Why Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan chose the year 2038 as the point at which his country will cease to exist, I do not know, but that's what he's been saying in stump speeches to his home audience, as I report in my new book, How Civilizations Die. He can't be too far off. A generation from now, Turkey will cease to exist in its present form. The ratio of Turks to Kurds today (defined by cradle tongue) is about 4:1, but Turks have 1.5 children on average, while Kurds have 4.5. In little over a generation, Kurds will comprise half the military-age population of Anatolia. After decades of civil war and 40,000 casualties, Turkey's Kurdish problem is as vivid as ever.
As Spengler points out in this Pajamas Media blog post, Ahmadinejad's Iran has the same demographic problem...and Erdogan comes from a djinn-infested peasant background, not exactly a hotbed of logical thought.
It is often described as the day that changed the world but, in fact, 9/11 only brought home to the West what had been simmering, and sometimes breaking out violently, in different parts of the world for nearly half a century.
The end may not be nigh, but an awful lot of them are no longer exhaling carbon dioxide Before 9/11 that was not a real risk. Then, too, their birth rate is dropping even as our attrition rate continues growing significantly along with our targeting effectiveness.
...They tell us to get over it, they say to move on, and they mean it well: We can't bring an air of tragedy into the future. But I will never get over it. To get over it is to get over the guy who stayed behind on a high floor with his friend who was in a wheelchair. To get over it is to get over the woman by herself with the sign in the darkness: "America You Are Not Alone." To get over it is to get over the guys who ran into the fire and not away from the fire.
You've got to be loyal to pain sometimes to be loyal to the glory that came out of it.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/11/2011 09:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
New York's police commissioner has 1,200 staff members devoted to counterterrorism, at home and abroad.
By JUDITH MILLER
A specter has haunted the New York Police Department during this week's torrent of 10th anniversary commemorations of 9/11--the 13 terrorist plots against the city in the past decade that have failed or been thwarted thanks partly to NYPD counterterrorism efforts.
Those are the ones we've heard about, anyway. No doubt there are others.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and his 50,000-strong department know that the 9/11 gatherings are an occasion not only to reflect on that terrible day. They're also a prime target for al Qaeda and other Islamist extremists who long to convince the world, and perhaps themselves, that they're still capable of killing in the name of their perverse interpretation of Islam.
Commissioner Kelly allocates some $330 million of his $4.6 billion annual budget and 1,200 of his staff to counterterrorism. He and his staff, not surprisingly, spent the week bolstering security at the remembrance gatherings throughout the city. On Wednesday, he came to the Manhattan Institute to tout the NYPD's counterterrorism record and defend his department against press allegations that his intelligence division has been spying illegally on Muslims and infringing on their privacy and civil rights.
Like Israel, New York City gets far more than its fair share of jihadi attention. And, like Israel, they handle it. Much more at the link.
* ION NEWSMAX > AHEAD OF 9-11, [Afghan]TALIBAN VOW TO NEVER STOP FIGHTING, to get the US-NATO out of Afghanistan, + wish to remind the US-NATO/West that their group was NOT involved in the 9-11 attcks + conspiracy.
* SAME > AP: BLAIR SAYS POST-9-11 BATTLE NOT OVER.
IIUC, BLAIR = A Military Struggle such as the GWOT must be complemented or supported by effec Nation-Building + winning "Hearts-N-Minds", which BLai infers has NOT been achieved despite US-NATO/Coalition successes
RELATED > DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS = EX-UK PM TONY BLAIR CALLS FOR REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN + SYRIA.
ITS GONN TAKE TIME, $$$ + WORK TO BUILD A DEMOCRATIC MUSLIM MIDDLE EAST, as "nation-building" in post-Soviet Eastern Europe is subjectively NOT the same as nation-building in historically anti-democratic or non-democratic Muslim nations.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > AL-QAEDA'S NEW CHIEF AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI WANTS A 9-11 OF HIS OWN, ostensib to help himself "cement" his newfound position + control, etc. oer the group + network.
#4
"The US is not and never will be at war with Islam: Barack Obama"
Obama really seems to have fallen in love with this particular phrase.
Still this statement is both grotesquely stupid and highly dangerous.
No politician can objectively make his nation adhere to a certain policy for all eternity. Obama is making a promise, but he is obviously not powerful enough to keep it. Either he believes his audience is too stupid to notice or he truly believes in his omnipotence.
Second he is given carte blanche to a political player. Whatever 'Islam' does to the US, including but not limited to a genocidal WMD attack, there will be no retaliation. Given this statement, why should any Muslim nation fear the consequences of any belligerent action?
Why should a nuclear Iran feel deterred?
With this one phrase Obama has combined a display of stupidity with an insult to the audience and as a bonus he has officially repudiated deterrence.
#5
tu3031: Somebody should ask him if he thinks Islam's at war with us. I'd love to hear that answer...
You wouldn't think so if you heard his last speech. He would not answer the question, chastise you for being insensitive, then blather about himself for the next two hours.
#6
I do believe one of the mistakes made by the Bush team was not framing the enemy properly. All the apologies on behalf of Islam were artificial and pointless and calling the conflict a "War on Terror" spectacularly missed the mark as it provided no actual enemy and we did nothing to stop Hezzbulah the largest terrorist group of the last decade.
I believe Bush should have framed the enemy as Bin Ladenists, another false-Mahdi, like the Mad Mahdi who tore up the Sudan over a century ago. Give it a nature somewhat heretical to Muslims so they can oppose it without feeling they have to defend Islam. Bush should have made it clear that the Bin Ladenist hateful ideology must be stamped out to ensure nobody considered things over when Bin Laden was killed.
He also should have quietly demanded visas from every Muslim nation and triple-checked each before allowing entry. Even if the visas sat in a bin for 6 months the illusion of close scrutiny would have discouraged many. And sealed the border. Do that and a lot of the airport security and other nonsense would have been unnecessary.
#8
Give it a nature somewhat heretical to Muslims so they can oppose it without feeling they have to defend Islam. YUP. But it didn't happen then & isn't happening now.
Someone still needs to ask THAT question to the Big Zero. Over and over again.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/11/2011 19:11 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Maybe you're not, Bambi - but we are.
No offense Barbara, but speak for yourself. I'm at war with certain groups or sects of Muslims, not all of them and certainly not with everyone who calls themselves Muslim. The guy from Turkey who used to drive a drive a delivery van for me? Not at war with him. My childhood friend from Iran whose now a doctor in Pasadena? Not at war with her either.
My problem with Obama's statement is two fold. A) Of course we're not at war with (for example) the Druze, Ishmaeli, Sufi, and quite a lot of other groups and people besides. Why do you feel the need to state it? B) Why do you feel the need to say it right now?
#12
Secret Master - I'm not at war with all Muslims either. I know some wonderful people who just happen to have that religion, and who follow it (except for the jihad and kill-Jews parts), but don't give a rat's behind what other people do.
But I am at war with the islamonazis who want me either dead or wearing a potato sack. And Bambi can go stuff a sock in it.
As to why he said it, I've no doubt it's because it makes him feel superior, and he likes feeling that. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/11/2011 20:43 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Funny kinda thing...
You get stung by a wasp, well, you try to stay away from them a little bit. But you know what?
You get stung by another wasp, you start squashing them because that made you angry. There was no reason for it. You had been warned and were keeping your distance. Or maybe your wife or child weren't as careful.
Doesn't matter what type or color. You take a swatter to them in the air. You knock down their nests, kill the next generation. You lure them out. When they swarm in anger, break out the RAID, long distance special wasp nuclear version.
When they gather again, hit them with the hose or CO2 or propane. Cyanide smoke when they go underground. Accept some collateral damage to the rats and snakes.
Use a fog bomb in the attic/barn/garage. Turn the sweet world they had going for them into a deadzone.
Look for the queen/ruling class. Bait them with poison. Remove the ability for the tribe to repopulate.
When you've cleaned your house, help your neighbor. Keep his wasps from moving into your neck of the woods.
When you start hearing the angry buzz...
Be vigilant and overwhelming in your response. That's how you deal with wasps.
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.
By Spengler
