[Blogs Tribune] The Afghans call this revolting act bacha bazi, and it is exactly what it sounds like. Young boys usually ostracised from villages by their families because they were attacked by a paedophile, wearing flowing colourful outfits clad in bells, dancing in seedy places for older turban wearing bearded Afghan men, only to be sexually assaulted after the contemptible night takes a drug and alcohol fuelled turn.
BLUF:
From Afghanistan to Pakistan, the common threads in these cases are as old as the act of rape itself. Invariably, the victims are heartbreakingly vulnerable, and invariably, the attackers themselves rationalise their actions by blaming the victim, 'he was asking for it', 'he secretly liked it', or 'he was that type of boy'.
More upsettingly, accepting it as a cultural norm allows the abusers as well as those with the power to stop it, to alleviate feelings of guilt.
Foreign Policy claims that as many as 50 per cent of men in Southern Afghanistan 'take boy lovers'. The leaders of Afghanistan do nothing for fear of losing their hold on power, as any action could offend their voter base. Meanwhile, as far as Pakistan's northern areas are concerned, our own leaders would rather bury their heads in the sand.
This mentality can only be tackled with a concerted effort to revise a cultural norm. Somewhere along the way these people began to assume it was okay to take advantage of a child. For such a perverse act to become acceptable in parts of Pakhtun culture must have taken deep psychological conditioning, especially considering how many victims of sexual abuse become abusers themselves. It shall take equally complex psychological conditioning to invalidate child sex abuse as an acceptable act.
We can only achieve this if our political and religious leaders, filmmakers, educators, journalists, and others use their skills of influence. Shame can be a healthy feeling, but not when it is misused to function as a wall for paedophiles and rapists to cover their wrongdoings. Shame must instead be used as a hammer to break down these walls.
#1
If Western powers are to remain involved in the Afghan/Pakistani hellhole, then they need to apply the lessons learned by the British Raj in ending the practice of "sati" (widow burning).
Per Wikipedia:
General Sir Charles James Napier, the Commander-in-Chief in India from 1849 to 1851 is often noted for a story involving Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of sati by British authorities.
"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."
#3
I have often quoted that Napier quote here and elsewhere for the same reasons.
The only way this will end is with a movement equivalent to the anti-slavery movement. Moral leaders must make it clear to political society that this must stop, and mean it and be prepared to fight to end it.
#8
The big difference between today in Afghanistan and India in Gen. Napier's time is that Britain RULED India and could enforce its will. In Afghanistan, we are merely guests, and must respect their "culture".
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/02/2015 11:59 Comments ||
Top||
#9
RiV, and the reason that Britain could enforce their will is that they had one.
They had a belief in their own cultural superiority and a will to enforce it.
People that claim to be multi-culturists are those that think the only components of a culture are the cuisine, the music and the fashion. Since they don't have any core morals or beliefs they assume that no one else does and who cares anyway?
On Tuesday 22 September, Middle East Eye broke the story of a senior member of the Saudi royal family calling for a "change" in leadership to fend off the kingdom's collapse.
In a letter circulated among Saudi princes, its author, a grandson of the late King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, blamed incumbent King Salman for creating unprecedented problems that endangered the monarchy's continued survival.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Why do you insist on contorting your thesis with "climate change" every time?
It makes you look like a hack. Anyone who even says "climate change" is a dumb ass to start with. Because weather is not something you will ever control.
Dumb ass.
Besides that, yes. Saud house is under curse and so be it.
#2
Well, it's nice to see that climate change has an upside. But since changing climate change takes so long, I guess there is just no hope for Saudi Arabia. How much longer before the same issues drag down the Persians?
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/02/2015 7:46 Comments ||
Top||
Eighteen months ago, when Russia launched a hybrid war in east Ukraine, the Kremlin was confident that its proxies would face little or no military resistance. At the time, this seemed like a reasonable assumption. Ukraine had just surrendered Crimea without a fight and could muster just 6,000 troops. The Ukrainian army, in practical terms, had ceased to exist.
The events of the intervening one and a half years represent nothing short of a military miracle. Today, the Ukrainian army boasts hundreds of thousands of soldiers, the majority of them battle-hardened combat veterans. They have succeeded in holding a vast front line against Russian-backed opponents who are more heavily armed than just about any conventional army in today’s Europe. The tide of Russian expansionism, which in spring 2014 threatened to sweep all the way to Kyiv, has been stemmed, leaving the Kremlin with an undersized enclave it does not want and a war it cannot win.
Ukraine’s unlikely military recovery has been a miracle of volunteerism. Thousands of ordinary Ukrainians have volunteered to join the defence of the country, while millions more have contributed to the fundraising and supply efforts that have helped bridge the gap created by the chronic lack of state support for the armed forces. The result has been the creation of a ‘People’s Army’ in the truest sense of the term.
The remarkable tale of Ukraine’s against-all-odds fight back has yet to receive the coverage it warrants. Instead, media attention has focused on fringe political extremism, top brass corruption, draft-dodging, supply woes, and individual military setbacks. While these concerns are all valid, they are mere footnotes when compared to the far bigger story of Ukraine’s military resurrection and its impact on the geopolitical balance in the region. Without the armed resistance Ukraine has mounted in the east of the country, Russian tanks would likely have reached the Dnipro River by mid-2014, and the Kremlin would now be negotiating a new status quo with a trembling Brussels while firmly entrenched on the borders of the EU itself.
Russia didn't expect Ukraine to fight back
It is time to recognize the role Ukraine’s military miracle has played in blunting Putin’s imperial aggression. Sanctions, diplomatic bluster and falling oil prices have all attracted their fair share of international headlines, but the unexpectedly high price that Russian commanders have had to pay for every inch of Ukrainian land has been decisive in persuading the Kremlin to scale down its ambitions. Economic costs were no doubt anticipated when the Kremlin launched its hybrid war campaign, but nobody expected Ukraine to put up such a fight. In contrast to the defiant public stance the Kremlin has adopted towards sanctions, Russia has gone to extreme lengths to conceal the deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. It is reasonable to assume that a fear of far greater numbers of casualties has played in a key role in preventing renewed escalations.
The cost to Ukraine has also been tragically high. Ukrainian society will carry the scars of Putin’s hybrid war for generations, and the scale of the psychological damage has yet to be fully appreciated. Understandably, there is little current appetite for triumphalism. Nevertheless, there is no escaping the huge debt owed to the men and women behind Ukraine’s military miracle. Their valor has laid the foundations for the new Ukraine, while shielding the rest of Europe from the Kremlin’s revisionist doctrine of occupation and annexation. History will eventually be kind to these unsung heroes, but those of us who are lucky enough to live in Ukraine do not have to wait so long. We have the chance to express our gratitude on a daily basis, whenever we see a member of the armed forces or a volunteer. Such small gestures may seem insignificant given the historic scale of the events gripping Ukraine, but it is the least we can all do.
Undated, unconfirmed reporting from a former British officer residing in Germany:
Dear Friends,
Europe is now in total chaos and I think that you should know about it.
I have waited a week or so to see how things will develop and to glean more information before presenting the facts.
As you may know from the media, the flood of refugees cum economic immigrants into Europe has reached ridiculous proportions and to the extent that Hungary and other Balkan states have closed their borders and Turkey is considering doing the same.
Angela Merkel in an ill advised speech to the Bunderstag, welcomed all refugees to Germany and the floodgates opened and, in my view, this was all pre-planned beginning with the Pope's appeal last year for Islam to move closer to Christianity. This was then followed up via the Italian Government instructing the Italian Navy to rescue all boat refugees and bring them to Italy.
As a result, it seems that some 8000 people per day are now entering Europe via various routes. Most of these are young males between 17 and 25. The result is chaos as you can imagine.
Here in Saarland we have been overwhelmed with refugees mainly young males but some families. In Lebach, some 10 kilometers from here, a camp for 200 was set up and a further 100 added this last week. The politicians, local government and religious leaders have fallen over themselves to bring them in and cater for them.
And so what is the result? In Ventimiglia near Monte Carlo, the refugees banded together (organized by smart phone) and over ran the market and stole or destroyed everything and ransacked the town.
Here in Lebach, a group entered a supermarket and took what they wanted and destroyed the rest. When the Manageress confronted them, they called up their friends and smashed the place to bits. The police arrived but were overwhelmed. The supermarket is now closed.
Yesterday, my friends rang from Weissenfels near Leipzig since two supermarkets and a Kaufland store in Halle suffered the same way. More news is coming in from all over Germany of the same situations.
The media report none of this.
Many people have demonstrated against being over run by immigrants. In Weissenfels, families were thrown out of an eight flat apartment block and 70 refugees moved in. Small towns of some 2000 to 3000 people are over run by some 5000 to 6000 refugees.
Much civil unrest is apparent and is just boiling under the surface. Europe is in chaos and the do gooders have totally lost control of the situation. Islam has overwhelmed us.
For the Syrian and Afghan refugees, I have every sympathy and they need help. They should get it. But for the rest, in my view, the state authorities must be firm and send them back. Perhaps it is too late.
Anyway, I thought that you should know that the situation here is pretty grim and I fail to see how it can be resolved. I can only foresee a police state.
[1960's-1970's = 2014 TOM CRUISE'S + EMILY BLUNT'S "EDGE OF TOMORROW", + "INTERSTELLAR"].
Global Nuclear Jihad supported by the Global Nuclear Caliphate headed by the Muslim/Islamic Nuclear Napoleon.
THE DEFEAT-N-DESTRUCTION OF THE ISIS/ISIL IS +
M-U-S-T BE A NON-PARTISAN ISSUE BETWEEN THE GREAT POWERS. SAVING THE ISIS/ISIL TO USE AS A PCORRECT-DENIABLE "HEDGE" IN THE NEVER-ENDING "GREAT GAME" BETWEEN THE GREAT POWERS WILL ONLY MEAN THE DEFEAT + DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE JUDEOCHRISTIAN = NON-MUSLIM WORLD INSTEAD.
DESTROY THE ISIS/ISIL, OR FACE = PAY THE DOMINO.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Coach is Right] BY 2100, ISLAM WILL CONQUER/RULE THE WORLD.
Ironically, in large part due to JudeoCHristian US-West that helped them go Nukulaar + refused to destroy them when they had the chance(s).
EYES WIDE OPEN, NOT EYES WIDE SHUT.
More from the Net ..
* LUCIANNE > [IBD] PUTIN'S RESURGENT RUSSIA CHALLENGES WEAKENED US.
* SAME > [Daily Mail] PUTIN ISSUES ORDER DRAFTING 150,000 CONSCRIPTS INTO RUSSIAN MILITARY AS IRAN + HEZBOLLAH PREPARE NEW GROUND OFFENSIVE IN SYRIA WID [Russian] AIR SUPPORT.
* RUSSIA TODAY > RUSSIA WILL SUCCEED WHERE WEST [read, POTUS Obama = USA] PROBABLY DIDN'T WANT TO - ASSAD AIDE.
#2
Drive the US 99 corridor in the Central Valley of California to see our own Latino invasion in full flower, and then consider Dearborn Michigan redux across big cities to see the Muslim version. These people are not coming for the AMerican dream and assimilation, that are "colonists", coning for the benefits and to gain control of the power to rule! One political party in this country is complicit in this...
[Huffpoo] What the research says: High-altitude living could lead to a leaner physique. People who lived at sea level were up to 5 times more likely to be obese than those who called areas with an elevation over about 9,800 feet (like certain parts of Colorado) home, even after the researchers of the study controlled for activity levels. A 2014 study in PLOS One also found that overweight subjects were less likely to continue gaining weight and become obese when they were living at higher altitudes. One potential explanation: Elevation could lower your appetite, as research suggests that not only do levels of leptin, the hormone that helps tell your brain when it's time to stop eating, potentially rise at higher altitudes, but your body may also respond to the hormone more effectively.
BLUF: [WND] The Idea of America was not to centrally control man's work and his fellow-feeling.
The statism preached by the scold from the Vatican is anathema to the philosophy of our founders, who rejected a state-directed common good. Not to be out-preached by the Pope, the Champ piles on with his very own 'scold' and mandate of group-think guilt last evening, over yesterday's tragic school shooting.
"By pursuing his own interest," wrote moral philosopher Adam Smith in "The Wealth of Nations" imbibed by the framers -- "[man] frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."
Take that back to Rome, Pope Francis. Despite my best efforts, I find myself agreeing with Mercer in this particular instance.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.