Thursday, August 09, 2007

Dealing with Dissent

The Trumpet.com featured the following story today:

Iran Muzzles and Executes Dissenters Under Sharia Law

Frenzied shouts of “Allah akbar” (“Allah is great”) accompanied seven Iranians on their death walk Wednesday. Moments later, executioners kicked the stools supporting their weight out from beneath their feet, and cords around their necks cut their fall sickeningly short. Accompanying the victims’ final few spasmodic kicks, the crowd of onlookers and a mullah howled, “Alhamd li-Allah” (“Praise be to Allah”).

The hangings, broadcast live on Iranian public television, were the latest in the state’s crackdown on “hooligans.” The Farsi equivalent of “hooligans” is Tehran’s term for dissenters, activists or troublesome union leaders.

According to Iranian-born journalist Amir Taheri, the public executions ordered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are part of a terror campaign to clamp down on an increasingly restive population. At least 118 people have been executed since the middle of June, including four who were put to death by stoning.

Amnesty International lists Iran as having one of the highest execution rates in the world, a standing that may soon increase. Iran’s chief Islamic prosecutor reports that 150 more people are scheduled to be hanged and stoned to death over the coming days and weeks. The current wave of executions is Iran’s highest in 23 years.

As part of Iran’s recent crackdown and program of intimidation, over 1 million people have been arrested since April, most for violating Islamic dress codes, including having hairstyles deemed to be too Western. The arrests included 430,000 men and women on charges of drug use, 6,204 on charges on “sexual proximity,” and just within the city of Tehran, 4,209 on charges of hooliganism. Last week, Iranian police raided an underground rock concert and detained more than 200 people.

The wave of arrests has sparked a massive prison boom, as government buildings are being converted into makeshift jails. Still, Ali-Akbar Yassaqi, the head of the National Prisons Service, isn’t sure if the new buildings will prove sufficient.

Though many who are arrested may only spend hours or days incarcerated, Iranian prisons are overflowing. Government statistics show official prison capacity at 50,000, while inmate levels in excess of 150,000 have led Yassaqi to appeal for a moratorium on arrests.

The national crackdown comes as Iran’s leaders attempt to cut Iranians off from outside media and focus attention on international threats and conspiracies.

Over 4,000 Internet sites have been blocked, with more added each day. The national book blacklist is growing too. Over the past four months, 30 newspapers and magazines have been closed, and 17 journalists jailed, two of whom are scheduled to be hung.

Additionally, 40 people have arrested on charges of spying. Iranian propaganda reached a dubious level recently when state-sponsored news agency irna announced that 14 squirrels carrying foreign-agency espionage gear had been captured.

The futility of the West trying to make peace with the radical leaders responsible for this massive wave of arrests and executions should be readily apparent. Ahmadinejad does not want peace; he wants Iranian-enforced Sharia law to cover the world. As Tehran’s leaders consolidate their hold on the country by brute force, expect Iran to become even more forceful in its foreign policy.

The MSM does not even mention this story. It does not deem it important enough. In any case, it might expose the dangers of Ahmedinajad and the Ayatollahs to western readers. What is so terrible about that, you say? Why gentle readers, if people in the West begin to understand the mindset of IslamoFascists, if they perceive these murderous creatures for what they are, we might stop trying to find a diplomatic solution for the problems they’ve created. What would appeasers (read: elite pseudo-intellectual liberals) do if people know the truth? We live in an age that absolutely reflects the words of Al Gore, who said a week ago, that propaganda passes for information these days.

What is or is not considered “news that’s fit to print” is an important part of the propaganda agenda. It is no longer enough for a story to reflect a specific slant, successful propaganda also dictates what inconvenient truths must be ignored. Iran’s putrid little maggot, Ahmedinajad, has a unique and ruthless way of dealing with dissent. If that means trumping up charges that will lead to the dissenter’s death by hanging or stoning… so be it. Not only does it provide good entertainment for the putrid little maggot’s subjects but, more importantly, it instills fear in them thereby perpetuating the dictatorial rule of the IslamoFascists.

The West, however, prefers to talk, to cajole, to persuade with words and is too lazy too rattle a few sabers to knock these bullies down from their high perch. IslamoFascists see Western tactics as weakness, as a sign of spinelessness. The West should stand up while it still can and use the IslamoFascist tactics on the same IslamoFascist leaders espousing them. Not only will that liberate these despots’ subjects from horrible tyrannical rule, but will show the IslamoFascist that we can speak their language just as well… And… when we do, if we show no fear, if we are driven by the unwavering commitment to destroy them, our superior strength will speedily send them to enjoy their 72 virgins, or… was it 72 Virginians?


Iranian policeman tightens the noose on Hossein Kavousifar
in preparation for a public hanging in Tehran, August 2.

(Photo from: The Trumpet.com)

Chaim

Crossposted at: Freedom's Cost

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Islamists dominate Bahrain elections

Sheik Ali Salman
Islamists get out the vote!

MANAMA, Bahrain - Islamist candidates swept to victory in Bahrain's parliamentary election, splitting the vote between hardline Shiite and Sunni Muslims while female and liberal candidates fared poorly in the U.S.-allied kingdom, preliminary results showed Sunday.


With several races headed for runoffs, Saturday's vote appeared to reinforce the sectarian divide between the Persian Gulf island's governing Sunni minority and the underprivileged Shiites who make up two-thirds of its 700,000 people.


The results also underlined a deepening social and religious conservatism in Bahrain, which has been among the most liberal of Arab states in the region and is host to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.


"The people trusted us and we did well," said al-Wefaq leader Sheik Ali Salman, a Shiite cleric in a rolled white turban and black cloak.

Democracy? A step forward in the middle-east? Or the same stuff demoractized? Why ask why?

Also at HotAir.com.


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Monday, October 02, 2006

Turkey's secularism, Islam and the EU

In the past Turkey was promoted as a model for Islamic countries, a model for democratization in the Middle East, and a potential soft power in the region. What's up with Turkey? Or maybe I should say what's down with Turkey today. Turkey has been known for it's secularism in the past, which made them a country in the Middle East that had potential. But that seems to be going in the opposite direction now. These changes may keep Turkey out of the European Union.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said yesterday "A deep cultural misunderstanding between Western and Muslim societies is fueling radical groups around the world", is meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush today. The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, will be a focus of Erdogan's meeting with Bush.

Secularism has a different meaning for the West than it does in the Middle East. In fact, there is a disconnect on many levels and the understanding between meaning of words in the ME and the West can be a problem. A 'soft power' also has a ver different meaning in the ME.

Soft power is defined as the ability to get what you want by attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals. Joseph S. Nye, Jr. "The Decline of America's Soft Power," Foreign Affairs. May/June 2004. source

Just two years ago, polls showed that more than 70 percent of Turks wanted to join the European Union, but that has slipped to 43 percent and continue to decline today. Why is the desire to join the EU slipping?

The most obvious frictions are over Cyprus: Turks feel they are being bullied by Brussels into making further concessions over the divided island. [snip]

The cost and hassle of implementing the EU's 80,000-page Acquis Communautaire—the vast canon of rules and regulations on everything from air quality to the size and shape of bananas... (more) Hat tip Toasted Bread

If Turkey does not enter the EU, some believe it 'will be in danger of backsliding into "inward-looking nationalism"'. Jacques Chirac says 'Turkey must recognise the Armenian Genocide before being able to adhere the European Union.

The Turkey-as-a-model argument had in fact emerged after the end of the Cold War. Anthony Blinkmen, President Clinton's Special Assistant and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council stated that "Turkey sits at the crossroads--or, if you prefer, atop the fault lines--of the world. Because of its place ... its history ... its size ... and strength, and most important, because of what it is--a nation of mainly Islamic faith that is secular, democratic, and modernizing--Turkey must be a leader and can be a role model for a large swath of the world." [snip]

The notion of Turkey being a model for Islamic countries reemerged more forcefully after September 11. President George W. Bush, attending the Istanbul NATO Summit in June 2004, said "I appreciate very much the example that your country has set on how to be a Muslim country which embraces democracy, rule of law and freedom." ... [snip]

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer reacted to this characterization by stating that "Turkey is neither an Islamic republic, nor an example of moderate Islam." source

On politics, 'Turkey's staunchly pro-secular president warned on Sunday of a continued Islamic fundamentalist threat to Turkey and said the military, the traditional guardians of the secular system, must be kept powerful. . . . His words appeared to be aimed at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, which has Islamic roots, and against the European Union which has been pressuring Turkey into curbing the military's powers.' A little history:

When the modern Turkish republic was born in 1923, its founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk pushed through what was arguably the most radical programme of secularisation ever attempted in any Muslim society, before or since.

Ataturk believed secular nationalism was an essential hallmark of modernity and progress.

Since the 1970s there have been a series of Muslim political parties, the latest of which, Justice and Development, came to power with a big majority last year. source

On Islam and the Pope's recent comments:

Erdogan, a pious Muslim who served a short jail sentence once for reciting a poem deemed Islamist by Turkey's secular authorities, said everybody, especially public figures such as the Pope, should show respect for other religions and cultures.

"The Pope is both a political and religious figure. But this person spoke in a way that is unfitting even for us politicians," Erdogan told an economic conference in Istanbul.

"When disrespect was shown for my Prophet (Mohammad) we could not tolerate this." Erdogan described the comments at the time as "ugly and unfortunate" and called for a papal apology. source

Can we presume from Erdogan's statements that had the Pope made his speech in Turkey he would have been arrested??? Something to think about.

Originally posted at Right Truth

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