Weekly Briefing – January 12-16, 2015 – American Center for Democracy

Charlie Hebdo – A Missed Opportunity – Rachel Ehrenfeld — In less than a week the free world seems to have lost the United States’ leadership, and the media lost its courage. The winners are the Islamists, whose ‘sensitivities’ apparently weigh more than those of Christians, Jews, Hindus, and all other “infidels.” Could this be attributed to the fact that only the offended Muslims take machetes to slit the throats of those who allegedly offended them? The mass that rallied in Paris carrying “Je suis Charlie” signs, perverted the message that Charlie Hebdo’s brave cartoonists paid for with their lives. Instead of challenging the aggressors, as did Emil Zola’s “J’Accuse,” the rally identified with the victims. Those marched in the streets of Paris should have demonstrated their resistance to Islamist terrorism by holding up signs portraying the Mohammad caricatures that got the Charlie Hebdo’s editors killed. …Hollande…invited the Palestinian Authority’s (not a state) anti-Semitic Chief Mahmoud Abbas, who earned his Ph.D. in Holocaust Denial from Moscow’s Patrice Lumumba University and who sends his al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to kidnap and murder Jewish children just because they are Jews. His presence was complemented by his supporter Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov’s attendance occurred as the Moscow police arrested “Je suis Charlie” sign-carrying demonstrators.…more…

Islamophobia: The Origins of the Specious – Clive S. Kessler – Dismissing criticism of the creed that spawns so many fulminators, fanatics and public dangers as mere prejudice ignores Islam’s history, its embarrassment in failing to fulfill Divine admonitions to dominate and a scripturally endorsed contempt for rival religions. Hotheads and moderates alike, this is what Islam believes—the former simply exalt their faith with action. Between people formed within “Western culture” and those in “the world of Islam” there is and has long been much fear, mistrust, anxiety and resentment —some of it born of incomprehension (and therefore “remediable” simply by the provision of facts, mere information), and some, even much, of it born not so much of an ignorance (that simple facts can dispel) as a vague memory of an adversarial relationship, even of hostilities.…more…

Law Enforcement is Fifty Years Behind Aviation – William B. Scott – In the wake of grand jury decisions to not indict two police officers, who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner, persistent protests erupted across the United States. These led to senseless attacks against police officers, including two New York City cops, killed as they sat in their patrol car. Unfortunately, such reprehensible, inexcusable shootings were predictable—and will continue, unless timely, pragmatic action is taken…. What can be done to drastically curb police brutality and killing, as well as egregious attacks on police officers, then rebuild trust between citizens and the U.S. law enforcement community, before outrage ignites a shooting war? Look to the high-integrity field of aviation/aerospace. Long ago, these professionals developed an effective system that has greatly improved air operations safety, based on several key principles: • Independent investigations of aircraft incidents and fatal accidents. • Clear identification of root causes, based on full-spectrum investigations, forensic data and analyses conducted by well-trained professionals..…more…

Islam Is the Problem – Sol W. Sanders – The worship of Mohammed’s followers throughout their history has rarely constituted a religion of peace, contrary to repeated statements by leaders in the West – above all President Barack Hussein Obama. These have been made in their pursuit of trying to defuse the current crisis, but nevertheless are now a part of the problem. One might stretch to argue that Moses, founder of Judaism, had a “battlefield commission”. But neither Jesus, Gautama nor Confucius, leaders or founders of the several other great world religions, advocated violence. Nor were they soldiers, as was Mohammed, the messenger who carried the word of Allah to his flock. Furthermore, virtually all Muslims accept that in his last decade of what may be a largely legendary life, he pursued that career with ferocity in the destruction of his Arabian peninsular enemies, most notably the contemporary Jewish tribes who refused to accept his new religion. The history of Islam is inseparable from its attempt to conquer alien societies and turn them forcibly to its belief. That code demands—unlike the other great religions today—unquestioned obedience to a legal as well as a moral code of contradictory but supposedly God-given dictums from the Koran and the accumulation of practices in the Hadith, pronouncements and activities surrounding Mohammed the man.…more…

A Rage Against History – Clive S. Kessler – The Ottawa parliament, Café Lindt, Charlie Hebdo and so many others too: these are all separate incidents. But they are all part of the same global phenomenon. They are all expressions of a rage against history that lurks within modern Islam and animates Muslim militants worldwide today. It is a rage that has its source within the wounded soul of contemporary Islamic civilization, of the modern Muslim world generally. The Islamic religion and its social world are an intensely political tradition. It has always been so, going back to Muhammad’s dual role as both prophet and political leader in the original Islamic community in Madinah from 622 to 632 CE. More, within a century of Muhammad’s death his small desert oasis polity had become a vast transcontinental empire. And, in a succession of different forms or political frameworks (“caliphates”), the community of Muhammad’s faithful continued to live in the world on its own founding assumptions. For a thousand years it was largely a continuing success story. Islamic civilization, as it evolved upon its foundational political template provided by Muhammad, was able to live in the world on its own terms. The central Islamic societies in which Islamic civilization evolved were able to write and then “live out” the script of their own history. Not only did Islam, and the Muslims of Islamic civilization, live in the world on their own preferred terms, according to their own faith-based socio-political and legal blueprint. They were able to set those terms to others who came within their orbit, under their influence and control. It was to be accepted by all, lovingly or in obligatory submission, induced or imposed.…more…

News & Analysis

El-Sisi moves on banning foreign publications offensive to religion – Ahram Online

The Scandal of Free Speech. A year from now none but the unfaint of heart will still be with Charlie – Bret Stephens

Trivializing Freedom at Its Source – Robert Reilly

The Global Court as Political Weapon: The International Criminal Court has a dismal record and appears to hold an animus toward the U.S. and Israel. – Michael Mukasey

Hollywood: it’s showtime – Bill Siegel

Terrorism and Palestinian incitement – Dr. Kobi Michael

PA Payments to Terrorists – Sokolow et al. v. PLO et al.

Islamic State’s Psychological War on U.S. Troops – Eli Lake, Josh Rogin

Islamists target Swedish Jews after Paris attacks – The Local (Sweden)

Gorbachev’s Call for ‘Perestroika’ of International Relations His Latest ‘Cynical Scam,’ Ikhlov Says – Paul Goble

DHS is a mess of cybersecurity incompetence- ZDNet