COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Saudi Arabia’s Secret Uprising









Written by : Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
on : Monday, 30 Jun, 2014

Opinion: ISIS has reached Saudi Arabia’s borders
The heightened state of alert in the region is epitomized in the brief statement issued by the Saudi Royal Court this week, with King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz ordering “all necessary measures” to protect Saudi Arabia from the threat of terrorism. The extremists have reached the border. Al-Qaeda is a stone’s throw from three major regional countries: Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the most extreme faction of Al-Qaeda, mobilized its forces to confront the Assad regime and most recently has turned its attentions to the Nuri Al-Maliki government in Iraq. ISIS has built an army of thousands of suicide bombers of different nationalities, all of whom are prepared to return to their countries and start a world war.
Similar to what has happened in Syria, what is now happening in Iraq is a genuine revolution against a sectarian, repugnant rule. However Al-Qaeda has become involved in this revolution under different banners: ISIS, the Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar Al-Sham, just to name a few. They claim to support the oppressed people—until they are able to take center stage and hijack the revolution thanks to their extraordinary global capabilities. The group exploited the anger of millions of Sunni people around the world, from Indonesia to Britain, and made them cheer for its achievements. As such, ISIS today is the star at the box office, as my colleague Youssef Al-Dini likes to say.
In order to understand the unprecedented and rapid developments, we must be aware that we have two rivals which we cannot side with: Bashar Al-Assad and Nuri Al-Maliki’s sectarian governments on one side, and ISIS and its terrorist affiliates on the other.
Turkey, which at first confused Syrian nationalists with Islamist extremists, has finally decided to close its borders to Islamist terrorist groups, declaring that they are a threat to its national security, not the Assad regime. Jordan and Saudi Arabia had, from the beginning, distinguished between the moderate patriotic Free Syrian Army and the terrorist ISIS and Al-Nusra Front. This is despite the fact that all three oppose the Assad regime.
Now, one might ask: How could you put these rivals—Assad, Maliki, ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front—in the same basket? Well, the fact of the matter is that were it not for Assad and Maliki, ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front would not have existed. Most of their leaders had been detained in Syrian and Iraqi prisons and were released by these regimes, who believed that this would shuffle the cards. Indeed, the cards have been shuffled: Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have announced their readiness to fight these terrorist groups.
All regional and international countries are aware of what is happening. We will surely witness vital collective activity on international military and political levels to confront this threat. It is most likely that this will lead to a military camp that will see a larger-scale war being waged on terrorism.
Nevertheless, the problem is still a political one, as each state perceives the danger from a different angle. We are all against these terrorist organizations, but each state believes in a different solution. The United States faces two competing visions: the first calls for dealing with Iran, and therefore continuing to tacitly support Maliki and Assad; meanwhile, European and Gulf countries want change, believing that without an acceptable strong centralized regime in Syria and Iraq, it will be impossible to eliminate these extremist groups. Therefore, a political solution must be imposed in Syria and Iraq; Sunnis should be mobilized to cooperate and fight against the extremists.
The Gulf states believe that the fight against Al-Qaeda will only succeed through the cooperation of Iraq and Syria’s Sunnis—this is the only way to eradicate these terrorist groups. This will stop Sunnis elsewhere from sympathizing with this group and its ideology. The sectarian policies of Assad and Maliki have triggered this chaos. Therefore, the solution lies in strong central governments in both Baghdad and Damascus with American, Western and regional support.
Limiting the solution to military action against ISIS will result in failure, as seen by the failure of this policy since 2001.


Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed is the general manager of Al-Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine Al-Majalla. He is also a senior columnist in the daily newspapers Al-Madina and Al-Bilad. He has a US post-graduate degree in mass communications, and has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based in Dubai.

46 comments:

  1. One Palestinain, nine monts ago? What is your point?

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  2. The Egyptian Army claims that 15 ISIS operative infiltrated into the Sinai over the weekend, but were captured.

    Egypt has also claimed that ISIS terrorists have infiltrated into the Sinai from Gaza via the tunnels.

    In an unrelated attack, four Egyptian policemen were killed in clashes with Jihadists in northern Sinai, on Saturday.

    The Hamas terror organization is denying that ISIS is active in Gaza, despite ISIS flags being waved at the Gaza funeral of the two rocket terrorist killed in a targeted strike on Friday.

    Gaza’s Ministry of the Interior spokesman Iyad Al-Bezem said the only organizations [terrorists] active in Gaza are Palestinian organizations [terrorists] and not ISIS, according to an NRG report.

    When terrorists are killed, their compatriots use that opportunity to wave the organization’s flags at the funeral to show which organization’s members were martyred fighting Israel.

    The presence of ISIS in Gaza puts pressure on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which until now were the leading terrorist organizations active in Gaza, after kicking out Fatah.

    http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/isis-makes-headway-into-gaza-and-sinai/2014/06/29/

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    1. .

      The Hamas terror organization is denying that ISIS is active in Gaza, despite ISIS flags being waved at the Gaza funeral of the two rocket terrorist killed in a targeted strike on Friday.

      ISIS flags? Heck, you can get ISIS flags, ISIS t-shirts, ISIS mugs, literally all things ISIS on Facebook.

      .

      Delete
    2. ...and sympathy for ISIS on Facebook as well...probably means nothing...Hamas is kewl!

      Delete
  3. ISIS Recruiters Arrested in Europe
    This weekend, Spain and Germany arrested 11 members of the armed terrorist organisation ISIL, the group that has taken over large swaths of Iraq in recent days. The leader of the Spanish cell, from which eight of the arrests were made, is a former Guantánamo detainee. The ISIS members in Spain were allegedly working to recruit new members to fight in the organization’s broad jihadi campaign to establish a neo-Caliphate in Iraq and Syria. One of the suspects arrested in Germany allegedly has fought with militants in Syria and appeared in ISIS propaganda videos.

    This isn’t the first spillover of violent extremists from the current conflict in the Middle East into Europe: On June 1, a French citizen suspected of being a Jihadist went on a shooting spree at a Jewish Museum in Brussels after returning from Syria, killing three visitors. And it’s not the first indication that European and U.S. authorities have concerns about spillover effects—they issued grave warnings late last year.

    The fateful choice not to do anything in the ongoing chaos in Syria has already had many costs, both humanitarian and strategic. And many more of these costs are likely to accrue in the future.

    http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/06/17/isis-recruiters-arrested-in-europe/

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Boy, earth shattering news, 36 terrorists have been identified, almost all of them have been arrested.

      Be afraid everyone, be very afraid.
      A fella left Minnesota for Syria, be afraid.

      Fifteen arrested in Egypt, no need to fear them, either.

      Looks like the ISIL / ISIS is out of its depth, once it leaves Syria or Iraq.

      Eleven arrests in Spain and Germany, n need to fear those fellas, they're out of the game

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    2. It's not earth shaking, it's good news...

      let them go and die....

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    3. They're all in jail, they won't die.

      They are not competent enough to avoid arrest.
      Comical diversion, not even worthy of popcorn.

      Delete
  5. Financial Times-
    About 1,000 US troops are stationed in Jordan, brought in to help fend off threats from the war in Syria between rebel groups and Bashar ...

    See the IISI 36 and raise 964.

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  6. World View: USS Bataan with 1000 marines to Join Six Other ...
    Breitbart News-11 hours ago
    World View: USS Bataan with 1,000 marines to Join Six Other Warships in the Persian Gulf.

    Oh, another 1,000 US combat forces go to the war zone.
    One Muslim radical from Minnesota goes to Syria, while 2,000 US combat troops have entered the area, tambien.

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  7. Armed drones now flying over Iraq, DOD confirms
    Politico-by Philip Ewing-12 hours ago
    The Air Force's medium-altitude, General Atomics-built Predator or Reaper drones, which can carry missiles, could also be operating over Iraq.

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  8. Great, clean out the shit from America and let the shit travel to and die in syria and iraq

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  9. .

    The heightened state of alert in the region is epitomized in the brief statement issued by the Saudi Royal Court this week, with King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz ordering “all necessary measures” to protect Saudi Arabia from the threat of terrorism.

    The words of Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed who places all the current troubles in the ME at the feet of the 'sectarian' regimes of Assad and Maliki.

    Bushwa.

    The Saudis are using the crisis as an excuse to crack down on dissidents in the Kingdom. Just like Bush and Obama have used the WOT to grow the power of government and restrict the rights of the people. Just as Netanyahu is using the kidnapping of the three students as an excuse to crack down on Hamas. Just as Captain Renault ordered his men to 'round up the usual suspects'.

    In the words of Ron Emanual, "Never let a good crisis go to waste."

    .

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  10. .

    The worry here and in the EU that Muslim radicals who left the Western countries to fight in the ME might be further radicalized in eventually return to their home countries as terrorists is a legitimate one.

    However, if they were already radicalized enough to travel thousands of mile from home and fight as foot soldiers in a sectarian war, how much more radicalized do we expect them to get. The upside, IMO, is that in going they have identified themselves for what they are and one can hope that upon returning they will be watched.

    .

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  11. In addition to the obvious benefit to the Kurds in this developing situation, and the possible benefits derived to Israel, I see another possible silver lining in the all this.

    Assuming, as seems entirely reasonable right now, that the Iraqi Sunnis succeed in establishing some kind of State, and assuming, which is certainly not unreasonable, that they do succeed in striking the Great Satan in his home here in the USA, then our response is simple. This is not a State that harbored some terrorists, where the bulk of the population hardly knew what was happening, but a State composed of terrorists that has declared war by its actions on us. The solution is simply to declare war on them, their entirety, as we did with Germany and Japan. We don't need boots on the ground. We simply obliterate the place, the easy way by getting over the hesitance to be the first to use nukes again, or the somewhat harder way, by obliterating the place using B-52s and such.

    No fooling around. Unconditional surrender and all that. If we occupy after we ban Islam there as Nazism was banned in Germany, etc.

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    1. .

      Einstein's definition of insanity comes to mind.

      Again.

      .

      Delete
    2. All will be well. They will have done their duty to Allah, and gone to their imagined afterlife, and we will have rid that small part of earth, hopefully forever, from the scourge of Islam. We might get through it without losing any military people at all.

      To do otherwise would seem to be to continue to walk down the path of Wretchard's Three Conjectures, which would be a foolish path to walk.

      Delete
  12. Entirely different situation, O Quick.

    With an entirely different response.

    And an entirely different final scene.

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    1. One might ask, for the humor of it, what would you Quirk consider an appropriate response to serious bombings here by these good people?

      Send in the troops?

      Delete
    2. They can't get to Egypt, they can't get to Spain, they can't get to Germany.

      How in the world are they going to get here, Draft Dodger Bob?

      Delete
    3. I Am A Professional AssholeMon Jun 30, 02:49:00 AM EDT

      On a boat

      On a plane.

      On a submarine.

      On a fast fast train.

      I will answer for myself. I am Jack "ass" Hawkins, lil' PsychoPath, aka desert rat

      I am a professional asshole, and everyone agrees with me.

      Delete
    4. Let's see here, PA.

      You were the 'military expert" that told me once there were prayer cloths out in the desert in North Mexico.

      I suppose they could go to Mexico and walk over the border just like millions of others.

      Delete
    5. Nah, not going to happen.
      The US owns that border. Control every inch of it.
      Noting passes that is not approved and paid for. That is not part of the program.

      Delete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Your answer must have been really dumb, on the order of "take it to the UN", for you to have removed so quickly Quirkster.

      Delete
    2. .

      Bob, you vex me.

      You 'assume' the Sunni will form a state in part of what is now Iraq. Then you 'assume' that the first thing they will think of doing once they form their state is to strike us here in the US. You 'assume' this because you 'assume' that everyone in this new 'assumed' state is a terrorist. Your response to their 'assumed' strike here is to obliterate their country. And you 'assume' the best way to accomplish that is to turn the country to glass using nukes.

      Pure genius.

      One might ask, for the humor of it, what would you Quirk consider an appropriate response to serious bombings here by these good people?

      Timothy McVeigh was a resident of Arizona. When he executed the bombing in Oklahoma City, he killed 168 people and wounded around 700 others. His actions resulted in around $700 million in property damage. That was a serious bombing.

      What do you suggest that we carpet bomb Arizona?

      Bob, you left 'Dumb as a Skunk Swamp' far behind, have sped through the stop sign at Sociopath Lane, and are now barreling down the hill towards Psychopath Park.

      .

      Delete
    3. :)

      heh

      That isn't even an answer Quirk. You know full well your McVeigh/Arizona analogy is - your the LogicMan, you know the proper term, I don't - a bunch of total crap, to be polite.

      I must mark your response up as: No Answer
      Grade: F

      And it will be a terrorist state. Why did this so few fighters rip through that part of the country so easily? Because they were mostly supported by the local population. Because the Sunnis in the Army immediately changed coats. Because the remaining Shia in the Army said fuck it we're getting out here. Because the old Saddamists had been cashiered by the thoughtless and revenge seeking Maliki. Because he took away their promised jobs, and not just in the military. And on and on....

      If we get several severe bombings here by these wonderful fellows, what exactly do YOU propose to do about it?

      You are allowed to retake the exam just once. One more chance, you old fraud.

      :)

      Delete
    4. And I didn't mean to hurt your delicate feelings, nor VEX you, my dear Sir.

      Delete
    5. Draft Dodger Bob has already advocated for genocide, in Arizona.
      Genocide and cannibalism. Don't you remember?


      Delete
  14. Is Obama Trying To Get Us Killed?

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/06/is_obama_trying_to_get_us_killed.html

    Yes, thus proving the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in insisting that the President, and the President only, have two citizen parents. A requirement we thoughtless people and our compliant courts seem to have so foolishly thrown away.

    Obama obviously despises the United States, as nearly all muslims do.

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    1. Draft Dodger Bob has shown the world, illustrated by his own life, what hatred of the United States is all about.

      His abject failure to serve the nation, in any way, shape or form is exemplary of a looter, one who only is in it for himself, one that never asked what he could do for the country, but was only concerned with what the country could do for him.


      "-the bum who boasts that his great-grandfather was an empire-builder,
      (as if the achievement of one man could rub off on the mediocrity of another)

      this is a sample of racism.”
      ― Ayn Rand

      Delete
    2. Draft Dodger Bob's call out for the genocide of US citizens, their butchery and then the cannibalism of their remains.
      That is the proof that he hates the United States, that he called for shooting over four million of US.

      Followed by the feeding the meat to the 'poor'.
      That is beyond the depravity of the treatment that Adolf Hitler visited upon the Jews of Europe.

      Delete
  15. "A Muslim has to stand up for [what's] right," Muhumed, 29, wrote in a Jan. 2 post. "I give up this worldly life for Allah." I recall that Mr. Muhumed, 29, has nine children.

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  16. Jack HawkinsMon Jun 30, 01:20:00 AM EDT
    They can't get to Egypt, they can't get to Spain, they can't get to Germany.

    How in the world are they going to get here


    "AnonymousSun Jun 29, 11:32:00 PM EDT
    Somali-Americans leave homes, friends in Minnesota to fight alongside ISIS jihadis"


    They are here...obviously...

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  17. iSIS declares new Islamic caliphate. Seems like an Apple product.

    http://www.infowars.com/war-propaganda-the-isis-five-year-plan/

    The map shows the al-Qaeda offshoot occupying the entire Middle East, including Israel, the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and, most absurd of all, India. It apparently plans to do this with less than 40 thousand jihadists.

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  18. Rufus IISun Jun 29, 11:31:00 PM EDT
    :) Who in the fuck are you talking to?

    That hard drive went down in 2011 (2 years before the "investigation" started.)

    The hard drive was turned over to Forensics, and they retrieved what they could.

    How do you presume to "know" anything about the IRS mess? You seem to have forgotten that Ms. Lerner took the 5th at least twice - she said nothing publicly. Do you know Ms. Lerner privately and is she sharing with you? The IRS, itself, has spun more tall tales than even you are capable. You have chosen to propagate this week's version.

    At one time, I thought you might be just a dumb, true-believer. You are not; you are an enabler, knowingly regurgitating the party line. You "know" nothing other than what you are told to know, and you will stupidly change that, without missing a beat, when told to do so by your party's hacks. On a pleasant note, you will never have to formulate an original thought - an exemplar of the unexamined life.

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    1. .

      The two year period (2009-2011) encompasses the first year in which the 'targeting' began ergo e-mails covering the beginning of the process could have provided valuable info regarding intent.

      What makes it more suspicious is that the 'crash' occurred only 10 days after Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) had sent his initial letter to the IRS about the 501(c)(4) political activities and donors.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      As to not having to get IRS certification in order to run a 501(c)(4), that is more smoke and mirrors. While true technically without an IRS pre-review you run the risk that your qualifications as a 501(c)(4) will be rejected by the IRS sometime in the future. You give up your tax-free status which will affect the donations these entities depend on. Perhaps, most importantly, the donors lose the ability to remain anonymous, a key factor for some big donors.

      I personally think the Citizens United decision and the subsequent IRS rules on 501(c)(4) are ill-advised and should be reversed; however, they are the law of the land and should be applied consistently. Given the disproportionate IRS review of conservative groups vis-a-vis liberal groups tells me anyone who buys the idea that 'liberal groups were targeted too' is either a partisan butt boy or living in lalaland.

      .

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    3. .

      Another 'coincidence', The IRS paid an outside firm, Sonasoft, to archive their data for long-term retrieval — or at least they did. That contract got canceled just weeks after Lois Lerner’s hard-drive failure.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      Add to that, Lerner is either a crook or criminally incompetent. Not only did she target specific types of groups, under her watch, the IRS illegally released personal information on these conservative groups not only to the FBI but to outside agencies and liberal groups. The Chief Archivist has said that the IRS (Lerner) broke the governments retention laws by not backing up data and failure to report their significant loss of data until forced to.

      .

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    5. .

      Paul Ryan called IRS Director Koskinen a liar when he tried to whitewash IRS actions.

      I would say that about sums it up.

      .

      Delete
  19. Representatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) stated that they will ruin the Kaaba after capturing Saudi Arabia.

    APA reports quoting Turkish media that ISIS wants to take control of Arar city of Saudi Arabia and start operations here.

    ISIS member Abu Turab Al Mugaddasi said that they would destroy the Kaaba in Mecca: “If Allah wills, we will kill those who worship stones in Mecca and destroy the Kaaba. People go to Mecca to touch the stones, not for Allah.”


    There goes the black rock. I think ISIS is really a front organization for What is "occupation".

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