There's a lot of concern in Europe and Asia that a sudden victory over ISIS forces in Iraq could see dangerous jihadi radicals returning to the countries out of which they were recruited.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that fears for the aftermath of the battle to drive ISIS out of Mosul have Malaysia on alert for returnees.
[Deputy prime minister] Ahmad Zahid told a news conference that Malaysian airport and border security had been increased, while illegal routes commonly used by smugglers were being monitored.
"We have been exchanging intel with international intelligence agencies, and we have a suspect list which includes names of those we believe have ties with Daesh," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Ahmad Zahid did not state how many Malaysians were currently in Mosul but police figures released last month showed that 90 Malaysians had joined IS in Syria and Iraq since 2013.
In August, Malaysia revoked the passports of 68 Malaysians who had been identified as leaving the country to join IS.Meanwhile, European Union security commissioner, Julian King, is warning of the danger of returning jihadis.
Julian King, a British diplomat recently made the EU's security commissioner, toldDie Welt newspaper (in German) the threat of IS fighters returning to Europe after the fall of Mosul was "very serious".
There were currently about 2,500 fighters from EU countries in the combat zones, he said.
However, he stressed it was "very unlikely that there would be a mass exodus of IS fighters to Europe".
Similar cases in the past had shown, he said, that "only a few fighters come back". But he added: "I don't want to talk the risk down. Even a small number constitutes a threat."
Some of the militants involved in the deadly IS attack on Paris last November had recently returned from Syria.
After Trump has stoked America's Islamophobic fires, a spate of jihadi violence in Europe or Asia would have Trump supporters slamming Clinton with "we told you so" swipes and demands for a crackdown on US Muslims.
Most incoming US presidents enjoy a honeymoon period of at least a few months as they settle in. Trump has laid the groundwork to ensure that Hillary gets nothing of the sort. She's not only going to need to be quick off the mark, to hit the ground running, but she will need plenty of protection from her country's homegrown Trumpist jihadis.
Trump, along with surrogates who should know better, keeps stoking the fires.
On Monday he was banging on again about the system being "rigged," hammering his own party leadership, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, for rejecting his conspiracies – he tweeted: "Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!"
At the centre of it all is Trump the martyr. In a speech in Florida last week, he denounced those he sees as conspirators as vile, bad and vicious, declaring: "Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you -- gladly. I take them for our movement so that we can have our country back."
And there's more than a hint of violence from the candidate, directed at protesters at his rallies and at Clinton, who Trump says he'll jail her if he becomes president; he has called for her security detail to be stripped of their firearms; and he warned that the "Second Amendment people," ardent gun owners, might take matters into their on hands if a president Clinton appointed judges who supported gun control.
"There's no telling what his supporters would be willing to do at the slightest encouragement from their candidate."
Will November 9th see the birth of an Islamophobic Trump insurgency? One thing is clear. Donald Trump is doing absolutely nothing but encouraging it.
Right wing Glen Beck has been calling for a US revolution for years.
ReplyDeleteThe Tea Party will be sore losers.
At the very least the USA will have to contend with obstructionist politics.
TB
I expect you're right, TrailBlazer. In my opinion, social cohesion has been meticulously dismantled in America, just as today's far Right has sought to do in Canada.
ReplyDeleteIt recalls Lincoln's "House Divided" speech:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South."
There's enormous opportunity in managed social upheaval starting with the power to reshape a society in ways not directly of its own choosing. Destroying social cohesion is a prerequisite means of manipulating social engineering to suit the interests of the alchemists behind it.
Global special interests and the establishment media ARE rigging the election. The election coverage is absurdly biased. The US government is presently hacking the Ecuadorian embassy to keep Julian Assange from releasing more Wikileaks on Hillary. (This interestingly enough made the news, not that many of the leaks themselves have been covered from the captured news media.)
ReplyDeleteThese days neoliberals are channeling Alex Jones. Everything Trump says is spun into some ridiculous conspiracy theory. How dare he challenge the sanctity of the American electoral process!! It's fascism, I tell you! FASCISM!! Of course, Americans haven't been represented in government for 36 years. Nothing fascist about that. It's called "democratic innovation."
Americans fought a Revolutionary War over a lot less corruption than what's going on today. Americans on the right and the left who believe in freedom and democracy are not going to lay down and die. They are going to take to the streets if Hillary wins. And they should. This pay-for-play corruption has put civilization on the verge of collapse: from war-profiteering to global financial corruption to the outsourcing bloodbath: robber barons are tearing up the place with their insatiable and ravenous appetite for MOAR money and power. If the people don't stop them, they will destroy the world.
ReplyDeleteThe tenor of your remarks, Anon, echoes to another time once thought safely past.
Looting robber barons have brought us back to the same place they put us in during the 1930s. Interesting how neoliberals who effectively support the establishment capture of democratic government, the economy, and the news media are accusing those who opposed to it of being 'fascists.'
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1930s, Americans took to the streets and swept FDR to power on a New Deal mandate which transformed the world. They didn't call for an end to democracy like fascists in Europe. They demanded its restoration and got it.
Establishment neoliberals look down on democracy as "populist." Then turn around and say they are the champions of democracy. It's nothing more than double-think.
They feel safe in the establishment's hands but are oblivious to all the destruction they're causing. The establishment is not looking out for the well-being of their countries or civilization. They believe they can loot without limit and an Invisible Hand will sort everything out. Like under Hoover, it's a process spiraling out of control.
RE; Global special interests and the establishment media ARE rigging the election.
ReplyDeleteWe have two choices , right wing or nearly right wing.
The term Socialist has been so effed up as to mean left of Margaret Thatcher and right of Attila the Hun.
Rigging the vote is nothing more that having little or no choice.
Re Anon; They feel safe in the establishment's hands but are oblivious to all the destruction they're causing.
I think they are quite aware but don't give a shit.
Wilful ignorance is no defence..
I receive emails all the time deriding the poor and uneducated for revolting against the status quo.
They don't see it as that ; but in the end run they are just protecting their own turf.
TB
"Interesting how neoliberals who effectively support the establishment capture of democratic government, the economy, and the news media are accusing those who opposed to it of being 'fascists.'
ReplyDelete"During the 1930s, Americans took to the streets and swept FDR to power on a New Deal mandate which transformed the world. They didn't call for an end to democracy like fascists in Europe. They demanded its restoration and got it."
First of all, you misapprehend why some observers refer to Trump and his followers as having fascist leanings. Do yourself a favour. Look into the recognized traits of fascism. Then take a look at Trump and his whirlwind. Take enough time and you'll be able to match up those traits and Trump. You might find it necessary to allow just a bit of honesty into your thinking.
Once you're done that, go to your library, check out a couple of books on the New Deal and see that it wasn't the work of Tea Party cranks, haters, racists and nutjobs of the sort propping up Trump today. They don't want democracy. They want authoritarian rule and they've not been shy about expressing that. They want a Messiah much as a generation of Germans wanted their Messiah in the 30s.
Re;
ReplyDeleteThey want authoritarian rule and they've not been shy about expressing that. They want a Messiah much as a generation of Germans wanted their Messiah in the 30s.
Good call.
Putting the boot on the other foot; the USA elected Obama with the same expectations!
An under educated and under involved voter can achieve the strangest things!
Could it be that a voter; drowning in media flim flam and partisanship is too confused to make a rational decision and turns to dictatorial rule for ease of decision making?
TB
ReplyDeleteThat's entirely possible, TrailBlazer. American society has not been this divided since the Civil War and it's laughable to think that hasn't been a crafted result.
The American people, especially the crowds that rally to Trump, have been conditioned to cleave to a genuine idiocracy. It's one point on which Chris Hedges and Max Boot manage to agree.
http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2016/10/idiocracy-in-flesh.html
RE;
ReplyDeleteThat's entirely possible, TrailBlazer. American society has not been this divided since the Civil War and it's laughable to think that hasn't been a crafted result.
Sorry ; that's before my day and I am getting on a bit! LOL.
The American people, especially the crowds that rally to Trump, have been conditioned to cleave to a genuine idiocracy. It's one point on which Chris Hedges and Max Boot manage to agree.
RE
The American people, especially the crowds that rally to Trump, have been conditioned to cleave to a genuine idiocy.
I really can't see a difference between Trump supporters and the rest of Western ( Anglo) voters.
Politics, current affairs etc have become so complex that is difficult for the best of us ( myself included) to grasp what is really happening.
The vast majority of voters vote with their wallet or daily fear .
They seldom vote between what is right and what is wrong.
They have no hesitation between right and might!
TB
If you're right, TB, then our chances of holding onto liberal democracy could be very slim.
ReplyDeleteRevolution
ReplyDeleteA close study of history shows that non violent revolution succeeds twice as often as violent insurgencies.
As far as the USA goes (most of the "west" I'd wager) a right wing uprising & victory would not likely resemble a revolution ... it would be more like a coup.
A left wing uprising would likely be peaceful and if victorious could actually make some attempt to ameliorate inequality, perhaps even tackle climate change in a realistic way.
Alas the r.w. scenario looks more likely
I expect it's easier to foment and mobilize anger than to instil and mobilize hope, NPoV.
ReplyDelete