The New Age... of terror and the boomerang called karma

Another atrocity took place this week in France, this time in Nice, claiming nearly one hundred lives, ruining over a hundred families, leaving people scarred for life. Shocking, unacceptable. But in 2011, I wrote, "Let us hope France, the UK and USA do not start complaining when what they are doing in Libya happens on their doorstep".

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not an apologist of terror or a supporter of terrorists and I find the idea of committing a random act of mass murder ungodly, cowardly, despicable, unacceptable, revolting, unnecessary and  worse than every other negative adjective in every language. How can a child, who has no notion of the issues involved and who has done nothing actively or passively against the murderer, deserve to be maimed, scarred or killed in the name of some cause?

Under Islam, those who commit suicide will go to Jahannam

France is paying a heavy human price, a very heavy human price, facing waves of terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamist fanatics who have been brainwashed into believing that they will achieve martyrdom if they murder who they perceive as the enemy of Islam. There is nothing in the Qu'ran however which justifies an act of suicide in any way, shape or form. In fact, any act of individual or collective suicide is strictly condemned, meaning that these young men who sacrifice themselves will, under their own religion, suffer eternally in Jahannam, Hell.

But let us not forget what France did in Libya, alongside its FUKUS bedmasters, the UK and USA (France-UK-US). France perpetrated a massive act of state terrorism, strafing civilian structures with military equipment, strafing civilians with weaponry, destroying the electricity grid, destroying the water supply network, bombing the water pipe factory so that the pipeline could not be repaired, siding with marauding demonic hordes of terrorists who sliced the breasts off women in the streets, impaled boys on stakes, gang-raped little girls before and after beheading them and after forcing them to watch their parents being tortured to death.

The boomerang called karma

If that is not evil, it is difficult to imagine what is. And let nobody forget that France was there in the front line, interfering directly in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation outside any ruling from the United Nations Security Council and in breach of UNSC Resolutions 1970 and 1973 (2011). And as I wrote at the time, "Let us hope France, the UK and USA do not start complaining when what they are doing in Libya happens on their doorstep".

That said, it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to see karma turning full circle, to see the spiral of violence boomerang back in the face of the aggressor, because if Libyan civilians were innocent and did not deserve to be bombed by cowards in the sky or special forces sent illegally by Paris, then French civilians by the same measure do not deserve to be murdered by a demented demon who not only commits an outrage but also insults every fiber of Islam.

Fanning the flames of Islamism imposing democracy with bombs

The acts of the West have fanned the flames of Islamism and as I also said back in 2001 when this Crusade started, violence is only going to engender more violence, until we reach a time when the more rudimentary, unsophisticated and crude the terrorist attacks become, the more effective they will be. Today, all it takes is a truck and a set of keys. All it takes is a grenade lobbed into a shopping mall, or a few shots fired inside, and someone waiting with an automatic weapon at the exit. Ditto bus stations, train stations, Metro stations, airports, schools, Universities, hospitals. The security services cannot possibly man all these destinations and it is good that the public are aware of the dangers. Neither does it make any sense to blame the police, especially in this age of budget cuts.

This is how serious the situation has become and despite repeated warnings as to how the game would play out, the FUKUS Axis pressed ahead in their sheer shitfaced arrogance, imposing their putrid form of democracy using cowards in the sky and boots on the ground, believing that invading other lands and killing people would do the job. It did.

Through the manipulation of fear they created a paper monster which then developed into a real one, giving a carte blanche to the arms lobby, NATO, to spring into action and act as the cutting edge for the lobbies which dictate the policies of Washington and its poodles.

But to every action, there is a reaction and this short-sighted, sooooo European policy, the child of imperialism and the result of neo-colonialist practices endemic in the corridors of power in Washington, in Whitehall and in the Quai d'Orsay, created the phenomenon we now live with, called international Islamist terrorism. What did they expect when they precision-bombed wedding parties in Afghanistan? What did they expect when they invaded Iraq and murdered up to a million people, directly or indirectly? What did they expect when they attacked the country with the highest human development index in Africa - Libya - and sent it back to the Middle Ages? Did they expect that the deprived, jobless, marginalized in the Islamic world would put their hands on their hearts and sing God Bless America, or God Save the Queen or La Marseillaise?

Finding a way out and a way forward

But this is not a time to gloat, it is a time to understand the situation collectively and to try to find a solution. History has taught us, in Ireland, in Ruanda, in DR Congo and elsewhere that what fuels a terrorist organization is two things: a power group which may be a single person or a clique (which becomes a financial exercise through gun running, prostitution, protection rackets, drugs and so on) and outwardly, a cause to which the masses flock, a banner under which the masses gather.

When you have such an organization, you have an interlocutor and you can achieve progress through negotiation, politicizing the process and bringing the players onboard as representatives, playing the game by the ground rules set out by the Establishment. With international Islamist terrorism, however, there is no interlocutor - only a very vague ideal, so there is no leadership to negotiate with, there is no local or regional or national cause. Appealing to common sense (if you blow yourself up, you die) is nonsense for those who not only disrespect the lives of others, but also disrespect their own lives.

The immediate answer is to stop interfering in and invading and bombing Islamic countries. The less interference, the better. Fooling around using western values as a handbook, in alien cultures in tribal societies which are thousands of years old and which reach equilibrium through a very delicate balance of vectors holding together peoples, religions and cultures, would never work, now, would it?

The next stage is perfectly simple. Islam is a noble religion, a peaceful one, and well over 99 per cent of Moslems are decent, honorable people whose lives revolve around kindness and charity. Islam also forbids any kind of suicide, whether collective or individual. So why don't the Madrassahs and Mosques do more in terms of indoctrination, stressing these points and educating their younger members, guiding their behavior and not fanning the flames of hatred?

Thirdly, to deal with problems in marginalized areas of inner cities, or banlieues, one engages with the community leaders. Perhaps it is time to create national or regional consultative councils of Moslem elders, or representatives, to help the authorities deal with what has become a real and tangible social problem.

To conclude, let us in first place show solidarity with and respect for the fallen, their families and loved ones, this week in Nice, yesterday in Paris, Brussels and elsewhere. But let us face the facts and not continue to activate mechanisms which make the problem more deep-rooted, let us now act and together, stop this trend before it becomes the new age of global terror.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru 

Twitter: @TimothyBHinchey

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. A Vegan, he is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights. He is Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru.