Good article about ISIS

[Link]

One wonders how the cuts to policing and other front line services will affect a) counter terrorism and b) dealing with an attack if (heaven forbid) one happens.

But I'll end this post with one final remark. The rules on this forum state that any racist ethnically objectionable material will be punished. It is my belief that racism, and indeed all forms of prejudice, stem from ignorance, and what I hope I have proved is that from the almost exclusive ignorance of Hoof's post, conclusions have been reached which at best are ethnically objectionable (Not just a few religious zealots or fundamentalists but with Islam itself... the whole ideology!) and at worst advocating genocide (we need to bring in the experts to destroy the nest!). I'd like to see the mods adhere to the rules of their own forum and warn Hoof that such views aren't welcome on here, yet particularly considering one mod has actively supported his beliefs, I'd be surprised if any of them had the guts to do so.

Ok, my tuppence worth...

Firstly, we HAVE to stop all financial connections with the Saudis. If this means finding alternative forms of energy production, then that's fine. They are beheading more people than IS, most of the funding, weapons and ideology being spread is coming from the Wahabists in that state. Equally, the region in the world in which IS ideology is spreading fastest, the Yemen, is the country being carpet bombed by them at the moment, leading to what the UN claim is a Syrian situation created in just 6 months. For those of you concerned about refugees, well this is gonna be made a whole lot worse if the situation in Yemen continues.

Second, we need to have a far clearer set of objectives in the region. In my opinion, we should be assisting the Kurds in Northern Syria and Iraq, while also making clear that human rights violations, such as we saw in Iraq a couple of months ago, will be dealt with on an international basis. They are a far from perfect organisation, although I would say their principles of religious pluralism, radical democracy and gender equality make them by far the most encouraging group in the region. Supporting them, however, would involve holding Turkey to account for their coordinated airstrikes on Kurdish regions and blockade, and it may even involve supporting the Kurdish push for their own autonomous state in the long run.

On our part we should facilitate diplomacy in the area, invest in infrastructural development and education and generally attempt to rebuild a part of the world which we have left in ruins.

Domestically, and I know this will be unpopular, but I refuse to believe that the answer is to bring up the drawbridge. Yes, use intelligence services to track suspected terrorists, but as I have said, the people seeking asylum are the very souls running away from ISIL, people born and raised in a region in which their ideology is most prominent. For us to meekly withdraw assistance to these people will only increase animosity to the West, an animosity which IS thrives off. If we just leave millions of people in temporary camps in Lebanon, Turkey etc over winter, you can be sure that any respect and sympathies for nations like Frace, the UK and America will dwindle as fast as the health and population numbers of the refugees themselves. In this time of adversity and hardship, I believe we MUST show empathy and support to the most vulnerable, fight intolerance and ignorance with maturity.

And in that vein, rather than responding to your gay jibe with an insult of my own, I'll instead point out that I was merely responding to a claim Hoof made that Islam doesn't tolerate homosexuality. I could very easily riposte by saying that with your apparent views on gays you may fit in very well with the more extreme elements of Islam such as IS, but I will instead be mature and refrain fro doing so.