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In this mailing:
- Bassam Tawil: The Great
Palestinian Shakedown: Have the Arabs Had Enough?
- Debalina Ghoshal: North Korea Ships
Chemical Weapons to Syria: Nukes Next?
- Uzay Bulut: Turkey Rejects
"Moderate Islam"
by Bassam Tawil • November 30, 2017
at 5:00 am
- Many people in the
West are not aware that the Palestinians are trying to torpedo
any peace initiative in order to blame others.
- The Palestinians are
crying Wolf, Wolf! -- but only a few in the Arab world are
listening to them. This, in a way, is encouraging and offers
hope for them finally to be released from decades of repressive
and corrupt governance.
- These are just some of
the challenges Saudi Crown Prince is facing. It is important to
support him in the face of attacks by some Palestinians and
other spoilers.
Saudi Arabia
and most of the Arab countries are obviously fed up with the
recurring attempts by the Palestinians to blackmail them and extort
money from them. Pictured: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas embraces Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, December 30, 2015. (Photo by Thaer Ghanaim/Palestinian
Press Office via Getty Images)
A young Saudi man has posted videos on social media in
which he calls the Palestinians "dogs" and
"pigs." The man says that Saudi Arabia has provided the
ungrateful Palestinians with "billions of dollars" during
the past few decades. "The Palestinians," the Saudi man
charges, "have been milking us for decades."
The videos, which have since gone viral, have
understandably drawn strong condemnations from Palestinians, who say
they would not have been made public without the tacit approval of
the Saudi authorities. For the Palestinians, the abusive videos
represent yet another sign of increased tensions in their relations
with Saudi Arabia.
Further evidence of Saudi disdain for the Palestinians
was provided in a video posted by Saudi Arabia featuring a Palestinian
gunman as a terrorist.
by Debalina Ghoshal • November 30,
2017 at 4:30 am
- Syria could, of
course, also acquire nuclear weapons from North Korea. Syria
already possesses ballistic missiles; the chemical weapons are
already there.
- In the past, North
Korea has shipped ballistic missiles to Hezbollah and Hamas via
Syria; they will probably continue to do so, and to terrorist
organizations as well.
North
Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs have been both alarming
the US and destabilizing the Middle East. Pictured: A mobile
ballistic missile launcher at North Korea's 2013 Victory Day parade.
(Image source: Stefan Krasowski/Flickr)
North Korea is reported to be shipping chemical
weapons to Syria. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has
stated that activity has been intercepted during the past six months
and that North Korea is also shipping conventional weapons there.
Furthermore, a Syrian government entity, the Scientific Studies and
Research Centre, has apparently established cooperation with the
Korean Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID), North Korea's
key arms exporter, and blacklisted by the UN Security Council
Shipping weapons and chemical weapons to Syria brings
cash-strapped North Korea hard currency, Meanwhile Syria, thick in a
civil war, can only acquire sophisticated weapons and weapons of mass
destruction through a black market; so a sanctioned North Korea is
ideal.
by Uzay Bulut • November 30, 2017
at 4:00 am
- "These epithets
of 'moderate Islam' are very ugly, it is disrespectful and an
insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate
Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it." — Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- In keeping with
Erdoğan's assertions, the Turkish government-funded Directorate
of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) published in July a detailed
140-page report, which stated that Islam is "superior"
to Judaism and Christianity, and that "interfaith dialogue
is unacceptable."
- "The word kafir
is the worst word in the human language. It is far worse than
the n-word, because the n-word is a personal opinion, whereas,
kafir is Allah's decree." — Dr. Bill Warner, director of
the Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI).
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently rejected the concept of
"moderate Islam" again, saying, "Islam cannot be
either 'moderate' or 'not moderate.' Islam can only be one
thing," and that the "patent of this concept originated in
the West," which "really want[s] to weaken Islam."
Pictured: Erdogan in Hamburg, Germany on July 8, 2017. (Photo by Sean
Gallup/Getty Images)
At a conference on women's entrepreneurship, held in
Ankara on November 9 and hosted by the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected
the concept of "moderate Islam". Referring to the vow by
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- during the Future
Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Oct. 25 -- to turn his
country into a bastion of "moderate Islam," Erdoğan said,
"Islam cannot be either 'moderate' or 'not moderate.' Islam can
only be one thing." He also claimed that the "patent of
this concept originated in the West," which "really want[s]
to weaken Islam."
Erdoğan has consistently communicated his thoughts
about the term "moderate Islam" often used in the West to
describe his Justice and Development Party (AKP). As early as 2007,
he said: "These epithets of 'moderate Islam' are very ugly, it
is disrespectful and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate
or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it."
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