If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Today the illegal wildlife trade is worth in excess of $10 billion annually and the surging demand for ivory from the rapidly growing economies of China, Vietnam and Thailand resulted in over 40,000 elephants being killed in Africa in 2012, or one every 15 minutes.
And how has this money been spent? Certainly not on social projects or rebuilding initiatives. Rather, the reporting indicates, the money has been funnelled to Karzai's cronies as bribes in a corrupt attempt to buy influence in the country.
What was perhaps most chilling about the Chechen terrorists was that they used women from the start. The first Chechen suicide bombers were two young women who drove an explosive laden truck into their target. Half of the hostage takers in Moscow were women dressed in long black Salafi style robes with bomb belts strapped to their waists--they were seen by journalist as women in mourning clothes
Livingstone is not condoning or excusing the actions that the Tsarnaev brothers have been accused of. Anyone who reads the comments can see that; furthermore, anyone who knows Livingstone, who saw his powerful speech as Mayor following the attacks on London, will recognise that this is not a terrorist sympathiser.
What is dangerous about Kurlander's article, is the unfounded ammunition it provides for the state to continue vilification and harassment of anarchists. Kurlander argues that by calling the Boston bombing "terrorism" it frames it "as an act of war," allowing "the federal government to violate and decrease our constitutional rights and individual liberties in the name of fighting terrorism." The sad irony is that his article contributes to the State's efforts to do exactly that based on a political belief.
Certainly the April bombings point to a young man who was filled with a self righteous hatred that allowed him to strike out at innocent men, women and children--maiming and killing them with no sense of conscience. Did this hate have some of its origins in either his or his brother's drug use and a wish to destroy those who he later blamed for corrupting him?
Nowadays with terrorist groups present on the Internet it is entirely possible to bring all four elements of the lethal cocktail of terrorism together simply sitting in front of a computer monitor.
We care so much about Boston, not just because it happened, but because it could so easily have happened to us.
But once again, those responsible for the attack on the Boston Marathon made the same mistake that all terrorists throughout the ages have made. They did not count on the resiliency of the human spirit. Just as in New York on 9/11 and in London on 7/7, in the midst of all the chaos people have come together and have shown that community is not that easily broken.
Orji Uzor Kalu's pitch as peace broker could yet propel him to Nigeria's presidency. However, the former state governor will struggle to be heard above the chaos consuming the country
America needs to find a way to grapple with the tensions of immigration reform and its desire to remain an open and welcoming society or risk becoming a society that eliminates all its freedoms in the name of protecting against terror.
Who is the coward? Is it the deluded young man from an immigrant background who makes the decision to commit mayhem to help some spurious 'cause', who lobs bombs at pursuing SWAT teams and shoots from his hidey-hole, a dry-docked boat? Or is it the technology graduate, with his home in the suburbs and his federal pension, whose greatest risk is the long drive home?
A person using this defense of splitting will be vulnerable and possibly even seek out a group that has as its central mission, restoring him to the true Islam. At the same time, he could destroy the corrupted West - which may have become for him the symbol of his corrupted self, that he now wishes to disown.
As terrible as that is, we can take comfort in the fact that while terrorists celebrate in that brief moment of human frailty, they always underestimate the strength of the human spirit. Like 9/11 and the London bombings have so powerfully demonstrated, we always bounce back and become stronger than before.
Are you a Muslim? Are you a member of 'al Qaeda' or a 'jihadist' with AQ 'linkages' ? Were you 'inspired' or 'radicalized' after listening to sermons by some firebrand preacher in Yemen or a holiday in Pakistan? Are you a foreign import or a 'homegrown' terrorist?
London's marathon this weekend offers us an opportunity for an immediate response. Let the politicians, security services and 24 hour news handle the pursuit of justice and let's stick to what we can do. To extend the sense of community that we saw in Boston and to show defiance to the perpetrators I think we have to turn out and support London's brave 26 milers this weekend.
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