Westerners Who Run Off to Syria to Help Counter ISIS: Humanitarians With a Death Wish

That's my takeaway from this:

While illegally crossing the Iraqi-Syrian border, Canadian Peter Douglas was adamant that his incursion was for humanitarian reasons – to help the people of Syria. Douglas is one of a growing band of foreigners to dodge authorities and join the fight against Islamic State militants who have killed thousands and taken vast parts of Iraq and Syria, declaring a caliphate in territory under their control. 

Many of these fighters argue they are there for humanitarian reasons but they say their decision to take up arms to fight for the Syrian people will not be viewed as such by some. 

"I want to fight the Islamic State, although it might be the last thing I do," said Douglas, 66, from Vancouver, as he prepared to board a boat crossing a remote stretch of the Tigris River . 

"I know I have 10 years to live before I will start develop dementia or have a stroke so I wanted to do something good," he added, although he acknowledged that taking up arms was new on the list of jobs and occupations he has previously pursued.

That's where we differ. Running off to "help Syrians" is definitely not on my bucket list (or wouldn't be, if I had one). Then, too, the number of Western "humanitarians" drawn to the conflict pales beside the number of Westerners enticed to fight with ISIS:

So far an estimated few dozen Westerners have joined Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State in northern Syria, including Americans, Canadians, Germans, and Britons. 

The Syrian Kurdish armed faction known as the YPG has not released official numbers confirming foreign or "freedom fighters" and academics say it's hard to assess the total. 

But the number pales compared to an estimated 16,000 fighters from about 90 countries to join Islamic State since 2012, according to the U.S. Department of State figures. 

The United Nations has warned extremists groups in Syria and Iraq are recruiting foreigners on an "unprecedented scale" and with a commitment to jihad who could "form the core of a new diaspora" and be a threat for years to come.

A few dozen versus an estimated 16,000: If you're a Western "humanitarian" like Pete and you want your head to remain attached to your body, those odds really suck.

Mahmoud Abbas, the ICC and the Unstoppable Tsunami

Re that trio, Dr. Reuben Berko makes the following grim prognostication:

EU leaders, reading from texts scripted by the Islamist terrorist organizations, are far more "shocked" by the so-called "war crimes" committed by Israel than by what their own ancestors did to the Jews, which can never be forgiven. The Europeans, who bear the responsibility for what happened to the Jews in Second World War, are trying to represent the Israelis as committing worse crimes than the Europeans who willingly, and in some cases eagerly, collaborated with the Nazi, as a way of shifting the mark of Cain from their own foreheads. They have to accept and openly declare that not one single Palestinian will enter Israel under the fictitious "right of return" and that if the "six million" Palestinian refugees want to return, they will return to the Palestinian state that may actually be established some day (a catastrophe in its own right). 

Allowing "Palestine" to change its status in the ICC from "observer entity" to "observer state" is not a solution to any problem the Palestinians may have. Rather, it is another roadblock on the peaceful road to statehood. If the Hamas-Fatah terrorism conglomerate receives legitimacy from the nations of the world, the day is not far off that ISIS will have the same status with the support of the EU, and the Islamic Caliphate will achieve its manifest destiny. The recent dangerous European court decision to take Hamas off the list of terrorist organizations is another milestone on Europe's suicidal race to hell. The Americans, in the meantime, use their veto in the Security Council to support Israel, although facing the global typhoon of radical Islamism and terror they are like Hans Brinker, finger in the dike (Israel) to keep the tsunami of Islamist terrorism from engulfing Europe.

50% of Mosques in the West Said to Have MuBros Origins

And if that statistic isn't enough to make you queasy, most of the others are likely funded by the Wahhabis.

How To Describe Justin Trudeau

Indulging in a bit of sarcasm, this NatPo editorial calls him a "warrior king." But I think Warren Kinsella, of all people, nails it when he says that some see Justin as

a political Zoolander, an empty-headed pretty boy who talks a lot about the middle class, but wouldn't know the middle class if it bit him on one of his yoga-toned legs.

 How perfect! From now on let's call him Justin Zoolander.




 

Coming This Winter--Avi Lewis's Doc of His Wife's Save-the-Planet-By-Killing-Capitalism Screed

This Changes Everything, claim the poster couple for socialism 'n' Zionhass:

This Changes Everything is an invitation to viewers to consider the seemingly impossible: that the changes the climate crisis demands of us may not be a punishment to fear, but a chance to rebuild our broken political and economic systems into alternatives that improve our quality of life, well-being and connectedness to one another.

Dear Avi and Naomi: it didn't work when Joseph Stalin gave it try. What makes you think it'll work for you?


This Changes Everything--could be the title of Uncle Joe's
autobiography, no?

 

Doesn't Exactly Inspire Confidence

The American general who's leading the mission to defeat ISIS admits that he and his military confreres haven't a clue re jihad's appeal to the young'uns.

Progressive Jew So Busy Giving Himself Props for Being So Progressive That He Completely Misses the Boat Re Islam

It's those "progressives" of the three Abrahamic faiths--including the Ismailis' Aga Khan--who build those all-important bridges, insists Toronto Star opiner Dow Marmur:

The Ismailis are few in number compared to other Muslims in the world, but their contribution, together with the contribution of other liberal Muslims, toward our understanding of what authentic Islam is about is invaluable. The same is true of the contributions of liberal Christians and liberal Jews in Canada and elsewhere. 

Seen in this light, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto promises to become a vital force, not because it represents the majority of Muslims but because it stands for what’s best in Islam. It is bound to grow in importance in years to come in our understanding of this great world religion. Non-Muslims have every reason to wish the museum success in its sacred endeavor.

The thing about Islam is that it's a package deal. There's the exquisite artwork featured in the Aga Khan's shmancy museum. At the same time, however, there's the jihad--both the violent and the stealth varieties--that serves authentic Islam's authentic, long-term goal of global supremacy. That so-called progressives, those narcissists with their rose-coloured spectacles, refuse to see the bad along with the beautiful is an authentic failing that builds flimsy bridges made of playing cards and/or toothpicks.

As for the Aga Khan, even a "liberal" Muslim like him fails to pass the litmus test of true tolerance--i.e. being able to tolerate the reality of a Jewish state and condemning those whose Charter calls for its obliteration. Here he is, for example, in 2006, sharing his thoughts on Hamas and his belief in its capacity to change with a skeptical Der Spiegel interviewer:

SPIEGEL: That means the West should deal with the radical Islamist Hamas as well?Aga Khan: You have to work with whoever the population has elected as long as they are willing to respect what I call cosmopolitan ethics. Now, it’s true that Hamas has a record of conflict ...
SPIEGEL: ... of outright terror ...
Aga Khan: ... but it would not be the only time that movements that have such a record make it into parliament, and even end up in charge of government later on. Can I remind you of Jomo Kenyatta and his Mau Mau movement in Kenya, for example, or the ANC in South Africa? Take away the causes of extremism and extremists can come back to a more reasonable political agenda. That change to me is one of the wonderful things about the human race.

The "cause" of Hamas's extremism is the jihad embedded in Islam's holy texts. How do you suggest we remove that, A.G.?

No matter. One can't help but observe that, what with his comments on "change" being so "wonderful," the Aga Khan sounds positively Marmuresque.

For the UK, Vis-a-Vis Creeping Sharia, 2014 Was a Very Good Year

But only for those on the side of the sharia-creep (which, viz the rot in Rotherham, is as creepy as it gets). For those who aren't into such "vibrant" cultural practices as "honour" killings and the predatory sexual enslavement of young infidel girls, it was a very bad year indeed.

As an antidote to the ugly reality, might I recommend this--Mark Steyn's analysis of a Sinatra standard, a wistful and semi-morose backward glance at life from the vantage point of late middle age.

The Lastest Group of American Academics to Fall Prey to the Zionhass Virus: Historians

Fortunately, the American Historical Association seems to have fended off the contagious bug--for now, at least.

For Those of Us in the "New" Counter-Culture, Silence ISN'T Golden

Mark Steyn, that mirth-inducing Eeyore, has said that there's little point in electing conservatives to political office and expecting them to make any headway so long as the dominant, mainstream culture remains stuck in a leftist/"progressive" rut. Andrew Klavan would no doubt agree with that assessment. He, however, thinks there's cause for optimism in the culture department as, more and more, we malcontents and offense-givers who comprise the new counter-culture leave our mark:

But if we’re going to rebuild American culture…  in the arts, in the history books, in schools, at home… the truth is the only place to start. Dramatic truth, comic truth, historical truth, moral truth. None of it goes down easy. And so you’re going to be hearing “I’m offended,” all day long and into the night. It’s not a sin to offend people. It’s not even a problem really. Getting offended is just one of the ways people react to reality — it’s the way American culture has been teaching them to react for the past forty-five years. 

I feel strongly that a new American culture is already on the way. I read it in books, see it at the movies, read it online and find it in everyday life more and more. My work — and my love — is the arts, but the new culture won’t just be built there. It will be built in the way we treat our spouses, the way we raise our kids, and the way we tell the stories of our country and our lives. For myself, I plan to do all this as honestly as I can, as morally as I can, and as fearlessly as I can

Me too. But not because I'm optimistic about changing the culture; I'm not. It's because I could not live with myself if I remained silent in the face of the PC madness.

Simple as that, really.

Terrible Ideas Du Jour

To end terrorism/jihad, we must "talk" to the terrorists/jihadis.

Multiculturalism rocks!

Reviving Maoism in China.

Mahmoud Abbas's PA wants in to the ICC.

Wiping Israel Off the Map

Defend indigenous cancers against nefarious Jews!

Update: Inspired by the first link, I'm updating my parody of this song:

If we could talk to the terrorists,
Just imagine it.
Chatting with jihadis in the sticks.
We could delve into the crisis
With input, natch, from ISIS.
A dicey situation we could "fix."

If we could talk to the terrorists,
Open up that door.
Remember it worked with the IRS.
And once again we'll be successful
Re situations stressful
(Unless this is a different sort of mess).

We'll help 'em find political solutions
And they will bind 'em to the cause of "peace".
As for that little matter of supremacy,
There is a "remedy":
We'll be dhimmis.

If  we could talk to the terrorists,
Like Neville talked back then
Appeasement surely's not a thing to dread.
And so we'll talk to the terrorists,
Flock to the terrorists,
Tugging our forelocks to the terrorists
And pray we keep our heads.