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Australian Police Arrest 15, Charge 2, For Alleged Islamic State Beheading Plot

The Washington Post reports (building on a short AP report they're also carrying) that "[Australian] police have arrested 15 people allegedly linked to the Islamic State, some who plotted a public beheading." According to the Sydney Morning Herald, of the arrestees, only two have been charged. From the Washington Post story: “Police said the planned attack was to be “random.” The killers were to behead a victim and then drape the body in the black Islamic State flag, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. ... Direct exhortations were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in [the Islamic State] to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at a press conference, as the BBC reported. “So this is not just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have.”

103 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Eh. by TWX · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Gotta do more than an insane passenger on a Greyhound bus does to another passenger to really shock me at this point.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Eh. by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      I just read about the Tim Mclean case. What's even more horrific is that PETA sought to gain publicity for animal rights by running an ad. Eeek!

  2. News for nerds by hooiberg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While the IS stuff is rather a hot news item, I do not agree that slashdot is really the place for it. One of the reasons I look at Slashdot is to get a nice newsfeed without 5 items per day about wild muslims.

    1. Re:News for nerds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Agreed, this is not the place for normal news.

      I specifically do not bother with general news as it has entirely wrong priorities and serves more to scare people than giving a balanced picture of what is going on. General news is of no interest to me. Which is why I frequent places such as Slashdot. At least until now.

    2. Re:News for nerds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And if Slashdot become (e.g.) 90% articles about Justin Bieber and other teen heart-throbs, would you respond similarly to people expressing their discontent?

      It seems only reasonable and useful to the news site for readers to express their opinion about the type of articles being shown.

    3. Re:News for nerds by Wootery · · Score: 1

      Nonsense. It's entirely reasonable to comment regarding what you do/do not want Slashdot to cover/discuss/become.

    4. Re:News for nerds by westlake · · Score: 2

      While the IS stuff is rather a hot news item, I do not agree that slashdot is really the place for it.
      One of the reasons I look at Slashdot is to get a nice newsfeed without 5 items per day about wild muslims.

      The problem is that the Slashdot geek seems increasingly resistant to any story outside his comfort zone.

      You see this most clearly when a story cuts close to the bone on issues of race and class and gender in tech --- but it comes through elsewhere as well.

    5. Re:News for nerds by Njovich · · Score: 1

      Great for you, why don't you buy Slashdot from Dice or set up your own blog where you can control things?

    6. Re:News for nerds by JosKarith · · Score: 1

      Well, I think we can expect to hear a "Look we caught a terrorist, this is why we needed all those powers" justification for running roughshod over everyone's right to privacy in the next few days. That's pretty on-topic for here - this is just the front-runner of it.

      --
      'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
    7. Re:News for nerds by StrangeBrew · · Score: 2

      Yeah, because slashdotters never post on invasion of privacy articles with statements on how terrorists either don't exist or are not a threat. Like it or not, the article is relevant to the readers here.

    8. Re:News for nerds by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Is this because ISIS stories conflict with your worldview of Muslims as peaceful? It is very important to see stories that challenge us. If we don't do that, then we're nothing but redneck hillbillies. Do you or don't you agree with stories that challenge us to change our preconceptions that were formed from the basis of feeling rather than fact?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    9. Re: News for nerds by sr180 · · Score: 1

      800 hundred coppers involved in an operation that arrested one person for a phone call made months ago - and found one more with an unlicensed weapon.

      If they weren't trying to prop up a government failing in the polls and gain their own extra powers - they could have done this with two coppers and not sensationalised the issue.

      Seriously - the new laws due to be voted next week give asio the power to torture with impunity. Obviously they were jealous of the cia.

      --
      In Soviet Russia the insensitive clod is YOU!
    10. Re:News for nerds by ignavus · · Score: 1

      While the IS stuff is rather a hot news item, I do not agree that slashdot is really the place for it. One of the reasons I look at Slashdot is to get a nice newsfeed without 5 items per day about wild muslims.

      Damn! There goes my new article about about "Emacs or Vi? Which do wild Muslims prefer?"

      --
      I am anarch of all I survey.
    11. Re:News for nerds by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      And if Slashdot become (e.g.) 90% articles about Justin Bieber and other teen heart-throbs, would you respond similarly to people expressing their discontent?

      Not unless they also switch to Beta. I have my priorities straight.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    12. Re:News for nerds by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      JB is a gangster now, look at any pics of him since 2012 but especially within the last year.

  3. Look, over there! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course the poor polls, the terrible budget, the scandals, the deaths in custody, the lies of the Abbott government have absolutely nothing to do with the Prime Sinister's current attempts to take us to war.

    Nothing at all. Nope. Nu uh.

    Oh look, a shiny!

    1. Re:Look, over there! by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      By the racist's admission that they don't even have enough reason to charge these men with a crime,

      How does that make racism?

      they are admitting that they are knowingly holding innocent men.

      Not really. Not finding enough evidence does not always equate to innocent. However, incarcerating them without evidence is immoral and I do agree there. I guess a serious question needs to be answered about their threat to society and the people in it.

    2. Re:Look, over there! by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Of course the poor polls, the terrible budget, the scandals, the deaths in custody, the lies of the Abbott government have absolutely nothing to do with the Prime Sinister's current attempts to take us to war.

      Nothing at all. Nope. Nu uh.

      Oh look, a shiny!

      Pretty much this.

      Its classic misdirection to keep people distracted from the increasing unemployment, worsening economy, political infighting and other Abbott government failures. Seeing as shouting "boats, boats, boaty boat boat boat" stopped working a while ago they need a new plan to keep people from seeing the horror of the current government.

      At least we only have two more years of this fool to go.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:Look, over there! by another_twilight · · Score: 1

      My last year there I was blocked from voting for not being a member of an xian church

      Um, what? Can you explain that?

      I'm not; I know a bunch of folk who aren't and none of us have a problem voting.

  4. At least they were arrested by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No matter what anyone thinks about surveillance, etc., these asshats were arrested and prevented from doing their thing. Were I the leader of Australia, I'd turn them over to the law of their original country of origin, stating they have lost their Australian citizenship (if they began citizens) by dint of plotting against Australians. If the countries of origin will not take them, line them up and shoot them for conspiracy. Most governments would dearly love to just shoot the extremists but shy away because of political correctness. The only thing extremists like these asshats understand is a sword or a bullet.

    1. Re:At least they were arrested by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      In this case, I believe, for one or more of them is Afghanistan. i.e. they were child refugees from the post 9/11 conflict whose homeland we bombed to smithereens.

      Now grown up, they've become radicalised in Sydney by foreign born clerics.

      We don't have the death penalty here.

    2. Re:At least they were arrested by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      in other news, every one on 4chan was arrested... o wait thats coming.

    3. Re:At least they were arrested by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Devil's advocate here (thus posting as AC), but isn't this exactly what surveillance and police work is supposed to prevent? The Aussie police did their work and saved a number of lives.

      The ironic thing is that here in the US, this would make a great plot for a blockbuster movie.

      If this happened in the US, I'm sure the press here would take interviews of all the arrestees and do a multi-day story of each and every one's biography as well as their IS sentiments, with their manifestos published and read multiple times, perhaps saying that how the government is interfering with their freedom to practice their religious beliefs... and perhaps get all charges dropped because of that.

    4. Re:At least they were arrested by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And what if Australia *is* their country of origin?

    5. Re:At least they were arrested by RabidReindeer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I doubt very many would-be martyrs have been deterred by death penalties.

    6. Re:At least they were arrested by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      You'd be wrong. Of course the death penalties are typically met out by Israeli soldiers/citizens/EMP bomb detonators.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    7. Re:At least they were arrested by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      It isn't rare for would-be "martyrs" to disapprove of dying when it isn't under their control, and they don't get to take large numbers of people with them to "earn" their spot in paradise.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    8. Re:At least they were arrested by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Very droll, but by that definition, being a paranoid schizophrenic in my town carries the "death penalty".

      Because it seems like every time one freaks out in public, the cops shoot him/her on the spot.

  5. Re:Thought crime by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Conspiracy to commit a crime has been illegal for a very long time.

  6. An Insightful Quote by GlennC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the Sydney Morning Herald article:

    "I dunno, I got a lot of anger," he said. "It's a war on Islam just because we grow our beards. They want to label us as a terrorist, or supporters of IS, whatever, that's up to you."

    As long as the more stable regional powers refuse to directly confront the extremists, it becomes very easy for this view to continue.

    --
    Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
    1. Re:An Insightful Quote by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Informative

      Context:

      It's a quote from the brother of one of the arrested men:

      Raban Alou said police were targeting his brother Kawa because he hung around a "bunch of hotheads" who were being investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

      He said police were searching for any material that could link his family to al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

      "I dunno, I got a lot of anger," he said. "It's a war on Islam just because we grow our beards. They want to label us as a terrorist, or supporters of IS, whatever, that's up to you."

      I'm not sure it's all that insightful, though.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:An Insightful Quote by operagost · · Score: 2

      Beards... seriously? If that were such an issue, The Duck Dynasty guys would have warrants out on them.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    3. Re:An Insightful Quote by GlennC · · Score: 2

      The point is that if disaffected Islamic youth in Australia are buying the "war on Islam" propaganda, what chance does the U.S. and their allies have in Iraq and Syria?

      Anything they do there will only amplify the view that they are modern day Crusaders.

      The additional context only bolsters that opinion.

      --
      Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
    4. Re:An Insightful Quote by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Just short of warrants. They say what they think, and that's not allowed in PC America.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    5. Re:An Insightful Quote by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      What they said appears to have made them _more_ popular. So they will be forced off the air.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  7. news for ___? stories that ___? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I can't make any connection between this story and Slashdot's niche. Maybe I should go to the Drudge Report for technology news?

    1. Re:news for ___? stories that ___? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Hacking not in Slashdot's niche? Puhleeze.

      And this is hacking on an industrial, major-state-actor scale.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  8. Re:Thought crime by Bardez · · Score: 1

    Or they may have taken some steps toward actually performing the act. It might not just be a thought crime.

    --
    Perception is the thin dividing line between reality and fiction.
  9. hey everyone by Cardoor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    let's have a massive disproportionate reaction!! you know.. lots of fear mongering and maybe we can invite more surveillance!!

    just remember.. we need to reserve these blissful over-reactions for only 'threats' that involve the terrorist-boogey-man... if we reacted this way to comparable threat-per-capita non-terrorist criminals, we would run out of resources in about a week. (plus, the whole surveillance thing would be harder to jam down the masses throats)

  10. Hmmmmm...should I?

    Ok, you have been warned.

    Since it's in Australia, wouldn't it be a bebodying?

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  11. Garbage Disposal by sycodon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Australia has a great garbage disposal system right off their west coast. Just toss these fuckers into the sea and the Great Whites will make them disappear.

    All you have to worry about is PETA getting upset over feeding toxic wastes to the sharks.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Garbage Disposal by ultranova · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just toss these fuckers into the sea and the Great Whites will make them disappear.

      But that would play straight to their hand. "Islamic State" is doing things like this because they're trying to tell a story: that they're a Caliphate straight from the dark ages. Treat their agents any differently than a common crazy murderer, and you're saying that you agree they are different, thus putting them a little bit closer towards having their story commonly accepted.

      Here, let Littlefinger explain it.

      So, what we must do is counter their story with our own: that they're nothing more than a bunch of brutal criminals. And we do that by treating them exactly like any other criminal. Counter the fantasy with banality, don't let them draw us into it. That's the mistake we did with Al-Qaeda: we allowed them to define themselves as "terrorists" rather than "murderers".

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    2. Re:Garbage Disposal by TWX · · Score: 2

      It not even hurt to brand them as crazy and to lock them up in an asylum for the criminally insane. That would allow the state to medicate them and in some ways, to make an example out of them.

      Martyrdom? Nope, straight-jacketed and drugged and forced to talk about your feelings. No rewards of heaven for you.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    3. Re:Garbage Disposal by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      Do murderers usually get bombed into the stone age?

      'Using' the criminal justice system against international groups like Al-Qaeda was Clinton's mistake. Or more correctly saying you were using the criminal justice system while if fact ignoring them unless you need something to push a story off the front page was Clinton's mistake.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    4. Re:Garbage Disposal by stdarg · · Score: 2

      The reason a person from Islamic State is different than a run of the mill murderer or crazy person is that they are a large organized group with military grade weapons, rule over a sizable area of land, and revenue streams derived from the population they control.

      Ignoring them and hoping the problem goes away is just ludicrous. We tried it with the Taliban, and they harbored and supported al Qaeda.

    5. Re:Garbage Disposal by mlts · · Score: 1

      Treating them as their own "special" category of evil people only strengthens their cause. If they are just another convict up for murder in max lockup in either a civilian prison or Leavenworth, all their "magic" is gone, compared to being stashed in a special offshore prison, called a "terrorist", and not given a trial.

      Who will get more recruits. Someone on Lockup showing their gang signs, or someone stashed in a special prison because they are "terrorists". Lets be real here. The murderers locked in max in most places are just as dangerous as "terrorists" if not more, so why give them special treatment? In fact, let the general prison population decide their rank in their society.

      As for the death penalty, I used to be for it, but it brings we who live in the USA down to their level. We need to take a page from Europe and Israel, lock them up for life. Killing them only makes them martyrs.

    6. Re:Garbage Disposal by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It not even hurt to brand them as crazy and to lock them up in an asylum for the criminally insane.

      Like we don't do to common criminals? Gee, you must be thinking of them as something else then, such as a legitimate if hostile power.

      That would allow the state to medicate them and in some ways, to make an example out of them.

      An example that the Islamic State can point to and say: "See, even our enemies agree that we're not just another gang and are afraid of us!"

      Martyrdom? Nope, straight-jacketed and drugged and forced to talk about your feelings. No rewards of heaven for you.

      "Our brave fighters are willing to face not only death but humiliation and torture before it! Truly, they shall be blessed and rewarded in Heaven!"

      Seriously, stop helping the Islamic State. Stop supporting their story. Every time you suggest a "clever" punishment for them you're supporting their claim of being a Caliphate rather than a criminal gang, thus bringing them closer to victory.

      You win a war like this by deciding on what view of reality you want to be commonly accepted, then behaving consistently as if it was. By doing this you're constantly telling a story to everyone you interact with, some of whom will accept it and start repeating it in turn. As the number of converts increases, it eventually reaches the tipping point and becomes the new "default" consensus reality, sweeping even those who originally rejected it in. That's what classic nation-building is about: storytelling. Islamic State is trying to short-circuit the process by baiting foreign powers into lashing out against them, effectively recruiting their enemies to testify for them. Such impatience is a serious weakness, since those foreign powers can as well deny the story. However, given how clumsily Al-Qaeda was handled, they probably thought the risk was worth it.

      You know, this kind of basic mechanism should really be covered in elementary education. All our technological and economic might won't help us any more than their muscles and armor helped the dinosaurs if our situational awareness continues being that of a brain the size of a peanut.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    7. Re:Garbage Disposal by TWX · · Score: 1

      There are lots of murderers that are labelled as criminally insane and committed to institutions where they're subjected to psychological evaluation and attempt to improve their mental health.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    8. Re:Garbage Disposal by funwithBSD · · Score: 1

      Why would you think that they could not twist being treated like "normal" criminals as something special? In the US, Muslim recruiting is prisons is very effective.

      Liars are gonna lie, nothing you do is going stop that.

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    9. Re:Garbage Disposal by sycodon · · Score: 1

      The mistake we made (and continue to make) with Al-Qaeda is that we did treat them like murderers. We captured them, gave them lawyers, rights, etc. They should have been and should be exterminated on the spot. Pissing on the bodies optional.

      Wars seldom end through peaceful negotiations. They end because one side completely and utterly destroys the other.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    10. Re:Garbage Disposal by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, no. Too easily abused. It is the sort of thing they did in the Soviet Union to quell dissent.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    11. Re:Garbage Disposal by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Wars seldom end through peaceful negotiations. They end because one side completely and utterly destroys the other.

      Well, no. A war most often ends in a negotiated truce. Otherwise most still-existing nations would have no lost ones in their history.

      Then again, I can see you're working through some personal issues here, so I guess facts are of little importance. But perhaps you could choose some topic where you won't cause actual damage by venting?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    12. Re:Garbage Disposal by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Why would you think that they could not twist being treated like "normal" criminals as something special?

      They can try and probably will. Think of it as attacking a heavily fortified bunker rather than open field; sure, it can be done, but it's a lot harder.

      In the US, Muslim recruiting is prisons is very effective.

      But this is only a problem if you buy Islamic State's claim of being a Caliphate and thus representing all Muslims. Otherwise we're just looking at criminals finding religion and straightening up, which is hardly a bad thing. And that again gets us into this being primarily a war between competing stories, rather than physical militaries.

      Liars are gonna lie, nothing you do is going stop that.

      Which is precisely why their story needs to be contradicted rather than confirmed at every turn.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    13. Re:Garbage Disposal by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      Treating them as their own "special" category of evil people only strengthens their cause.

      People not from Australia may not realise that we already do this with criminal gangs that also happen to like motorcycles.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    14. Re:Garbage Disposal by funwithBSD · · Score: 1

      I got a better idea:

      Let's get off oil, then they will have no power, no funding, and thus, no threat.

      They can go back to pounding sand like they were 100 years ago.

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    15. Re:Garbage Disposal by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Let's get off oil, then they will have no power, no funding, and thus, no threat.

      I'd love to, especially since that would also force Russia to ditch dictatorship and start developing or become irrelevant. However, it's easier said than done, as oil happens to be near-ideal power source. The only technologically realistic alternative is nuclear, but that has political problems.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  12. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by gnasher719 · · Score: 2

    I thought the reason why someone goes and brutally murders another human being is because he is either an evil bastard to start with, or brainwashed by other evil bastards to be an evil bastard himself, and because he thinks he can be an evil bastard without getting caught and getting punished for it.

  13. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by rahvin112 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The US had NOTHING to do with the formation of Israel. Absolutely nothing. Yes we recognized them AFTER they gained control but we even had an arms embargo against them up until that point. Israels creation and almost all of the worlds problems can be traced to EUROPEAN colonialism and direct action by the British and French.

  14. I have a nasty, cynical mind by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    If I was a member of a spy/security agency who wanted more than anything to wipe away the last, feeble laws protecting the privacy and freedom of my country's sheeple, this is precisely the kind of operation I'd set up. All it would take is a few words whispered in the right ear.

    The most idiotic of the Muslim fanatics would jump on the idea with glad little cries, and the usual gang of fascists would gleefully portray the descent into a police state as the ultimate expression of First World freedom and security. And the sheeple would be lining up to flush away their rights.

    Mission accomplished.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    1. Re:I have a nasty, cynical mind by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      I think it's pretty hard to deny that there's at least a modicum of truth in your statement. Frankly, I think there's more than that.

      I wonder when people are going to wake up...or if.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    2. Re:I have a nasty, cynical mind by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      If I was a member of a spy/security agency who wanted more than anything to wipe away the last, feeble laws protecting the privacy and freedom of my country's sheeple, this is precisely the kind of operation I'd set up. All it would take is a few words whispered in the right ear.

      The problem is that there is no shortage of extremists around the world that actually want to do this sort of thing, and they actually have caused enormous problems for many governments.

      One of the problems with "cynicism" is not knowing where to stop, or when you've gone too far. Then you end up being a kook.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    3. Re:I have a nasty, cynical mind by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      I don't think you're looking at the problem the right way. There was never any doubt terrorists exist, and that there's nothing they'd like better than to kill us. There isn't any doubt lightning exists, either. It can strike anywhere, any time. This doesn't mean I'm going to give up the right to go outside whenever I damn please to be "safe" from the small chance that I'll wind up falling victim to a lightning strike.

      Actions like those described in TFA and what they say about us as a society are, as far as I'm concerned, a cure that's worse than the disease. And "knowing where to stop", in my view, is something citizens should be discussing and deciding for themselves. Paramilitary organizations with an interest in increasing their power and control shouldn't be unilaterally making such decisions for all of us.

      As a law-abiding Canadian citizen, my odds of being killed by a cop with an attitude problem are a lot higher than my odds of being killed by a terrorist. So to my mind, the "kooks" are those who willingly trade freedom for the illusion of security, and cede their right to decide how much freedom to trade in without even a debate.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  15. nihilists - In the Dust? by ripvlan · · Score: 1

    Human nature? Yes. People naturally tune out to the horrible and try to move on.

    RadioLab had a nice piece on the topic called "In The Dust Of This Planet"

    http://www.radiolab.org/story/...

  16. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 2

    The problem with ISIS is that it rejects the political divisions

    The problem with ISIS is that they are a brutal regime and no one likes them except themselves. Furthermore, one of their stated goals is that they want to destroy the US. Note that this is also the primary problem with Iran as well: I don't want anyone who has a holiday for "death to America" to get nuclear weapons (even if it's the fault of the US they have a holiday for that).

    The reason Obama sent us to war in Iraq is because the Kurds have spent decades building up government lobbying programs around the world. The US didn't get involved in Syria, even when Assad used WMD. The Kurds have built up a stable country and are easy to work with, and as already mentioned, are good at lobbying. So they get the air support.

    Osama Bin Laden had some, not all but some, reasonable requests of the US government in response to the terrorist event on 9/11 that we could have implemented along with domestic security measures that would provide a reasonable, but not perfect assurance, of our security. Instead, we chose to dump 3 trillion dollars into a 15 year campaign of scorched earth across afghanistan, and in the process created more terrorists. we dumped a portion of that cash into Iraq,

    It's not controversial to say Afghanistan was a poorly executed mess, and that Iraq was a mistake, but there is a reason we don't negotiate with terrorists: doing so encourages more terrorist acts. If Bush/Obama accomplished anything, it was to ensure that no one will think of attacking the US mainland as a tool scare the US out of the middle east.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  17. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have a couple of issues with your post - firstly you seem to think that there was never a communist threat. As a Western European I am quite glad that communism never came further west than it managed. Secondly, what you call "controversial" in your last paragraph I call stupid, and not too dissimilar to appeasement or Dane-Geld: (The following is not Kipling's best but the idea is important.)

    It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
        To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
    "We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
        Unless you pay us cash to go away."

    And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
        And the people who ask it explain
    That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
        And then you'll get rid of the Dane!

    It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
        To puff and look important and to say: --
    "Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
        We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

    And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
        But we've proved it again and again,
    That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
        You never get rid of the Dane.

    It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
        For fear they should succumb and go astray;
    So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
        You will find it better policy to say: --

    "We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
        No matter how trifling the cost;
    For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
        And the nation that pays it is lost!"

  18. Re:Thought crime by westlake · · Score: 1

    They have only thought about it. So they are being prosecuted for a thought crime.

    It's both a pity and a blessing that Orwell didn't live long enough to see the geek in full flight.

    The organization and planning of a crime, the recruitment of others to assist you, is more than thought, it is action.

  19. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    When the colonists rebelled against British rule in 1776, American ships lost British Royal Navy protection. A Revolutionary-War era alliance with France offered French protection to US ships, but it expired in 1783. Immediately US ships came under attack and in October 1784 the American trader “Betsey” was taken by Moroccan forces. This was followed with Algerians and Libyans (Tripolitans) capturing two more US ships in 1785.

    Lacking the ability to project US naval force in the Mediterranean, America tried appeasement. In 1784, Congress agreed to fund tributes and ransoms in order to rescue US ships and buy the freedom of enslaved US sailors.

    In 1786 Thomas Jefferson, then US ambassador to France, and John Adams, then US Ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Dey’s ambassador to Britain, in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress’ vote of funding. The two future Presidents asked Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja for the reason for the Muslims’ hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts. They reported that Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja responsed “that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

    Sound familiar?

  20. Re:Thought crime by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    In college we plotted the death of Prof Reddenburg in detail. He taught electric fields. Nobody actually did anything and he retired shortly thereafter, leaving the class in the hands of a non senile teacher.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  21. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by operagost · · Score: 4, Informative

    Then again the United States basically ignored Palestine when it pulled israel from its magical sky god book and transported displaced Jews into it after WWII.

    Not only is this incorrect, but you topped it off with a bigoted assault on religion. "Palestine" was administered by the UK, not the USA, and American Jews voluntarily moved to it mostly after the 1948 independence. At the time of independence, it had nearly indefensible borders after suffering additional partitions beyond what the UK had promised. See "Transjordan" had already been partitioned for settlement by Palestinian Arabs. The West Bank, Gaza strip, and some other small areas were snipped off after WWII. Israel mostly lived with what they were given until they were attacked, repeatedly, by the Arabs who hated them. Regardless, even if you don't think Israel should have occupied any territory gained in 1948 or 1967, you can't blame it on the USA.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  22. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by cellocgw · · Score: 1

    you seem to think that there was never a communist threat. As a Western European I am quite glad that communism never came further west than it managed.

    First of all, it wasn't "communism," it was Soviet expansionism. And the USSR wasn't even vaguely socialist, let alone communist.

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  23. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by nimbius · · Score: 1

    Correct! the Balfour Declaration from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild helped to calcify the Zionist Organization (ZO) in their drive to establish an israeli state after Jews took control of the region. My apologies.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  24. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by rahvin112 · · Score: 2

    Yes it was, the dysfunction of the western hemisphere is the US's fault. We ran around exploiting and destroying the nations of the western hemisphere and as a result they continue to be tortured and dysfunctional governments because of what we did. Hell the US used to let the rich build private mercenary armies and invade these smaller countries and replace their governments. It was detestable conduct on the part of the US.

    But the US, outside Liberia, had almost no involvement in Africa, the middle east or Asia outside normal trade until the cold war. The US didn't create Israel, the British and French did. The US didn't carve up Africa, and the middle east into little empires, the Europeans did. We still are dealing with the problems of the borders the English and French drew after WWII because they took no account of ethnicity or culture of the people's they grouped into nations (or they did so deliberately in the case of the British). All these nations are in constant war amongst themselves because groups of peoples that are traditional enemies are grouped together. Make no mistake the British did this deliberately, it was part of their divide and conquer strategy where they grouped people together that were in opposition then put the minority group in control. The perfect example of this is Rwanda where the Tutsi's were put in control under British rule and then subjugated the larger Hutu population. Because of this we've had a genocide and nearly constant war in Rwanda since independence, and all because this divide and conquer policy was official British policy for controlling foreign colonies.

    Since the start of the cold war the US has interfered in nations world wide but that involvement typically was limited to stopping socialist sympathizing governments. The overthrow of the regime in Iran was mostly at the feet of the US though instigated by the British. There are others, like Vietnam that we damaged pretty heavily but in the short reign of the cold war the US could never do the same level of damage the Europeans did with more than 100 years of colonialism. But nothing gets my goat more than people blaming the US for the creation of Israel, because at the time the US was against the creation of Israel and through the arms embargo and other measures worked against the creation. It was only after they succeeded against all that opposition that the US recognized them and began to support them politically, though that support was tepid at best until after the '63 war probably about the time Israel became a nuclear armed state.

  25. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

    Well, other than the state ownership of the means of production, being ruled by a Communist party, the mandatory classes on Marxism, trying to stamp out bourgeois values and religion, you almost have a point.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  26. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by smugfunt · · Score: 2

    The US didn't create Israel, the British and French did.

    The Balfour Declaration notwithstanding, the foundation of Israel was contrary to Britsh foreign policy at the time, hence this.

    The perfect example of this is Rwanda where the Tutsi's were put in control under British rule and then subjugated the larger Hutu population.

    Belgian, not British.

    Since the start of the cold war the US has interfered in nations world wide

    This makes for interesting reading: US foreign jaunts

  27. Would anyone notice by toby · · Score: 1

    If Abbott lost his head? http://www.theguardian.com/wor...

    --
    you had me at #!
  28. Re:Moar Boar by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1

    And waterboard them ... with beer!

    --
    It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
  29. Muslim claim *they* are the victims. by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    Muslims are infuriated, claiming that they are the true victims. Muslims are very upset about the arrests, saying they were dishonored. Muslims are protesting, carrying signs that say "Raids Terrorize Woman and Children."

    Muslim community apprehension after raids leads to 'snap protest'
    > Wassim Doureihi, a prominent member of the group, told the crowd that the community was deeply upset by the raids.
    > "What would be your reaction if your home was raided and your women dishonoured?" he said.

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/muslim-community-apprehension-after-raids-leads-to-snap-protest-20140918-10iupz.html

    1. Re:Muslim claim *they* are the victims. by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Muslims are infuriated, claiming that they are the true victims. Muslims are very upset about the arrests, saying they were dishonored. Muslims are protesting, carrying signs that say "Raids Terrorize Woman and Children."

      Muslim community apprehension after raids leads to 'snap protest'
      > Wassim Doureihi, a prominent member of the group, told the crowd that the community was deeply upset by the raids.
      > "What would be your reaction if your home was raided and your women dishonoured?" he said.

      http://www.smh.com.au/national/muslim-community-apprehension-after-raids-leads-to-snap-protest-20140918-10iupz.html

      In this case, they'd be right.

      They were targeted by a government that is extremely unpopular at the moment to serve as a distraction from the other problems Australia has like increasing unemployment and a worsening economy (all the things that the previous Labor govt kept ticking along). This couldn't look more staged if Joe Hockey came out and said, "we staged this". Unfortunately there is a large wave of xenophobia in Australia and the xenophobes and racists are the LNP's (Liberal/National Party) most core audience, Abbott is trying to capitalise on this to try and improve on his woeful disapproval.

      No evidence was actually presented to the media (the government doesn't need to) and the desired affect is to sow more xenophobia and distract the people. They can expect a show trial at best but more likely they'll be released without charge (and the media will ignore this).

      It's not the first time this government has used this kind of misdirection, Abbott declared a "terror emergency" on the same day that thousands of students protested against uni fee hikes and HECS reductions to prevent papers from reporting on the student protests.

      With apologies to Martin Niemoller (and for the reducto ad hitlerium):
      First they came for the Muslims...
      With any luck, next election Australians will be coming for the LNP and put an end to their charade.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    2. Re:Muslim claim *they* are the victims. by aberglas · · Score: 1

      There are no doubt a small minority of Muslims in Australia that just might commit violence. The sort of unreasonable, widespread and unjustifiable arrests and other attacks by the Federal Police might just be enough to push them off over the edge.

      Remember, that terrorists do not just kill people "because they are evil" as we are told. It is because they are fighting for a (mad) cause which they are willing to die for. With this sort of action the police might just push a few of them over the edge. Plus our recent attempts to stop them going to Syria, which means that the Australian government is essentially supporting the truly evil regime of Bashar al-Asshard.

      If a bomb does go off that is great news for the Federal Police and Asio. Much more funding, even more powers, happy days.

      That was the effect of the Sydney Hilton Bombing back in 1978. Despite the fact that it is almost certain that in that case the police planted the bomb! (It was not meant to explode.)

    3. Re:Muslim claim *they* are the victims. by uninformedLuddite · · Score: 1

      If you really think IS isn't going to kick off a terror campaign in the west you truly have your head stuck way up your arse. You are probably some lefty dreamer who thinks that the Cronulla riots were all white people. idiot.

      --
      The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
  30. From the halls of Montezuu-uuu-uuma by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1

    Is this not what the line "to the shores of tripoliiiiiiii" in the song refers to? IIRC the US navy then went and kicked the towelheads' asses. And frankly, they were asking for it.

    --
    It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
  31. Re:Thought crime by sumdumass · · Score: 1

    From what I can tell, there is no evidence of a conspiracy yet. Just communications with someone who gave an order to start randomly killing people that had not been prepared for or carried out.

    So I'm not even sure it's a bono fide conspiracy. Hopefully they find some evidence and clear this up.

  32. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by another_twilight · · Score: 1

    It's as stupid as suggesting that giving support to homeless people encourages more people to be homeless.

    Poor comparison. Homelessness is mostly involuntary. While hostage taking may be an act of desperation, it is a choice with an expected outcome. If you consistently refuse to negotiate with hostage takers, then only the most desperate will take hostages. If you consistently negotiate with hostage takers, you are as much as saying that hostage taking is a viable strategy - you just have to find the right target, demand something not too outrageous etc.

    Perhaps you can explain how this reasoning is 'stupid'.

  33. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Cardoor · · Score: 1

    the problem with this post is, you apparently believe everything spoonfed to you by 'the news'. nom nom nom propaganda so delicious! nom nom nom

  34. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    The problem with your post is, you say nothing constructive. Just an insult.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  35. Re:Thought crime by quenda · · Score: 1

    Just planning or speaking about heinous crimes is enough to get you nickes, again, as it should be.

    No it will not. One person planning a crime, even bragging about it, is not conspiracy. It could just be a fantasy. Lots of people imagine ways of killing someone, but never do it. The crime is conspiracy, which means more than one person planning it together. To charge one person acting alone, he would have to have gone beyond planning, e.g. purchasing bomb ingredients.

  36. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by quenda · · Score: 1

    Furthermore, one of their stated goals is that they want to destroy the US.

    You have that backwards. The US wants to destroy ISIS. Even if some ISIS spokesman was accurately translated as aiming to destroy the US, how could anyone possibly take it seriously? Similar absurd claims were made about Al Qaeda, when bin Laden just wanted Americans out of Saudi Arabia, and the middle east generally.

  37. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Even if some ISIS spokesman was accurately translated as aiming to destroy the US, how could anyone possibly take it seriously?

    I think your point is that ISIS couldn't possibly reach their goal of destroying the US. Do you really think this matters? If a group is succeeding in attacking and killing people America, don't you consider that a problem?

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  38. Re:Thought crime by advocate_one · · Score: 1

    It will be secret courts with secret evidence so that the perps can be convicted without the role of the state in entrapping them being brought out...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  39. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Cardoor · · Score: 1

    i did say something constructive, pointing out that the opinions you espouse are based on information sourced from propaganda. question is, can you entertain the possibility that me calling these sources propaganda is accurate? if it *was* accurate, how would you know?

  40. Finfisher licenses by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    Well now we know *what* the NSW Police were spending their money on Finfisher licenses for.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  41. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Which opinion, particularly, do you think I garnered from propaganda? That Afghanistan was a poorly executed mess?

    Learn to converse.....saying that someone's opinions are garnered from propaganda gets little done, especially if you don't know where the opinions came from. If you disagree with a specific point, now THAT would be interesting.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  42. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Cardoor · · Score: 1

    ok.. -your knowledge of who and what ISIS is

    -your assertion that the 'kurd lobby' drives international geopolitics (not sure where you get this whopper from) - your assertion that the U.S. didnt get involved in syria - your assertion that assad used WMDs (debunked ages ago no less.. do you also think we found WMDs in iraq?) - your whole 'mainland attack' notion.

    sigh.

  43. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    -your assertion that the 'kurd lobby' drives international geopolitics

    Start here. Kurdistan doesn't drive international geopolitics, they lobby to get their little piece of it.

    your assertion that the U.S. didnt get involved in syria

    If you'd like me to clarify, it was a A reference to this event. I don't know if you remember those events. Putin managed to solve it without the US using violence. Obama very clearly did not want to get any more involved in Syria.

    your whole 'mainland attack' notion.

    What are you saying here, do you think both of the world trade center attacks were a conspiracy theory or something?

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  44. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1
    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  45. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Cardoor · · Score: 1

    this is why i didnt elaborate. when the truth is unpalatable, trying to get someone to un-cling to the lies is a whole lotta work. pass, but good luck.

  46. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Cardoor · · Score: 1

    funny.. i draw attention to your incorrect view of reality based upon your reliance to propaganda, and your retort is...... a link to the propaganda. how indeed would you ever know the truth.

  47. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Yes, no doubt you learned the 'truth' at some super-reliable website.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  48. fMRI by NewYork · · Score: 1

    I recommend Police to use fMRI to solve these cases

  49. Power by NewYork · · Score: 1

    Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect any who seek it. --Frank Herbert

  50. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

    I have little doubt you believe that, but it is complete nonsense, rubbish.

    Even if you do believe it, and it would take little research to disprove it, you are still stuck with the question of what to do about ISIS.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  51. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by Cardoor · · Score: 1

    nope. but before you just dismiss what i'm going to say as the rantings of a complete a-hole, allow me to apologize. you don't deserve my scorn and i'm sorry for coming across as i have. it's frustrating to see historical deceptions repeat so blatantly, but that's my issue. maybe it's too little too late, but there it is.

    you don't learn truth by hoping to find 'the one website/newspaper/person' to tell the truth. you arrive at the truth (or at least, closer to the truth) by asking questions and not accepting things at face value - particularly when you can readily identify just how portraying a particular story would benefit the teller.

    "Cui Bono?" is a good place to begin. Better yet is realizing when you are being asked to believe things that are massively internally inconsistent and often outrageously so. For instance, why would this terrifically organized and intelligent terrorist organization, that has a complex org-chart and corporate like managerial structure (including glossy annual reports for recruiting) release a video of a beheading, with zero strategic or tactical value, EXCEPT to obviously help the US build popular support for active military engagement?

    Do any of the participants have a history of using false-flag tactics? How would you know if these same tactics were being used now?

    with the failed (false-flag) chemical attacks in syria last year, (yes, they've basically been confirmed, at least as far as these things can be, as the actions of the 'rebels' that the US had been arming), isn't it convenient that ISIS (funded and armed by whom again???) has shown up, allowing another moral justification to engage syria?

    who would benefit economically from assad being deposed in syria? who would be hurt? (hint - think natural gas pipeline.. when you have a fortune of hundreds of billions, you don't grow it by investing in stocks.. you grow it by redrawing lines on maps.)

    And finally, while i recognize that me mentioning this will probably result in you dismissing anything i say out of hand (if you haven't done so already), regarding your 'homeland' comments/questions... why is there a massive collection of architects and engineers that claim that the official 9/11 story is entirely logically inconsistent and requiring the believer to disregard things like basic laws of physics?

    with that, i'll leave it alone. if you want to sling some scorn or barbs at me, lord knows i probably deserve the karma.

  52. Re:lets pump the brakes here and analyze. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    And finally, while i recognize that me mentioning this will probably result in you dismissing anything i say out of hand (if you haven't done so already), regarding your 'homeland' comments/questions... why is there a massive collection of architects and engineers that claim that the official 9/11 story is entirely logically inconsistent and requiring the believer to disregard things like basic laws of physics?

    Ok, yeah, that's where you completely went of the rails lol....

    "Cui Bono?" is a good place to begin.

    A better place to begin is by gathering information. The more information you have, the easier it will be to draw good conclusions. Otherwise you are stuck asking questions like, "why else would they do it?"

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."