a call.

Recruitment
ISIS Education and Travel
259 Greenwich High Road
London SE10 8NB

So the media were right after all, contacting the recruitment wing of ISIS was a doddle.

As I get older it appears to me that civilization (if that is even the right word to describe it any more) is caught up in a perpetual cycle of violence. Groups of people are forever provoking and responding to provocation, and unless a group of fanatics who uphold the values of common sense take the radical action of not reacting, then I’m afraid this suffering and senseless destruction will be the demise of us all.

FritzTreeArt
Continuing to do what we have been doing will have inevitable negative consequences. A new plan featuring common sense is called for.