#OpParis: The Fight Is On

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Whatever else ISIS, ISIL, Daesh may be—a group of religious fundamentalists, general terrorists, people with an ambition to become religious despots—it is at the moment a community. A dangerous community.

In religion, its members may be pre-medieval (which is almost an insult to the pre-medieval era), but Daesh’s members take full advantage of the many tools our current, plugged-in era offers: inexpensive smart phones and global cell phone coverage, ubiquitous Wi-Fi, and the dozens if not hundreds of social media platforms one can use to declaim ideology, assert ambitions, cheer each other on while pursuing bargain prices on new weapons purchases. Daesh’s members publish blogs, Tweet, own Facebook and VK accounts, put homemade videos on YouTube and elsewhere. There are other individuals out there who may not share in the religion-based hatred but who love violence and carnage, so they join in the online noise and learn what they can do to support the spread of religious bloodshed.

Who could possibly help separate the chatter from the actionable intelligence? Who could possibly thwart the next Paris-style, multiple-front attack? Who could possibly make it more difficult for Daesh members to communicate with one another, without looking like a government was doing the snooping? Is there anyone out there who can step up and be our assh*les for freedom?

Yes. Before dawn this morning, this announcement from a portion of the hacktivist group Anonymous appeared on Twitter:
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‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness’

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Playing the part of The Gad About Town on last night’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO was Dylan Ratigan, a former anchor and reporter for CNBC and MSNBC who is no longer on television because he tended to say true things correctly with his outdoors voice. The show is aired live, so it was a subdued one because last night’s violence in Paris was still unfolding.

Bill Maher addressed his panel, “When the Charlie Hebdo thing happened, the week after, everybody said ‘Je suis Charlie.’ But not really. They didn’t really stick with them … I’m gonna ask you this question that people asked after 9/11, because I don’t think we really know the answer: Why do they hate us?”
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Ali al-Nimr: A Chilling Update

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

It was confirmed this week that the conviction of and death sentence for Mohammad Suwaymil was upheld in a Saudi appeals court this month. He is one of seven individuals arrested for protest in Saudi Arabia—including Ali Mohammed al-Nimr—and his case was the last one against the seven that had not been heard all the way through the appeals process; with that announcement, reports came out from some of the prisoners’ families that conditions have been made even worse for each of the seven.

Whether or not any of them know what has transpired in Saudi Arabia’s legal system, whether or not any of them know they are being treated as a group inside that legal system, each man seems to know that a horrible end is now within sight. By the time you read this, these seven men: Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, Ali Saed Al-rebeh, Mohammed Faisal al-shyookh, Dawood al-Marhoon, Abed allahhassan al-Zaher, Ali Mohammad al-Nimr, and Mohammad Suwaymil, may already have been beheaded and their dead bodies put on display, crucified.
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