Kobani's Enwer Muslim: "We thank everyone who supported us regardless of their political ideas"

Enwer Muslim

Here is the latest interview with Kobani Canton's Enwer Muslim: https://rojavareport.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/new-interview-with-enwer-mislim-on-kobane-victory-from-mutlu-civiroglu/

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic State group are brothers

President Obama's embrace of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in the first phase of his presidency will forever mark him out as a dupe of the highest order. However, he has almost two years to begin making amends. Allowing the USAF to help the Kurds is a start, but there is so much work to do: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/59396-150129-at-least-6-egyptian-soldiers-killed-in-attack-in-sinai   

The Battle for Modernity on the Kurdistan Border

YPG/YPJ commanders and Kobani Canton officials announcing liberation of Kobani from the IS 

The Long War will be 30 or 100 years (depending on your point of view) in duration, and so we should enjoy every victory along the way. I have no idea why it was up to Kurds to begin to turn the tide on Islamofascism, but that's the way it is. I think I am ready to start learning the Kurdish language. In any case, here is my pean to the Kurds submitted for publication on December 1, 2014. I am no seer but am proud that this essay only became more relevant over the past seven or so weeks. Now out from behind the subscriber's wall - though why not become a subscriber to Quadrant, at least a digital one? Here is the piece: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2015/01-02/battle-modernity-borders-kurdistan/

Tony Judt (1948-2010) was guessing on Israel

All those books but few lasting insights on the Jewish state 

Judt's ideology of 'universalist social democracy' put him at odds with reality. This is a fine essay on Tony Judt by Adam Kirsch in Tablet magazine: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/188406/tony-judt-is-aging-poorly

Kobani Liberated After 134 Days

The Islamic State fighters appear to have lost the Battle of Kobani

At this link are some extraordinary pictures: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b24_1422273939

Mosul resident: "Death is better than this life"

Coming for every Islamic State fighter  

The Peshmerga have cut off the Islamic State group's supply line from eastern Syria to Mosul: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/22/mosul-isis-occupation-kurdish-fighters

The Kurds. The Kurds. The Kurds.

Courtesy of http:http://samuelkub.blogspot.com.au/

See this interesting piece by Jesse Rosenfeld in The Daily Beast: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/24/the-girls-training-to-fight-isis.html

Michael Burleigh & The Long War

This is Michael Burleigh's review of Patrick Cockburn's The Jihadis Return: ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising in the Literary Review: https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-long-war

Eulogy for Elsa Cayat

Here is something special in Tablet magazine: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/188400/elsa-cayat-eulogy

The New Charlie Cover: Art Matters More Than Ever

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he "rather likes" the new cover of Charlie Hebdo 

Here is a more detailed critique of the new Charlie Hebdo cover: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/188320/the-charlie-cover

The Death Cult Now Throwing Gays From Towers

The Death Cult's Supreme Leader Announcing the Foundation of the Islamic State in Mosul (June 2014)

The Islamic State is now throwing gays from towers and executing adulteresses aplenty. Why, exactly, would anybody not want to see this Death Cult eradicated as soon as humanly possible? http://www.news.com.au/world/isis-execution-frenzy-gay-men-thrown-from-tower-17-crucified-adulteress-stoned-to-death/story-fndir2ev-1227189884759?from=public_rss

Dutch Hairdresser Joins the Peshmerga

Shilan Hamid

The fault line in the Long War is not so much geographic as existential and running through the conscience of every single person: http://basnews.com/en/lifestyle/2015/01/18/dutch-kurdish-hairdresser-joins-peshmerga-in-fight-against-terror/

John Lennon and the Nowhere Man

Click here to read the article: http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2015/01/john-lennon-nowhere-man/

Freedom needs to come to Saudi Arabia

For some reason I cannot see "The "Zionist Entity" on this map 

Here is another grotesque story from the enemies of freedom: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-publicly-beheads-woman-in-holy-mecca-as-blogger-set-to-receive-second-lashing-9982134.html

The Sin of Provocation

In Saudi Arabia they call it "blasphemy" and "apostasy"; in the case of Charlie Hebdo, the PC brigade might call it "the sin of provocation": http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/14/-sp-saudi-blogger-extracts-raif-badawi

Free Raif Badawi: The Long War Continues

The punishment of Raif Badawi is another moment in the Long War: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/raif-badawi-sentenced-to-1000-lashes-the-man-who-started-free-saudi-liberals-website-has-ignited-a-global-debate-9979929.html

A Democratic Confederal Middle East?

Abdullah Ocalan's vision of a Democratic Confederal Middle East might not be everyone's (or even every Kurd's) cup of tea, but it sure beats the Islamic State's Caliphate: http://www.hawarnews.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3184:oecalan-sends-letter-to-assyrian-syriac-and-chaldean-people&catid=6:manet

Boko Haram's part in the Long War

Boko Haram's Abubakar Shekau (Courtesy of BBC)

The Long War is a global conflagration and Africa is certainly one of the theatres: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30777066

Islamist Turkey is Enemy of Israel & Freedom

Turkey's Erdogan is on the wrong side in The Long War or War of Freedom

Non-Islamist Turkey was an ally of Israel and now Islamist Turkey is the enemy of Israel. Joining the dots is not so difficult: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Erdogan-attacks-Netanyahu-How-does-head-of-terror-state-dare-attend-Paris-march-387521

Charlie Hebdo & the YPG

According to the Hawar News Agency, Stephane (Charb) Charbonnier had praised the YPG's battle against the Islamic State: http://www.hawarnews.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3170:ypg-general-command-condemns-the-terrorist-attacks-in-france&catid=6:manet

Israel is our ally in the Long War

The above extract is lifted from the following essay by Mitch Ginsburg article: http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-can-and-must-help-with-the-operational-response-to-jihad-in-france/

Militant Salafists have declared war on the West but we are not at war with Muslims

Ahmed Merabet, a French policeman, was murdered by the Islamic terrorists

A French policeman, who happened to be Muslim, was one of those murdered by the Islamic terrorists: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/france-unites-behind-muslim-policeman-who-died-defending-cha?utm_term=4ldqpia

Evaluating the significance of Kobani

Courtesy of Hawar News Agency

Jonathan Spyer writes here about the importance of Kobani: http://www.gloria-center.org/2015/01/how-are-things-in-kobani/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GloriaCenter+%28GLORIA+Center%29
My own commentary on Kobani, "The Battle for Modernity on the Kurdistan Border", appears in the January-February edition of Quadrant magazine, but is still behind a subscriber's wall.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi: "We must only be Egyptians"

Coptic Pope Tawadross II and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

On January 7, 2015, attended the Coptic Christmas service at St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo and demonstrated why he is so different from the Muslim Brotherhood and its violent jihadist allies: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/1595/0/egypt-s-president-christians-and-muslims-are-equal-citizens

Cartoonists Respond to the 'Charlie Hebdo' Killings

Here is an important link: http://www.vox.com/2015/1/7/7508387/cartoonists-respond-charlie-hebdo

Is Paul McCartney playing Paul McCartney to the new John Lennon?

My first reaction to the above question would be - er - no. Then again, it is quite amusing to see how this guy tries to make the case:  http://junkee.com/kanye-wests-new-single-with-paul-mccartney-proves-hes-this-generations-john-lennon/47985

Why Palestine Vanished

Israel, the West Bank & Jordan

Hamas deputy foreign minister, Ghazi Hamed, helps explain why the Palestinian leadership lost Palestine. Anybody sympathetic to Israel would be criticised for saying any of this - that is, Palestinian leaders were always caught between "liberation" (the eradication of Israel) and "statehood" (West Bank-based mini-state) only to end up with neither: http://www.timesofisrael.com/now-i-understand-how-and-why-the-palestinians-lost-palestine/     
I made a similar point in this article back in July 2012: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2012/07-08/the-principled-pragmatist/

Australia's Prime Minister Abbott in Iraq

Australia's PM Tony Abbott and Iraq PM Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad yesterday: courtesy of news.com.au

While dozens of Australian citizens are helping the Islamic State to enslave large areas of Syria and Iraq, the Commonwealth of Australia is attempting to redress the balance by assisting the Baghdad government in the south of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in the north: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/terror/australia-stands-by-iraq-against-islamic-state-tony-abbott-says/story-fnpdbcmu-1227174417572

The War on the Islamic State in Mesopotamia Only Good in Part

The Islamic State advertising their barbarity: courtesy of the Long War Journal: http://www.longwarjournal.org/

Patrick Cockburn is the main reason I read The Independent newspaper: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/war-with-isis-the-west-is-wrong-again-in-its-fight-against-terror-9955853.html 

German Lutherans Reject Modern-day Marcionism

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Here is David P. Goldman (aka Spengler) relating how the German Evangelical Church (aka Lutherans) has put behind it Luther's enmity towards the Jews (Luther's Judenhass). Better late than never, contends Goldman: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/12/23/the-vital-lesson-american-protestants-should-learn-from-the-german-evangelical-church/?singlepage=true

A short summary of Marcionism can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Undermines Quality of Private Broadcasting

Spectator Australia writer advises First Tuesday Book Club's Marieke Hardy to move to Channel 9  

James McCann is a little rough on the Baby Boomers but otherwise this hits the mark: http://www.spectator.co.uk/australia/australia-features/9401412/the-abc-deprives-us-of-quality-content/

Even 114-year-old Selbi Turki is a warrior

Kobani back in October 2014

Selbi Turki is 114 years old, but is prepared to "get armed" in order to eject the Islamic State from Kobani: http://www.hawarnews.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3131:114-years-old-mother-kobani-is-my-life&catid=6:manet