Pan-Islamic merged mega thread

[Good2Golf]

More importantly, did Journeyman just split an infinitive?

 

[Journeyman]

More importantly, did Journeyman just split an infinitive?

No, but the clause following my semi-colon was not grammatically complete.

~sigh~

 

[Good2Golf]

I would have taken the split infinitive over termination with a preposition.  James Tiberius K would also have gone the infinitive route... :not-again:

 

[The Bread Guy]

ISIS still learning the interwebs, episode 387 ...

Police in at least four European countries have been alerted to a backfiring ISIL propaganda stunt in which sympathisers based in the West were apparently urged to show their allegiance in social media posts.

The use of handwritten messages photographed against mostly European backdrops, intended to demonstrate the strength of support for ISIL in Europe and elsewhere, has enabled the discovery of the precise or likely locations in which these images were taken.

Hands or parts of hands were visible in some of the photographs – each of which showed a pro-ISIL message written in Arabic. But while no one revealed his or her face, specific streets and even apartment blocks were pinpointed with relative ease by readers of a citizen journalism platform, Bellingcat.com, and other websites, using basic internet search tools.

ISIL’s initiative, launched on Saturday, was intended as a social media coup ahead of a statement from its Syrian spokesman, Abu Mohammed Al Adnani.

Sympathisers who posted photographs were among thousands of supporters, also known as the extremists’ “fanboys", who took to Twitter and Telegram – an instant messaging service long favoured by ISIL – in an attempt to drum up interest for the statement ...

 

[CougarKing]

A message to the House of Saud to disengage from their proxy war in Yemen?

Defense News

US Blocks Cluster-Bomb Sales To Saudis: Report
Agence France-Presse 1:08 p.m. EDT May 29, 2016


WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has moved to block sales of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen, amid reports of mounting civilian casualties there, a US media report said Saturday.

The report in the journal Foreign Policy, citing US officials, said that the White House had quietly placed a hold on the transfer of such munitions to the Sunni kingdom as it carries out a bloody war on Shiite rebels in Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iranian-backed Huthis since March 2015, trying to roll back their control of wide swaths of Yemen.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Journeyman]

  James Tiberius K would also have gone the infinitive route... :not-again:

Sorry for the tardy (and equally irrelevant) response.  I was mailing something to Canada Alberta, and Canada Post has a series of Star Trek stamps, under the grammatically-painful slogan "to boldly go."

Thank you.... for the salt & vinegar chips into that wound.

 

[The Bread Guy]

ISIS boss:  prepare to pull pole, folks -- shared under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) ...

Abu bakr Al-Baghdadi, the Leader of the ISIS, has reportedly ordered his group to withdraw from Iraq and move to some other countries.

According to the president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Ammar al-Hakim, the Iraqi forces have obtained a letter signed by Baghdadi which was supposed to be received by his men in Iraq.

Hakim revealed that in the letter, Baghdadi orders the terrorists in Iraq to gradually withdraw from Iraq, and move to other countries.

Hakim also urged the Iraqi government to prepare a prior plan for the post-IS era as the extremist group is realizing its failure in the country.

“This is the beginning of the end of IS in Iraq,” he claimed.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official, Wahid Bakozi, said last week that they have obtained a copy of IS leader Abubakir al-Baghdadi’s letter to the group’s commanders, ordering them to eventually withdraw to the major cities as “the people of Iraq and Syria do not deserve the sacrifices IS is making.”

The Kurdish official pointed out that, according to Baghdadi’s letter, the terrorists are required to focus on Misrata city of Libya instead of continuing in the current situation of Iraq and Syria.

We'll see ...

 

[jollyjacktar]

Maybe a red letter day, here's hoping.

Has ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi been killed in US air strike? Reports say he has died in Raqqa but no confirmation from coalition
- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has reportedly been killed in air strike in Raqqa If confirmed it would be a huge blow to ISIS, which he leads

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has reportedly been killed in a US air strike in Raqqa.

His death, reported by the respected Turkish daily Yenis Safak, would be a major blow for the jihadists and comes only days after 50 people were killed in an Orlando nightclub by a man pledging allegiance to ISIS.

But there have previously been reports that al-Baghdadi, who proclaimed himself caliph of all Muslims two years ago, has been killed or wounded.

The Abna24 website said al-Baghdadi had been killed on Sunday morning by an air strike in Syria but the US-led coalition has made no comment.

But there has been no confirmation from the US or any other coalition powers. 

A Pentagon spokesman told Mail Online they were not aware of any 'high value targets' having been killed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3640726/ISIS-leader-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-killed-air-strike-Raqqa-according-pro-Islamic-State-news-agency.html#ixzz4BYof8qXC
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

[CougarKing]

The UAE pulling out of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen:

Defense News

UAE Announces End of Yemen Military Operations
Awad Mustafa
6:05 p.m. EDT June 15, 2016


DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday announced the end of its military operations in Yemen.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash made the announcement during a lecture at the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi's court on Wednesday night.

In a tweet summarizing Gargash’s remarks, Sheikh Mohammed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, said: “Our standpoint is clear: war is over for our troops. We are monitoring political arrangements, empowering Yemenis in liberated areas."

(...SNIPPED)

 

[a_majoor]

Turns out that those crazy Bollywood movies have a PSYOPS application as well:

http://strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20160614.aspx

Morale: Weaponizing Bollywood

June 14, 2016: Loud music can be incredibly annoying and sometimes extremely dangerous if if the aggrieved is an Islamic terrorists or a desperate tyrant armed with nuclear weapons. This odd but important phenomenon was reaffirmed recently when it was reported that British commandos in Libya, working with local forces resisting ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) efforts to establish a presence there, suggested that loud Indian movie music be played near ISIL positions. This would annoy the Islamic terrorists and persuade them to either attack (and be killed) or retreat (and allow the Libyan forces to advance). If nothing else it makes the much hated (by most Libyans) ISIL gunmen (most of them foreigners) uncomfortable.

It’s not just ISIL that hates music. Conservative Arab Moslems have a particular distaste for all music and especially “Bollywood” (hit tunes from Indian movies) music. Early Moslems were particularly hostile to Hinduism (for reasons too complex to explain here) but young Moslem men in Arabia and throughout Asia find Bollywood films, especially the many musicals and their memorable melodies, irresistible. The images of pretty young women dancing with handsome young men added to the appeal but all of this stuff was strictly forbidden by Islamic radicals, like those running al Qaeda and ISIL. Worse, when this music is used as a “weapon” some of the young men on the receiving end find they do like it but have to conceal that lest they be accused of apostasy and executed. No one expected Bollywood sound tracks to be weaponized, but commandos are known for coming up with clever solutions. Nevertheless music as a weapon has been around for a long time.

Religion doesn’t have to be involved for pop music to be annoying. In February 2016 South Korea resumed using large loudspeaker systems to play South Korean pop music and uncensored news across the DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) and deep into North Korea. This was done via eleven loudspeaker systems that were installed on the DMZ in 2010 but were not turned on until August 2015. That annoyed the north so much that they made concessions and negotiated a deal to shut the loudspeakers down again a month later. But in 2016 North Korea fought back and in addition to protests used their own loudspeaker system to try and drown out the South Korean music and news. That had limited success because the North Korean equipment was weaker. The northern broadcasts featured praise for North Korean leaders and the superior lifestyle of the north and that made little impression on any South Koreans who heard it. The southern broadcasts could be heard as far as 10 kilometers in the day and over 20 kilometers at night. The southerners turned on their loudspeakers for two t0 six hours a day and at random times.

These broadcasts, using less powerful equipment, had gone on for decades until, by mutual agreement, they were halted in 2004. The North Korea attacks in 2010 led South Korea to install new, more powerful, speaker systems in response. These new speaker systems are more powerful than anything the north has been able to install and the broadcasts, especially at night, had an impact. So much so that North Korea undertook a nationwide propaganda campaign. This effort required people to attend mandatory meetings where local officials lectured them for hours on the dangers of the messages from the loudspeakers. These meetings backfired because many North Koreans had not heard about the South Korean loudspeakers being turned on again or what the news they were broadcasting was. So after the mandatory lectures many more North Koreans sought to find out what the loudspeakers were blasting into the north. Many of the North Korean troops and civilians who heard the music and news broadcasts liked it. North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un himself likes the K-Pop (South Korea pop music) so much that he ordered the creation of two all-girl pop bands and called K-Pop a North Korean invention. No one believes that because all-boy and all-girl pop groups are a specialty in South Korea and have achieved worldwide fame. Say whatever you want, but you can’t stop the music or the news when the loudspeakers come on.

Some Islamic countries, especially those in the Persian Gulf, were so upset with the growing use of blasphemous pop music as a weapon that they have tried to get the UN and Western countries to ban the practice. They have not been able to muster enough support in UN, yet, but they have had some success getting Western nations to go along. Thus in 2006 the U.S. Department of Defense forbade American troops from making music videos by taking their combat videos (often taken with a GoPro camera on their helmet) and adding a pop music sound track and then posting them on the Internet. The Department of Defense order was made so that Arab feelings would not be hurt. These videos showed Islamic terrorists getting killed to accompaniment of rap or heavy metal music. Arab media depicted this as a sign of American barbarism and anti-Arab attitudes.

Yet American troops first discovered this type of “combat video” in Iraq and Afghanistan where Islamic terrorists took video images of attacks on American troops and added a music or spoken audio track. In some cases, the audio was Arab rock and roll, the kind of music that would get wannabe jihadis ("holy warriors") all fired up. U.S. troops had their own video cameras, and were collecting a lot of combat videos. So, copying the enemy practice, they added pop music to the videos and began passing them around. Despite the Department of Defense ban the troops continued to make and distribute these videos but without the usual screens identifying the unit involved, or images that make it possible to easily identify who the troops are. The troops are not terribly concerned about Arab morale, especially after a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Article Link

Iraq: PM Abadi declares victory over ISIL in Fallujah

Haider al-Abadi says security forces have retaken most of Fallujah and only "small pockets" of ISIL remain within city.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says Iraqi forces have retaken most of Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as clearing operations are under way to flush out the armed group's remaining fighters in the city.

The government lost control of Fallujah in 2014, months before ISIL, also known as ISIS, took Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, and swept across large parts of the country.

"We promised you the liberation of Fallujah and we retook it. Our security forces control the city except for small pockets that need to be cleared within the coming hours," Abadi said on Friday in a brief address on state TV.

"Fallujah has returned to the nation and Mosul is the next battle," Abadi also said on Twitter. "Daesh will be defeated," he added, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL.

Earlier on Friday, Iraqi forces said they had entered the centre of Fallujah, nearly four weeks after the start of a US-backed offensive to retake the city 50km west of the capital, Baghdad.

"The counterterrorism service and the rapid response forces have retaken the government compound in the centre of Fallujah," the operation's overall commander, Lieutenant-General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, told the AFP news agency.

The Iraqi flag is now raised on top of the building, symbolising government control.

Commanders said their forces had met limited resistance from ISIL fighters during the push into the city centre.

"This is a very significant development," said Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh, who has reported extensively on the conflict in Iraq.

"It is a big moral boost for Iraqi soldiers."

Matthew Henman, from the Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, said that even with the "breakthrough", it would take "much longer" to completely get rid of ISIL in Fallujah, and prevent future attacks.

He also said that if the fight over Fallujah wraps us quickly, then more troops would be realigned to help the government push against ISIL in Mosul.

Government troops and Shia units known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces are leading the campaign to retake the Sunni city from ISIL. They are supported by US-led coalition air strikes.

Al Jazeera's Saleh said the death toll from the fighting so far is based on estimates by medical sources from the city of Fallujah.

"They say it is in the hundreds," he said.

Although the Iraqi government previously said it had a particular strategy to establish safe corridors for civilians in the city centre to leave, many have been reluctant to go for fear of how they may be treated by the Shia units.

Thousands have fled the city and its surrounding areas since the military offensive was launched on May 23, but the UN said that tens of thousands are still inside the city - last week, the UN said up to 90,000 people were believed to be inside Fallujah, in a significant revision of a previous estimate of 50,000.

Many escaping the fighting have been detained and kept at detention facilities, with reports of abuse and violations by government forces and Shia fighters.

The UN says detention facilities lack basic services, including medicine and food.

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq has been dubbed  one of the world's worst by the UN.

Since the beginning of the present conflict in 2014, more than 3.4 million people have been internally displaced and 2.6 million have fled Iraq.
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[tomahawk6]

I wonder whats worse living under IS rule or that of the Iraqi government ?

 

[Eye In The Sky]

I wonder whats worse living under IS rule or that of the Iraqi government ?

Yup;  clearing ISIS out of Iraq stops very very well short of fixing the problems that exist there.

 

[CougarKing]

No Saudi troops going to Syria or Iraq, since Iran might see their entry as a move against them and their proxies in Syria.

Defense News

US Sees No Place for Saudi Ground Troops in ISIS Fight
Joe Gould, Defense News 4:17 p.m. EDT June 28, 2016

WASHINGTON — The anti-Islamic State coalition will pass on Saudi Arabia’s offer to send ground troops into the fight, the US representative to the coalition told Congress on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia in February announced it would send its troops if the US and other allied partners approved. But that won’t be happening, as the 66-member coalition plans to stick with only local ground troops, Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“In terms of ground capability, I think our focus on empowering local actors to liberate their own territory is the most sustainable strategy for defeating ISIL, and will remain our fundamental approach,” McGurk said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[jollyjacktar]

Probably just as well for them.  They're getting a shit kicking in Yemen if I understand things correctly.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Meanwhile in Bangladesh:

ISIS Massacre in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Possible Canadian Link?
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/07/03/mark-collins-isis-massacre-in-dhaka-bangladesh-possible-canadian-link/

Globe and Mail July 2:

Bangladeshi terror group affiliated with IS reportedly led by Canadian

Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the attack in Dhaka, but authorities are still investigating who led the hostage-taking that resulted in at least 20 deaths.

One of the likely suspects: a terrorist group in Bangladesh that is affiliated with IS and is reportedly led by a Canadian.

Tamim Chowdhury, who goes by Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, is a Bangladeshi-Canadian who is leading a militant arm with close ties to Islamic State, according to the Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star.

Mr. Chowdhury is also connected with an IS study group, which cited him as the leader of the Bangladeshi IS effort. In the April issue of Daqbi, a glossy magazine published by Islamic State, Mr. Chowdhury called for a united country free of “deviant sects, who are busy misleading the masses.” The magazine identified Mr. Chowdhury as the “emir,” or ruler, of its Bangladesh branch.

“I know that he’s from Windsor,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, a post-doctoral fellow in the Resilience Research Centre at Dalhousie University who specializes in radicalization and terrorism. “I know he’s the head of the ISIS group, or at least a pro-ISIS group, in Bangladesh.”

Mr. Amarasingam said Mr. Chowdhury’s name came up repeatedly during his research in the community…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/bangladeshi-terror-group-affiliated-with-is-reportedly-led-by-canadian/article30733718/

Plus more on ISIS going global at the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/world/asia/bangladesh-hostage-standoff.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Then there's the insidious Saudi spreading of Wahhabism, yet the West, including Canada, persists in trying to put up with The Kingdom--because anything else would be even worse?  At the NY Times:

How Kosovo Was Turned Into Fertile Ground for ISIS
Extremist clerics and secretive associations funded by Saudis and others
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/world/europe/how-the-saudis-turned-kosovo-into-fertile-ground-for-isis.html

The Terrorists the Saudis Cultivate in Peaceful Countries
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/opinion/sunday/the-terrorists-the-saudis-cultivate-in-peaceful-countries.html?ref=todayspaper

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Everytime I mention this stuff I get people telling me how bad Christians are...they are willfully blind.

 

[CougarKing]

The civil war in Yemen continues to rage:

Agence France Presse via Yahoo News

Army ousts jihadists from Yemen base HQ after hours-long battle
AFP•July 5, 2016


Aden (AFP) - Yemeni troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition recaptured an army headquarters adjoining Aden airport from suspected jihadists on Wednesday after an assault that killed 10 soldiers, the base commander said.

There was no immediate word on the fate of the officers who had been inside the headquarters building when it was seized by between 15 and 20 militants in the early hours.

The militants had penetrated the base after detonating two car bombs in the latest attack on security forces to hit the southern port city where Yemen's government took refuge after rebels seized the capital Sanaa.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Malaysia’s first ISIS attack. This is just the beginning I am afraid. AQ used Malaysia quite a bit, but more as a R&R and planning base, ISIS on the other hand sees it as another ripe fruit. Going by their normal early taget list, I don’t worry so much for my family there, but we do worry about my wife’s non-Muslim friends.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/07/04/movida-igp-confirm-is-attack/