Category Archives: Islam

Francis voices terrorism concerns.

al-Qaeda, Caribbean, ISIS, Islam, politics, Terrorism, , , , , , , ,

 

In a move unheard of in previous years, the National Security Minister of St Lucia, voiced concerns concerning the terrorist threat to the region.

I will quote here from the St Lucia Times: “National Security Minister, Hermangild Francis, has voiced concerns about terrorism  and the possible effect on tourism in an address to members of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

 

Addressing private sector representatives on Wednesday, Francis disclosed that he has discussed the issue of terrorism with the Director of the Regional Security System (RSS) and the threat it poses to the Caribbean.

 

“We do not have the exact number of ISIS fighters returning to their countries but we know that between 150 to 400 of these individuals, especially from Trinidad and Tobago, have returned,” the former Deputy Police Commissioner who is currently Chairman of the RSS said.

 

He asserted that the situation was very problematic for the Caribbean.

 

“Imagine, most of the Islands are depending on tourism and we have an incident with one of our tourist ships – maybe in Aruba, Martinique, Saint Vincent – you could imagine the sort of catastrophic reaction that is going to happen to our main export,” the minister stated.

 

Francis said that Saint Lucia will be addressing the issue by going to the primary schools to ensure that young children are not radicalised.

 

According to Francis, all the evidence indicates that children are radicalised from a very early age.

 

“That is one of the techniques that the ISIS movement uses,” he observed.

 

“We are going to make sure, with the help of our minister of education, to put in place programmes so that those young children – vulnerable children, can be taught how to deal with radicalisation,” Francis told members of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

 

 

REGIONAL GUIDES TO LIFE AFTER ISLAMIC STATE.

ISIS, Islam, politics, Terrorism, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Flag_of_Jordan.svg

JOAS WAGEMAKERS

JORDAN

IF THE ISLAMIC STATE (IS) IS DEFEATED AS A TERRITORIAL ENTITY, THE MAIN ASPECT THAT SETS

IT APART FROM AL-QAEDA – ITS CLAIM TO BE A STATE WITH ACTUAL TERRITORY – WILL BE GONE.

THIS MEANS IS WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO INVITE MUSLIMS TO JOIN ITS PROJECT IN SYRIA OR

IRAQ, BUT WILL BE FORCED TO RELY ON TERRORIST ATTACKS AROUND THE WORLD.

This shift in IS’s policies can already be seen, but is likely to increase as the

organisation loses more territory. From that point on, several scenarios

are possible. One scenario is that IS continues to operate as an alternative to al-Qaeda, with its local branches in countries such as Libya and Nigeria.

Given that both organisations will have roughly the same goals, they are likely to merge. Another scenario is that IS will dwindle and al-Qaeda will rise again.

Still another option is that they will continue to be rivals, with IS continuing to try to set up a state.

Any of these scenarios, and potentially others, are possible.

Given the tensions between al-Qaeda and IS and the inhibitions that some IS- supporters are likely to have had about IS’s increasingly violent policies, any future efforts to set up an Islamic state are likely to be slightly different.

There is a strong sentiment among many Jihadi-Salafi scholars and leaders that an Islamic state is a very good thing in principle, but that it should not be executed the way IS did it.

This analysis of the situation may result in more careful ways of going about

establishing an Islamic state the next time an opportunity arises.

In other words: for Jihadi-Salafi critics of IS, the collapse of the latter has the potential to be a major ‘I told you so’ moment.

In Jordan, there is the additional difficulty of intra-Jihadi-Salafi rivalry.

The two main Jihadi-Salafi scholars in the country (and probably in the

world) – Abu Qatada al-Filastini and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi – have been strongly against IS from the beginning.

A large number of Jihadi-Salafi activists, however, disagree with them and still have fresh memories of the rivalry between their local hero – Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqawi – and al-Maqdisi.

While they see the former as a brave fighter who was willing to walk the talk, the latter is seen by them as an armchair jihadi who, when push came to shove, was not willing to support the jihad in Iraq.

Moreover, al-Maqdisi often stressed the need to set up an Islamic state, rather than just engaging in attacks without lasting results.

When IS came along, it seemed that a sustained effort to do what al-Maqdisi had always wanted – setting up an Islamic state – was finally being made, yet al-Maqdisi again refused to support it because he saw IS as the epitome of the “extremist” policies that he had always rejected.

To some supporters of al-Zarqawi, this was proof that al-Maqdisi was hypocritical and not supportive of Jihadi- Salafism.

To al-Maqdisi himself, however, the fall of IS is likely to be seen as proof that he was right all along.

Due to the extent of support for both positions, neither of these narratives is going to become entirely dominant in Jordan, with both co-existing uneasily for some years to come.

Dr Wagemakers’ research, at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, concentrates on Salafi ideology and groups, especially in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories.

Speech International Conference on Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters.

al-Qaeda, ISIS, Islam, politics, Terrorism, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dutch AIVD Director of Intelligence Jack Twiss, 15 February 2017

Today I would like to tell you about a family that went to Syria. A mother and father, inspired by the proclamation of the ISIS caliphate. Perhaps they believe that it would be wonderful to raise their children in an Islamic utopia. They take their two children, close the door behind them, and leave.

After a long and arduous journey the family arrives in Syria. The father is immediately sent off to a training camp where he is trained in the use of weapons and combat.

After his training he is regularly sent to the front lines to fight. The mother and the two young children quickly find out that daily life with ISIS is tough. They find it hard to adjust to the bombing raids, to sharing a house with other families, to only a few hours of electricity a day. The mother finds herself pregnant and soon discovers that prenatal care is abominable. She wants to return to the Netherlands and she manages to convince her husband that they ought to flee. So, shortly before the father is sent to the front again they make their escape, cross the border into Turkey and eventually return to the Netherlands.

Upon their arrival the father and mother are arrested on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organization. The children are taken to live with relatives. The father and mother are interrogated separately and they categorically deny having been members of ISIS. After a month the public prosecution service decides to release them for lack of evidence.

The family returns to their old neighbourhood.

This is one example of some of the stories that I deal with as director of intelligence with the General intelligence and security service – the AIVD. At this point in our story the AIVD faces a dilemma: the mother and father are disillusioned, yes, but have they also renounced their jihadist beliefs? Or will they continue to support the jihad in Syria but now from the Netherlands?

These are the questions that one of the teams of my service sets out to answer. As an intelligence and security service we are able to, and allowed to do a lot. We have a range of investigatory powers at our disposal, such as observation, house searches, wire taps, all under strict conditions.

But we are no mind readers. People who have something to hide are often highly security-conscious, and they try to deceive us. For example, what is it exactly that two returnees are talking about when one of them asks the other: “when does the game start?” Does this mean they are going to a football match together, or is it an attack plot they are discussing? We hear remarks such as these every day, and for every remark we have to assess if it constitutes a threat or not.

Similarly, for the family of four I described just now we have to take great care to see if they constitute a risk. Then we decide if it is necessary to keep a close watch on these persons, or whether they can reintegrate into our society.

In our publication ‘Focus on Returnees’, published today, we describe the threat. All returnees are reviewed by the AIVD to assess their potential threat. One of the criteria we look at is the length of stay in the conflict zone. Nearly all returnees coming back now have spent at least a year in the conflict zone. Many of them have gained combat experience and are deeply integrated into jihadist networks. Which means that they pose potentially a greater threat than the earlier returnees that spent less time in the conflict zone.

The reason why someone decides to return to the Netherlands also plays a role. This is not always clear: medical problems, homesickness or pressure from relatives, but also a sense of disillusion with life in the caliphate could be important. Being disillusioned, however, does not mean that radical ideas and violence have been renounced. For the most part disappointment with life in the conflict zone does not mean that people turn their backs on jihadist ideology.

Where there is no information on why someone returned, or there are indications that the returnees have been allowed to leave by ISIS, the AIVD will take into account these returnees may have been sent back to Europe with a specific assignment.

While the experiences of life in the caliphate are certainly part of the assessment of

the potential threat of returnees, even more important are our up-to-date knowledge

of and insight into their behaviour, beliefs and intentions.

Let’s go back to our recently returned family of four. They were in the conflict zone only a couple of months. Their main motivation for returning was the dire quality of life in the caliphate. But what does that imply in terms of their jihadist intentions? The mother has turned her back on ISIS, but the father still appears to be radicalised and to support the jihad, only now he is in the Netherlands.

It is not necessary, nor feasible for us to monitor each and every returnee twentyfour- seven. Fortunately the AIVD partners with a whole chain of organizations that play a part where returnees are concerned.

We strive to share our information on foreign fighters with the public prosecution service so that they can start their criminal investigation at an early stage. Returnees will initially be arrested and where possible prosecuted.

Returnees that are released are taken on by the social services of the local authorities in their place of residence. Signals coming from these municipal agencies and organizations are of great value to the AIVD in assessing whether someone is still harbouring radical ideas. Because, as I mentioned before, we cannot monitor each and every returnee day and night. The police also keep a watchful eye: local police officers know the local situation, know who is friendly with whom and who the jihadist instigators are.

 

 

They are in a perfect position to pick up signals at a local level and if necessary inform us. The AIVD then has the difficult task to assess in time if someone presents an actual danger or not.

The AIVD expects the number of returning jihadist to increase little by little in the future. Together they constitute a group that requires the close attention of all of us, because they are ideologically hardened, because they have combat experience and because they have become a part of a jihadist network. The AIVD does not expect all Dutch foreign fighters to return to our country. Some of them will remain in the region, and some will be killed in action. We should take care not to focus too much on returnees alone. If we look at the most recent attacks in Berlin and Nice the perpetrators weren’t returnees that had been trained in Syria or Iraq. There are homegrown jihadists that pursue the fight in their own country, often inspired by ISIS’ propaganda. Some individuals are actively, incited and facilitated by ISIS to spring into action. So we have several different scenarios to deal with.

Today’s publication discusses the threat posed by returnees. Unfortunately it does not offer any ready-made answers. The case of the family of returnees I used as an example today, shows that what is needed is the long-term investment of different agencies and organizations. Hopefully our publication offers you help, insight and suggestions. In addition to this publication I would like to leave you with these three points.

(1) Returnees are not all alike. Threat assessment has been and always will be ‘made-to-measure’. (2) We should work together to remain alert regarding the group of future returnees. Only by cooperating can we resist the potential threat they pose.

(3) The jihadist threat is a complicated matter. Homegrown jihadists are inspired or incited on by ISIS, and the risk they pose is as great as that of returnees.

 

General Intelligence and Security Service Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Says Antilleans in ISIS.

Caribbean, Islam, politics, Sint Maarten, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

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The transformation of jihadism in the Netherlands Swarm dynamics and new strength.

 

 

Hard to count, hard to profile The true size of the jihadist movement in the Netherlands is difficult to assess. Not everyone openly propounds their ideology, it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between jihadists and non-violent Salafists and internet personalities may be misleading. One individual can assume multiple jihadist identities online, and some of those who espouse jihad on the internet shy away from it in real life. However, the AIVD estimates that there are several hundred core adherents in the Netherlands and a few thousand sympathisers. Moreover, the movement’s appeal to some is so strong that they evolve remarkably quickly from followers at home to hard-core fighters on the front line in Syria, where they are prepared to take part in atrocities such as summary executions, mass murder and the beheading of opponents.

It is impossible to present a standard profile of the “typical” Dutch jihadist, or of the “typical” Dutch fighter abroad. The movement’s members vary widely in age, ethnic origin, educational attainment, employment background and home situation. Although the majority are men, many are women. A large proportion are in their twenties or thirties, but plenty more are older or younger. Some are minors. Relatively speaking, Dutch Moroccans are overrepresented (the majority of those identified by the AIVD as Dutch fighters abroad are of Moroccan origin). But ethnic Dutch converts to Islam are also found in the ranks of the movement, as are people of Somali, Antillean, Afghan, Turkish and Kurdish origin. Some lack even a basic educational qualification; others are university students or graduates. Many are out of work and living on benefits, but others hold down a variety of jobs. Some come from radical families that share their jihadist ideology, others from secular or moderate homes.

The widely-held view that they tend to deradicalise once they marry and have children does not always hold true. Several of the fighters now in Syria are husbands and fathers, and some have even been joined there by their wives and children. That is in defiance of mainstream religious leaders, who stress that jihadist fighters are in breach of Islamic teachings in respect of family obligations – for example, a child’s duty to obey their parents and a parent’s responsibility for their children.

“The Seeker of Martyrdom Finally Found His Destination: The Commendation of Condolence on the Martyrdom of Qārī Yāsīn”

Islam, politics, Uncategorized, , , ,
A close assisstant of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, Ustadul Mujahideen ( The trainer of Mujahideen), famous punjabi taliban commander Qari Yasen (nick Ustad Aslam) embraced martyrdom along with his three companions in an American drone attack in the area of Laman near Pak-Afghan boundary on 19 Jumadi al-Akhir 1438 (March 19, 2017).
The respected Ustad was one of the closest companions of Shaheed Amjad Farooqi who was a famous personality of Pakistan Jihad -May Allah have mercy upon them both-.
He was considered as one of the greatest trainers of explosives and electronics in the fields of Jihad and still his students are performing their duties in the field of Jihad relating to such sectors of Jihad.
Other than this he participated enthusiastically in the various jihadi operations in Pakistan. Among those, the attack at GHQ is counted on top and he was considered as the master mind of that plan and attack.
We TTP, send our deep condolence to the survivors and companions of respected Ustad on his martyrdom. May ALLAH grant patience to the survivors.
It is not a sorrowful saying because the respected ustad himself arrived in this field for the wish of being martyred and finally he embraced that and went to meet the shuhada by remaining on the path of success.
We believe him to be so, and Allah is his witness.
Mohammad Khurasani
Central spokesperson Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan

Statement by Mustafa Mohamed: America’s designation of Hay’at Taḥrīr al-Shām.

Islam, politics, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

 

 

Above is a   copy of an official US Department of Defense statement on its designation of  Hay’at Taḥrīr al-Shām, as a terrorist organization.

 

What follows is the English translation of Mustafa Mohamed’s response Muhamed was is the former spokesman of Jabhat an-Nusra, which   became Jabhat  Fatah al-Sham and according to Mustafa Mohamed : “JFS members, who have recently dissolved into the larger, unified body known as Hay’at Tahreer Al-Shaam (HTS)”.

 

Here is the complete statement by Mustafa Mohamed the official spokesman of Hay’at Taḥrīr al-Shām:   

 

The recent statement by the US special envoy for Syria, Michael Ratney, aims to cause disunity and discord in Syria by attempting to isolate former JFS members, who have recently dissolved into the larger, unified body known as Hay’at Tahreer Al-Shaam (HTS). The one page official statement, drafted in Arabic, did not have an English translation, nor was it available on their government website. Rather, the US administration chose to address a very particular Arabic-speaking audience by releasing their statement on the official Twitter page of the US Embassy in Syria. Twitter is an extremely popular platform amongst this constituency, and is where most information regarding the revolution is found, shared, discussed

and disseminated; so it is no wonder that the statement spread through cyberspace like wildfire among the mujahideen in a matter of minutes.

The statement is almost a clear designation of HTS as a terrorist organisation, and if it were not for the necessary formalities, I would have it considered it so. Regardless, I believe that the US will deal with HTS in whichever way it pleases, and just as their bloody military track-record clearly proves, they are not prepared to be held accountable by anyone, nor will any attack by them require verifiable proof to legitimatise or justify it. According to the statement, collective punishment only requires the presence of former JFS members in the ranks of HTS. That is one excuse that has been maintained by the American administration since their interference in the Syrian revolution to justify their crimes.

As long as there is one man that resembles AQ in one war or another, they have the right to blow Syria to smithereens. That man will not exist, and if for some reason he does not, they will find a way to say that he does.

The Americans are desperately counting on: a) using scare-tactics to convince the public that all evil that has come to them is a result of a hidden bogey-man that is secretly collaborating with the diabolical global organisation known as Al-Qaeda; b) creating disunity and discord amongst members of HTS by hoping they will ‘take the bait’ and believe that they may survive if they are subservient. The truth is: every tyrant uses false flags to offer hope, security and success to a weak, uneducated audience. While the Muslim Ummah is far from where it should be today, I can confidently say that even the layman can see through the smoke and mirrors here. I will go as far as saying that even those who are meeting with the Americans regularly, nodding their heads in agreement and doing their best to show those big pearly whites do not believe for a moment that America is the “friend” of the Syrian people.

It is politics, and many of those who have chosen to get involved are doing so assuming they are ensuring the interests of their cause (even though most are deluded and politically naive). In any case, everybody knows too well that there does not exist a nation on this earth that is driven by economic and political self-interests more than America.

Gaining the trust of the Muslim people is an unachievable mission that America is willing to spend billions to achieve. What makes me even more confident that their mission is a complete failure is the fact that even though Mujahideen are far from ideal, and even with the aggressive war waged against them, they still enjoy a relatively public support.

Members of society still believe in them and their cause. Of course there is frustration and anger amongst many, but that is only expected given the extreme circumstances we are going through, most of which is a result of the injustices and oppression raining down on the Syrian people.

I do not intend to justify mistakes or ignore deficiencies that exist in the ranks of the Islamic movement as a whole, some factions obviously being more erroneous than others, but placing the Muslim Mujahid in the same boat as the Americans is nothing short of criminal. Further, the Muslims are growing more aware and have developed an acuity that allows them to see the American administration for what they really are.

That is not going to change any time soon; if it does change for some, it will not be enough to harm the Islamic project, nor will it be enough to ensure the American project in the Middle East is achieved.

The statement written in Michael Ratney’s name was a threat; threats are made by those who are not willing to fight the fight, or at least are not ready just yet. There is something stopping them from making that call. America knows who they are in the eyes of the masses.

Another invasion of a Muslim country will only increase resentment and will certainly encourage acts of aggression against them1. That is not something America wants to do right now. They have much more to lose in a making that call than a country like Russia, for example.

This threat was an attempt steer less resolved members of HTS away from the Islamic project by encouraging them to think of ways to avoid the rubber stamp, ideas such as: fragmenting HTS, denouncing JFS members or even perhaps offering them as a sacrificial lamb.

If this did happen, it would result in JFS members becoming paranoid, looking over their shoulders all the time, creating an environment of non-trust amongst the one group. Assumptions will turn into truths. Conspiracy theories will become intellectual theorization.

 

Other non-JFS members of HTS will also become worried. Did they make the right choice? Is there any way forward? Were our critics right about us all this time? All of these questions will be flying around, and there will not be anyone to give a decisive answer.

However, none of these issues have mattered in the past when other, less obvious tactics were used to fragment the mujahideen and stop the revolution, and I believe it will not make a difference today.

He ended with the following Quranic injunction:

“And they planned, but Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners” Qur’an 3:54.

The following is a clarification by Mohamed:

“ I anticipate this sentence in particular to be taken by some as a sort of subtle threat to America or a hidden message to the youth to carry out attacks in the West. Even though I am not writing this for the audience which will interpret my words this way, I believe that for the sake of my intended audience, it is my duty to clarify my position. I firmly believe that all acts of indiscriminate aggression against a civilian population is Islamically unacceptable, regardless who is carrying them out. Perhaps this can be detailed at a later date.

 

 

 

Shekau threatens African nations: Reiterates desire to establish Sharia.

Islam, , , , , ,
Three days after Boko Haram released a video showing them killing three men allegedly working for the Nigerian government,  Leader Abubaker Shekau, has appeared in a new video threatening world leaders and disputing the Cameroonian government’s claim that it has defeated the terror group.
 
The 27-minute footage also showed Shekau thanking his followers. He displayed identity cards, arms, ammunition and other equipment purportedly seized from the Cameroonian Army.
 
He also ordered his fighters to remain steadfast, adding that the sect will not back down until Sharia is established in Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Mali.
 
Video Translation: 
 
”Let me speak briefly in Hausa language, Allah’s help towards us made us to continue fighting, our brothers too fought along Cameroon-Nigerian border. But you kept lying to the people that you have killed 60 of our people, that you succeeded in arresting 20 of our men. That you even rescued 5000 of your people.
 
”Why all these lies? Paul Biya, why are you lying? Is this how to convince your masters, the white men who are pigs and children of monkies?
 
”Lies! Lies every day, you better be careful, Paul Biya because you are not fighting Shekau but God. It would have been easy for you to fight Shekau not God. This thing is beyond your imagination even though you underrated our strength you cannot joke with the holy Quran, prophet’s hadith and the religion of Allah. No! No! No!
 
”Buhari, I’m very much sure that you have learned your lessons by now. You have really learned your lessons but you can still continue if you like. Remember that nobody has ever done bad and gotten away with it.
 
”By Allah, all your deception and lies to Nigerians that you are doing them good will not help you. Following the steps of America, Britain or practising democracy and educating children with Western education will equally not do you good.
 
”I rather not wish you bad but let me urge you to seek Allah’s forgiveness and repentance. Accept the real teaching of the Islam by not only depending on fasting, salat, zakkat and Hajj.
 
”It’s not my saying because religion is ideology which is based on practicing the Quran and its laws. I better not make too much talk. Niger Republic President Muhammadu Yusufu you are a liar. You can’t dare my students and if I rise against you it will be difficult for you to face me.
 
”Just remember that as long as we are Muslims and we practice the injunction of the Holy Quran we will be powerful. This is not something you can play with. Stop saying Boko Haram people are jobless because your propaganda will not help you in the presence of Allah.”
 
This is my warning to you all. By the way, this message was meant for my brothers in Islam  to remind them to remain resilient and dedicated towards the struggle. I assured them that the struggle is not shaken or weakened in anyway.
 
All the explosions in Maiduguri are carried out by us and we will continue to detonate bombs. In fact, you will never have rest of mind until you accept the holy Quran.:
Here is the video link:

New video release from The Islamic State “And You Will Be Superior – Wilāyat Nīnawā”.

Islam, Uncategorized

unnamed-453efd

 

Released on March 18, 2017.

The title   references two Qur’anic verses 3:129 and 47:35.

The video shows various mujahedeen before embarking on martyrdom operations aka “suicide operations”.

 

Since no subtitling in other languages was provided, except Arabic the video was aimed strictly for Arabic speakers already in Iraq and Syria.

It also shows some injured fighters, several of whom have severed limbs, including some fairly young and even teenaged fighters. Eventually all of them are celebrated in the video as shaheeds, meaning those who died in battle.

Here is a link to the video on Aaron Zelin’s  Jihadology.net http://jihadology.net/2017/03/18/new-video-message-from-the-islamic-state-and-you-will-be-superior-wilayat-ninawa/

This link is to a video from Tahrir al-Sham on their special forces in Syria, Tahrir Sham is an al-Qaeda affiliate:  http://bit.ly/ISEliteForces

 

 

More of these updates soon. The material posted here is strictly educational and informative and does not in any way promote terrorism and is not meant as a means to disseminate jihadist material. The information is to provide general public with up to date well researched material that reflects a more realistic nuanced narrative, than the one offered in the corporate media.

 

New Video message from the Islamic State “Words Drenched in Blood”.

Islam, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

unnamedt45e

From Aaron Y. Zelin and Jihadology.net.

The video and the image above was taken from Aaron Zelin’s Jihadology.net. I have acknowledged his copyrights to the image and The reason for the posting of this material is as a result of my posting this video to my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Zr-t5-P7haPY_P0UK2ieQ

This is the link to the video http://jihadology.net/2017/03/14/new-video-message-from-the-islamic-state-words-drenched-in-blood/

The reason for this post is as a result of the video link shown being cited for penalty, under YouTube’s community rules. I posted the video as I was attempting to humanize, the Shaheed instead of dehumanizing the man, as is common in the media.

Islam for me is one of the monotheist faiths along with Judaism and the Apostolic doctrine as laid down in the Holy Bible.  Everyone is posting today for likes and shares. Iam posting in an attempt, to quicken the consciousness of people. Those who want to may click on the link and the one that is static, paste it in your search engine and if you want to skip the portion that you English speakers may not understand, go to 3:37 in the video and listen for yourselves what he has to say. Only an abiding deep seated faith can cause anyone to willingly allow themselves to be eviscerated by explosives, in the name of God. The man in the video is convinced he is going to heaven/jannah.   His act then is not as a result of being brainwashed, his act is an act of faith, which is unfathomable to those who insist to see the world through their secular lenses and not through faith.

The material posted here is strictly in the spirit of education. Bless.

 

 

Ahead of pivotal European elections, rightist websites grow in influence.

Caribbean, Islam, Leadership, politics, Pop Culture., Sint Maarten, Thought Leaders.

The following post by Michael Birnbaum on March 6, for the Washington Post is a potent example, of the increasingly nationalist, populist direction that the Caucasian masses in Europe are willingly marching in. In step with their North American counterparts. The political elite on Sint Maarten will not take heed, the present course of developments in Europe and America will, force the politically progressive in the Caribbean including belatedly Sint Maarten, to unite out of a shared sense of mutual self-preservation.  To you Sint Maarteners who frequent this platform, read with an understanding and learn the salient potent lessons herein.

AMSTERDAM — On the brand-new political news website, the headlines could have been ripped from a speech by President Trump: Immigrants commit more crime, Syrian refugees are raping girls, and Muslim education is taking over the school system.

But the two-month-old Gatestone Europe website is based in the Netherlands; the contributors are Dutch. And their aim, their editor says, is to swing the debate ahead of European elections this year to deliver a tide of anti- immigrant leaders to office in the Netherlands, France, Germany and elsewhere.

Websites that focus on the perils of open borders, immigration and international alliances are expanding in scope and ambition in Europe, seeing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to harness the energy from Trump’s win to drive deep into a continent where traditional political parties are struggling. Some of the websites are registered in Russia. Others, like Gatestone Europe, are being supported by Americans with ties to Trump.

In the Netherlands, some online activists are backing a handful of anti-Muslim candidates, including the fiery Geert Wilders, who is running in a dead heat against the ruling party ahead of March 15 elections. In France, news blogs are spreading innuendo about the rivals of the anti-immigrant Marine Le Pen, who is the most popular presidential candidate in the lead-up to the election in April and May. And in Germany, some of the outlets have spread false stories about refugees raping people that were repeated by the Russian foreign minister. Fed by public anger about refugees, the Muslim-bashing Alternative for Germany party is poised to seize seats in Germany’s Parliament in September.

“There’s quite a lot of news, quite shocking, often with rape or violence and immigrants,” said Timon Dias, 29, who started Gate­stone Europe last month after several years of writing for a different anti-establishment website in the Netherlands. “We want people to learn what’s happening in Europe and vote accordingly, especially ahead of elections this year.”

Although many of the sites are small — the Amsterdam-based Gatestone Europe has only four writers, and no office — they do not need to be well established to score big on Facebook or Twitter. A spicy individual post can go viral with little regard for the history of the outlet.

“It’s a crowbar in the system,” Dias said. “The main line is highly vigilant, highly critical about what the effects are of having a significant Muslim minority in the inner cities.”

The project is funded by the New York-based Gatestone Institute, which is chaired by former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, who was a finalist in Trump’s search for a new national security adviser. Contacted for comment, the Gatestone Institute made available one of its board members, retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who said that the organization is nonpartisan and that its aim is to “move the debate to the center.” Bolton did not reply to a request for comment.

As with other similar sites, many of Gatestone’s posts are based on true events, spun aggressively to feed the narrative that mainstream, pro-European Union politicians are selling out their countries to immigrants. The site does not support any one candidate in the Dutch elections, but the anti-E.U. leader of the small Forum for Democracy party, Thierry Baudet, is a contributor.

“We report the news to our readers in a directed way,” Dias said.

Although Wilders is likely to face trouble forming a coalition and Le Pen is forecast to lose the second round of France’s presidential election, both candidates have had success in shifting ­debate in their nations onto

more anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic ground. Far-right websites are often their megaphone.

In the Netherlands, similar news outlets have already made successful forays into Dutch political life.

A referendum last year on whether the Dutch government should ratify a trade deal with Ukraine was triggered by a far-right news site, GeenStijl.

The eventual rejection of the trade deal turned into an embarrassing defeat for the Dutch government, which was forced to backpedal on its commitment to Ukraine. Opponents of the trade deal, including GeenStijl, cited an opposition to E.U. expansion and a desire not to antagonize the Kremlin as reasons to vote it down.

Pro-Ukraine-deal campaigners say they suspect that the Kremlin put a finger on the scale by supporting activists and pro-Russian trolls online, although no link has been proved. The activists, including GeenStijl, deny any connection.

But even absent ties to Russia, the news sites demonstrated a powerful ability to disrupt the pro-E.U. agenda of the Dutch mainstream, creating a political headache for Dutch leaders and feeding Western disunity that coincides with Kremlin efforts.

“The Ukraine referendum has shown what kind of mayhem they can cause,” said Cas Mudde, a Dutch scholar of far-right movements at the University of Georgia. “What impressed a lot of people was their ability to mobilize people who were commenting on websites to go out and actually vote for a cause. People weren’t expecting that.”

Now GeenStijl’s political arm, GeenPeil — Dutch for “no poll” — has spun off into a political party and is contesting the parliamentary election on the promise to hold Dutch leaders accountable.

“Until my generation, everybody had a better life than their parents. That has stopped,” said Jan Dijkgraaf, 54, a former journalist who is now the leader of GeenPeil.

He said he did not consider himself a far-right politician, but he seized on immigration as a major focus for Dutch voters.

Dijkgraaf said he could understand if a mother of three needed temporary refuge from war. “But when there are boys of 25 with these kind of muscles, you have to think, are they really victims of a war, or do they have plans to get rich, or to do something like in Brussels or in Paris?”

The Ukraine referendum sparked a number of political parties, most of which have struggled to break through Wilders’s lock on anti-immigrant discourse in the Netherlands.

Wilders was using Twitter to spark outrage and publicity long before Trump turned to electoral politics. A tweet last month of a leading political opponent, Alexander Pechtold, Photoshopped into a pro-sharia demonstration in London dominated political coverage for days. Wilders later acknowledged that the photo was fake but said Pechtold had recently been to a similar demonstration.

“They don’t care about what is really true, what is a little true, or what is fake,” Pechtold said. “And that’s of course what we have seen in the United States.”

In the far-right Web universe, the faked picture caused no uproar.

“It’s a way of speaking to people,” said Bert Brussen, editor of ThePostOnline, another far-right website where headlines on recent articles have included “Iraqis on Trial for Gang Rape in Vienna” and “Massacre by Islamic terror was again prevented in Germany.”

“A lot of what Wilders says, it’s Internet language,” Brussen said. “The Internet makes them stronger, and they make the Internet stronger.”

In other countries with elections this year, far-right sites are also thriving, attracting the attention of some of the American outlets that helped propel Trump to victory. Last year, Breitbart News — whose former head, Stephen K. Bannon, is now Trump’s chief strategist — said that it would take the plunge into the French and German markets, although there is so far little sign that it is readying to open.

But anti-establishment activists in those countries may need little help.

In France, where far-right candidate Le Pen wants to take a hard line against Muslim immigration, hold a referendum on E.U. membership and embrace relations with the Kremlin, far-right news sites have taken aim at whichever candidate appears most likely to challenge her in the final round of the presidential election, due to be held May 7. (Le Pen is expected to win the first round.)

For months, that was center-right candidate François Fillon. More recently, a surge from the centrist Emmanuel Macron has drawn a volley of darts from ­rumor-mongering websites, some of them branches of Russian state media. Macron recently took on the rumors, joking that his apparent ability to have gay affairs puzzled his wife, who is usually by his side.

And in Germany and Austria, experts say roughly 30 German-language “alternative websites” are currently operating. Many have existed for years, but they have transformed into machines to undermine traditional politicians, especially since the start of Europe’s refugee crisis.

The majority of them, experts say, tend to have opaque ownership structures, making it difficult to ascertain who is behind them. They are almost universally pro-Russian in tone, and some of the German-language sites are operated from Russian servers, though direct links to the Russian government are hard to find.

“They publish stories with a true core, building their own atmosphere around this core, what we call ‘hybrid fake,’ ” said Andre Wolf, a spokesman for Mimikama, an Austria-based fact-checking website.

Many stories seem aimed at undermining German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bid for reelection on Sept. 24. But as a center-left challenger, Martin Schulz, rose in the polls in recent weeks, along surged a flurry of fake reports — including one by the website AnonymousNews.ru falsely claiming that his father once ran a Nazi concentration camp.

Across Europe, Dias said, the possibility of change is alive.

“People feel the epicness of the times they’re living in,” he said.

Michael Birnbaum is The Post’s Brussels bureau chief. He previously served as the bureau chief in Moscow and in Berlin, and was an education reporter.