Posts Tagged ‘Saudi Arabia’
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Now back to a less happy task: rounding up jihad-related news over the last week:
(Hat tip: The usual suspects under “Jihad” on your right.)
As a side note, I would be interested to hear if anyone actually finds these weekly roundups useful. I put these up and get very little feedback on them…
Tags:Bluetooth, Iran, Jihad, Kenya, Muslim, nuclear weapons, Pakistan, rape, Saudi Arabia, This Week in Jihad, UK, Wahhabism
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | 4 Comments »
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
Jihad waits for no man, so here’s another roundup of news:
- It takes very special skills to take someone with a sworn confession of involvement in the murder of 224 people, and to bungle the prosecution so badly that you’re only able to convict him on one count of conspiracy. But Eric Holder and the Obama Justice Department are just that special.
- North Korea is reportedly “supplying banned nuclear and ballistic equipment to Iran, Syria and Myanmar. Well, isn’t that just lovely?
- The story of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, born Carlos Leon Bledsoe, a native-born jihadi who killed a U.S. solider at a recruiting station in Little Rock.
- “Feminist” scholar Lila Abu-Lughod says that honor killings are a consequence of Western colonialism, and that burqas are not at all oppressive to women. Sounds like the type of feminist that would be right at home at WisCon.
- Judges rules that no, cops didn’t violate a Somali’s families rights when refusing to let them put on hajibs during a drug bust. (Whether our time and money is best spent arresting people for possession of khat is a topic for another time…)
- Secretary of State Clinton complains that Europe isn’t accommodating enough to the Religion of Peace. That would be the same Clinton that would be required to wear a burqa in Iran or Saudi Arabia, not the Clinton that could legally have multiple wives; him I figure could get used to it…
- UK student: Support the troops! His Islamic classmates: Support the troops and we will kill you.
- “The scholars are unanimously agreed that a Muslim who insults the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) becomes a kaafir and an apostate who is to be executed.”
- Saudi Arabia and India stepping up military cooperation. Hmmm….
- Quest for Honor is a new documentary by Mary Ann Smothers Bruni about the quest to eradicate honor killings in Kurdistan. It seems to be getting a bit of Oscar buzz.
- And researching that, I came across this site http://www.stophonourkillings.com/, which I hope to take a closer look at when I have more time.
- Toy pig pulled from toy farm because…well, you can probably guess.
(Hat tips: Jihadwatch, MEMRI, Michael Totten, etc.)
Tags:Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, Ahmed Ghailani, burqa, Carlos Leon Bledsoe, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, India, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Lila Abu-Lughod, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, Myanmar, Obama, Political Correctness, Saudi Arabia, Syria, This Week in Jihad, UK
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | No Comments »
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
Just because the U.S. has an election doesn’t mean Islamic fundamentalists rest. So here’s a roundup of Islamic- and Jihad-related news from around the world.
Tags:Bill Mahar, CAIR, Democrats, Elections, Iran, Islam, Islamist, Jihad, Keith Ellison, MEMRI, Michael Totten, Oklahoma, Saudi Arabia, This Week in Jihad
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Jihad | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention, but I didn’t notice that the Obama Administration had approved a $60 billion (with a B) arms sale to Saudi Arabia until Instapundit linked to that Jonathan Tepperman piece.
I have mixed feelings about the deal.
- The Saudis are not our friends. The ties between the House of Saud and fundamentalist Wahabbist Islam go back over two centuries, and Wahabbism is (along with the fundamentalist Shia of Khomeinist Iran, and the teachings of Hassan al-Banna and his followers in the Muslim Brotherhood) one of the chief sources retrograde radicalism in modern Islam, an influence that the Saudis have continued to support with their petrodollars to this very day.
- My impression (and if someone has any contradicting evidence, feel free to share it in the comments below) is that the Saudi’s continuing support for Wahabbism is one of manipulative cynicism rather than deep religious belief. The Saudi ruling class is happy to swill alcohol and enjoy other forbidden Western pleasures behind closed doors, but continues to support Wahabbism as both a means of controlling their own country’s populace, and of maintaining their influence in the Ummah, the worldwide community of Islamic believers. Whether this makes them more or less evil is a matter of interpretation.
- Despite their outward hostility to Jews and ostensible support of Palestinian nationhood, one of the biggest open secrets in the Middle East is that the Saudis are in regular secret communication with Israeli leadership about matters of mutual interest. (Also, the Saudis, much like the vast majority of Arabs everywhere, don’t really give a rat’s ass about the Palestinians.)
- Their biggest area of shared concern is a nuclear armed Iran, which both view as an existential threat to their existence (albeit it of different types). This is why, as the Atlantic piece notes, Israel hasn’t lifted a finger to stop the arms sale.
On that basis, the arms sale should probably be approved. But it’s no substitute for actually taking out Iran’s nuclear program, or the mullahs pushing it.
Tags:arms sales, Instapundit, Iran, Israel, Jonathan Tepperman, nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | No Comments »
