It’s our leaders who are creating a generation of terrorists

Fiona Uncategorized

My apologies, Jaycee, for displacing your marvellous and macabre tale so soon. Unfortunately, events don’t wait.

The cultural warriors of the extreme(?) right – Abbott, Abetz, Andrews, Bernardi, Christensen – the list goes on and on – would do well to think about this article.

Instead of throwing oil (Saudi oil, most probably) on the flames, what about doing wussy things like engagement, acceptance, tolerance?

(Nah, no votes in that . . . but ramping up the hysteria will do the ‘right’ a power of good . . .)

However, in view of the violence in Belgium today, this article (published well before any suicide vest was detonated) is essential reading. Big hat-tip, and thanks, to eJames.

Independent

Europe is losing the battle because its leaders still indulge the sponsors of terrorism and germinate animosity and rancour
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown Monday 21 March 2016

On Friday, Belgium police captured Salah Abdeslam, a key conspirator and member of the Islamist gang that murdered so many innocents in Paris last November. Belgium PM Charles Michel is triumphant: “This evening is a huge success in the battle against terrorism.” Monsieur Michel’s bombast is typical of Western leaders – they revel in their “victories” and never think about why so many young Muslims, born in Europe, are turning to violent extremism.

Not one of the EU nations has, to date, taken on Saudi Arabia, the promulgator of hardline Islam and zealous intolerance. Saudi Arabia went into Belgium in the late sixties and spread Wahhabism among the newly arrived Muslim migrants. To date, $70bn has been spent on this global brainwashing and destabilisation programme. This Tuesday evening on ITV, a secretly filmed documentary investigates the nefarious kingdom. Will this exposure alter Europe’s special relationship with the most evil of empires? No.

Here is a dire warning: Europe is losing the battle against terrorism because its leaders still indulge the sponsors of terrorism, unthinkingly aid and abet the propagandists of Isis and germinate animosity and rancour in a new generation of Muslims. EU governments never say sorry, never let complexities divert them from their macho missions, seem incapable of thinking holistically, do not engage with history or the hinterlands, undercut democratic values, can only react to events as they happen and thereby endanger the lives of millions of citizens.

The police and special forces expect multiple terror attacks in London. Other cities are preparing for new blasts. These crimes are indefensible. And no, I am not saying that the West deserves these bloodbaths or is wholly to blame for them. Repulsive Islamists and their ideologies are hell-bent on annihilating modernity and cumulated human cultures. But I do believe that European politicians have, over many decades, created the conditions for fanaticism to seed and grow. The abysmal official responses to the refugee flows are leading to new anti-Western furies.

Here is a friend of mine, a Muslim woman, who works in the City and lives in a grand home: “I was born here, have done well. My faith is private and I have no time for fundis ( fundamentalists). But I am shocked. How can Cameron, my Prime Minister, treat refugees like they are cockroaches? Those children? Would he do this if they were white people from Zimbabwe? I now understand how a young Muslim turns and loads up on hate. My own son is so full of anger.” Me too. The media and our leaders – except for Mrs Merkel – demonise refugees and fill up on self-pity. The migration crisis is all about us. Sickening.

Now Turkey – where the government daily violates human rights – is paid billions to take the migrant problem out of Europe. Men, women and children from Africa and Arabia have become traded meat. And all the while, our politicians wax lyrical about Europe’s values and “higher” civilisation. Can you not see how this dissonance affects those with links to those places? And humane indigenous citizens too?

I recently met a young, wannabe jihadi. Salim (not his real name) is 19 and very bright. His mum wrote and requested me to meet him. He went on and on about being a despised Muslim, about Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syrian refugees. He wants to join the caliphate because he feels he has no future in England. He was like a tethered animal wanting to break free of the life he knew.

His mum now has cancer and he has sobered up. However, his views on these misguided wars are not treacherous and are widely shared. (The police will not get these names out of me. Many readers write to me privately and I cannot break that trust.)

The European crusaders who attacked Iraq and Libya and play hidden war games in Syria have never accepted responsibility for the churn, chaos, rage and violence that they left in their wake. Western sanctions and bombs wiped out more people in Iraq than Saddam ever did. Read Patrick Coburn’s new book, Chaos & Caliphate, which chronicles these historical catastrophes. For Salim and his ilk, these killer facts fuse with their own life stories of confusion and rejection and the amalgam combusts.

Abdeslam was kept safe and hidden by those who live in Molenbeek, an overcrowded Muslim ghetto stuffed with no-hopers. Some inhabitants describe the place as Europe’s biggest jihadist factories. Why should this be so? Because the very air is thick with disillusionment and breathed in by all those who live there.

In the Sixties, Belgium welcomed cheap factory labour from Morocco and other Arab lands. The old industries died and families were marooned with no jobs, low skills and a sense of failure. They believe successive governments used and then discarded them. Francoise Schepmans, the mayor of Molenbeek, has now come out and spoken about the “culture of denial”, which now must be broken. Belgium needs to address its racism and neglect of Muslims who are in its national bloodstream. So too France, Germany, Spain, Britain, Denmark and so on.

Our political elites need to be honest, savvy and ethical. They must refrain from impetuous militarism and reach out to estranged Muslims. Remember, the West beat communism using political and economic seduction. Weapons, oppressive laws and racist discourse will not defeat Islamist terrorism. Soft, smart power just might.

327 thoughts on “It’s our leaders who are creating a generation of terrorists”

  1. The Daily Mail got it right where Elle Macpherson was concerned:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1201524/No-longer-bees-knees-Should-woman-legs-40.html

    I also have memories of encounting Miss Sheila Scotter around Melbourne’s CBD back in the 1980s, when she was in her 60s. Always impeccably dressed, tall, and svelte, Miss Scotter never exposed her knees. Trousers, by that stage, fitted her style, which was never less than quintessentially elegant.

    • Jules used to wear trousers with a jacket most of the time, then she took up with that Ken Doll handbag and she started wearing skirts all the time. Shorter, tight skirts, usually.

      Now it’s shorts.

      Even if they are Armani shorts, even if they cost more than a pension receives in a month, it’s still inappropriate and very insulting to her hosts.

      Did she take Ken to Bali with her?

  3. Back to the drawing board for Scrott –

    Election 2016: devastating poll shows just three per cent of voters support likely budget centrepiece

    Just 3 per cent of voters think a company tax cut should be the government’s top economic priority, according to a devastating poll that will put further pressure on the Coalition’s pre-budget planning.
    Treasurer Scott Morrison has indicated company tax cuts are on the agenda for the May 3 budget – rather than income tax relief – arguing the best way to drive economic growth was by reducing the tax paid by employers

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-devastating-poll-shows-just-three-per-cent-of-voters-support-likely-budget-centrepiece-20160324-gnq4t5.html#ixzz43nBoa3CM

  5. Aguirre – I basically agree with your 2 main points. Let me add to them.

    Your first point is that the Greens are at least, if nothing else, on the left of the spectrum, and that this is their main legitimacy in a broad sense: “… if they work to increase that party’s vote at the expense of RW senators, the Greens can claim a balance of power simply by raising the overall support of the Left in politics.”

    This is the “old” view of the Greens: impractical idealists at the far left of the Labor party.

    The “new” view of the Greens is that they’ve sold out.

    I think this “new” view is way too simplistic. It’s basically nothing more than a negative critique of politicking.

    Well, we do politicking too.

    Your second point relates to their perceived inability to compromise, their inability to say “.. I understand not all people agree on this, so here’s a compromise we can all be happy with.”

    That view came into prominence mainly after the Greens failed to support the first ETS, which ultimately led to the chaos within Labor and the wasted 6 years of political strife, years in which a viable ETS could have been well established had the Greens supported it despite it not being their preferred model.

    But that is not a complete representation of the facts. Labor also erred in not vigorously negotiating with the Greens, preferring to do its own deal with Turnbull, one which was a complete disaster as it turned out.

    No matter, such is the amazing changeability of politics, all that is very much old hat. Over the last 2 election cycles, the Greens have changed. (Though not much I hear you say.) What I think disturbs Labor is not so much the Greens’ unwillingness to surrender entrenched extreme positions, but on the contrary their new-found preparedness to do so. They’ve adopted a shiny new pragmatic wheeling and dealing model under their turtle-necked wannabe svengali.

    Consequently, t’s legitimate, in one sense, to see the Greens as the enemy (which is Political Animal’s view), but in another sense to see them as part of a pincer movement, together with Labor, which, if properly coordinated, could keep the conservatives out of power almost indefinately, or at least until they were “forced” to move completely back to the centre. This latter is my (wishful thinking) view.

    Probably your view, Aguirre, is a mixture of these two. Which I think is persuasive, and possibly on the money.

    Nevertheless, realpolitik exists, and so I must keep stressing that Greens’ preferences are the single most important factor in Labor’s electability. We have to work around that.

    • Thanks for the response Dedalus.

      My main current criticism of the Greens is that they’re using their new-found willingness to negotiate predominantly to maximise the effectiveness of their 10-12% support, and for little else.

      So, to your points:

      1. The Nature of Politicking: This goes to the heart of what the Greens represent. It was less than a year ago they were being characterised as ‘watermelons’ – socialists masquerading as environmentalists. Are they? I really don’t know any more. To me they’re just a collection of naive politicians who think they know how to game the system to their benefit. They know there’s a large rump of society that wants the country to be more compassionate to refugees, and they’re more than happy to pander to them. There’s another bunch who want the unemployed to get a better deal. They’ll speak for them. There’s another bunch who just want to hear the right noises re the environment. For these groups, and many others, the Greens will make various ‘demands’ and try to shame the major parties (particularly the ALP). But their willingness to negotiate is out of proportion with their view of themselves. I understand their frustration over the ETS situation in 2009, but sitting with the Coalition to vote the Rudd measures down was symbolic in ways they didn’t begin to understand. That said, “We’d rather do nothing than this,” and it gave the Liberals, under Abbott, fresh impetus to go on the warpath against any action on climate change. Climate change was in fact dead as an issue the minute they voted the ETS. They should have abstained, which would still have defeated the bill but would have given the message the Greens were still in the game. But they couldn’t resist sticking the boot into Rudd and the country suffered as a result.

      Their actions re asylum seekers during Gillard’s PM-ship was if anything more appalling. The Coalition and the Greens disagreed with the Malaysia Solution for entirely different reasons, but they found their common ground over ‘drownings at sea’ and double-teamed against the ALP with undisguised glee. Again, the Greens sniffed votes in it, not decisive action. The Liberals couldn’t have been more cynical about it, yet the Greens affected to take them at their word. The result was a much more destructive policy in which ‘stopping the boats’ meant full-on cruelty and an attitude of “I don’t care where they die as long as it’s not our responsibility.”

      in both cases the Greens cynically chased after ALP voters and in doing so left a trail of victims behind them that they couldn’t be bothered even acknowledging.

      2. The Inability To Compromise: Oh yeah, they’ll compromise all right, as long as it involves preference deals. That’s the big change, savvy. Though it is also a form of selling out, because it’s going to force the Greens, locally at least, to support positions a lot of their voters would never countenance. It’ll be interesting to see what their voters make of it all. Most of the ones I know just vote Green because it sounds good – you know, the party for the environment, old major-party politics is killing us all, that sort of thing. They’ll believe anything they find in a Greens Facebook post. But they all still think the ALP is less evil than the Coalition, and that’s something the Greens are trying to stamp out with their both-as-bad-as-each-other rhetoric.

      I think they’ll make some gains strategically, politically, but those gains will be wiped out through their loss of credibility. They’re not smart enough to play Big Politics. They keep thinking of short-term gains whereas other parties, the Liberals especially, are past masters at giving up a little to gain a lot. In chess terms, the Greens have just gone up a pawn, but left both Knights exposed.

    • Another thing that should be kept in mind. Can we really treat the Greens as an ally when they’re targeting 6 ALP seats to 1 coalition seat.

      Also I’d be less pissed off about the greens’ politicking, wheeling and dealing if their rabid supporters admitted that that’s what they’re doing rather than trying to claim that their aims and actions are as pure as snow.

  8. I don’t know about anyone else but “Terror, BOO!” is just one reason more for me not to vote for his party

    The Prime Minister has praised Australia’s border security arrangements in the wake of the attacks in Belgium, which have killed 34 people and injured more than 200.

    But Mr Turnbull said he could not rule out the possibility of a future terrorist attack domestically.

    “You cannot guarantee that there will be no terrorist incident,” Mr Turnbull told ABC News.

    “But I can assure Australians that our security system, our border protection, our domestic security arrangements, are much stronger than they are in Europe where regrettably they allowed security to slip.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-23/turnbull-says-europe-let-security-slip/7269920

    • ha ha ha
      does Saudi Arabia fund the building of Australian mosques, does it pay Imam’s wages

  11. Awkward –

    Waffles visited the Shoalhaven region of NSW today. He took Arfur $inodonis along too. As they were leaving a Liberal Party fundraising lunch a journalist asked Waffles about the NSW Liberal fund-raising scandal and asked if he was going to ask Arfur to resign. Guess who was caught on camera making a beeline for his ComCar?
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-24/malcolm-turnbull-responds-to-nsw-liberal-party/7275024

    We paid for this visit, for transport, security, whatever, but the purpose was clear. It was really so Waffles could attend a $100 a head fundraiser for Ann Sudmalis, who holds Gilmore. They dolled it up by getting Waffles to visit a public school and tour a drone factory, but it was really just a junket to raise election campaign funds.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-24/labor-calls-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-stand-down-arthur-sinodinos/7273930

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-24/turnbull-spruiks-defence-white-paper-during-nowra-visit/7275412

  12. Here is the dilemma for the Greens.

    The Greens (whose new leader the green knight is one of god’s heretical archangels) has been up to now on the heavenly sidelines observing the struggle between god and the devil for control of the heavenly kingdom. To win kudos from the other angels (the members of the so-called “heavenly host”), it decides to take advantage of the devil. Not necessarily to do deals with the devil, but to take advantage of the devil’s weakness for self-deluded strategic deep thought.

    Here’s what the green knight figures what the devil is figuring what the green knight is figuring. The devil hates god much more than the green knight. Why? Because the devil figures the green knight will never be the holder of the keys to the heavenly kingdom, so it makes sense to let him win a couple of clouds in order to strategically piss god off. This will make god very cross, and his angels will hurl hammers at the green knight and this will make many of the green knight’s elves think god is nasty, and so they will look more kindly on the devil, who is wearing a coat with some lovely green buttons and hiding his horns beneath a top hat.

    Fortunately, god’s chief advisor, the archangel Bill, has perceived subtly the flaw in the green knight’s plan (for it is not unsimilar to the one used by a previous recalcitrant upstart the archangel Meg), that the smell of urine in the heavenly kingdom (which mandates a holier-than-thou perfume in all things to the left of the central clouds) will cause a great stink among many of the elves who will then abandon the green knight and return their allegience to god. Thus, assures the archangel Bill to god, what a fecking dill will turn out to be the green knight, as will be recorded in the annals of the earthly scribes ( messrs Kelly, Shanahan, Coorey, etc and mesdames Tingle, cokebottle and dame slap etc).

  14. A quick update…

    We have survived Easter. HI has received no nasties from management and it’s Easter!

    This was supposed to be all over by well before Christmas.

    There have been some ploys and tactical moves on our part. They seem to have paid off. We can have a nice Easter holiday and not have to worry about HR dickheads ruining it.

    I promised this would be a quick update, and so it is.

  21. Mr Turnbull has also denied that the Government’s use of the phrase “continuity and change” is an official slogan.

    The catchphrase is almost identical to the one used on the American television comedy Veep, and the show’s creators have since said they chose it because it was the most “meaningless” slogan they could come up with.

    Tony Jones: Are you going to change your slogan “continuity and change” now that you’ve realised how silly it is?

    Malcolm Turnbull: (laughs) Well it’s not, it’s not a slogan and I’m not into slogans.

    Tony Jones: Well a slogan is a phrase that is used repeatedly, a short memorable phrase used in political campaigning.

    Malcolm Turnbull: Yes, well …

    Tony Jones: So I’d have to say it is a slogan because you’ve used it repeatedly.

    Malcolm Turnbull: No I’ve not used that slogan.

    But Mr Turnbull then went on to use the words “continuity” and “change” several times to explain how his Government is transitioning from that of Tony Abbott.

    “When there is a change of prime minister, and in fact this applies even when there’s a change of government from one party to another, there are policies that continue, so there is continuity and there are policies that change,” he said.

  22. This little black duck

    Indeed, his own little group of fund raisers, Wentworth Forum, have attracted some “interesting” claims regarding their fundraising “integrity’.

  23. So will the ‘decisive’ and ‘strong’ – cough ….cough …. sorry, I seem to have this really bad cough ……. demand Artie resigns from his parliamentary secretary position and go back to the backbench? Cough …..

    Or will the fool keep on defending the indefensible because he’s too fracking weak to do what he knows has to be done?

    View from the Street asks if Artie will be the fourth member of the turnbull team to resign in disgrace.

    View from the Street: It’s been a sad, sad week for Arthur Sinodinos
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/view-from-the-street-its-been-a-sad-sad-week-for-arthur-sinodinos-20160324-gnqgwx.html#ixzz43oRxJYJ6

    Not a good look going into an election that’s supposed to be all about corruption on the other side.

    I bet The Prince of Point Piper is regretting his captain’s pick on forcing a DD by now. Not even a week in and things are already unravelling at warp speed.

  24. http://andrewelder.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/ever-decreasing-circles.html

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2016/03/23/nbn-wont-be-caught-with-pants-down-if-labor-switches-back-to-fibre/

    http://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2016/mar/24/the-budget-is-coming-so-standby-for-talk-of-ordinary-australians-who-are-these-people

  27. Fiona

    some ye oldish kiwi orchestral.

    Douglas Lilburn came to be New Zealand’s most important composer of the 20th Century. He went to study in the Royal Academy of Music in London with Ralph Vaughan-Williams and became acquiesced with his master’s music and that of Jean Sibelius; composer whose music was en vogue in England during the 1930’s. When Lilburn returned to his home, he set to become an important voice in the Oceanian isles. His Symphony No. 1 of 1949 became a very important example of art music in New Zealand. Although the work denotes very strong influences from Sibelius and Vaughan-Williams, it is cast in a very original voice and form.

    .
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk-XYzTSgfo

  28. Kaffeeklatscher,

    Lilburn’s music is sadly under-performed, but it does get played on ABC Classics FM from time to time, and I listen with enthusiasm.

  29. This little black duck,

    When you’re in a hole …

    The Turnbull government’s cabinet secretary, Arthur Sinodinos, has threatened to take legal action against the NSW Electoral Commission over what he calls a “flawed” report that has led to media outlets labelling him corrupt.

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/24/arthur-sinodinos-threatens-legal-action-against-nsw-electoral-commission

    Amongst themselves in the NSW EC, they are probably saying, “hey, Arthur, make my day”!

  30. If Labor pulls off the impossible and wins the 2016 election, NBN says it’s ready to switch back to fibre to the premises.

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2016/03/23/nbn-wont-be-caught-with-pants-down-if-labor-switches-back-to-fibre/

    Blimey, that is a smack in the face and a half for the recently promoted Communications Minister! Who’d have thought that Labor’s original policy would turn out to be far superior to the one Turnbull & Abbott conjured up?

    Ha ha! Couldn’t leave Abbott out of this tragedy! 😉

  32. This is just bizarre.

    From Wixxyleaks Facebook page.
    Wixxyleaks added 2 new photos.
    12 mins ·
    In Victoria today the Greens have put up a notice of motion to ditch all of the new restrictions the Labor Party have put on the duck shooting season.
    Backed by the Shooters and Fishers this will effectively turn the season into a free-for-all, lifting all kill number restrictions, opening closed wetlands and extending the season.
    Labor will of course oppose the motion
    https://www.facebook.com/Wixxyleaks/

    • Leone,

      If that is true I nominate all Greens members of Vic parliament to dress up as ducks and go to appropriate wetlands.

  33. Fiona

    Surprisingly, preteen moi heard this on NZBC a “liked”, Perhaps it was the influence of so many older rellies having wind chimes. Loved them.

  34. The joys of youtube randomness. Danish lady , hello TLBD, Else Marie Pade with electronica music in 19 bloody 58

Comments are closed.