Abiding Faith??? In Democracy You Say????

Following links leads to piles of information that you just don't get watching the Boob Tube. I started off reading Girl on the Right's take on round 327,886, or whatever it is, of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Her first link leads to this beaut: Women's Rights at the UN: Israel as the Only Violator. Upon reading that I rediscovered the name of an organization I had forgotten about: Organization of the Islamic Conference or OIC.

I went to their website and had a good laugh about the hypocrisy of this statement:

"The Secretary General of the OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has congratulated the people of Bangladesh for the successful general elections held on 29th December 2008. He noted that the massive turn-out of voters recorded during the elections was a remarkable achievement and represented the people’s abiding faith in the democratic process.."

Opportunistic exploitation or what?

Why, it was only yesterday I read this news that Right Girl also notes, Taliban Burning, Beheading Its Way Through Pakistani Valley, wherein the following is reported:

"A senior government official said he feared there could be a spillover effect if the government lost control of Swat and allowed the insurgency to infect other areas. Like nearly everyone interviewed, the official requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by militants."

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"Swat's militants are led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islamic law."

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"They have also set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints, according to lawmakers and officials. And they are suspected of burning scores of girls' schools."

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"In some places, just a handful of insurgents can control a village. They rule by fear: beheading government sympathizers, blowing up bridges and demanding women wear all-encompassing burqas."

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"In mid-December, Taliban fighters killed a young member of a Sufi-influenced Muslim group who had tried to raise a militia against them. The militants later dug up Pir Samiullah's corpse and hung it for two days in a village square — partly to prove to his followers that he was not a superhuman saint, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

A lawmaker and the senior Swat government official said business and landowners had been told to give two-thirds of their income to the militants. Some local media reported last week that the militants have pronounced a ban on female education effective in mid-January.

Several people interviewed said the regional government made a mistake in May when it struck a peace deal with the militants. The agreement fell apart within two months but let the insurgents regroup."

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""The terrorists' aim in Mumbai was precisely this — to get the Pakistani army to withdraw from the western border and mount operations on the east," said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively about militancy in the region.

"The terrorists are not going to be sitting still. They are not going to be adhering to any sort of cease-fire while the army takes on the Indian threat. They are going to occupy the vacuum the army will create.""

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A Swat militant boasted that "we are doing our activities wherever we want, and the army is confined to their living places."

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"He claimed the Swat militants had no Al Qaeda or foreign connections, but that they supported all groups that shared the goal of imposing Islamic law.

"With the grace of Allah, there is no dearth of funds, weapons or rations," he said. "Our women are providing cooked food for those who are struggling in Allah's path. Our children are getting prepared for jihad."

To which I would just add, go read the links on Right Girl's blog entry. I wonder how Bal would spin this one? There is something rotten in the state of Islam, Bal. Muslim scholars who might be on side with a Koranic rewrite are either too frightened, too complicit or too dead.

Another article of interest is this one, Latest Rockets Manufactured in China, from the Jerusalem Post.

"The Grad-model Katyusha rockets that were fired into Beersheba on Wednesday were manufactured in China and smuggled into Gaza after the Sinai border wall was blown up by Hamas in January, defense officials said."

Oh, and did you notice the map on the Organization of the Islamic Conference's website? Did you notice that little green spot on the west side of the pond? That's Guyana. A country that has been in bed with terrorist groups in the very recent past. A country with connections to the nefarious tri-border region in South America.

"Although the Chinese Mafia in the TBA [Tri-Border Area] is characterized by internecine rivalries, it is known to collaborate with the Islamic terrorist groups in the region. At least two organizations—the Sung-I and Ming families—have engaged in illegal operations with the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya. The Sung-I family, which is based in the Paraguayan town of Hernandárias, used three photography and electronic businesses located in Ciudad del Este as fronts for its activities. In December 2000, Sung-I sold a shipment of munitions to the Islamic Group, sending it to Egypt by ship as “medical equipment.” The Cameroon-flagged vessel was intercepted in the Cypriot port of Limasol. The Ming family managed Islamic Group funds from Ciudad del Este in the financial circuit that includes Guyana and the Cayman Islands."

and

"Terrorist groups seek target-rich environments for financial support, safe haven, and recruitment. Six million Muslims inhabit Latin American cities, which are ideal centers for recruiting and hiding terrorists. Ungoverned areas, primarily in the Amazon regions of Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, present easily exploitable terrain over which to move people and material. Over-populated Latin American cities are home to many disenfranchised groups and marginalized communities capable of supporting terrorist activities or fomenting homegrown terrorism. The Free Trade Zones of Iquique, Chile; Maicao, Colombia; and Colon, Panama, can generate undetected financial and logistical support for terrorist groups. Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru offer cocaine as a lucrative source of income. In addition, Cuba and Venezuela have cooperative agreements with Syria, Libya, and Iran."

Guyana is a country in which the Muslim population represents only 9% of the total, yet it belongs to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Hmmm.

Well folks. The Cold War is back on in full force. I wonder how Iraq and Afghanistan will fare? How will Obama's "fresh" approach meet with this challenge?