War of Ideas

[Stephen Fox]

This article appears to be of significance on a cursory first read

https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... sm/516627/

[Sandy]

Putting out the label "radical Islamic terrorism" will be about as effective against jihad as it would be to try to put out a house fire by spitting on it. While military action does cause some immediate results, long term, all it does is fan the flames that started the insurgency in the first place, and gives reason for more Muslims to radicalize and join in. Islamic insurgencies are started because of oppression caused by what they see as foreign occupation and exploitation of their land and resources. And as the economic interests of the US, Britain, France and Russia in particular continue to dominate the economic and political structures of the Middle East, insurgencies will continue to spring up. Historically, Muslims have seen Israel in a role that is more traditional when it comes to their tradition, as well as Jewish tradition, but now they see it as an imperial outpost of American and British political and economic exploitation.

There are over a billion Muslims in the world, and perhaps less than 150,000 of them have become involved in some kind of jihadist cause. There's no way to defeat this militarily, since each succeeding attack will produce yet another jihadist group. It's going to take genuine diplomacy, a study of history, and a resolution that recognizes and respects the sovereignty of predominant Muslim nations, providing self-determination rather than borders drawn for the political expediency of Great Britain, France, Russia and the United States. Unfortunately, the current administration is lacking in both the required level of intelligence, and the knowledge of real facts, to be effective in confronting this issue and resolving it.

The Trump administration's attitude toward Muslims, and its philosophical compatibility with Russian totalitarianism are both particularly and notably anti-Christian positions, contrary to both the religious history of the Old and New Testaments, and the teachings of Christ.

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

Drawn from reports that claim about 70,000 or so ISIS militants, the 20,000 or so Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank estimated by the Israeli government, and media estimates of various cells scattered around in other places, including about 20,000 Taliban in Afghanistan. Those are estimates of actual militants themselves, through various news reports. There's likely quite a variance in actual numbers, as it is always hard to tell, and the media depends on collaborative intelligence from various countries. I'd say the evidence indicates that what intelligence estimates is probably pretty close. My guestimate includes just those numbers that are frequently talked about in various news reports. Likely there are more, but if they haven't made the news, or done anything to act on their radicalization, then we haven't heard about them. But even if those numbers are twice as large as the estimates, it's a small fraction of the total Muslim population.

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

https://www.thetrace.org/2015/11/islami ... loopholes/

Just a link to an Islamic jihadist pointing out how easy it is to buy guns in the United States.

Some of the rhetoric has to be abandoned, along with false impressions and misguided conclusions. Islam is not out to destroy the American way of life, or take over the world. Most Muslims, especially in the middle east, can clearly see the inconsistencies between the flowery language that is used to associate America with constitutionally protected freedoms, while its government has supported some of the cruelest, most oppressive dictators in the Middle East. When Americans come in under some pretext (weapons of mass destruction, or to change a "cruel" regime", much of the country winds up getting laid waste, tens of thousands of people die, and nothing really changes. And there's a bit of an inconsistency when a democratic republic like the US waves the freedom flag, yet supported dictatorial regimes like that of Mubarak, or Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in Iran.