"So what is the correlation between being bombed the crap out of by US, NATO or Australian air focus, and provoking terrorists ? Not very high. Perhaps you need a new rationale for supporting anti-US Islamists, SD. There's your clue :)"
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So what is the correlation between acts of terrorism and the Moslem cult? Answer: as near as dammit to 100%.

Bombing the crap out of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan didn't anger the Moslem jihadis. It delighted them. It destroyed the secular regimes that were keeping the mongrels cowering in their holes. All this is down to the Yanks and governments like ours (both Tweedledum and Tweedledee) that kowtow to the Yanks and their colonialist Project for a New American Century.

Three poster boys of this drive to set the Moslem jihadists raping and killing all over North Africa and the Middle East like a plague of poisonous ants: John Howard, George W Bush, and the slimiest liar of all - Tony Blair.

(In Europe the one that opened the flood gates was Angela Merkel with an invitation to Islamic hprdes that has made it necessary for the British to slam the door with Brexit.)

Hi EJ,

Islamist terrorism pre-dated any actions by the Yanks or the British or us, by a long way. Yes, there may have been upsurges in Islamist terrorism after the Yanks responded to 9/11, but:

* on the one hand, the dynamics of this upsurge can be found within Islam, and extreme-Islamist versions of it, going back at least to the 1920s - well, back to the 18th century in the case of Wahhabism;

*. and on the other hand, all of the unexpected and unintended consequences of their actions cannot necessarily be shafted home to the Yanks etc.

The rise of Islamist terrorism lies, not in any direct actions of the West, but in the anti-West principles of Islam itself. It is a conservative, anti-progressive philosophy. The printing press may have been utilised in Europe to print billions of books from the late fifteenth century - but there wasn't a printing press in the entire Muslim world until 1824, in Istanbul (according to Jack Goody, the historian of literacy).

The opportunist 'Left' need to find another champion to hitch its wagon to, perhaps one a little less reactionary.

Joe

“The opportunist 'Left' need to find another champion to hitch its wagon to, perhaps one a little less reactionary.” - Joe

Maybe such a cause might be freedom from, not for, religion – i.e. secular democracy. No funds for religious indoctrination of any stripe, on the basis that religious schools are child abuse including when the parents are conspiring with religious schools.

This cause includes calling out and confronting the theocrats who are preventing the Turnbull government from governing[1]

[1] Governing includes cracking down as promised on the toxic gambling ads that pollute football coverage on TV.

Islam has been attacking the west since its foundation.
It is a missionary zeal driven by Mohammad writing in the Koran;
Kill, convert or tax the infidel.
They have been attacking Europe for 1400 years so it is no wonder
that there has been retaliation. It was not just invasion, some
millions of Europeans were taken as slaves and sold in the Nth African
slave markets.
So don't worry about the poor muslims, they were worse than anything
the rest of the world did to them.

EJ,

Defund religious schooling ? Yes, as an atheist who had 100% public schooling, yes. And along with that, outlaw segregation of boys and girls in school classes or assemblies, outlaw the wearing of any distinguishing clothing such as hijabs, no involvement of religious figures of any sort in any schools, no religious curricula, and no different curricula by gender - and so on.

Freedom of belief should be available for everyone, but it is a private right, one which should make no demands on any public funds. Freedom of belief suggests the obligation of believers alone to fund it with no outside assistance. Perhaps the same should go for cultural centres and activities.

You know it's right.

Joe

SD,

The ABC (my preferred news source) reports that Russian planes in Syria have bombed ten hospitals in rebel-held territory in the past ten days.

So can we expect a spate of bombings in Russia ? I don't think so, because the rebels involved are not particularly Muslim, simply yearning for democratic rights, which are opposed by Islam, Assad's Syria AND Russia. Those rebels, no matter how much they are bombed by the Russians, won't drive trucks into innocent crowds, or stab people on bridges, or blow up kids at a concert. Your Islamist mates might though, at the drop of a hat.

Please ! Nobody drop your hats !

Joe