So with the recent global terrorism alert I realised that we don't have a place to discuss such events as they happen and how they are being dealt with/reacted to.
So now I've done that, here's the latest as I'm aware of it. Normally I'd provide sources but I'm on my iPad so it's difficult to do so.
US embassies across the Great Middle East are closed until Saturday due to the current threat, the embassies of other western nations in Yeman have also been closed with staff being evacuated from the county.
Additionally a global travel alert has been issued for all US citizens, with US/UK citizens in Yeman being told to leave immediately.
Yeman's security services have been placing much of the country on lockdown, with the army out in force due to intelligence indicating that a large number of Al-Qa'ida operatives are in the country to work on the expected attack.
They (Yeman's security forces) have also just recently announced that they have foiled an attempt by AQ to blow up several oil pipelines and seize control of costal cities, howev they remain on high alert, so there is obviously more to come.
Mod edit:
- As of July 2024, the OTC Israel and Palestine thread
is locked indefinitely and that discussion should not migrate to other threads. Discussion of terrorism or extrajudicial activity related to either of them (including speculation about a connection to them) is banned here.
Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 28th 2024 at 12:37:25 PM
Plain old atheism? No. Aggressively anti-religious atheism? Most probably, though I doubt even secular Western countries would complain much; I understand that doing actively anti-religious stuff is heavily frowned up by their social mores, especially if it involves violence.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Large-scale organized anti-religionism, maybe. But I highly doubt that none of the violent responses to Islamist extremism had involve a few anti-religionists melding into the bigger crown under some other, more wholesome excuse, just so they can indulge in their desire for anti-religious violence.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Well, at least the Soviet personality cult didn't go into outright leader-deification territory.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.In other words, they're the political version of copycats.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion of terrorism worldwide.
There's something going on. There's got to be credible intel going around about a few very possible terrorist attacks.
Greece, Belgium, and France have all launched massive raids across their countries to snatch up terrorist suspects(Greece snatched one up who was a cell leader they thought was in Turkey). All of these took place within about 48 hours of eachother. Belgium has pulled its Army in to assist the police with manpower for the first time in 30 years.
Then I went to LAX to drop off my fiance at the airport, cops and checkpoints everywhere. Not really impeding traffic in any way, but it's like they were looking for someone. About 100 extra officers at the airport, all keyed up and walking around like they are hunting for someone, scanning everyone they can see with the level of scrutiny that shows they know who they are looking for.
edited 18th Jan '15 9:32:14 AM by Barkey
Maybe. I doubt there's some giant terrorist conspiracy, but I'm not sitting on a ton of intelligence that proves one way or the other.
I think it's more likely that the CH attack ratcheted fear Up To Eleven across Western Europe and the governments there are simply going after a lot of people on their suspected terrorist lists in order to look like they're doing something to prevent further attacks.
But that's a story for another time.Also, whenever we get a look into the inner workings of any organisation with the motives and resources for a properly huge conspiracy, we usually find that they're a bunch of shortsighted backstabbing fuckups whose successes were more accident than design. That applies to both terrorist organisations and national intelligence agencies.
What's precedent ever done for us?![]()
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Occam's Razor. A lot of things have to be true that currently seem highly unlikely in order for an effective giant international terrorist conspiracy to be real. Based on what I know about human and government nature it just doesn't take quite as large of a leap for me to believe that people are overreacting to the threat.
edited 18th Jan '15 1:44:14 PM by AnSTH
But that's a story for another time.I'm sure there's some non-specific intel on potential attacks that everyone is responding to.
The French are honoring the satirists of Charlie Hebdo by … prosecuting satirists
:
"In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, the principal message has been, quite rightly, to defend free expression and to condemn those who would use violence to respond to messages they dislike. Yet at the same time, the French Ministry of Justice has ordered prosecutors to enforce with “utmost vigor” a law that itself imposes violence, albeit of the state-sanctioned variety, on speech whose messages the French majority dislikes."
Another version of "That defeats the purpose of opposing terrorists..."
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.Dieudonné should be prosecuted because he's an antisemitic prick, not because he feels like a dead terrorist...
On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.-Quizzical Tilt-
It might be the late hour, but saying people should be in gas chambers is a bit a lot worse than mocking their religion, I think.

Thing is, would atheism be considered an extremist ideology there?