ISIS on the offensive in Iraq

[Fragony]

Quite the opposite, actually, the Templars and Hospitlars were very tolerant of Jews and Muslims

No they weren't, little bit of of a difference between what was said and what was done. The templarswere murderous psychopaths on many occasions.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

No they weren't, little bit of of a difference between what was said and what was done. The templarswere murderous psychopaths on many occasions.

"Templar massacre" in google produces no coherent results other than some Islamophilic accounts that I know are miss-translating the Latin sources and the account of the Friday 13th massacre of the Templars themselves.

So I'll call bullshit on that.

Anyway - I've been nudging at it, and nobody's got the point - so I'll spell it out.

There is now a Sunni Caliph. A Caliph is the spiritual, and by extension temporal, leader of all Muslims. By declaring himself Caliph Al Baghdadi has declared himself a man of boundless ambition, and while the states of Iraq and Syria continue to be wracked by Civil War he will continue to gain ground.

The more land he takes, the more credibility he has, he'll aim for the ideologically important cities of Damascus and Baghdad, if he can take and hold both for any length of time then the Islamic State will potentially become a much more permanent feature.

Largely, this is the result of the ongoing Civil War in Syria, it created the conditions for ISIS do develop in this way and the instability of Iraq made it ripe for the picking. Western intervention in Syria might have prevented this - just as it might have prevented a man with an olive branch from, quite literally, turning to eating the hearts of his enemies.

We also have, for the first time in centuries, large-scale displacement of Christians. This isn't pressure, discrimination, or anything like this. Monks are being thrown out of their monasteries after 1,000 years of residence, whole communities are being offered conversion, the sword, or Jirza.

So - we know that young Muslims feel the need to go and help their "brothers" throw off oppression...

How far are we from Christian "volunteers" in Iraq, hmmm? Never mind Africa, America and south America are both full of well armed, gun happy, fundamentalists.

If the Western response continues to be anaemic then you run the risk not only of IS consolidating its power, but of segments of Western populations radicalising to fill the perceived vacuum.

[Hax]

A year or so ago I predicted (along with many other Arabists-to-be) that violent political Islam was on its way out, what with the Muslim Brotherhood and Ennahda failing politically in Egypt and Tunisia respectively.


Turns out we were really wrong. I'm going to drink.

We also have, for the first time in centuries, large-scale displacement of Christians. This isn't pressure, discrimination, or anything like this. Monks are being thrown out of their monasteries after 1,000 years of residence, whole communities are being offered conversion, the sword, or Jirza.

Jizya

If you don't know or have forgotten the Arabic term, it's totally fine to use the English (poll-tax on non-believers). Like, to avoid confusion or whatever.

[Fragony]

A year or so ago I predicted (along with many other Arabists-to-be) that violent political Islam was on its out

oh did you, people who got laughed of said that a whole lot earlier, simply disregarded.Not talking about myself I was just very very reserved, I never imagined it would be this bad.

Absolutily horrifying: a movie of a guy who's head is sliced of. It's slow. It looked almost intimate. The guy cutting of the head carefully pulled up the ear before starting cutting, lots of blood. No protest, no screaming, chilled me to the bone.

[Beskar]

How far are we from Christian "volunteers" in Iraq, hmmm? Never mind Africa, America and south America are both full of well armed, gun happy, fundamentalists.

If the Western response continues to be anaemic then you run the risk not only of IS consolidating its power, but of segments of Western populations radicalising to fill the perceived vacuum.

I will be really honest and say if I would be surprised if any number of 'Christian Fundamentalists' appeared, taking up arms and forming a militia to fight in the middle-east. There might be a few wackjobs, but I cannot even imagine the possibility of a militia of hundreds of people from outside the area forming.

[Kralizec]

We also have, for the first time in centuries, large-scale displacement of Christians. This isn't pressure, discrimination, or anything like this. Monks are being thrown out of their monasteries after 1,000 years of residence, whole communities are being offered conversion, the sword, or Jirza.

Not really the first time, is it? Iraq's christian community was already thinned out by the last 10 years of unrest.

Outside Iraq, the explusions of Armenians and other ethnicities in the late ottoman empire comes to mind.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Jizya

If you don't know or have forgotten the Arabic term, it's totally fine to use the English (poll-tax on non-believers). Like, to avoid confusion or whatever.

Sorry, though to be fair that's the Dyslexia.

I will be really honest and say if I would be surprised if any number of 'Christian Fundamentalists' appeared, taking up arms and forming a militia to fight in the middle-east. There might be a few wackjobs, but I cannot even imagine the possibility of a militia of hundreds of people from outside the area forming.

You presumably can't understand the number of Muslim Brtains heading to Syria either - it's not like many of them are Syrian.

Put it this way - my Crusading arm is getting twitchy - and I'm not exactly an active man. Previously, including after 9/11 this impulse was indulged by national governments - consciously or otherwise. Now it isn't.

Not really the first time, is it? Iraq's christian community was already thinned out by the last 10 years of unrest.

Outside Iraq, the explusions of Armenians and other ethnicities in the late ottoman empire comes to mind.

Thinned out is one thing, as I said, now it is being actively driven out by the de facto rulers.

What about the Central African Republic? Christians have been getting displaced there for years.

Mosul was apprently emptied of Christians, that's 30,000 souls all told.

*Shrug*

Wait and see.

[Beskar]

You presumably can't understand the number of Muslim Britain's heading to Syria either - it's not like many of them are Syrian.

Put it this way - my Crusading arm is getting twitchy - and I'm not exactly an active man. Previously, including after 9/11 this impulse was indulged by national governments - consciously or otherwise. Now it isn't.

I can actually understand that because Islam is a more politically powerful force than Christianity.

If Christendom tried to reverse this by preaching from the pulpit for a Crusade, the ramifications would most likely turn very ugly politically for Christians, those arguments about how it is a "harmless, well meaning, benign fairy tale" will go out of the window. Will be cracked down upon in the same manner as other fundamentalists. If the Church of England was involved, good bye to that and you will see a truly secular Britain.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I can't find the numbers for some reason, but I read a BBC article a long while back saying that the number of Christians killed or made into refugees based on sectarian violence was in the six figures in the CAR. Either way, the whole thing in Iraq is a tragedy. Almost as tragic as the fact that you have a "Crusading" Arm.

A lot of terrible stuff is happening in Africa - like the Ebola outbreak everybody is ignoring, but it's the SPEED of what's happening in Iraq, along with the fact that these people have been there so long.

This is like the creation of Israel and the mass evictions from Jerusalem in 1948, or if you want to get really dramatic it's like the Bad Old Days when the Ottomans threw the Patriarch out of Hagia Sophia and declared it a Mosque by right of conquest.

I can actually understand that because Islam is a more politically powerful force than Christianity.

Which actually has little to do with a man from Bradford leaving his family and going and blowing himself up at an army checkpoint. It's a more primal thing than that.

If Christendom tried to reverse this by preaching from the pulpit for a Crusade, the ramifications would most likely turn very ugly politically for Christians, those arguments about how it is a "harmless, well meaning, benign fairy tale" will go out of the window. Will be cracked down upon in the same manner as other fundamentalists. If the Church of England was involved, good bye to that and you will see a truly secular Britain.

Well, there is no "Christendom" except perhaps in South America today, the West is under secular, not Christian, rule.

I'm totally in favour of anything that makes people genuinely scared of Christians, btw, because seeing us as "benign" is wishful thinking on behalf of the chattering classes.

There's no point slaughtering people over Gay marriage, it won't change anything. However, ISIS will kill you for being a Christian, or a Jew, or the wrong type of Muslim - they're evil, and evil should be fought in all ways at all times.

[Kadagar_AV]

From what I have read, the Templars were actually quite nice and fair towards muslims... They were the Rangers of the medieval era, if you so like. Working with the natives with a carrot and a hell of a stick.

From what I have read, also, Hamas and Israel is competing in who can be most rogue on an international scale.



I think I wrote this before, some years ago... But I really believe we should build a wall around the middle east, put a motherload of cameras in, and occasionally toss some weapons, ammunition and food over the wall.

BEST. TV. SHOW. EVER.

"Hunger Games", eat your heart out.

[Fragony]

Rumour https://mobile.twitter.com/thisisand...30186250158080

Two pilots?

[a completely inoffensive name]

If the Western response continues to be anaemic then you run the risk not only of IS consolidating its power, but of segments of Western populations radicalising to fill the perceived vacuum.

These Christians (from my understanding) being exiled are not Catholic and they are certainly not Baptist. People won't care over here.