The BBC Talks To The Syrian Jihadists
As the French make slow progress against Islamist militants in Mali, and Muslim hostage-takers that may include a Canadian continue to hold out at a gas plant in Algeria, Syria is of course suffering...
View ArticleMayhem In Mali: The End Of The Beginning
French President François Hollande recently visited Mali, basking in his military’s success in driving Ansar Dine and other Islamist militants out of the northern cities of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal....
View ArticleEye For Eye, Spine For Spine
One of the most simplistic but intuitively satisfying approaches to justice is the principle of lex talionis, the law of retaliation. If Adam hits Suzy and breaks her nose, then perhaps the law should...
View ArticleHomegrown And Imported
In America, surviving Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (it’s probably a sign of immaturity that I keep wanting to pronounce his first name as “Joker”) is reportedly answering interrogators’ questions in...
View ArticleIslam’s Apologists Leave Out The Not-So-Fine Print
The National Post and the Toronto Star don’t agree on much, but the apparently pressing need to convince the public that Islam could not possibly have anything to do with terrorist attacks either...
View ArticleRecent Ructions In France And England
On Tuesday, reactionary French historian, writer and former militant Dominique Venner made a figurative and presumably literal splash by shooting himself “through the mouth” in Notre Dame Cathedral....
View ArticleLunch Room Stupids
Every summer I work at a (the same) call center. I have been doing this for 5 summers now. Every year that I go back the same people still work there. A lot of them are middle to older aged women who...
View ArticleTavshedens Tyranni Indeed
Michael Moynihan, in the Daily Beast, has a wonderfully detailed report on a “repentant radical” by the name of Ahmed Akkari. This Akkari was born in Lebanon, but raised largely in Denmark. He became...
View ArticleMake Jihad Al-Nikah, Not Jihad Bis Saif
Jihad is a multifaceted concept in Islam. Apologists like to stress its non-violent aspects, which are certainly real and significant, but jihad bis saif – jihad by the sword – is real and significant...
View ArticleIn A Sectarian Civil War, Don’t Mix Up Your Sects
A commander in a “hardline Islamist rebel group” in Syria, one Mohammed Fares Maroush, was wounded in a battle with government forces south of Aleppo. He was duly picked up by other rebels, who decided...
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