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| Terror Networks |
| Belmont Club: Why They Fight |
| 2008-09-09 |
The Strategy Page escribes what really fuels the Jihad: it isn’t religion, it isn’t belief, it’s money. The Taliban in Pakistan (TTP, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) has an economy based on crime. There isn’t all much of a difference between the Taliban and bank robbers, except maybe bank robbers are nicer. What is the Taliban into? Rackets.The TTP have long been involved in criminal enterprises (smuggling, extortion and other crimes not explicitly condemned by the Koran). Tracking down these funds has always been difficult, because criminals have to be good at hiding their cash … The ISI knows how to hide money, and passed a lot of that knowledge onto the Taliban. Crooked politics and terrorism have long clothed themselves in sanctimony. In fact, a cynic might argue that a good rule of thumb for judging movements is to conclude that the more high minded a cause pretends to be, the more sordid are its actual motives. The FARC, for example, presents itself as the champion of the poor and downtrodden in Latin America. But it’s principal business is drugs. Yet the FARC is simply the norm. All kinds of creepy movements and dictators style themselves in the most magniloquent manner. The Times Online recently compiled a list of the 10 most decadent dictators in recent history; vicious men who literally wallowed in wealth and luxury often while their populations starved... ...Sison wrote this fulsome birthday greeting to the Dear Leader, beginning with this disgusting paragraph. The Communist Party of the Philippines extends its warmest greetings to Comrade Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and respected leader of the Korean people on his birthday on 16 February.The toadying goes downhill from there. Of course Sison pretended to be outraged at Ferdinand Marcos, who occupies number 2 spot in the Times Online rogue’s gallery of decadent leaders. “Pretended” is the operative word for revolutionary con-artists whose real motive in storming castles isn’t to topple the throne but to occupy it themselves. The decadence of the previous occupants only inspires them to greater heights of megalomania. The rest of the Times list is given below. One common characteristic of these frauds is their penchant for bombastic titles, grandiose settings and fantastic heraldry... One of the reasons why community organizing guru Saul Alinsky was so obsessed with direct accountability is that he didn’t trust leaders. His goal was to empower the small man and direct their efforts towards tangible goals. The process might be slower than entrusting the future to a charismatic leader; but Alinksky wasn’t into the vision thing because he knew how easily a vision could become a nightmare. Today we live in a world where the Filipinos who died in the Bataan Death March can be be dismissed as colonial “dupes” while the memory of Indonesian “nationalists”, Korean “Dear Leaders” and Soviet “Uncle Joes” can be artfully preserved and their crimes very carefully excused. And why? Because as the first paragraph showed, there’s money in bilking useful fools. Always has been, always will be. |
| Posted by:Abdominal Snowman |
| #1 One of the reasons why community organizing guru Saul Alinsky was so obsessed... Must be something in the Chicago water. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-09-09 17:51 |