Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Ambitious Turkey
Reasons and tips for showing our displeasure with Ankara’s neo-Ottomanism
A few days ago, Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, grandiloquently proclaimed that “if the world is on fire, Turkey is the firefighter. Turkey is assuming the leading role for stability in the Middle East.”
Such ambition is new for Ankara. In the 1990s, it contentedly fulfilled its NATO obligations and followed Washington’s lead. Starting about 1996, relations with Israel blossomed. In all, Turkish policy offered an attractive exception to the tyrannical, Islamist, and conspiracist mentality generally dominating Muslim peoples. That the country’s political leaders were corrupt and fumbling seemed of little consequence.
Over the next eight years, Turkish foreign policy became increasingly hostile to the West in general, and to the United States, France, and Israel in particular, as it warmed to governments in Syria, Iran, and Libya. This shift became particularly evident in May 2010, when Ankara both helped Tehran avoid sanctions for its nuclear program and injured Israel’s reputation with the Mavi Marmara–led flotilla.
But the full extent of Ankara’s Middle East ambitions emerged in early 2011, concurrent with the region’s far-reaching upheavals. Suddenly, Turks were ubiquitous. Their recent activities include:
Providing a model: Gül holds that Turkey can have a “great and unbelievable positive effect” on the Middle East — and he has some takers. For example, Rached Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia’s newly legalized Ennahda movement, has stated: “We are learning from the experience of Turkey, especially the peace that has been reached in the country between Islam and modernity.”
Offering an economic lifeline to Iran: The Turkish president, Abdullah Gül, paid a state visit to Tehran in February, accompanied by a large group of businessmen, capping an evolution whereby, according to the Jamestown Foundation, “Turkey is becoming a major [economic] lifeline for Iran.” In addition, Gül praised the Iranian political system.
Obstructing foreign efforts in Libya: Starting on March 2, the Turkish government objected to any military intervention against Moammar Qaddafi’s regime. “Foreign interventions, especially military interventions, only deepen the problem,” Davutoğlu put it on March 14, perhaps worrying about a similar intervention to protect Kurds in eastern Turkey. When military operations began on March 19, Turkish forces did not take part. Turkish opposition delayed NATO’s engagement in Libya until March 31 and then freighted it with conditions.
Supporting Qaddafi: Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, helped Qaddafi by issuing both demagogic proclamations (“Turkey will never be a party that points a gun at the Libyan people”) and practical proposals (e.g., that Qaddafi salvage his rule by appointing a president). Ankara also offered, according to the Istanbul-based Hürriyet newspaper “to be involved in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Libya, to manage the Benghazi airport and to deploy naval forces to control the area between Benghazi and the Greek island of Crete.” In gratitude, Qaddafi replied, “We are all Ottomans.” In contrast, Libyan rebels fumed at and marched against the Turkish government.
Helping Damascus: In January, Ankara agreed to train Syrian troops. In March, Erdoğan publicly advised Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, on how to maintain power, perhaps fearful that Syria’s 1.4 million Kurds might win more autonomy and cause unrest among Turkey’s approximately 15 million Kurds.
Anti-Zionism: Ankara has emerged as the leader in delegitimizing Israel. Davutoğlu tries to unify its enemies while predicting Israel’s disappearance; a government-affiliated organization plans a new Gaza “freedom” flotilla with at least 15 ships taking part; and the deputy prime minister calls for a Libya-style bombing of Israel.
Ankara’s ambitions must be checked. Less provocatively and more intelligently than the Iranian regime, it aspires to reshape Muslim countries in its Islamist image. The opening salvos of this effort have gone well, being both effective and largely unnoticed.
Possible methods to block AKP influence include: expressing displeasure with Ankara’s “neo-Ottomanist” policies; publicly questioning whether Turkish actions are compatible with NATO membership; quietly encouraging opposition parties in the country’s June 2011 elections; and, at this moment of AKP hostility and of Kurdish uprisings in eastern Turkey, reconsidering the delicate question of Kurdish civil rights.
— Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.
Virginia Muslim gets 23 years for D.C. subway plot
Posted on April 12, 2011 by creeping
An update on this previous post. The good news is another Muslim terrorist is off the streets. The bad news – it’s only temporary, and taxpayers will be paying for his supervised release until he meets 72 virgins, or not. via Federal Bureau of Investigation – The Washington Field Office: Department of Justice Press Release.
50 years supervised release? How about deportation.
WASHINGTON—Farooque Ahmed, 35, of Ashburn, Va., was sentenced today to 23 years in prison, followed by 50 years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to charges stemming from his attempts to assist others whom he believed to be members of al Qaeda in planning bombings at Metrorail stations in the Washington, D.C., area.
By Department of Justice/Associated Press
Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Todd Hinnen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after Ahmed entered his guilty plea and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Bruce Lee.
Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, pleaded guilty to the charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility. In a plea agreement, the defense and government jointly recommended a prison sentence of 23 years in prison. Following the acceptance of the guilty plea, Judge Lee immediately sentenced Ahmed to the agreed-upon term of imprisonment and imposed a 50-year term of supervised release.
“Mr. Ahmed today admitted he was determined to kill as many people as possible through multiple bombings at the heart of our nation’s capital,” said U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “It’s chilling that a man from Ashburn could admit to planning these acts of terrorism, and a 23-year sentence is a just punishment. We are grateful for the outstanding work of the FBI in detecting and disrupting this plot.”
“From his home in Ashburn, Virginia, believing that he was working for al Qaeda, Farooque Ahmed plotted to carry out the simultaneous bombing of multiple Metro trains in the D.C. area,” said Todd Hinnen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “Today’s plea provides a powerful example of how law enforcement and intelligence officials working together continue to use the criminal justice system to protect America from attack, obtain intelligence from terrorists, and secure their lawful, long-term detention.”
“This individual followed a twisted, radical ideology outside that of the mainstream Muslim community which led him to break the law. He now faces the consequences of his actions,” said James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “The FBI remains committed to disrupting possible terrorist plots and individuals who seek to assist terrorist organizations.”
LA Sheriff Lee Baca’s multiple Muslim Outreach programs
Posted on April 12, 2011 by creeping
After Lee Baca defended the notorious Hamas-linked CAIR and criticized hearings on Muslim radicalization, he’s on a bit of a Islam public relations blitz. At least two articles on Baca’s Muslim Community Outreach program are floating in the media now. The first is this article (pdf) in American Police Beat magazine found on the Los Angeles county government website:
What stands out the most initially is that there is no mention of Islamic terrorism or jihad. The program is not described as a tool to help law enforcement prevent terrorism by Muslims, rather the program is for Muslims “to address issues including hate crimes and discrimination facing the Muslim community.” Worse, it is being used to spread Islam by way of mandatory dawah on all new police recruits:
scrubbed renamed, http://la-sheriff.org/sites/muslimoutreach/Images/Sheriff_Hijab_Girls.gif):
The second item is in taxpayer funded Voice of America, Los Angeles Deputies Work with Muslim Community, who clearly toes the apologist line beginning it’s propaganda piece with this:
Considering Lee Baca’s strong defense of terror-linked CAIR, one has to wonder if CAIR had a role developing or providing the training materials and what exactly Lee Baca is getting in return for his support.
What stands out the most initially is that there is no mention of Islamic terrorism or jihad. The program is not described as a tool to help law enforcement prevent terrorism by Muslims, rather the program is for Muslims “to address issues including hate crimes and discrimination facing the Muslim community.” Worse, it is being used to spread Islam by way of mandatory dawah on all new police recruits:
The unit also trains department members about Islam and Muslims, touching on issues such as beliefs and customs. Academy recruits also receive a two-hour class on Muslim cultures and background as part of the cultural awareness training program.But one taxpayer-funded program for Muslims is not enough for CAIR’s Sheriff Baca:
The new LASD unit, established by Sheriff Lee Baca, has begun a Young Muslim American Leaders Group to engage and educate young Muslim professionals in the Los Angeles Area. The group meets monthly.A look at the LA Sheriff Department’s website has an entire page dedicated to the program including a picture with Sheriff and “Hijab Girls” as the image is titled (in case it is
The Muslim Community Affairs Unit is managed by Muslim Sheriff’s Department staff members which consists of a Sergeant, a full time Deputy and five part time Deputies assigned to various patrol and custody divisions.Clearly terrorism has its benefits.
Since it’s inception, the Muslim Community Affairs unit has grown to include a training program for the Muslim community on law enforcement issues such as hate crimes, domestic violence, gangs and identity theft. A Young Muslim American Leaders Group (YMALG) was also developed with the purpose of engagement and education for the young Muslim professionals in the Los Angeles area. The YMALG meets on a monthly basis to discuss issues that concern the Muslim youth and young professionals. Some of the activities the young Muslim professionals are exposed to include jail tours, recruitment activities, ride along in department helicopters and tours of patrol stations. These programs further embrace the Sheriff’s Department mission of Public Trust Policing.
In addition to training and engaging with the community, the Muslim Community Affairs unit also trains department members about Islam and Muslims along with their culture, customs, and beliefs to facilitate our Core Values. The recruits at the academy also receive a two hour class on Muslim cultures and background as part of the cultural awareness training program.
The Muslim Community Affairs unit and the staff serve as the liaison point of contact for the department as well as the Muslim community in general. For more information please contact Sergeant Mike Abdeen at (323) 243-9762 or Deputy Sherif Morsi at (323) 980-2291.
Some of the functions the unit performs include:
- Conduct training for Law Enforcement officers about Islam, Muslims, and Arabs
- Host monthly Young Muslim American Leaders Group Meeting
- Make presentations at local Islamic Centers and Schools
- Attend Islamic Center and School functions and events
- Conduct tours of Sheriff facilities
- Liaison with the Muslim and Arab community and Law Enforcement agencies
- Coordinate community participation in various programs to encourage civic engangement
The second item is in taxpayer funded Voice of America, Los Angeles Deputies Work with Muslim Community, who clearly toes the apologist line beginning it’s propaganda piece with this:
At a time when some Americans fear the radicalization of Muslims in the United States, and others, a growing anti-Muslim sentiment, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says it has the solution to fighting home grown terrorism and creating peace among Muslim and non-Muslims.It goes on in a similar vain:
Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca started the Muslim Community Affairs Unit. He says the idea of public trust policing works at all levels of law enforcement.While Baca doesn’t provide details on “Muslims being part of the information flow,” the primary fallacy in this notion is that Baca’s partners at CAIR and many Muslims have cried entrapment in cases where Muslims have participated. If not ostracized Muslims for aiding the FBI going so far as calling for a ban on assisting the FBI.
“In the last 10 attacks that were solved by agencies in the federal government, FBI, seven of those last 10 involve Muslims being part of the information flow that brought forth and reveal those particular plots,” Baca said.
Deputy Morsi says there is one major factor to radicalization. “I think the biggest thing is alienation, always feeling alienated and always considered as a suspect. I think that’s one of the major facts that plays in a radical’s mind,” Morsi said.Expect this type of “outreach” to and for Muslims at taxpayer expense to creep into police departments across the U.S. where Islamic indoctrination and whitewashing of Islamic jihad and sharia law will be the norm.
Jihad Turk says anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. helps to create a breeding ground for extremism. “If the Muslim community is perceived to be targeted, the youth from that community then is ostracized by the rest of society, might turn to extreme violence as a way to push back against that,” Turk said.
Turk says the Muslim community needs to integrate itself into society and the public needs to know that extremists in the U.S. are not limited to self-proclaimed Muslims.
To help fight Islamic radicalization and anti-Muslim sentiment, law enforcement agencies across the country are using the Muslim Community Affairs Unit’s training video. The hope is that more understanding of the Muslim culture will lead to respect and trust from both sides so police and Muslims can be partners in fighting crime.
Considering Lee Baca’s strong defense of terror-linked CAIR, one has to wonder if CAIR had a role developing or providing the training materials and what exactly Lee Baca is getting in return for his support.
Brit arrested, Frenchman faces trial for burning Koran
Posted on April 12, 2011 by creeping
Sharia is spreading around the world at a rapid pace. Islamic governments ban and burn Bibles, as does the U.S. military, while Muslims burn humans and kill innocent bystanders, and the world yawns. Such behavior by Muslims is not only tolerated, it is expected.
STRASBOURG – A FRENCHMAN was due to go on trial on Monday for inciting racial hatred after posting an Internet video of himself burning a Quran and then urinating on it ‘in the name of freedom.’
He was arrested last October after posting the video of himself wearing a devil mask and tearing pages from the Islamic holy book before setting it on fire and – after several minutes – urinating on it to extinguish the flames.
Police made the arrest after local Muslim leaders in Strasbourg reacted with outrage at the video which identifies the maker as a 30-year-old from a suburb of the eastern city.
The director of Strasbourg’s main mosque, Abdelaziz Choukri, said he alerted authorities and had spoken to the author of the video who told him he acted ‘in the name of freedom.’
The burning of a copy of the Quran by a pastor in the United States last month has sparked protests across Afghanistan that killed at least 24 people, including seven UN staff. — AFP
Police say they are continuing their investigating of Sion Owens, a high-ranking member of the far-right British National Party, over a video clip showing he burned a Koran, the Guardian reported.
Authorities dropped initial charges against him under Britain’s Public Order Act over the weekend on a technicality.
A video clip of Owens, 41, soaking the Muslim holy book in kerosene and setting it alight was leaked to Britain’s left-leaning Observer newspaper. A British government spokesman described burning the Koran as “fundamentally offensive to the values of our pluralist and tolerant society.”
Owens appeared in court in Swansea, South Wales, this morning. He is standing for a seat on the Welsh Assembly in elections May 5. In a 2008 local election Owens’ campaign literature described him as standing against “mass immigration, enforced multiculturism, political correctness.”
Ex-KKK leader featured on Muslim group's website
Nowhere does the website say that Mr. Duke is the founder of the Louisiana Knights of the KKK and one-time Grand Wizard of the white supremacist group.
Asked about the video, the Markham, Ont.-based Muslim group responded with an email saying it would not discuss the matter unless the press reported on "the Islamaphobic [sic] hate propaganda going on here in Canada.”
The video was still posted on the site on Sunday.
The Canadian Jewish Congress said it believed there were grounds to lodge a complaint to police over the website, which it said may be in violation of Canada’s hate laws. (...)
From an Arab Spring to a Muslim Winter
The Communists wanted to turn every country in the world into communists, the Muslims want to turn every nation Islamic, and we want to turn them all into Democrats. Our national passion for democracy long ago overshot baseball, football, horse racing and billiards. Lately even our wars have turned into perverse democracy crusades. But the tonic of democracy does not cure all ills. And like most medicines, it is quite poisonous when used against the doctor's instructions.
Democracy for most Americans means the ability to rule over their rulers, to fire their political bosses, hook a thumb behind the ear and a knee in the ass of the boys in the big white buildings with the shiny domes. The balance of popular will and constitutional law maintained the widest possible decentralization of power, from the government to the people, and from the people to the laws that governed their untouchable freedoms. The people limit the power of government and laws limit the power of the people over each other. But systems of government abroad that dabble in democracy rarely duplicate the American experiment.
To do that they would have to believe in democracy for its own sake. The decentralization of power is a difficult creed. Most of the congressmen, aides, aides to aides and lobbyists who swamp Washington D.C. have long ago lost faith in its tenets. In their swarming masses, suit and powersuit clad, they have built up an oligarchy, buttressed by bureaucracy, immune to the people and the law. If our own leaders have lost faith in the peculiar notion that it is better to have a country run badly by the people, than a country run scientifically by its highly paid elites-- what should we expect of a region where there are special police forces in charge of hunting down witches.
Our Johnny Appleseed act doesn't have a good history, and why should it, when each time we go in acting as if democracy is functional, rather than cultural. As if it's something you practice, rather than believe. You can teach people to count ballots, but you can't teach them to understand why they count. They have to learn that for themselves. Otherwise they'll start miscounting the ballots or shooting everyone who doesn't vote the right way.
Most revolutions like to call themselves democratic, because democracy is disruptive to the old order. But their revolutions are only democratic means toward authoritarian ends. The ultimate victory of one faction or another. And they typically have as much use for democracy, as the Muslim armies who captured Alexandria had for its library. As Caliph Omar, successor of Mohammed, and a bookburner of far greater fame than Terry Jones, said of its books, "If they are in agreement with the Koran, then we have no need of them; and if they are opposed to the Koran, destroy them." So too with democracy, if the voters support us, then they are redundant. If they oppose us, open fire on them.
Our form of government is highly skeptical and highly idealistic about people. And so it treats power like a hot potato, hiding it, passing it around and doing its best to keep anyone from holding on to it for too long. And that is well and good. If we were too idealistic about people, our system would quickly degenerate into mob rule. But if we were wholly cynical about them, we would end up just like the places we tried to seed democracy only to bring up rotten apples.
Most people like the idea of democracy, it's the idea that the people you hate get just as many votes as you do, that they don't like. That's why Muslims will play the game of democracy, but only until they score enough goals that they can take the net home with them. Tolerance was only a virtue in Islam, when Mohammed and his handful of followers needed to rely on the goodwill of people who didn't like them. But once the sandal was on the other foot, the swords really began to fall. And so did the heads. That's why the Arab Spring is fated to end in a Muslim Winter.
To play the game of democracy well, you need good sportsmanship. A set of binding rules that makes it okay to lose without running away to Canada or settling the whole thing with a round of suicide bombings. And that requires a certain mutual affection for one's fellow man. A country where 90 percent believe that it's time to start beheading adulterers is not that sort of place. Which is why Egyptian democracy will do half as well as its pyramid construction unions did.
Islam's constitution is the Koran, which makes any national constitution the work of a lower body, to be overuled by even the meanest Hadith. Roughly on a par with UN covenants on women's rights and binding contracts signed with foreigners. Democracy decentralizes power by vesting power in the people's will. Islam centralizes it in the binding of the Koran and the mouths of the Clerics who have memorized every verse. To question that centralization is to court blasphemy. And if the courts don't sentence you, the mob will.
By salaaming before the Koran, and apologizing for everyone who takes a lighter to a redundant copy of the orally transmitted venom of a frustrated desert merchant, we place the Koran above the people and the Constitution. Not by their will, but by the will of our own clerics. Clerics who subscribe neither to the Constitution or the Koran, but to the Emily Post Guide to Politically Correct International Appeasement. The Muslims have their Mullahs and we have our Senators. But the advantage of democracy is that we can more easily remove a Senator, than they can remove a Mullah. And we can generally do it without being burned at the stake for blasphemy. Which is why neither Senators nor Mullahs are fond of democracy.
Power to the people is a popular slogan, so long as the people are giving you the power. But democracy actually gives power to the people. And that's a dangerous thing.
Our revolution was one of the few to limit the consolidation of power while still preserving the rule of law. But our form of government was as much cultural, as it was the theorizing of a few intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic. And we have often made the mistake of treating cultural values as teachable skills. Or assuming that to teach the functioning of a government was to also indoctrinate the values that come with it.
Twice the Russian people rose against their overlords, and twice democracy was a brief flicker of ineptitude extinguished decisively by a black boot. Had we paid more attention, the outcome of Egypt would have been even less in doubt. In the contest between those who believe in democracy as an end and those who view it only as a means to muster popular outrage before transitioning to authoritarian government-- the cynics of democracy have the upper hand. After all they know what they want and the only thing standing between them and their goal is the people. A people who genuinely want self-rule will fight for it. But a people who only wanted someone to kick out the old bastards and then bring order and stability to the land will welcome tyranny once again.The Arab Spring may unexpectedly flare up, but its petals will freeze as soon as the Muslim Winter sets in. The Arab Spring is liberating, but the Muslim Winter is reassuring. The Arab Spring is Dionysian, but the Muslim Winter is Plutonian. And underachievers even by Satanic standards, most Muslims would rather serve in hell, than rule democratically in heaven. At least this way they know what the rules are and there are always some Christians and Jews to torment who were unlucky enough to get stuck on their side of the Plutonian shore.
To practice democracy, you must have faith in people. A difficult thing to manage when walking the streets of Cairo or Karachi. Totalitarian rule brings out the worst in people, and people bring out the worst in totalitarian societies. It is easy enough to cast off a foreign tyrant, but not the little tyrant who sits enthroned in the mind of man.
Islam's greatest victory over humanity is in that little tyrant. The one who encourages husbands to beat their wives, wives to beat their children and children to spit on outsiders so that everyone can feel good about being superior to someone. Islamic democracy is the law of the little tyrant. Men are free to beat their wives, wives may beat their children, and their children may spit on infidels. This is the hell that Muslims have made for themselves and anyone in their vicinity. And the ballot box cannot save them from it. Can any ballot box save a man from himself? Can it save a culture from its own self-degradation and its need to degrade others?
The noble clause of democracy is that it makes government in the image of men, rather than men in the image of governments. And our own government practices a perversely cynical view of its own citizens-- and an even more perversely idealistic one of Muslims. The American people are not ready for self-government, they insist, but the Egyptians are. And now as ice forms on the petals of their Arab Spring, they are about to learn once again that in a Muslim winter, democracy is the temperature at which freedom freezes.
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