open Democracy News Analysis - democracy & terror - Comments

dds on "Islamism and war: the demographics of rage"

dds — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:11:20 +0000

лучше бы по-Русски написал...

Not logged in on "Secularism confronts Islam"

Not logged in — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:40:10 +0000

to the follower of "godofreason" (God of Hate!). Everything you said shows your ignorance and hatred. The Quran rebukes everything you said and even those verses that you quoted were misinterpreted. There are no" virgins" for males in Paradise because in Paradise people will be genderless, no males or females. Those beautiful eyed women and men will be only servants for all the people of Paradise.

markwalters on "The "new violence" of Mumbai"

markwalters — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:22:34 +0000

In contrast to the socio-economic violence of working classes, this type of violence doesn't like getting it's hands dirty. The basis of this new global terror is
in the sanitization and de-politicization of violence. Mark Walters (Australia)

Asias on "The resurgence of the neo-Taliban"

Asias — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:32:55 +0000

What a strange creature human being is, ah!? I just felt alone, both spiritually and physically, sunk in deep thought, and looked enquiringly into people and myself for some kind of answer to the question I had not formulated in my mind. No, no, I was not confused at all as you may have possibly been thinking now. Neither was I going crazy! I thought I just didn’t have the slightest idea or motive what to do next and how to go about it. “How to go about what?” I didn’t know myself. This was the question I had asked myself then. Maybe to go about this weird situation that I felt screamingly lonely. I switched my computer on and put some music, the best ones I usually listen when I need some relax, and, and suddenly to my own surprise I found myself clapping insanely, feeling like shouting and crying as loud as I could. “OH, WHAT IS GOING ON, SHIT?” I shouted. I realized that I didn’t shout. It was not a scream. It was just my inner sound. But I thought I did shout. Then in a low voice I whispered slowly to myself “what is indeed going on with me?” Hhmm! Ey! [breathing] Hey, come down! Everything is good! ♪Perhaps I was addicted to the dark side
Somewhere inside my childhood I missed my heart die
And even though we both came from the same places
The money and the fame made us all change places

Frank J. Denbar on "Scotland’s nationalist-Muslim embrace"

Frank J. Denbar — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:31:05 +0000

Is this really and truly happening to the rulers of the waves and the conquerors of Hong Kong, Palestine, India, and many other Countries ? Unbelievable, but when we hear it, and see it, we've got to believe it.

Whatever happened to Britain's Iron fist and Iron grip, Law and Order? Can this really be happening?
What you truly have on your own land are in reality not immigrants, political refugees, or displaced refugees, what you have are occupiers of your land who are planning and preparing for a total take over.

Those ungratefuls are now in the process of converting Christians to Muslims by infiltrating their ways to private family homes, Churches, business corporations so on and so forth, so wake up to reality
before it's too late, one more thing I have to mention
"Your Present Polititions Are All GFN"
It Means: Good For Nothing.

Stand up for what you believe in, your faith, your freedom, and your Country .

EJF on "What to do about torture? Manfred Nowak interviewed"

EJF — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:34:05 +0000

Let us not forget , these terrorist,, quite frankly, want to kill us and make the world islam. They will stop at nothing, and use any means necessary to attain there goal. What do we do to extract vital information? Do we ask them nicely to enlighten us about there plans to attack NYC, LA, or Washington, killing thousands of men, women, and children? We are in a war of survival and my families lives are at stake. So I ask; how do we obtain vital info. from these fanatics to save our country? Or do we just submit to the radicals, because as Dean Harold Koh has naively stated "Under no circumstances is torture allowable even if the life of the nation is at stake."

Naila on "The car-bomb: terror’s globalisation"

Naila — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:25:07 +0000

Faboulous article...its a very good summary and shows a keen mind! Congrats...hope to see that sequel you promised :)

Cole_2233 on "Pakistan's failed crackdown "

Cole_2233 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:50:40 +0000

What of this idea - supposing Muslims (*meaning in general and not specific individuals who's opinions will certainly be varied)

were in actual fact viewing the West in a similar way to the way the West views say radical Islam -

In this case - Muslims* might consider Western Democracy and individual freedoms - as a threat - to the Islamic world or to their way of life - and something that needs to be eradicated - or overturned.

So while Westerners see themselves as having the high ground - against these terrorists Muslim* populations might consider these same terrorists to be the only ones standing up to a Western system of Democracy which - in their view needs to be brought under the control - of Islam or the Shari'a!

So while we are working to rid the world of terrorists - Muslims* (most peacefully) are angling to rid the world of Democracy (or man's laws) - freewill and individual choice - freedom of speech and expression - deemed un-Islamic - through political pressure and dialogue !!

:: ::

What if our Democracies are being eroded ~ not through violence - but through a concerted effort to overturn them from within/or through external diplomacy - by people (and some might even say good people) who genuinely believe that the very idea of Democracy is flawed and are actively working to dismantle it - with the help of those who don't understand or who reject these aims as baseless.

michaelcalder on "Pakistan's failed crackdown "

michaelcalder — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:43:01 +0000

So we find that anti-terrorist laws, regulation, and administrative action; and arrests, propaganda, and repression, have had little effect on the terrorist's support and organisation.

Amazing.

We'll be discovering steam next.

"Terrorist organisations" (or "freedom fighters", or "armed separatists" - take your pick of loaded, pejorative, or neutral terms, as you wish) flourish when there are certain base conditions in the environment:

a) one or more casus belli or perceived injustices,

b) a suppressed or economically disadvantaged population,

c) a lack of, or suppression of, peaceful means to counter a) or improve the lot of b),

d) clearly identified targets who are responsible for are scapegoated for a), b), and c).

Until these underlying causes are addressed in some meaningful way, no amount of military action, law enforcement, political repression, or anything else, short of total genocide, is likely to have any significant effect.

This is not to say that one side must capitulate to the other, or that we can only feebly call for the parties involved to become nice sensible chaps and start being nice to each other; but everyone has to realise that:

1) There is a real problem,

2) That neither side can ever hope to get its own way without reference to the rest of the world,

3) That side A getting something doesn't have to mean that it's at the expense of side B; no real game is ever necessarily zero-sum, given a little ingenuity,

4) That a solution will only come from addressing the causes, and

5) The only people who can sort it out are the protagonists.

The rest I leave as an exercise for the student.

Clear skies!

Paul Henderson - Necklaces for Men on "I’ve turned 25, uh-huh. Wish me luck…"

Paul Henderson - Necklaces for Men — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:02:16 +0000

Oh god. I just felt instantly depressed after reading the entries. I can't help but think how horrible human nature is. It only proves how uncertain our lives are. There are no major wars, but I think more people are being killed each day due to politics. Such a sad world.

sbq on "What to do about torture? Manfred Nowak interviewed"

sbq — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:42:50 +0000

Salon's Greenwald has an excellent article on how the US is legally bound to investigate and prosecute torturers at
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/18/prosecutions/

M. Affan Badar on "The "new violence" of Mumbai"

M. Affan Badar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:42:57 +0000

India as the largest democracy in the world and an emerging power, has to handle this kind of problems on its own in a serious and timely manner. We have to understand that we are a people of multi-religion and multi-culture, and success or prosperity of each citizen will improve our nation's prosperity. Loss of a life or property is an Indian loss regardless of the religion and cast of the victim. Our agencies and policy makers have to investigate such violence on their own with fairness (not to play blame game or to score political point) and punish severely these individuals who carry out such acts. There should be only two categories: victims and culprits, and not hindus or muslims, etc., and it should apply all the time and to all the violence without any preference. We need to stick to our values and ideals of democracy, justice, and freedom as emphasized by US president Obama. There is nothing wrong with organizations and associations no matter whether they are hindu, muslim, or christian organizations as long as they exercize their democratic and legal rights of freedom and help its group expand and succeed democratically and in turn make India prosper.

jean on "I’ve turned 25, uh-huh. Wish me luck…"

jean — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:15:53 +0000

Few people noticed that Anastasia Baburova, 25, died exactly forty years after Jan Palach (he set himself afire on 19 January, 1969, as a protest against USSR's "friendly" invasion of Czechoslowakia)

The pace of human progress is moderate

Jean-Ollivier

blackjack rules on "India’s urban war: through the smoke "

blackjack rules — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:21:03 +0000

There should be zero tolerance for terrorism in a democracy but then terrorism flourishes for number of reasons, not in a vacuum or

only because of religious fanaticism.Terrorism cannot disappear simply through military or security operations. We must address

the root causes while simultaneously exhorting our youth to imbibe highest values of our religion, culture and traditions. We all

should have to try stop this terrorism.

Namrata Chindarkar on "The "new violence" of Mumbai"

Namrata Chindarkar — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:38:59 +0000

Acts such as the terror attack on Mumbai raises questions about the inclusiveness of Indian democracy. As long as India's Muslim population continues to show abysmal performance on all development indicators we will have more such vulnerable youth up in arms.

Terror attacks such as these can be seen as "economically efficient" alternatives to war. Instead of engaging in a large scale cross-border war, India's adversaries prefer to engage in such attacks, which are more economical, efficient, and targeted in derailing daily lives of the civilian population and plummeting local economies. And also as the author points out, media provides ready publicity making them even more effective.