Fuzzy, populist sayings like 'YouAintNoMuslimBruv' are no answer at all to the problems facing us

Not least because, in my pedantic view, when translated into reasonable English it actually means -

"You are a Muslim, brother"

Not what was intended of course but it does underline the naïveté of the people who retweet it on Twitter as if it is some kind of salvation and will prevent mass slaughter coming to our own streets.
Recently I had an exchange with a fellow Twitterer whose somewhat Corbyn-esque solution to the ISIS problem was as follows:

1) Vienna Peace talks

2) Stop weapon sales into region

3) Secure Turkey's boarder. (sic)

4) Asset freezes for Daesh

5) Close social media accounts

6) Rehome refugees

7) Lots of cuddles.

My response to this was as follows (slightly padded out since I am now free of the 140 character limit) -

1) Does anyone seriously imagine that ISIS would send representatives to UN peace talks. And if they did what would be their demands? An end to Christianity? Sharia Law to apply in all countries?

2) How do you achieve that? Nowadays weapons are bought and sold between terrorist/criminal organisations such as the IRA and the Russian mafia. Even in this country more weapons 'disappear' from military armouries than are ever admitted or discussed.

3) I don't see what that would achieve. Does 'secure' mean stop people crossing it altogether? Islamists get abroad by lots of other means. And that is apart from the ones already embedded in the West.

4) Terrorist organisations deal mainly in gold and other ready forms of currency. They certainly don't have accounts at your local Nat West and simply go to their nearest ATM machine when they need to buy a new AK-47. I don't suppose they even use numbered Swiss bank accounts and even if they do, getting the Swiss authorities to freeze them would be significantly more difficult that pulling hen's teeth.

5) I presume that this was included as a means of hindering communication between cells. For each one closed they could open 20 more in the blink of an eye. Or if it was meant as a means of preventing further radicalisation then the words 'stable door', 'horse' and 'bolted' seem to apply.

6) Does anyone seriously think that finding homes for every refugee in a street with a McDonalds and a KFC and within a short bus ride of a Sainsbury supermarket is a realistic solution for anything?

7) Just about the most fatuous and puerile suggestion I have ever seen.

So what is my answer? I don't think there is one. Maybe the most realistic strategy is one of containment and erosion (in a military sense). I'm certain that there is no solution which would be instantly effective. After all what can you do about a people who believe that dropping homosexuals off tall buildings brings them closer to Allah or that using children to murder non-believers is some kind of legitimate act. Everything they do points to the fact that all those people actually understand or respect is death.

What I will say is that my heart goes out to those members of the armed forces on whom we depend for our lives and liberty and that every one of those aircrew who are sent out to destroy the ISIS infrastructures in Syria return to their base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus (a place I used to know quite well) completely unharmed.
Below is the message we must be sending to those vile murderers not fuzzy, vapid and illiterate chants.

I really had no intention of writing about the Paris massacre, but........

..... certain aspects keep coming up which annoy me to the extent that if I don't get my feelings down I will have a fit.
I suppose I understand why politicians have to have their say - they cannot really appear to have no feelings on the matter but why can't they just say things which make sense and omit the utterly pointless posturing.
I heard Obama making a televised speech on Saturday in which he said, "France is America's oldest and most reliable ally." and, "Paris is the cradle of Western civilisation."
Who on this earth told him either of those things and wouldn't you think that he would have more sense than to actually say them?

And it's not just powerful political leaders who find this an appropriate moment to make idiotic remarks.
This is a comment on one of my Facebook 'friends' who was wittering on her latest update about expressing one's feelings on Facebook (or somesuch nonsense):-

Did you know since social media came around the human population has 40% less empathy than before... How sad

First of all - How does this person imagine that human empathy can possibly be measured? Does he imagine that there have been armies of pollsters out there asking how you and I feel about things? Have you ever been asked? No, me neither. So all that actually happens is that somebody with precious little else to do checks the sympathy values recorded on one of those sites that evaluates social media updates. Therefore if there is no social media there is no comparable way of evaluating human empathy - let alone arriving at a figure of 40%. It's just total bunkum.

Finally, as always, there seems no area of human tragedy in which the Mail Online can avoid adding to it's immense catalogue of grammatical errors and factual distortions. In an item entitled Britain On Terror Alert with subheadings:-

Britain on terror alert: Special forces on the streets of London as experts warn ISIS is using the PlayStation 4 network to recruit and plan attacks because it's 'more secure than WhatsApp'

It continues with pictures of armed bobbies (AKA civilian policemen) standing around on corners and in railway stations with not a single SAS (AKA special forces) man in sight.
But what amused me (okay, perhaps inappropriately) was the quote from a 'security expert' who supposedly said:-

Messages between ISIS supporters following the French attacks urged them to 'act when you're ready', 'wait for the word' and that the UK was 'very hot' with police action so said they should 'bide your time and wait until your safe'.

Which begs the question - are the terrorists as ignorant of grammar as the Mail Online? And if they are using this supposedly encrypted software, how come the world and his wife know what's being said even down to the grammatical errors?

Oh and just in case there is a single soul who cares what my opinion of the extreme Islamists and ISIS might be I can only refer you to a previous post I made way back at the start of the Syrian uprising when I said that the West was sympathising with the wrong side. They should have been helping Assad, okay he's an asshole and a mass murderer but see what has happened now. If we had helped him put down the rebellion it is very likely that none of this would have happened. I further refer you to one of my favourite quotations:-

Always hold tight to nurse, for fear of finding something worse

There seems to be only one way we'll ever be rid of Abu Qatada

When the Muslim Brotherhood have taken over Syria, I've no doubt the next target for their stealthy revolution will be Jordan.

Then, since Abu Qatada will be a hero rather than a wanted criminal, he will be able to return there without troubling our legal system any further.

We will be able to save not only the £5 million a year in surveillance costs but also we can halt our contribution to the EU fund which is currently subsidising Jordan's "yuman rights" rehabilitation which has so far cost us a reported £10 million.

Meanwhile I'm sitting here with frozen hands because I cannot afford to heat my home during the day. To be honest I don't give a fuck about Qatada's human rights as he has forfeited any claim to them long ago, I'd rather be able to feel my fingers.

I've lost track of the object of our troops being in Afghanistan

Apparently these brave female soldiers try to befriend the local women because tribal customs forbid socialising between unmarried men and women. Their only thanks is to be shot at by the Taliban who, strangely, have no inhibitions about killing women. It's only a matter of time before one or more of them is lured into a trap and murdered in cold blood.

I don't believe that the life of even one of our female troops is worth whatever muddle headed and overly optimistic object that our politicians have set themselves.

If the object was to hinder Islamic extremism and terrorism, then why are we helping the Syrian rebels and why did we aid in the toppling of Gaddafi in Libya and Mubarak in Egypt? The hard line Islamists have already got a foothold in Egypt and it's only a matter of time before they take over in Libya as well.

We should either deal with the Taliban in a proper military manner or get out.
And I'm in favour of the former.

There are worse things than Assad's regime

There are nasty forces lurking in the wings of African and Middle Eastern countries waiting to take over during periods of instability following a rebellion. Extreme Islamists have taken the opportunity to exert their evil will in Mali after a coup in March removed the president and his government. And the headline above shows the kind of perverted justice system to which the unfortunate population is then subjected.
A singular piece of unpleasantness named Sanda Ould Bounama justified the actions of 'the defenders of the faith' thus:

They both died right away and even asked for this application.

Oh yeah I can just imagine them asking to be killed in the most painful way possible.
And I should think they died 'right away' in pools of their own piss, shit and vomit.
What has happened in Mali can equally happen in Libya, Egypt and Syria.
I am reminded of a saying from my childhood:

Always hold tight to nurse, for fear of finding something worse.

There is not much to choose between the rebels and the existing Syrian regime

Channel 4 News chief correspondent Alex Thomson was deliberately led into a free fire zone so that he would be killed and bring about an outcry in the West that would be detrimental to Assad's regime.

Okay, so you might say that at least the rebels aren't killing women and children but there is a missing YET in that statement. As far as I can see there is little or nothing to choose politically between the rebels and Assad's mob. They look like a bunch of radical Islamists who will be enforcing iniquitous Sharia laws and disenfranchising women as soon as they get a sniff of power.

So there is nothing whatever to be gained by a Western intervention at this stage.