Islamist Wave 2014 - News & Discussion

10 posts

Longface
Wirathu's 'Buddhist Woman Raped' Facebook Post Stokes Anti-Muslim Violence in Mandalay

A Buddhists mob has clashed with Muslims in Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay after monk Ashin Wirathu - the self-styled Burmese bin Laden - shared claims that a Buddhist woman had been raped on his popular Facebook page .

More than 600 officers have been deployed in an attempt to control an angry crowd of about 300 Buddhists, including 30 monks, who started throwing stones, rocks and bricks near a tea shop owned by a Muslims man. Police fired three rubber bullets in an attempt to control the crowd, which went on a rampage against Muslims shops and vehicles.

Five people have been injured in clashes. Muslim shops were damaged and the windows of a mosque were smashed.

Mandalay police confirmed in a statement that a charge of rape had been filed against the tea shop owner.

Rumours that a woman was raped while travelling to Naypyidaw with her employers spread on social media on 28 June. The owner of the Mandalay teashop told reporters that his two brothers had been charged with rape and that police were searching for them.

At that point, Wirathu, leader of the controversial 969 nationalist movement shared the story on Facebook adding that he called the owner of the teashop saying that his brother will have to face justice.

Violence against Myanmar's Muslims has intensified over the past two years, incited by extremist monks and the virulent anti-Muslim '969' campaign , which espouses hate and urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim businesses.

Much of the sectarian violence has taken place in the western Rakhine state, where clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in 2012 left about 200 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

In January, Burmese police set fire to at least 70 Rohingya homes in the village of Du Char Yar Tan, where at least 48 Muslims were said to have been killed by a Buddhist mob.

Buddhists also attacked international aid workers in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe, forcing them to find refuge at a local police station.
Fitz
1,000 Syrian rebels defect to Islamic State, activists say

By Mousab Al Hamadee and Roy Gutman
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Published: July 8, 2014

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — A Syrian rebel brigade defected to the Islamic State this week, a sign that the extremist group continues to build strength after seizing vast territories in western Iraq and eastern Syria, anti-government activists said Tuesday.

The 1,000-strong Dawud Brigade, which had been based in Sarmin, a town in Syria’s Idlib province, arrived Sunday in Raqqa, a city in northeast Syria that the Islamic State has made its main headquarters for more than a year.

The defecting rebels moved in a convoy of more than 100 vehicles, including 10 tanks that had been seized from the Syrian army, the activists said. In order to cross the lines of pro-Western rebels who are fighting the Islamic State, the defecting rebels said they were heading to Aleppo to confront government forces now attempting to lay siege to rebel-held parts of Syria’s biggest city.

Dawud, with mostly Islamists in its ranks, has a complex history of relations with the Islamic State, and the impact of its departure from an anti-government umbrella group, the Sham Army, wasn’t immediately clear. The big question was whether other groups or individuals would follow suit.

The Islamic State’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has called for Muslims throughout the world to travel to the Islamic caliphate the group has established in the areas of Iraq and Syria it controls.

One Syrian journalist put down Dawud’s departure to threats made by other rebel groups that feared the brigade as a potential fifth column that could wreak havoc in an area from which the extremists were thought to have been expelled in January. The Sham Army claimed that it had expelled Dawud.

The journalist, Ammar Abu Shahin, said the expulsion came after Islamic State advances in Syria’s Deir el-Zour and Aleppo provinces prompted anti-Islamic State rebels in Idlib and Hama provinces to look for sleeper cells.

“Frankly speaking, people in the countryside of Idlib are in a real panic about the advancement of the Islamic State,” he said.

He said the Islamic Front, an umbrella group of Islamist fighting forces, had arrested and executed eight Islamic State agents, and that this drove Hassan Abboud, the brigade’s leader, to head to Raqqa. This “suits him, as the Islamic State is in charge,” he said.

Dawud had long been under suspicion by other groups. It had fought on the side of the Islamic State against the pro-Western Free Syrian Army late last year and well into January, but after FSA commander Jamal Marouf routed the Islamic State from most of its bases in Idlib in January and threatened Dawud, it quit the alliance. After declaring that it would direct its weapons only against the regime, Dawud joined the Sham Army in February.

But the brigade continued to straddle the fence, said Muhiddin Abdul Razzak, an anti-government activist in Sarmin. He charged that Dawud had provided a haven for Syrians and foreign volunteers who’d fled the besieged Islamic State forces but intended to rejoin if the opportunity arose.

He called Dawud’s decision to join the Sham Army “only a change of uniforms” and said other Islamic State supporters might now declare themselves and also head to Raqqa.

“We’d really love to get rid of that rubbish,” he said.

Dawud’s Abboud couldn’t be reached for comment.

Al Hamadee is a McClatchy special correspondent.
Fitz
ISIS Militants Captured 52 American-Made Artillery Weapons That Cost $500,000 Each

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LCpl Samantha L. Jones/USMC
U.S. soldiers fire an M198 howitzer


ISIS militants may be in a position to pummel other cities in Iraqi army control after capturing American-made weapons the group seized from the Iraqi military, Mitchell Prothero reports for McClatchy DC .

During ISIS's blitz across northern and central Iraq last month, the group captured upwards of 52 155mm M198 howitzers.

These U.S.-supplied artillery pieces have a range of up to 20 miles and can also be outfitted with GPS aiming systems. The howitzers' range could place Baghdad, as well as many other major Iraqi cities, squarely within bombardment range of ISIS.

Jeremy Binnie, an analyst for British military consultancy HIS Janes, told McClatchy DC that he doubted the Islamists would be able to learn how to use the GPS aiming systems quickly. However, the weapons can fire two rounds a minute and could still cause considerable damage to cities through imprecise fire.

“They shouldn’t have too much trouble shelling large area targets like a city if they have sufficient ammo," Binnie said.

ISIS currently maintains a stronghold in the city of Fallujah, only 40 miles to the west of Baghdad. The group has also made gains to the south of Baghdad in the area Jurf al Sakhar, which is only 13 miles from the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

Should ISIS blindly shell Karbala, Iraq could plunge even further into a sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shias. ISIS has also attempted to shell at least twice so far the golden-domed Samarra Shrine, whose destruction in 2006 set off a terrible cycle of violence.

Aside from the 52 howitzers, ISIS also took 1,500 U.S.-made Humvees and 4,000 PKC machine guns that can fire upwards of 800 rounds per minute.

SEE ALSO: Here's a look at what else ISIS has in its arsenal
Fitz

Fitz
All-Female ISIS Brigade Cracks Down on Women in Raqqa

Jul 20, 2014, 6:34 AM ET
By AHMAD AL-BAHRI, Syria Deeply
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They Apprehend Women Who Don't Follow Organization's Strict Brand of Sharia Law

By AHMAD AL-BAHRI, Syria Deeply

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Shortly after the Sunni militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) retook control of Raqqa earlier this year, it created the al-Khansaa' Brigade, an all-female unit operating in the city. Its purpose is to apprehend civilian women in Raqqa who do not follow the organization's strict brand of Sharia law , including a mandate that all women be fully covered in public and that they be accompanied by a male chaperone.

"We have established the brigade to raise awareness of our religion among women, and to punish women who do not abide by the law," says Abu Ahmad, an ISIS official in Raqqa. "There are only women in this brigade, and we have given them their own facilities to prevent the mixture of men and women."

He says the organization, which has been pushing further into eastern Syria after taking control of the Iraqi city of Mosul and key points on the Iraq-Syria border last month, needs a female brigade to "raise awareness among women, and arrest and punish women who do not follow the religion correctly. Jihad is not a man-only duty. Women must do their part as well."

The women who join the brigade are either women of Raqqa who wanted to take part in ISIS's activities there, or, often, the wives of mujahedeen who have come to fight from other parts of Syria or the region.

Though women are assuming new, more powerful roles across Syria – the U.N. now estimates that one in four displaced families in Syria has a female head – residents here say that any "girl power" wrought by the brigade is mitigated by the harsher restrictions they have been tasked with imposing on Raqqa's women.

"ISIS created it to terrorize women," says Abu al-Hamza, a local media activist. He says the brigade raided the city's Hamida Taher Girls School and arrested 10 students, two teachers and a secretary on the grounds that some of them were wearing veils that were too thin. Others were accused of wearing hair clips under the veil, pinning them in a way that showed too much of their faces.

Al-Hamza says that the women subsequently spent six hours in an ISIS detention center, where they were whipped. "After arresting those women and girls," continues al-Hamza, "they took them to ISIS prisons and locked them in for six hours and punished some of them with 30 whips each."

Zainab is a local teen who was arrested by female members of ISIS four months ago.

"I was walking down the street when a car suddenly stopped and a group of armed women got out," she says. "They insulted me and yelled at me. They took me to one of their centers and kept me locked in a room. Nobody talked to me or told me the reason for my detention. One of the women in the brigade came over, pointing her firearm at me. She then tested my knowledge of prayer, fasting and hijab."

The fighter told Zainab she had been arrested because she had been walking alone, without an escort, and because her hijab was not worn properly. "You should be punished for taking your religion lightly," she told Zainab, before threatening harsher punishment should she be arrested again.

Two hours later, she was released. But for Zainab – and other women here – the message was clear.

"The brigade has created fear among the women and girls of Raqqa," she says. "We've seen how they move, always watching women on the street, raiding schools, arresting students and locking them in for hours."

This article originally appeared on Syria Deeply .
Copyright © 2014 ABC News Internet Ventures
Bob Dylan Roof

Tocharians keeping up the knife attacks on the Han hive
Heavy casualties reported in Xinjiang terror attack

Fitz


Angocachi
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Botox on the rise among Iranian men ​
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When Mohammad Khatami announced his candidacy for president the first time, rumors of the significance looks and clothing had to him, and the supposed time he spent in front of the mirror, were widely spread and harshly criticized by some of his opponents. These were points evidently proven right by Khatami's obvious attention to personal style, while the rumors were not denied by Khatami himself, either. In those days, however, there was no talk of Botox. ​
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Khatami's obvious attention to personal style notwithstanding, he never bothered to deny the rumors. In those days, however, there was no talk of Botox injections . During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's presidency, however, people were talking about obvious Botox injections in the absence of more substantive criticism. ​

Although most Iranian men traditionally spend much time on — and greatly care about — what others think of their looks, the administration has over the years cast a shadow over that kind of care and attention, defining it as emasculating and Western-influenced, and punishing men who dress elegantly at work unless they are physicians or lawyers. Introducing cosmetic rejuvenation procedures to men produced a shock, rather than a backlash, particularly since nothing could be done by the administration to prevent men from undergoing such procedures, which have become increasingly popular. Iran’s Ministry of Health has announced that over the past year there has been a 20% increase in rejuvenation procedures received by Iranian men.
“Honestly, I don’t sense a difference between the desire to be youthful in men and women. If women like to stay and look young, so do men. This is the stuff we’ve been brainwashed about since childhood: that a man’s masculine and mature characteristic dictates his roughness. That he shouldn’t want to look young or spend a lot of time in front of the mirror,” Amir told Al-Monitor in a phone interview. ​
Amir is a 52-year-old architect who regularly visits his ophthalmologist and gets Botox injections. He says he follows his wife’s trend: ​
“My wife started getting Botox right after we became grandparents, five years ago. She did not say so, but my hunch was that she didn’t want to look like a grandma, specially given her age (and mine). We were only 47 when our granddaughter was born. When my wife encouraged me to get Botox with her about a year afterward, I was all for it already. It has boosted my self-confidence greatly.” ​
Conservative commentators criticize Botox procedures done by men, their logic being not only what they refer to as a futile attempt to appear young, but also other elements such as the necessity of proper application and injection, the potential danger of the Botox used being imported from China and the importance of the conditions in which it is transported and stored. The critics’ choice of wording is quite interesting as well: the word they use when referring to Botox and generally when talking about men opting for Botox — potentially deadly botulinum toxin — is “poison,” emphasizing the chemical component of Botox, and avoiding the name of said “poison.” ​
Majid Abhari, a sociologist and a favorite of the administration, has time and again discussed what he calls the new obsession of Iranian men with Botox, and interprets it as a mental complex in which men see themselves as ugly, and increasingly struggle to beautify themselves, while women, since they are veiled and covered, perceive themselves as beautiful and therefore have higher self-esteem. ​
Abhari says he strongly believes that 60% of the tendency Iranian men have toward using Botox is due to their belief that Botox “could help them look handsome and rich, and serve as a positive element for their marriage endeavors.” He does not, however, mention where the 60% to which he refers is rooted. Other factors driving men to cosmetic surgery, Abhari says, are low self-esteem and loss of religious and social values. ​
Dr. Hamid is a general practitioner in Kerman who regularly injects Botox in many of his patients. In an interview, he told Al-Monitor that a few pro-administration and religiously conservative people have made his life difficult over his giving Botox injections in his office. “There is no difference whatsoever in the process of injecting Botox, and being a man or a woman on the receiving end is absolutely beside the point,” he said. “Somehow, however, I’ve started receiving and hearing complaints since I’ve been performing the procedure on men. On average, I have two male patients a week who usually become regular Botox-receiving patients, within the age range of 45 through 65. Though I am doing nothing illegal or underground, most of these complaints address the fact that I am not a specialist, which is totally invalid in the case of Botox treatment.” ​
Official statistics issued by Iranian state sources indicate that the number of people who visited a doctor — including specialists like ophthalmologists and dermatologists — was 2,000-3,000 a day, and the number of eager men who opt for Botox injections has risen considerably within the past year. These statistics show that over the past two years, an average of 100 billion toomans (around $31 million) is annually paid for Botox injections in Tehran alone. ​
Nariman, a 38-year-old electrician who mainly lives off installing satellite dishes and fixing satellite TV issues in a Tehran suburb, told Al-Monitor that he enthusiastically got a Botox injection in his forehead after months of hearing his wife’s complaints about his “old face.” He said, “I saved up and did it as a surprise. I returned home that day, really excited, couldn’t wait to hear my wife’s compliments. But as soon as she laid eyes on me, she started screaming and throwing things at me. She immediately left for her mother’s house. ​
“It took a lot of effort and several gifts to finally bring her back after almost three weeks,” he said. “She thought I was either having an affair or had turned gay, and made it quite clear that such sissy actions would not be tolerated in our household. But, I got a million compliments from my customers, mostly the ladies. A few of them asked for my doctor’s name and number. It was really heartwarming. Makes me want to go get more when this wears off.” ​
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/iran-botox-men.html# ​
williebrennan

Here's a very pertinent little "blast from the past" concerning the current shitstorm in Iraq.

Zinni on the goddamn jewboys

link
Angocachi

"They (America) are not giving us weapons to fight Assad, they give us weapons to fight ISIS."
"They only give weapons to those who specifically fight ISIS."
-FSA

FSA tells Vice that they are armed by America in Syria, organized in Turkey, and trained by America in Qatar to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), NOT Assad.

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Cb3OURdl3g