Hi Bazza

Fear not, lil LEGO is an abuser par excellance.

Over generalised characterizations of Muslims are no help in counter-terrorism.

Up to the 1960s White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) Australia discriminated against many "suspect groups" including women, Catholics, Jews, those to the left of Bob Menzies, any ethnic group whose first language wasn't English (Greeks, Italians, "Balts" etc) and the Aborigines who we whites invaded from 1788.

Since 9/11 all Muslims (including Ghans who've been in Australia since the 1860s) and some Sikhs (who wear turbans) have been held under suspicion by the ignorant.

Only a tiny percentage of any population are would-be terrorists.

The problem is who is known to be a terrorist threat. HUMINT, cyber surveillance and experienced analysis help determine who.

Racial or religious profiling is unhelpful. For example Norway's most infamous, murderous, terrorist is Anders Behring Breivik, who was not a Muslim but a right-wing, Norwegian whose anti-Muslim views may be in agreement with many who troll OLO.

Its difficult holding a discussion about terrorism and Russia with some who don't even attempt to read up about conditions in Russia :)

Pete

Hi Plantagenet.

Did you take any notice of your history lessons went you went to school? If you had, you would have realised that Islam was created by Mohammad in Arabia in the sixth century. Mohammad was a genocidal, ethnic cleansing war lord who conducted 82 successful military campaigns to spread Islam throughout the world. His armies created an Empire of five million square miles in 100 years which spread from India to Europe.

Most of what his Muslim armies conquered was Christian land, and that included the all of North Africa, the Middle east, the Caucasus region and Georgia (AD715) The reason why the Muslims went North into the Caucasus was to cut off all European trade with China and India. That was why Columbus sailed West into the setting sun, and why Vasco de Gama sailed south around Africa, to circumvent the Muslim blockade.

Other Muslim invasions of Christendom occurred in Persia, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Bulgaria (AD750) Armenia and Egypt (AD639) Cyprus and North Africa (AD 634) Spain (AD717) France (AD830) and Constantinople (AD718). Italy (AD 745)

Hindu India was invaded in AD 712.

If the Russians have taken back some of the land which the Muslims previously stole from them, why would you think there was anything wrong with that? You seem to be pushing the line that the poor oppressed Muslim minority in the Caucasus's are just hitting back at their persecutors. Get real. Being a minority in any Muslim land even today is not conducive to health and longevity. Better to be a Muslim living in a Christian land, than a Christian living in a Muslim one.

Get it through your overly thick cranium that Islam is a failed civilisation that can not hope to compete in the modern world. THAT is why its people live in poverty and why they are so susceptible to any ideology which promises them an eternity in paradise in exchange for religious terrorism. Islam is a fascist religion which even Hitler admired and all you an do with your ignorance of history is to make poor excuses for it.

In reply to Plantagenet's second sneery post to me.

Of course Australians did not want any foreign immigrants displacing their own people in their own land. Do you think that this makes Aussies unique? Now it is the turn of the Greeks, the Italians, and the East Europeans to complain about their lands being invaded by foreigners. Pakistani illegal immigrants are even turning up in Poland, and the Poles are incensed about it.

It is a cultural universal that all human beings prefer to live amongst their own people. People with whom they feel kinship, who share their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours, and with whom they feel safe. There is nothing wrong with that. Most people can be very accommodating to foreigners, it all depends upon the degree of cultural tolerance, the rate of demographic change, the differences in cultures between the minority and the host populations, the acceptance by the minority to integrate into the mainstream, and most importantly, the behaviour of the minority towards the majority.

I am sure that you do not like Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen. The reason you do not like them is because of their values, beliefs and behaviours which you find objectionable. But by some application of doublethink, you insist that Muslims be judged to a different standard to what you hold Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen. With Muslims, you must not make a general assessment of their character from what their holy book tells them to do, or what they collectively believe, or how they collectively behave.

All you care about is your humanitarian ideology, which preaches that everybody is equal. All cultures are equal, all races are equal, and all religions and belief systems are equal. As long as they are not Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen. Your logic is bankrupt.

The USA has suffered over twenty terrorist incidents in the past twenty years and every one of them was committed by a Muslim. Plain common sense says that being suspicious of Muslims is not "racial profiling", it is a description of the suspect.

Hi LEGO

Thanks for your information about the original Muslim invasions of the Caucasus and ethnic relations in Australia.

I accept your North American (US citizen?) knowledge of terrorist incidents in the US. Australia's most recent terrorist bombing, in 1978, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Hilton_bombing was not seen as Muslim caused.

Concerning events in Russia over the last three days Peter's article stated http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15876 :

"Given the terrorist threat to the Sochi Olympics that has revealed itself over the last 48 hours all these security preparations may be necessary. As a Russian and former KGB and FSB operative Putin would be torn between his natural urge to put strict counter-terrorism measures in place and his wish that Russia appear relaxed and democratic. In order to appear efficient and in control Putin is likely to launch a “successful operation” over the terrorists within the next few days to weeks – arrests at least"

Re "Putin is likely to launch a “successful operation” over the terrorists within the next few days to weeks – arrests at least". CBS has now reported the predicted arrests http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-police-round-up-dozens-after-suicide-bombings-in-volgograd/

"Police detained dozens of people on Tuesday in sweeps through Volgograd..."

Current intelligence is an interesting area.

Cheers

Pete

.

LEGO

Well said --spot on.

(Pete) plantagenet is usually pretty cluey but he's a bit wide of the mark on this one --however, David G is his usual clueless hate-everything-American self.

Plantagenet.

You sent me two posts, and I responded in full to all of the points you raised (within the boundaries of the 350 word rule), even giving you history and sociology lessons as homework. Your response was so poor that I can only conclude that you are unable to formulate an argument to defend what you so passionately believe in.

You ignored the aim of my two posts, which was to correct your misconceptions about Muslims as victims, as well as trying to make you understand that Australians have a right to be concerned about the direction in which our immigration policies are heading. Rather than address these points, you cherry picked an item which you could get some mileage out of. You garbled something about the Sydney Hilton bombings and about Anders Breivik, which appeared to imply that you are opposed to ethnic profiling. It would be more useful to your own cause if you had said something like "I am opposed to ethnic profiling because..."

It just so happens to be a fact that certain ethnicities are very disproportionately represented in terrorism and serious criminal behaviour and it simply common sense to consider them more closely when looking for suspects. You mentioned that there was a terrorist bombing incident in Sydney that did not involve Muslims, therefore you implied that it is unfair to consider Muslims as terrorists. It is not unfair. It is simply a recognition that the growing terrorist threat in European societies is much more likely to involve Muslims than any other group. There have been at least four foiled attempted terrorist plots in Australia involving Muslims in the last twenty years and thirty Muslims in jail for terrorism related offences in Australia.

There are just as many Buddhists in Australia as Muslims, but there have been no Buddhist terrorism incidents in Australia and no Buddhists jailed for terrorism related offences.

Then you went completely fuzzy and started writing about the Russian arrests of suspected Muslim terrorists, although what point you were trying to make is beyond me. Try and stay on topic.