[Al Arabiya Latest] After using police raids, arrests and gun battles in its fight against Islamist insurgents, Algeria is now deploying a new, more subtle weapon: a branch of Islam associated with contemplation, not combat.
The government of this North African oil and gas producer is promoting Sufism, an Islamic movement that it sees as a gentler alternative to Salafism espoused by many of the militants behind Algeria's insurgency.
Sufism places a great focus on prayer and recitationThe authorities have created a television and radio station to promote Sufism and the "zaouias" or religious confraternities that preach and practice it, in addition to regular appearances by Sufi sheikhs on other stations. All are tightly controlled by the state.
Sufism, found in many parts of the Muslim world, places a greater focus on prayer and recitation and its followers have tended to stay out of politics.
In Algeria it has a low profile, with most mosques closer to Salafism -- though not the violent connotations that sometimes carries.
Exact numbers are hard to come by, but George Joffe, a research fellow at the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge University, estimates there are 1-1.5 million Sufis in Algeria, out of a total population of 34 million.
Salafism has its roots in Saudi Arabia and emphasizes religious purity. Adherents act out the daily rituals of Islam's earliest followers, for example by picking up food with three fingers and using a "Siwak" -- a toothbrush made out of a twig.
" We are doing a lot to encourage people to come back to our traditional Islam: a peaceful, tolerant and open-minded Islam. And thanks to God, people are much more attracted by our message than by the Salafi message "
Mohamed Idir Mechnane
Officials believe Sufism could help bring peace to Algeria, a country still emerging from a conflict in the 1990s between government forces and Islamist rebels that, according to some estimates, killed 200,000 people.
"I disagree with the Salafi ideology because it doesn't take into consideration the particular nature of Algeria," said Mohamed Idir Mechnane, an official at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. "We are doing a lot to encourage people to come back to our traditional Islam: a peaceful, tolerant and open-minded Islam. And thanks to God, people are much more attracted by our message than by the Salafi message," he told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
two specific Sufi practises will likely tick of many Algerians
1. they make pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi sages and consider these pilgrimages to be more important than the Haj
2. Sufi poetry is loaded with hymns celebrating wine (written at a time before the muslim world realized that the koran was prohibited alcohol.
and to add to what jfm said, Maulana Masood Azharwho leads Jaish-e-Muhammad, is also believer of Sufis
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/09/2009 9:01 Comments ||
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#5
The Sufi are pretty ok.
IIRC, sufism was anyway already the major brand of everyday people's islam in north africa, uturkey, large part of central asia, large part of india,... before the islamic revival of the last century, back to "pure islam".
Hell, algeria was a sufi area (not a country), didn't prevent it from being part of the Barbary coast whose only productive industry was piracy, didn't prevent any of the atrocities of the independence war, didn't prevent islam being a driving forve even behind the national-marxist FLN.
What's funny is that sufism was the traditional form of islam, because IIUC it is more sustainable and "bearable" than the "straight islam" from the arab peninsula, so, basically, to make islam workable, you've got to infuse with with Christian spirtituality, how droll... also, the push toward salafi islam in algeria was done... by the algerian junta, along with its arabization program. So, now, they are pushing sufism, how droll (again).
Anyway, from what I've read, and a small bit of common sense re the history of sufi islam as a very widespread "folks religion" (islamic law + Christian spirituality + pre-islamic superstitions & traditions) vs the big trends of the islmaic world when it comes to dealing with non-believers,... sufism really seems "overrated" as a Peace&Love kind of islam IMHO.
#6
Oh, well, sorry for the dupes, got really frustrated*, as I was redirected to RSA dure to some of those damn keywords, didn't think comments were posted as I tried to find what was the itchy bit by elimination.
*But, then again, my whole life is a long, endless string of frustrations, with some failures then and now to break up the monotony.
Fixed it for you, cher a5089. Sorry about the delay -- I had to get to the computer with the Mod applications.
#7
Well, they may be violent assholes, but many of today's Americans' ancestors and much of the rest of the world today are both have heavy representation by violent assholes.
(It's how humans evolved; believe me, it's no fun being stuck on a planet full of 'em).
The big question is, are these violent assholes we can live with more easily than the current predominant strain of violent assholes over there?
Possibly so.
(BTW, I notice that when Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri (if that's the guy I'm thinking of; I may be wrong) 'converted' to Al Qaeda he both renounced Sufism and pledged personal fealty to the AQ chain of command all the way up to OBL. SO it appears the violent assholes who are obsessed with fighting us think that the creed of Sufism is incompatible with their goals.)
(CNN) -- After weeks of silence, the sister of one of the two American journalists imprisoned in North Korea finally got a phone call. "It was only the first time I had heard her voice in weeks. ... I was so relieved but I feel so helpless," Lisa Ling, a CNN contributor, told affiliate KOVR in an interview Wednesday. "Because as an older sister, a best friend, a self-professed 'doer,' it's just difficult to know I cannot do anything to bring her home."
Ling said she spoke to her sister, Laura Ling, over the phone Tuesday night. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of illegally entering the country to conduct a smear campaign.
Lisa Ling is hoping the arrests will push the United States and the reclusive communist nation to engage in diplomatic talks. "I know that our government has been working behind the scenes very hard trying to bring the girls back home," she said. But she added, "Our countries don't talk, and perhaps this could be a reason."
Yes they do, my dear, it's called the Six Party Talks. It'd just that North Korea is not actually good at heart. Sorry.
She said her sister "was very specific about the message that she was communicating, and she said, 'Look, we violated North Korean law and we need our government to help us. We are sorry about everything that has happened, but we need diplomacy.' "
Ling said that without being able to look at her sister, it was difficult to tell how she was doing. She described the past few weeks as being engulfed in a "terrifying and deafening" silence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"was very specific about the message that she was communicating, and she said, 'Look, we violated North Korean law and we need our government to help us.
[Kyodo: Korea] Chief nuclear negotiators from China and Japan will meet Thursday in Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, with their talks likely to focus on ways to seek a breakthrough in the stalled six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea. The visit to Japan by Wu Dawei, China"s vice foreign minister and chairman of the six-party talks, is part of a four-country trip which already took him to Russia and the United States. It also comes after North Korea launched seven missiles toward the Sea of Japan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
WORLD NEWS > YONAGUNI DEPLOYMENTS [US, Japan] RAISES QUESTIONS OF TAIWAN [TWN's strategic direction vee CHINA]; + CAPABILITY, REACH OF NORTH KOREA'S MISSLES IMPROVING.
ALso, BLACK MARKET NUCLEAR ATTACK REMAINS KEY THREAT TO MAJOR NATIONS.
A German judge voiced surprise on Wednesday that four young Muslims accused of a terrorist bomb plot have suddenly confessed in extraordinary detail.
Police arrested two German converts to Islam and a third man in 2007 to thwart car bomb attacks on US bases. The accused only decided last month to tell police everything in a plea bargain. "Their evidence is much more comprehensive than we expected at the start of the interrogations," presiding judge Ottmar Breidling told the court as the four accused listened, visibly relaxed.
Observers said the evidence is likely to keenly interest intelligence agencies seeking an insight into how Islamist groups based in Pakistan and Afghanistan mount attacks. Fritz Gelowicz, Daniel Schneider, Adem Yilmaz and Attila Selek were allegedly members of the Islamic Jihad Union, a shadowy group believed to be allied to al-Qaeda.
The compilation of testimony would be finished late this week, and was likely to extend to 1000 pages, which will be read aloud to the court when it resumes hearings on August 10, Breidling said. Breidling promised the men a month ago they would receive a "tangible reduction" in their jail terms as an incentive to confess to police investigators. A federal prosecutor, Volker Brinkmann, confirmed the men had offered exhaustive details of the plot, calling it the most extensive confession he had seen in his career.
Wednesday's courtroom atmosphere was almost harmonious, as defence lawyers withdrew most of a series of objections designed to hold up the trial and prepared for an agreed settlement of the terrorism charges. However Breidling rebuked the accused once for switching into Arabic when they spoke to one another. The accused will no longer have to sit in an armoured-glass cell inside the courtroom when the trial resumes next month, but will be allowed to sit with their lawyers like ordinary criminal defendants.
[Geo News] Intelligence agencies have advised to bring basic changes in the security procedures for passenger planes in view of concerns of hijacking. According to a report, the militants could hijack planes for fulfillment of their evil motives. The arrested militants have disclosed that they use planes for traveling.
Whoa - "evil motives"? My dears, that's just too, too judgemental!
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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WORLD NEWS > NUCLEAR TREATY EMBOLDENS ENEMIES, WEAKENS THE US. World "Sole Superpower" USA is WEAKENING ITSELF while many other lessor nations strive to modernize and expand their nuclear arsenals.
#4
I don't fly now, and this will make TSA even more idiotic?
No thanks.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/09/2009 14:38 Comments ||
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I suspect this is tied to the problems with flights coming out of Turkey on July 4th. We had reports here of the entire passenger list being pulled aside and searched.
[Geo News] The operation in Swat and Buner has been completed and these areas have been cleared of militants. "Great news, honey! I've killed all the cockroaches in the kitchen!"
Addressing a press conference accompanied with Federal Information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said a meeting with Army chief Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was held to discuss the issue of IDPs.
He said the army had 'credible' information that Fazlullah was hit, Major General Athar Abbas said giving no further details about the hardline cleric's condition. 'In one of the strikes, Mullah Fazlullah has been injured,' he said, adding that the air strike wounding the commander hit two days ago in Swat. That's about a half dozen times he's been reported hit or killed. He must look like a Swiss cheese with a turban.
Armed Taliban marched into the district of Buner in April, putting Fazlullahï's fighters within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of the national capital Islamabad, and Pakistan unleashed its fresh military offensive. Abbas said that the operation in Swat and two other northwest districts was almost over, but said the top leadership remained elusive, with many simply disappearing into the mountains of the rugged region. When conducting counterinsurgency operations, what's really important isn't how many cannon fodder get killed, wounded, or captured. What's really important is how thoroughly the leadership is destroyed. I don't have the feeling that the Pak Talibs' top leadership has been damaged.
'We are constantly targeting militant leaders. They always keep themselves protected,' Abbas said. Given minimally competent intel they should be able to root out the leadership, especially the ones who drive around broadcasting on the FM band from their cars.
Kaira told the same press conference that the area had been cleared of 'terrorists', but a military statement issued Wednesday said that some pockets of resistance remained. The military claim to have killed about 1,600 militants in their northwest operation, but such tolls are impossible to verify. I'd guess the number's much lower, and I'd also guess most of these are cannon fodder with a few mid-level commanders for seasoning.
As Swat operations wrap up, military and government officials have vowed to open up a second front against Pakistan's main Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who is holed up in the lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border. They do talk a great offensive...
The Army Spokesman said that there are terrorists in some areas conducting terrorists activities, adding the extremists are being chased and their training centers have been razed. He added the process of targeting the hideouts of extremists will continue for some time and the Pak Army will stay in Swat. 'The real heroes of Malakand Division are its people,' he said adding there are pockets of resistance in some areas including Shah Dherai and Shamozai, the military action is underway to end this resistance. Abbas said all the large thoroughfares have been opened.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, Swat's clear of militants wearing uniforms anyway.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The wife of Heshmatollah Attarzadeh, an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Pakistan nine months ago, has pleaded for the speedy release of her husband.
In a Wednesday meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, the wife and daughter of Attarzadeh appealed to Pakistani authorities to ensure his return.
Zardari expressed deep regret over Pakistan's failure to secure the release of Attarzadeh, but asserted that Pakistani authorities have done and will continue to do everything in their power to free the Iranian diplomat.
Attarzadehi, who had been serving as commercial attaché at the Iranian Consulate in Peshawar for the past three years, was kidnapped on November 13 on his way to work.
Reports indicate that he is 'alive and in good health.'
Tehran has held Islamabad responsible for the abduction, urging Pakistani authorities to tighten security measures to secure the safety of Iranian diplomats in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Asking the media not to glorify militant leaders, NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Tuesday said the provincial government did not know about the arrest or release of Maulana Sufi Muhammad.
The minister while briefing media persons here said that phase-wise repatriation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Malakand Division would be formally announced shortly as almost all basic facilities had been restored in the areas 'cleared from the militants' in Swat, Buner and Lower Dir districts.
He said the final decision about the return of the IDPs would be taken in consultation with federal and provincial governments, contradicting the statement of Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Najmuddin Khan, who had claimed the same day that IDPs from Kalam, Bahrain and Madain in Swat would return their homes via Shangla.
Mian Iftikhar also briefed the journalists on NWFP Chief Ministerís Ameer Haider Khan Hoti's visit to Buner, Dir and Swat the other day where civil and military officials briefed him on the latest situation in Malakand.
Mian Iftikhar said that the NWFP government had released about Rs820 million for the displaced persons while 66,326 cash cards of Rs25,000 each have also been distributed among the IDPs in Nowshera and Swabi districts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
We could have real fun with those curs. To start with, we should ident them so heavily that it will scare the heck out of them. Fingerprints, footprints, retinal scans, voice prints, DNA, urine and stool samples, hair sample, and several nonsense devices just to intimidate them.
Then they should each have several "episodes", that if they tell their security forces, they will assume they have been turned, and will probably shoot them.
#3
Unfortunately, we will do none of the wonderful things suggested by Black Bart and Anonymoose. Pity.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/09/2009 14:57 Comments ||
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#4
If we had a CIA that could keep its mouth shut, we'd be spreading stories about how one of these fellows (can't say which one of course) helped us ID some Paserdan ops in southern Iraq. Let them explain to Tehran that it wasn't them ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2009 15:58 Comments ||
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#6
There was some speculation a few weeks ago that a deal had been made to release 5 villians from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Don't quite remember the details, but do recall the outrage at the suggestion.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The US has denied a report that it has reached a compromise that would allow Israel to continue the construction of settlements that has already begun.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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negotiation by leak, or just over excited Israeli newspapers?
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/09/2009 13:08 Comments ||
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I think Iran Press TV is a little slow, liberal hawk. Remember when Secretary of State Clinton repudiated the possibility that the U.S. would stand by promises made by President Bush on the subject?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel has won an agreement from the United States for the continued construction of 2,500 housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday, despite U.S. calls for a settlement freeze.
The unsourced report was splashed across the front-page of the Hebrew Maariv daily that said Washington had agreed to the continued construction of 700 buildings, containing 2,500 housing units, in West Bank settlements.
A report in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Israel's most popular newspaper, was more cautious, saying Israel and the United States were "close to an agreement on settlements". It also cited the same housing figures.
Yedioth Ahronoth quoted unidentified cabinet ministers, who attended Barak's briefing, as saying reports of a U.S.-Israeli deal had been sealed were wishful thinking on the part of the defense chief.
The report followed a briefing by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his talks in London on Monday with U.S. envoy George Mitchell on ending a rift with Washington over its demand for a settlement freeze.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Israeli intelligence believes that Iran is now increasing production of long range (2,000+ kilometers) missiles, now that it has successfully tested a solid fuel ballistic missile (the Sejil II). Apparently, Iran plans to build a thousand Sejil IIs, and even longer range missiles, over the next six years. There apparently also plan to build up to 500 mobile launchers for these, to make them even more difficult for Israel to spot, and destroy. ... A big reason why Israel attacking Iranian nuclear weapons facilities is wishful thinking.
Posted by: ed ||
07/09/2009 16:54 ||
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Do you think Iran is about to come to their Come to Jesus tent meeting? Well, maybe we are talking Old Testament here if Israel decides to take out Iran's Pee Wee's big dream of nuclear weapons and mid-east domination.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Tehran's Governor-General has warned people against participating in any rallies in the city on Thursday, saying no permit has been issued for such rallies.
"No request was made for any permit for rallies on Thursday and no permit has been issued," IRNA quoted Morteza Tamaddon as saying.
The comments come as some groups predicted that there could be some rallies in the capital city on Thursday.
"The enemies of the Iranian nation are angry with the post-election calm in Iran and try to damage it through their TV channels," he said.
Tamaddon noted that the Iranian nation's vigilance would foil the enemies' moves.
He stressed that those who follow the statements by the enemies' TV channels will receive a "crushing response" from the people.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Uh, uh, yookay, I had no plans for Thrusday anyway!?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A German judge voiced surprise on Wednesday that four young Muslims accused of a terrorist bomb plot have suddenly confessed in extraordinary detail. 
[Geo News] The operation in Swat and Buner has been completed and these areas have been cleared of militants. 
