Is the Associated Press writer Ahmed Mohammed biased? Didn't mention Nigeria's Jos Muslims were settlers. Christian natives as discriminators. History began when Muslims got attacked. Floats politics, ethnicity & economics as causes of violence.

Words in block quote or squeezed in the middle are from the Associated Press story written by Ahmed Mohammed. NOTE: Associated Press writer Njadvara Musa in Maiduguri, Nigeria also contributed to the Associated Press story written by Ahmed Mohammed.

It was not immediately clear whether the Christmas Eve attacks had a religious motive. Two of the bombs went off near a large market where people were doing last-minute Christmas shopping. A third hit a mainly Christian area of Jos, while the fourth was near a road that leads to the city's main mosque.

The explosions came on the same day that members of a Muslim sect attacked two churches in the northern city of Maiduguri, killing at least six people. Police have not said whether they believe the bombings were related to the church attacks. The two areas are about 320 miles (520 kilometers) apart.

It is not clear that Christmas attacks had a religious motive?

Duh! Can't he take a hint? Can't he guess or at least suspect that it might have something to do with Islamic terrorism against Christians, given that Muslims, who are globally well know for terrorism are involved?

Playing DUMB?

This is typical. Those who have had experiences with Muslims or have read about them will instantly notice something like this.

Religious violence already has left more than 500 people dead this year in Jos and neighboring towns and villages, but the situation was believed to have calmed down before the weekend bombings. The explosions Friday were the first major attack in Jos since the state government lifted a curfew in May.

Minimizing? (Down-playing?)

The figure of 500 is lower than the 1500 that local rights groups claim, according to AFP.

Ahmed may be using different sources but everyone should be alert for both Muslim and non-Muslim minimizers, who likes to cover-up, or down-play Islamic terrorism, while magnifying even minor problems that Muslims face.

The curfew had first been imposed in November 2008 during postelection violence but it was extended in January following clashes between Christian and Muslim groups. More than 300 people — mostly Muslims — were killed in the January violence in Jos and surrounding villages.

Delusion of persecution?

Many Muslims (Don't know about Ahmed here but this is typical and so something which has to be watched out for) have distorted views of life and the world (see WikiLeaks US' UK embassy cable) and believe in conspiracy theories (Even the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan according to WikiLeaks).

They also suffer from delusion of persecution ('Islam is under attack'. See Somalis convicted of terrorism in Australia for the latest case) and so would be happy to mention or hear that "mostly Muslims" were killed in January violence, as it reinforces their delusion.

The other issue is the micro-context or narrow view or time frame, that Islamic terror apologists and delusion of persecution suffers have.

For them, history began when Muslims got attacked and lost or suffered damage. The usual tired example is the Crusades. Muslims and ant-Christian haters like to complain and demonize Christians for the Crusades. For them history began when Christians launched the crusades and ended when the crusaders were defeated.

They completely ignore the time before the crusades, when Muslims, starting with Muhammad himself, attacked Christians and non-Christians unceasingly for centuries and conquered their lands to create the Islamic empire.

They also ignore the Muslim attacks after the crusades that only stopped when they were too weak for more jihads.

The situation is also the same here in Nigeria. They like to magnify the fact that Muslims on this one occasion in January suffered more causalities (after provoking it by going and butchering Christians with terror attacks in the first place?), while ignoring the time before and after that, when Muslims (not all 100 per cent of them of course), who are well know globally for barbaric terrorism, committed far worse atrocities against Christians and probably animists too.

Nigeria, a country of 150 million people, is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The blasts happened in central Nigeria, in the nation's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands.

Ethnicity-card? (Because Islam and being Muslims have nothing to do with it.)

Can't use race-card because they are all Blacks so try ethnicity-card?

The anything-but-Islam-or-Muslims explanation for anything bad. In this case ethnicity appears to be the scape goat used by the Muslims.

If there is something good then Islam and Muslims would get credit for it. Only the bad stuff gets explained away, excused and blamed on something else.

Ahmed also failed to mention (he forgot?) that Christians are the native indigenous people and that Muslims are the settlers. (Look at what Muslims terrorists do to the alleged Jewish Israeli settlers for comparison, even though Arabs are the real settlers from Arabia.)

The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. The government of Plateau state, where Jos is the capital, is controlled by Christian politicians who have blocked Muslims from being legally recognized as citizens. That has locked many out of prized government jobs in a region where the tourism industry and tin mining have collapsed in the last decades.

Socio-economic excuses?

Local-politics, economics and rights to grazing lands are the scape goats here while Christians are demonized by Muslims for what is essentially a different position on immigration policy.

Muslims, who are legal citizens or born and raised in Western countries, with education, money, wife or wives, children, career and so on still chose to become terrorists and attack the same countries that foolishly offered them so much, thinking naively that such bribery and appeasement would work. The attempted underwear plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, wasn't a poor disadvantaged kid.

So those socio-economic excuses are easily refuted. The fact is that Islamic terrorists always have an excuse for terrorism. Take away their alleged excuse and there will always be something else. So don't bother.

Even if Muslims suffer some discrimination, this is no excuse for terrorism. Non-Muslims suffer much worse discrimination and terrorism from Muslims and yet they do not resort to terrorism (or if they they it is minor both in terms of number and savagery).

Also, if Muslim settlers are clashing with local Christians and animists, and bombing and hacking them with machetes to death, would it not be wise to be careful about appointing those Muslims settlers into influential positions (see infiltration) or granting them citizenship en-mass (see treachery by Muslim citizens. Not saying all. That would be too easy.)? Remember Kosovo and also think of Eurabia.

---

Source: AP

---

Comments: Remember, WikiLeaks US embassy in UK cable said that the media incites and excuses Islamic terrorism.

Could the same thing be happening with the Associated Press?

Who are the Associated Press editors approving these stores that Ahmed is writing? What are their political-religious affiliations? Atheists liberal left?

Just the other day, another Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell wrote a story about the Nigerian Boko Haram terrorists that included poverty-excuse for them, given by Murray Last, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University College of London.

What is going on at the Associated Press headquarters?

---

Some previous similar or related stories:

Incoming US Homeland Security Committee chair Peter King condemns PC, media terror apologetics, Muslims acquiesce-ignoring terror, conspiracy theories, double standards & treachery

WikiLeaked UK cable: Distorted Muslim view of life-world, blame game, double speak, 'moral equivalence' and, left-wing and media incite-excuse terrorism [Muslim delusions and media inciting and excusing terror.]

At least 38 dead, 74 injured in Nigeria Christmas terror attacks on Christians in Jos by Muslim settlers, Baptist pastor and 2 young men practicing choir killed, church burnt by Boko Haram, 1500 dead this year from clashes

Muslims with machetes kill 6 Christians - 2 women & 4 children - burn homes, crops and kill cattle in Nigerian

Brief Boko Haram history and ['Islam has nothing to do with it' so there must be] a 'poverty excuse' for their terrorism (many allegedly sympathized with previous Maitatsine extremists) [Excuses and blame games]

Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail [Blame game throughout history.]

ISLAMIC TERROR 101: A case study in race-card, victim-card, blaming victims & isolated explanations, using UK 'anti-terror' police John Larkin [Blame game with different cards]

Multiculturalism utterly failed in Germany, say German Chancellor Merkel [Muslims do worse compared to others.]

WikiLeaked US embassy UK cable: Muslims most unemployed and disabled, some supports killing for Islam, and apostates (6 percent)

For similar or related stories posted after this article (if any), copy the title of this article and paste it in the search box on top of the page and click search or click on the 'Lables' below.

Brief Boko Haram history and ['Islam has nothing to do with it' so there must be] a 'poverty excuse' for their terrorism (many allegedly sympathized with previous Maitatsine extremists)

From AP (Words not in block quote or skewed in the middle are commentary on the AP report.)

It was here a decade ago where Mohammed Yusuf, a one-time moderate imam, began preaching against the practices of Western education in life across Nigeria's Muslim north. Boko Haram was a constant refrain in the Hausa-language sermons, meaning "Western education is sacrilege."

A 'moderate' Muslim becoming an extremist; something to watch out for since there are many 'moderate' Muslims offering the West to fight extremism. Have to wonder whether Yusuf really was a 'moderate' to begin with.

Funny that Yusuf should be against Western education, which, under xenophilic liberal and leftists, is very pro-Anything-non-Western-and-Christian, especially anything Islamic, while always looking for and pointing out flaws in the Christian West.

Yusuf's words came at a time when about a dozen northern states adopted Islamic Shariah law, in the wake of the country becoming a democracy after decades of military dictatorships. Many believed the law, a code of conduct based on the teachings of the Quran, would end the corruption that gripped the country's government.

Muslims use democracy to vote in the un-democratic sharia. This is just like Muslim extremists abusing the rights and freedoms they enjoy in the West in order to destroy those very same rights and freedoms.

Wanting more sharia and Islam to solve problems is a common psychological flaw among Muslims. The problem is that it is 'backward' Islam (according to the assasinated Pim Fortuyn) and 'barbaric' sharia (British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff) that is causing problems in the first place. Islam is not the solution. It is the problem.

"People are living in absolute poverty," said Ibrahim Ahmed Abdullahi, an imam in Maiduguri. "Whenever people are living in this type of poverty, if you start saying to them, 'Look, come let us bring about change,' ... people must listen to you."

This is what's called the 'poverty excuse' for Islamic extremism.

University graduates who joined Boko Haram tore up their diplomas. Others joined riots in 2007 attacking police stations. Yusuf's preaching became even more incendiary.

Wonder what they were taught at the university. That Christian non-liberal-left-West is the source of all the evils in the world?

This also shows that lack of education isn't solely responsible for Islamic extremism, if at all.

In July 2009, sect members attacked local police stations and government buildings throughout northeast Nigeria. The riots brought a crackdown by Nigeria's military and left more than 700 dead.

endemic poverty [in the Maiduguri region]

members likely come from the teeming poor in Nigeria and surrounding countries, said Murray Last, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University College of London who studies Nigeria's north.

"What else would you actually do if you haven't got an education, if you haven't got a job, if you haven't got any future of a wife or a family?" Last asked. "Wouldn't it be better to join a religious community that might ensure you of a wife and children and sort of an education? ... A lot of young men have got no real option at all."

Classic 'poverty excuse' for Islamic extremism. This comes out of the outdated and discredited Marxist social-deterministic world view that blames socio-economic problems for everything and denies people free-will.

The quick and easy reply is that Islamic extremists come from many different backgrounds. Not all terrorists are poor and disadvantaged. The oil-rich Saudis and Arabs for example are funding terrorists, and some of them are also terrorists. Money isn't the problem for them.

There are also many Muslim immigrant who live in the West and enjoy the same freedoms, benefits and privileges of Westerner, and yet still cling on to their archaic Islamic ways and turn to extremism and terrorism. So the 'poverty excuse' can't be used to explain them.

There are plenty of terrorists who are educated, with a wife or wives (Islamic polygamy), children, a career and aren't poor.

And, again, as with most of the other excuses for Islam and Muslims, non-Muslims who face the same or even worse poverty and disadvantage than the Muslims don't turn to extremism like the Muslims.

Non-Muslims also don't turn to terrorism (no where near as much or as savagely as Muslims, with the exception of communists) when they are oppressed, most often by the Muslim.

Why is it that is it only Muslims that usually turn to extremism and terrorism when non-Muslim in the same or worse situation normally don't?

A WikiLeaked UK cable for example show that Muslims have the worse unemployment statistic of any religion in the UK and have other social problems.

Thilo Sarrazin said in Germany that "no immigrant group other than Muslims is so strongly connected with claims on the welfare state and crime"

Germany's Family Minister Kristina Schröder said "Religion was part of culture and culture shaped behaviour"

“If someone made an issue of the disproportionate tendency to violence among young Muslims, it was always said that this was a blanket judgement. But that’s not the case,”

“Social disadvantage and discrimination are important factors, but they are not sufficient as an explanation,”

So Muslim poverty and dysfunctionality, instead of excusing extremism, instead shows that Islam and Muslim culture causes the poverty and problems among Muslims.

It is not poverty that causes Islamic extremism. It is Islam (or versions of it) that causes both poverty and extremism.

It is a vicious cycle. The worse things get, the more Muslims turn to Islam and sharia, like an unstoppable addiction that only grows every time it is fed.

Proof: Non-Muslims usually aren't as poor as Muslims (see above), and poor non-Muslims don't become extremists or terrorists like the Muslims. Just compare it with non-Muslims in the same situation.

Many such young men flooded into northern Nigerian cities during the country's oil boom in the 1970s, hoping for jobs. Those coming from villages instead found hardship and alienation that made them receptive to any promise to change their lives, Last said.

In 1980, the radical Maitatsine movement took hold in the ancient northern city of Kano. Led by a Cameroonian immigrant who inserted his own name into the Quran in place of the prophet Mohammed, the sect decried a corrupt federal government made up of "infidels." Riots left 4,000 people dead.

The military finally put down the sect after years of violence, but many still identified with the group.

"An awful lot of men and women sympathize with them," Last said. "One is dealing with an unspoken sense of: 'These people are thinking and doing things which may be wrong, but they aren't that far wrong.'"

Hopefully Murray Last wasn't sympathizing with the terrorists, but this is an admission of widespread sympathy (caused by distorted views of the world) for terrorists among Muslims, and not a tiny minority as deniers claim.

The usual liberal-left narrative or way of seeing things is to cast terrorists as the good guys fighting some evil (even when their fellow liberals and leftists and special groups that they pay extra attention to, are being butchered), usually the Christian West, or in this case corruption in Nigeria.

But corruption is far better than Islamic totalitarianism (or left wing totalitarianism), which will make corruption even worse as it causes even more poverty, which in turn encourages corruption, with the additional gross human rights abuses under sharia.

And corruption can be dealt with without resorting terrorism or Islamic extremism, which are far worse.

Its like excusing Hitler and Nazism with economic problems in Germany before World War Two.

If non-Muslims turn to non-left wing extremism or terrorism because of corruption or oppression, the liberal left and Muslims won't cast them as heroes fighting evil. Instead they will be demonized and told that there is no excuse for their actions.


Source: AP


Comments: What this story seems to say is that poor Muslims should be given resources so that they won't become terrorists - in a word give in to blackmail.

Sounds like 'give us/them money (or whatever we/they want), or we/they will become terrorists'.

This is also just another 'blame game' showing the distorted view among Muslims and non-Muslims alike and highlights the 'poverty excuse' which falls under the 'socio-economic excuses' for terrorism.

Such views are hegemony or reign supreme in the 'ivory tower' academia. It is a blasphemy to question it, despite claims that 'academic freedom' supposedly exists.

Finally, as usual, there was a prior history of Islamic extremism. In this case it was Maitatsine movement before the current Boko Haram. And if Boko Haram is defeated, then some other extremist group will emerge later on, complaining of something or other. Its all predictable.


Some previous similar or related stories:

Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail [Blame game throughout history.]

ISLAMIC TERROR 101: A case study in race-card, victim-card, blaming victims & isolated explanations, using UK 'anti-terror' police John Larkin [Blame game with different cards]

Finally some PROOF: German studies find religious and cultural roots to Muslim propensity to violence, PC excuses can't explain all – like so DUH!!! [Cultural and religious roots of Muslim problems]

Multiculturalism utterly failed in Germany, say German Chancellor Merkel [Muslims do worse compared to others.]

WikiLeaked US embassy UK cable: Muslims most unemployed and disabled, some supports killing for Islam, and apostates (6 percent)

For similar or related stories posted after this article (if any), copy the title of this article and paste it in the search box on top of the page and click search.

For even more similar or related stories, click on the 'Labels' below.

WikiLeaked UK cable: Distorted Muslim view of life-world, blame game, double speak, 'moral equivalence' and, left-wing and media incite-excuse terrorism

Reference ID: 06LONDON5958

Created: 2006-08-14 17:05

Released: 2010-12-13 21:09

Classification: CONFIDENTIAL

Origin: Embassy London

VZCZCXRO9974
OO RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHFL RUEHKUK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHLO #5958/01 2261717
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 141717Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8261
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

Monday, 14 August 2006, 17:17
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LONDON 005958 
SIPDIS 
SIPDIS 
EO 12958 DECL: 08/14/2011 
TAGS PGOV, PTER, KISL, UK 
SUBJECT: (U) TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN BRITISH MUSLIMS AND HMG 
IN THE WAKE OF THWARTED TERRORIST ATTACKREF: A) LONDON 5921 B) LONDON 5884
Classified By: PolMinCouns Maura Connelly, Reasons 1.4 (B, D)

¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Frustrated by the bruising that their community has taken after 24 UK-born Muslims were arrested in connection with the recently-thwarted air terrorist plot (reftels), prominent British Muslims sent an open letter to PM Tony Blair August 12 blaming his policy on Iraq and the Middle East for fueling extremism and putting British citizens at risk. HMG reacted angrily to the letter; in a series of meetings with Muslim community leaders August 14, government ministers planned to demand that the Muslim community itself do more to root out terrorists in its midst.

(U) BRITISH MUSLIMS ANGRY

¶4. (U) Prominent British Muslim leaders sent an open letter to PM Tony Blair August 12 stating that his policy on Iraq and the Middle East offers “ammunition to extremists” and puts British lives “at increased risk.” Appearing as a full page advertisement in newspapers August 13, the letter was signed by three of the four Muslim MPs, three of the five Muslim members of the House of Lords, and 38 Muslim organizations (for full text and list of signatories see para 10). Although the letter states specifically that “attacking civilians is never justified,” its signatories have used this sentence as a double-edged sword in defending the letter publicly, in effect equating civilian deaths in Lebanon with potential civilian deaths from terrorism. As MCB Secretary General Dr. Mohammed Abdul Bari told the press, “As Muslims, we condemn attacks on civilians wherever they happen. Civilians in the UK, the Middle East, and the rest of the world should all enjoy protection.”

(U) HMG ANGRY

¶5. (U) HMG reacted sharply to the letter. A spokesman for PM Blair (currently on holiday in Barbados), noting that al-Qaida terrorist attacks began well before Iraq, said, “To imply al-Qaida is driven by an honest disagreement over foreign policy is a mistake.” Home Secretary John Reid told the BBC, “I’m not going to question the motives of anyone who has signed this letter, but I think it is a dreadful
LONDON 00005958 002 OF 003
misjudgment if we believe the foreign policy of this country should be shaped in part, or in whole, under the threat of terrorist activity if we do not have a foreign policy with which the terrorists happen to agree.” Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander echoed these sentiments, saying “No government worth its salt should allow its foreign policy to be dictated to under the threat of terrorism.” Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said it would be “the gravest
SIPDIS possible error” to blame foreign policy for the threat of terrorism. “This is part of a distorted view of the world, a distorted view of life,” she said. “Let’s put the blame where it belongs: with people who wantonly want to take innocent lives.” Other ministers called the letter “facile,” “dangerous,” and “foolish.”

¶6. (U) Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, along with ministers from her department and the Home Office, was scheduled to meet with representatives of various Muslim groups August 14. HMG has made clear that one message officials will deliver in these meetings is that Muslim leaders must do more to tackle extremism inside their community.

(U) ELEMENTS OF UNREST

¶8. (C) Also on August 14, law enforcement officials were scheduled to meet leaders from seven communities - Newham, Hackney, Barking, Dagenham, and Waltham Forest in London, plus Birmingham and High Wycombe - where they judged the possibility for unrest might lead to street violence.

¶9. (C) COMMENT: Since 7/7, HMG has invested considerable time and resources in engaging the British Muslim community. The current tensions demonstrate just how little progress has been made. At the same time, the Muslim community’s reaction to the arrests of 24 of its own sons - a knee-jerk reaction blaming HMG - shows that its leaders too have far to go. That said, the Muslim community is not the only element in Britain blaming HMG’s foreign policy for inciting radical elements; the left in particular but even the mainstream press has expressed the belief, reportedly wide-spread, that homegrown terrorism is an “inevitable” response to the UK’s involvement in Iraq and reluctance to call for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Middle East. HMG’s rather heated response to the letter is undoubtedly aimed at swaying broader opinion.

(U) FULL TEXT OF LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER BLAIR

¶10. (U) Begin text of letter:

Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens.
It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.
To combat terror the government has focused extensively on
LONDON 00005958 003 OF 003
domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.
The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.
Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.
Such a move would make us all safer.
(Signed) Sadiq Khan MP, Shahid Malik MP, Mohammed Sarwar MP, Lord Patel of Blackburn, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Baronness Uddin, Association of Muslim Schools, British Muslim Forum, Bolton Mosques Council for Community Care, Confederation of Sunni Mosques, Midlands Council of Nigerian Muslim Organizations, Council of Mosques - London and Southern Counties, Council of Mosques Tower Hamlets, Da’awtul Islam UK and Eire, Federation of Muslim Organizations (Leicestershire), Federation of Students Islamic Societies (FOSIS), Indian Muslim Federation, Islamic Forum Europe, Islam Society of Britain, Jama’at Ahle Sunnat UK, Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith UK, Jamiat-e-Ulema Britain, Lancashire Council of Mosques, Muslim Association of Britain, Muslim Council of Britain, Muslim Council of Wales, Muslim Doctors and Dentists Association, Muslim Parliament, Muslim Solidarity Committee, Muslim Students Society UK and Eire, Muslim Welfare House (London), Muslim Women Society (MWS), Muslim Women’s Association, Northern Ireland Muslim Family Association (NIMFA), Sussex Muslim Society, The Council of European Jamaats, UK Action Committee on Islamic Affairs, UK Islamic Mission, UK Turkish Islamic Association, World Federation of KSIMC, World Islamic Mission, Young Muslim Organization UK, Young Muslim Sisters UK, Young Muslims UK.
End text of letter.
Visit London’s Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Tuttle


Source: WikiLeaks.ch (Switzerland)


Comments: Old news but this is an excellent honest cable. Whoever wrote it should be promoted. Good to see that at lest some in the US State Department are sane and have a clear view of reality. Maybe there is still some hope left.


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Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail [Blame game throughout history.]

Turky's Islamist PM Erdogan 'hates' Israel on religious grounds, Foreign Minister Davutoglu wants influence in Balkans like in Ottoman empire days [Excuses are just covers? Exposed?]

ISLAMIC TERROR 101: A case study in race-card, victim-card, blaming victims & isolated explanations, using UK 'anti-terror' police John Larkin [A blame game and left-wing group Unite Against Fascism is against anti-Islamism]

$2 billion more in US military aid for a Pakistan that doesn't fight terror [Not fighting terror]

Hugo Chavez and Iran in an Unholy alliance [Left-wing - Islamist Axis]

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Conspiracy theories and blame games: South Sinai governor, Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha says Mossad could be behind Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks

Last week, 'oceanic white tip sharks mauled three Russians and a Ukrainian tourist'² 'off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh.'² 'In one of those attacks, a shark bit off an elderly woman's hand and tore off another woman's leg.'²

After those attacks authorities hunted down two sharks and reopened the beach deeming it safe.¹

'However, an Egyptian NGO warned on Saturday that at least one of the sharks behind the attacks was still at large.'¹

On Sunday an elderly³ German woman tourist snorkeler died after a shark 'mauled her thigh and arm'.¹

According to AFP, 'South Sinai governor Mohammed Shosha has said the sharks could have turned frenzied after a ship transporting livestock dumped dead sheep into the sea, while marine experts said overfishing may have forced them closer to shore.'¹

'Environmentalists warned that the string of recent attacks is likely a result of the Red Sea's declining ecosystem. Gabar, the head of the CDWS [Chamber of Diving and Water Sports], said he's seen a jump in the number of sharks off Egypt's Red Sea coast, which he said could be caused by overfishing, which could force sharks to swim closer to shore in search of food.'²

BBC reports that,

Conspiracy theories are always popular in the Middle East, with unlikely suggestions often made that troubles in Arab countries could be caused by Mossad agents.³

Rumours had circulated in Egypt that there could be an Israeli connection to this unusual spate of Red Sea shark attacks.³

An official Egyptian news site reported South Sinai governor, Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha, as saying³ 

"What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark [in the sea] to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question, but it needs time to confirm"³

Sources: 1. AFP, 2. AP, 3. BBC


Comments: Conspiracy theories and blame games in the Muslim world are nothing new and reaches up to the highest levels of society.

And as usual, such beliefs are followed by further beliefs of being persecuted (victim-card) and visions of the grandeur and supremacy of Islam.

This problem is made worse by politically correct censors who censor any attempt to expose it, while feeding the fire with politically correct lies that praise those in the wrong as being good, right and wonderful, and condemn legitimate criticisms as 'hate', 'bigotry' and 'Islamophobia' (worse things said and done by the other side are ignored). 

A few days ago this site reported the revelation from US embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was susceptible to Islamist conspiracy theories - some of them pulled from the web. The following quote is from that story.

AFP reports other cables as saying,

Erdogan lacks "vision" and "analytic depth", reads "minimally", ignores foreign ministry expertise and is guided by an "iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors... which partially explains... his susceptibility to Islamist theories."

He is said to rely on "his charisma, instincts, and the filterings of advisors who pull conspiracy theories off the Web or are lost in neo-Ottoman Islamist fantasies, e.g., Islamist foreign policy advisor... Ahmet Davutoglu."

A cable signed by the US ambassador in January 2010 says Davutoglu wants to reassert on the Balkans the influence the Ottoman empire used to exert on the region.

As for the blame game, here are some quotes from two previous articles which can be found here and here.

Walter Rodgers, a former senior international correspondent for CNN said,

Bernard Lewis, the renowned Princeton scholar of Islam, has called attention to the Arab tendency to play “the blame game.”

He notes Arabs traditionally blamed the Mongols, the Ottoman Turks, the colonial powers, and now the Jews and the Americans for everything that has gone awry

And Political science teacher Houchang Hassan-yari, of Canada's Royal Military College said,

it is Tehran's standard practice to finger "outside forces and outside enemies for everything bad that goes on inside the country."

Some previous similar or related stories:

Turky's Islamist PM Erdogan 'hates' Israel on religious grounds, Foreign Minister Davutoglu wants influence in Balkans like in Ottoman empire days

Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail

(Bad) Muslim psychology: The blame game

For similar or related stories posted after this article, copy the title of this article and paste it in the search box on top of the page and click search. There is unlikely to be any though if the story is very recent but check if you want to make sure.

For even more similar or related stories, click on the 'Labels' below.

ISLAMIC TERROR 101: A case study in race-card, victim-card, blaming victims & isolated explanations, using UK 'anti-terror' police John Larkin

Detective Superintendent John Larkin of the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit told BBC Radio 5 Live that²

In some areas, we have evidence that once they have gone and the high-profile policing of the event has occurred, there's fertile ground for those groups who would come in to encourage people to have this reality - this is the way white Western society sees us¹

And that's a potential recruiting carrot for people and that's what some of these radicalisers look for - they look for the vulnerability, for the hook to pull people through and when the EDL have been and done what they've done, they perversely leave that behind.¹

 He also claimed that [The following is not a direct quote by him but only as reported in the Daily Mail]

there is evidence that violence or damage towards Muslim property associated with the protests encourages extremist retaliation afterwards² 

 The English Defence League (EDL) was formed last year after Islamists protested against British soldiers returning from tour of duty, calling them “murderers” and “rapists.”³

 They have carried out numerous anti-extremism demonstrations, some of which have

often turned violent with clashes breaking out not so much between the EDL and Islamists, but with the left-wing group Unite Against Fascism (of which Prime Minister David Cameron is a supporter).³

 Nick Lowles, from the anti-racist group Searchlight told the Guardian that

"For the [Muslims Against Crusades] the presence and activities of the EDL prove how white British society is the enemy. For the EDL the Islamist extremists are proof of the violent nature of Islam. They are two sides of the same coin of hate."⁴

 In reply to Larkin, EDL leader Tommy Robinson sarcastically said that they could not have been responsible for all of 9-11, 7-7 attacks on London, the 17,000 terror attacks since 9-11 and “1,400 years of history, where Islam's been at war with non-Islam.”^1,3

 He explained that,

The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it's Islam and no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will.³

The problem is when someone takes a 7th century book and tries to implement it in its barbaric way.³ [Emphasis and hyperlinks added]

Sources: 1. BBC, 2. Daily Mail (U.K.), 3. International Business Times 4. The Guradian (U.K.)


Analysis: Larkin engaged in the now well know 'blame game' and used 'race card' - "this is the way white Western society sees us" - and 'victim card' - "violence or damage towards Muslim property" - as an excuse for terrorism. He also made a 'blame the victim' argument by blaming victims of terrorism speaking out in protest and calling for action as causing terrorism.

 Non-Muslim White Britain can not however use the exact same reasoning and use the race card - 'this is the way Muslim Arabs, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians sees us' - or - victim card -'brutal and sadistic terrorism against civilians, including women and children' to justify even mere protests.

 This shows that Muslims can be angry and aggrieved for even minor issues, but non-Muslim victims can not feel the same way for deadly major issues like the murder of civilians by terrorists. It is a typical double standard that privileges Islamic supremacists and deny non-Muslims the same rights.

 It is good to see that Robinson seems to have recognized the 'isolation' or limited 'context' strategy that tries to portray each cases of terror on it's own and isolated in a narrow limited micro-context, like the protests. He made an excellent counter reply by showing the 1,400 year long trend of Islam in the macro-context.

 The problem of Islamic terrorisms is not isolated or related to this or that particular issue. Instead, it is part of a bigger picture. Out-of-context and localized explanations fail to consider this fact.

 As it had been argued before in a previous article here, such explanations can be challenged at the micro level. But they can also be challenged by showing macro-level trend where there will be violence and conflict but for different reasons.

 Race and the West can be eliminated to show that terrorism exists even then. The clashes in Nigeria have nothing to do with race as both the Christians and Muslims there are Blacks. The persecution of Christians in Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan or Indonesia by Muslims have nothing to do with the White race or the West. It is also the same for Muslim on Muslim violence all over the world as well.

 In the 'victim-card' case, Christians victims in those countries mentioned before are suffering from daily violence, discrimination or terrorism from Muslims. Yet they do not become radicalized or extreme and join terror groups – since there are none to join.

 This shows the fallacy of the 'race card' and the 'victim card' explanations.

 Take away race and you will still see Muslims fighting other Muslims or non-Muslims of the same race. Look at non-Muslims victims of Muslim persecution and you won't see them using it as an excuse for terrorism like the Muslims do.

 This quote by Walter Rodgers from a previous article posted here illustrates the point clearly.

Bernard Lewis, the renowned Princeton scholar of Islam, has called attention to the Arab tendency to play “the blame game.”[Emphasis added]

He notes Arabs traditionally blamed the Mongols, the Ottoman Turks, the colonial powers, and now the Jews and the Americans for everything that has gone awry

 As for Lowles, he made the tired old 'moral equivalence' argument that equates the victim with the perpetrator. It is an improvement on 'blame-the-victim' argument from Larkin but is still false.

 Even if EDL and their opposition are the same as he claims, the Islamic extremists started it all and caused the formation of EDL. He confuses cause with effect. The effect will disappear once the cause of it is eliminated.

 If there was no Islamic extremism, there would be no EDL. But if there was no EDL, there would still be Islamic extremism. It was already there before the formation of EDL and it exists in other places where there is no EDL.

 Finally, if Larkin is concerned about violence at demonstrations, he should also focus his attention on the left wing pro-Islamic extremists who contribute to it. And of course even if the protests were entirely peaceful, there would still be Islamic extremism as he well knows.

 Larkin may modify his argument and say that EDL and other anti-Islamic extremists do not cause extremism but make the situation worse.

 But even then, free speech and the right to protest should not be sacrificed to appease extremists. Instead, Muslims should learn and accept that in a free and open society, people have the right to challenge and criticize them. There is no place for Sharia blasphemy death penalty laws or hypersensitivity that gets offended by everything and quickly turns to terrorism.

PS: There is no need to agree with EDL's actions for the arguments made here to be valid. Even if EDL was wrong, the arguments here against excuses for terrorism would still hold.


Related story: EDL Leister protest, stones bricks thrown at them, Rabbi will join next protest

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(Bad) Muslim psychology: The blame game

Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail

Deadly dysfunctional Muslim culture, past, present, future, and why democracy and modernization fail

 Walter Rodgers, a former senior international correspondent for CNN, argues the failure of Arabs was due to their rigid cultural mindset based on "primordial loyalties" to kin, clan and religion, and self-assertion with rhetoric while blaming others for every problem with rage. He wrote,

An Arab journalist friend explained, “Arabs are always angry. They always look for the bad and then harp on it.”

mental rigidity on the Arab street

Arab peoples tend to place too much trust in “institutions rooted in primordial loyalties, notably kinship, clanism and religion.” [United Nations Arab Human Development Report, 2009] 

Bernard Lewis, the renowned Princeton scholar of Islam, has called attention to the Arab tendency to play “the blame game.”

He notes Arabs traditionally blamed the Mongols, the Ottoman Turks, the colonial powers, and now the Jews and the Americans for everything that has gone awry 

Arabs indulge in rage and rhetoric

a cultural mind-set that helps explain why the US effort to democratize, reshape, and modernize the Arab Middle East by occupying and nation-building in Iraq faltered miserably.

cultural schizophrenia he [Jordanian journalist Rami Khouri] described as “a strange combination of self-assertion and reliance on foreign actors.”

Arabs are their own worst enemy – and that until this changes, little else will change.

 Although Rodgers was analyzing the Arabs in his article, the problems discussed can be found among Muslims in general, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

Related story: (Bad) Muslim psychology: The blame game 

(Bad) Muslim psychology: The blame game

 Iran has arrested four alleged Kurdish terrorists and accused Britain of link to them via Jalil Fattahi, thought to be living in Britain. The British deny supporting terror. Political science teacher Houchang Hassan-yari, of Canada's Royal Military College said,

it is Tehran's standard practice to finger "outside forces and outside enemies for everything bad that goes on inside the country."

[It is not just Tehran. It is how so many Muslims think. They simply blame others for all that's wrong with themselves, either to excuse themselves or to denigrate others.]

Source: VOA