"But we won, in the end, right?"

"I mean, we ended the Muslim civil war, we brought peace and democracy to Iraq and all those other places, and we saved the world from Al-Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban. So we won... right?"

Errr... actually, NO! Ever since WWII, and particularly since the fall of the Twin Towers, the Paranoid States of America has considered itself the World's Policeman, on a mission to spread freedom, democracy, and the American way of life (ugghhh, brrrrr) throughout the rest of the world, whether ROTW wants it or not.

After 9/11, the words "al-Qaeda" became shorthand for Islamic terrorism anywhere in the world. The cry "Allahu akbar!" was  heard in London, Paris, Berlin [That's enough world cities. Ed.] and is still our best guess any time there's a suicide bombing or mass shooting or terror attack anywhere in the Middle East or the Western world.

With the US of A as the unwitting midwife, Al-Qaeda begat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Muslim civil war in Iraq begat the same in Syria. The American-led (but really America-only) missions in Iraq and Afghanistan ended in ignominious retreat. 

Saddam Hussein and Muammar Ghadafi were deposed and killed, but today the countries they ruled remain no-go zones for Westerners, as does the entire Muddled East from the Mediterranean all the way to Pakistan. (The possible exception is Israel, although it has its own wars with Palestinians and Hezbollah to worry about.) 

Instead of bringing the Islamic republics, sheikdoms, etc into the New World Order, American intervention (read: meddling) has turned the region into one huge shithole, stuck in the mentality of the Middle Ages and intent on bring the ROTW down to its level. I call our mission a failure, utter and complete.

Further reading: And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East, by Richard Engel, Chief Foreign Correspondent, NBC News. Simon & Schuster, 2016. Clear and concise, not overly biased, easy reading.

Footnote: Regular readings should know that Walt fully supports Ukraine and Ukrainians in their reistance to the illegal Russian invasion and occupation of their land. Слава Україні! Героям слава! 

I believe we should give the Ukrainians as much humanitarian and military assistance as we can, short of putting US or NATO boots on the ground. Why stop at that? Precisely because of the mess America has made of every foreign intervention since (and including) Korea. That kind of "help" is the last thing Ukraine needs!

Berkshire stabbings: Not terrorism, just a reaction to "social isolation"

Did anyone actually hear the murderer yelling "Allahu akbar!"? OK, wait... Basic facts first. On Saturday evening, yet another BLM "protest" was held in Forbury Gardens, a public park in Reading, Berkshire, about 40 miles west of London. Nice place, or used to be when Walt was last there, a mere three decades ago. The oh-so-PC head of the local council authority told BBC-TV that the event "was a very well conducted peaceful demonstration", not connected in any way with what happened later.

What was he talking about? Some three hours after the "peaceful demonstration" wound up, a man ran into the park wielding a knife [scimitar? Ed.] with which he attacked "a number" of people, killing three and seriously wounding three more before being "detained" by the bobbies.

Inspector Knacker said there was nothing to suggest anyone else was involved and they were not hunting further suspects. Police and the government said the incident did not appear to be terrorism and they were keeping an open mind as to the motive, which they called "far from certain". But then, further details emerged....

The 25-year-old man detained at the scene was identified by "a Western security source, speaking on condition of anonymity" (so as not to be accused of stoking Islamophobia, no doubt) told Reuters that the man, who remains in police custody, is... wait for it... a Libyan asylum-seeker called Khairi Saadallah. His religion wasn't disclosed, but I think we can safely assume he's a follower of the Prophet.

As to his motivation, Nik Adams, the officer in charge of the police's anti-radicalisation programme said (following a similar attack in April) that social isolation during the coronavirus lockdown could make people more susceptible to being exploited by extremists. "Isolation may exacerbate grievances that make people more vulnerable to radicalisation -- such as financial insecurity or social alienation."

So Mr Saadallah, who at the moment is just "suspected" of murder, should not be pilloried for what he did. He's just another victom of corona virus, which, as is well known, is all the fault of Donald Trump. Case closed.

UPDATE ADDED @ 1245: AP reported this morning that British police have changed their minds and say... now... that the attack is being considered a terrorist attack... after all. They did not use words like "Muslim" or "Islamic" or "jihad". Oh my no!

The Press Association, Britain's national news agency, reported that a Reading man of the same name and age as the attacker now in custody was sentenced to two months in prison last year for assaulting an emergency worker. The same man was also charged last year with assaulting a judge who had sentenced him. Just a coincidence, probably. Lots of people named Khairi Saadallah live in Reading.

Further reading (added 22/6/20): Today the jihadi wannabe's brother told the British meeja that the triple-murderer was only defending himself against a racist attack! Don't you wish, racist English, that you could be the judge, rather than one of the liberals who now sit on the bench?

Egyptian President shows up Western pussies, calls air strike on ISIS

Were you surprised when the "soldier of ISIS" who blew himself up along with 22 innocent people in Manchester turned out to be Libyan? See "Manchester bomber: 'lone wolf' or 'known wolf'?" for a pic and more about Salman Abedi. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom, but ethnically Arab. His parents and at least one brother, since arrested, live in Libya.

Walt admits to being surprised. In my mind I connect the phrase "Islamic terrorists" with Muslim fanatics from places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- some of the millions now living in western Europe thanks to the insane immigration policies of the likes of Angela Merkel, all the while plotting the extermination of their nominally Christian hosts.

It's easy to forget that those millions comprise Arabs from the Maghreb -- the countries shown in black on the map at left -- who are no less anti-Christian than their cousins from further east, perhaps more so because they have a huge anti-colonial chip on their shoulders, particularly those from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, which were French colonies, and Libya, which was ruled occasionally (and badly) by the Italians.

Libya was in the latest terrorism news this week not just because of the late Mr Abedi, but because on Wednesday Islamic militants attacked a bus carrying worshippers in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others. This didn't get a lot of play in the Western lamestream media because the worshippers weren't white Europeans. They were Coptic Christians, members of a fast-dwindling minority in the predominantly Muslim land of the pharaohs.

Full credit, then, to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi -- himself a Muslim -- for calling in an air strike on terrorist camps in Libya! State television reported that Egypt carried out six air strikes in Derna in eastern Libya, which is where the militants who carried out the deadly attack on the Coptic Christians were trained.



For those who don't speak Arabic, the voiceover in the army video said the Egyptian air force carried out strikes on targets in Libya "after confirming their involvement in planning and committing the terrorist attack in Minya governorate on Friday." In a televised speech late today, President Sisi said he would "not hesitate to strike terrorist camps anywhere", and promised to "protect our people from the evil."

Countries supporting terrorism should be punished, said the President, as he appealed to President Donald Trump for help. Contrast that with the wimpishness of the G7 leaders (other than Mr Trump) who spent all day today condemning the Manchester massacre (without once uttering the word "Islamic") and yakking about security without, errr, actually doing anything.

Where, Walt asks, is Santiago Matamoros (Saint James the Moorslayer) now that we really need him? Can it really be that we must look to a Muslim -- President Sisi -- to show us the way?

FURTHER VIEWING: Gavin McInnes explains how the British class system informs reactions to the Manchester massacre. The upper class and the lower class have remarkably different ideas about what should be done with the Muslims who want to kill us. Ties in nicely with Mr McInnes's video on modern education and Marxist teachers, which I'm reposting here today. Warning: contains the C-word.

Hellery's low profile allows Trump to catch up

Anybody heard from Hellery Clinton lately? Since the gooey clusterfuck of the Democratic convention, Crooked Hillary has barely opened her mouth. She's been off the campaign trail for at least a day for unspecified medical treatment -- a case of lockjaw, perhaps -- and when she does appear hasn't said much except to call Donald Trump a racist.

Walt guesses that La Clinton's advisers are telling her to keep her head down, pending the release (set for September 13th) of more e-mails about Libya. What about the Clinton Foundation and the millions the would-be First Couple have made out of that? Let Bill handle those questions. He's the one who says he'd sooner have a root canal than give up that little money-maker. What about policy? Hellery assures us that she'll continue the fine work of the Prez and her husband. Trust her. That's all.

Counselling Mrs Clinton to STFU and run on the family name may prove to be a bad call. Her silence leaves the field wide open for The Donald, who has something to say about anything and everything. Mrs Clinton took a pass on the invitation of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to visit his country. Mr Trump said he'd be there like Jack the Bear, thus scoring a tremendous PR coup. What he and President Pena Nieto said to or about each other doesn't matter. There they were, on the same platform, looking presidential and speaking calmly about the main issue in the US election campaign. Score one for the Donald.

Meanwhile, Hellery stands quietly, like a cigar store Indian, trying to appear above it all. And, according to an article by Aaron Blake in the reliably liberal Washington Post, "A record number of Americans now dislike Hillary Clinton".

As of Wednesday, Americans' views of Bill's surrogate hit a record low. A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed 41% of those polled had a favourable impression of Hellery, while 56% had an unfavourable one. That's the worst image she has had in her quarter-century in national public life. If it weren't for Trump (Mr Blake writes), Mrs Clinton would be the most unpopular major-party presidential nominee in modern American history.

Perhaps most notably, La Clinton's image has declined significantly from just a month ago. After the Democratic convention, Americans were about evenly split: 48% favourable and 50% unfavourable. (That's the Washington Post's idea of an even split. If the election turned out that way, Hellery would lose!)

Mr Blake can't figure out what might have caused Mrs Clinton to fall further than ever before. Perhaps (he writes) she simply got an extended bounce after the Democratic convention that has finally faded. It's also possible that adverse headlines last week about the Clinton Foundation and thousands of newly discovered emails from the private email server Clinton used as secretary of state reinforced why views of her had been worsening prior to the July conventions. (Ya think?!)

But it was clear long before the convention that Mrs Clinton was headed in the wrong direction, setting new records for her unpopularity. Her image has been on a downward trajectory since her tenure as Secretary of State ended in 2013, and the decline continued through the primary campaign. That the race downhill to the presidensity is still competitive is due to Mr Trump's image, compounded by Mrs Clinton's "personal problems". At the moment (Mr Blake concludes), the voters who will determine the next president don't like her much more than they like The Donald.

Going after Taliban was a mistake, sez former general

A lot of Americans (and Canadians) think that the Canadian Armed Forces kind of let the side down by withdrawing their half-dozen aging CF-18s from the US-led mission against ISIS. When it comes to fighting Islamic terrorism (their argument goes) the Canucks will hold your coat until your nose starts to bleed. This is not true. Let me set the record straight.

True, the government of Jean Chrétien declined to join in Dubya's invasion of Iraq, presumably because they thought it was a huge mistake but (being Canadian) wewre too polite to say more than "We'll take a pass on this one. Maybe next time." The wisdom of this decision is apparent in retrospect. If you don't find it so, take a look at Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. You'll find a link to the full-length documentary in "Republican voters: WATCH 'Fahrenheit 9/11'!", WWW 17/2/16.

All the same, the Canadian government took a lot of flak -- figuratively speaking -- from within and without the Great Not-so-white North. So much so that when the Paranoid States of America decided to go into Afghanistan to chase after Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, they decided they'd better get into the scrap to make up for missing the first round. Little did they know that they'd have to fight not just al-Qaeda but the Taliban, since the Taliban controlled huge swathes of Armpitistan, including Kandahar province, one of the toughest targets. Sure enough, that's where the Canucks wound up. They lost proportionately more soldiers than the USA, beginning with four killed by "friendly fire" from the USAF. Some friends, eh!

Major-General Dave Fraser (seen here getting a gong from former Governor-General Michaëlle Jean) commanded both the Canadian task force and the expanded mission of the "Coalition of the Willing" to extend the authority of former Afghan president Krazi Karzai beyond the capital of Kabul in 2006. That was just over 4 1/2 years into the Afghan war and three years into the larger, bloodier struggle in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Today, in an interview marking the 10th anniversary of the Canadian deployment into Kandahar, Maj-Gen. Fraser had some rather astonishing things to say about the commission. He told Canadian Press that the West made a mistake deposing the Taliban regime in the aftermath of 9/11, and should have simply trained its guns on al-Qaeda. "We thought, naively, that regime change was the solution to the problem," he said. "Looking backwards, I would have actually left the Taliban government in power and said (to them) 'Stay out of the way. We’re here to find Al Qaeda. And as long as you stay out of the way, the special forces will go in there, they will do what is necessary to get Al Qaeda and we will leave.' Had we done that, we wouldn’t be where we are today."

Back then, no-one seemed to appreciate how profound the power vacuum was, he went on, and that the West was creating for itself "a 30- or 40-year problem" not only in Afghanistan but throughout the Middle East.

Maj-Gen. Fraser said the West has only repeated the same mistakes over the last decade. "We repeated it in Iraq," he told CP. "In Libya, we didn’t put any ground troops in and we created an even bigger mess because there’s no government whatsoever in Libya. We went back into Iraq and now for the very first time the international community is beginning to appreciate that regime change is not the solution. [That's] why we’re not pushing to do a regime change in Syria."

Right. Has anyone told the Prez, the Pentagon and the folks at Foggy Bottom about this? To take Maj-Gen. Fraser's argument to the logical conclusion, which is... wait for it... that Western meddling in what is basically a Muslim civil war is only making things worse for the people of the Middle East, and for the West as well? Has anyone learned anything from the events of the last 10 or 20 or 25 years? Errr, apparently not.

Footnote: Is Michaëlle Jean's ADC looking at her chest or what? Whatever happened to Her Serene Highness anyway? Last we heard she was swanning around Paris as the UN's "special ambassador" for her native Haïti. Is it possible she finally went home to share the misery of the poorest state of the Western Hemisphere? Errr, apparently not.

VIDEO: Embarrassing truths about Clinton, Libya and Syria (Ron Paul)

Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams talk about the political theater on Capitol Hill. The supposed investigation into the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 turns out to be a remarkably bipartisan coverup. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats will ask the real questions -- about why America was in Libya in the first place -- because they both agree on the policy.



Click here to read the transcript of this conversation on the Ron Paul fansite.

25 worst places to be a Christian

The British newspaper The Guardian has published an overview of the persecution of Christians worldwide, accompanied by a list of the 25 worst places to be a Christian. "Christians are facing growing persecution around the world," they wrote, "fueled mainly by Islamic extremism and repressive governments, leading the Pope to warn of 'a form of genocide' and for campaigners to speak of 'religio-ethnic cleansing,'."

Click here to read The Grauniad's list, with their reasons. Walt's "Reader's Digest version" follows. The list is not in bad-worse-worst order because, well... I don't need to explain, do I?

North Korea - Asia, Communist dictatorship. Believers meet in secret "house churches", risking imprisonment, torture and martyrdom.
Somalia - Horn of Africa, officially Muslim, lawless and chaotic. Christians often executed on the spot.
Iraq - Middle East sandpit, officially Muslim, but which kind of Muslim? Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims are fighting it out in a Muslim civil war, in which the USA and its reluctant allies are meddling for no good reason.
Syria - Like Iraq, only worse.
Afghanistan - Like Syria, only worse.

Sudan - Northern Africa, officially Muslim, Sharia law. Converting to Christianity punishable by death. Blasphemy gets you the lash.
Iran - Middle East, officially Muslim. Safer for Christians than Iraq or Syria, and that's about all you can say.
Pakistan - Asia, officially Muslim. Christians are second-class citizens. Blasphemy (against the Prophet or the Holy Qu'ran) punishable by death.
Eritrea - Horn of Africa, pseudo-Communist dictatorship, Muslim majority. See North Korea.
Nigeria - Africa, divided between Muslim north and nominally Christian south. Sharia law in the north. Boko Haram abducts girls, kills Christians by the thousands.

Maldives - Never heard of it, right? Beautiful little islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India. Great tourist destination. Officially Muslim. Converting from Islam means forfeiting Maldivian citizenship, and owning a Bible is punishable by death. Churches are banned; Christian migrants and tourists also have to meet in secret and cannot own Bibles.
Saudi Arabia - Middle East, feudal kingdom. Officially Muslim and we're talking Wahabi, the most extreme branch of Sunni Islam. For their faith, Christians may be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and deported.
Libya - North Africa, officially Muslim. ISIS hotspot, going through a civil war following a pointless Western invasion. The new Somalia.
Yemen - Middle East, feudal, officially Muslim. Christians treated as in Saudi Arabia, and caught in the middle of a civil war, with Saudis intervening on the side of Islamic fundamentalists.
Uzbekistan - Central Asia, pseudo-Communist dictatorship. As in China [How did China get left off this list?! Ed.], all churches must be registered with the state. Converts from Islam face imprisonment, beatings and sometimes banishment.

Vietnam - Asia, Communist dictatorship. Not quite as bad as China, since the Roman Catholic Church still has a large following, the legacy of the colonial days. As in China and Uzbekistan, churches must be officially registered. As in China, many churches have been destroyed, and Christians attacked and imprisoned.
Central African Republic - Africa [Duh! Ed.], chaotic, lawless. The militant group Séléka, (= CAR rebels + Muslims from neighbouring countries), have raped, tortured and killed Christians throughout the country. Unlike in other countries on this fecal roster, defence groups made up of people claiming to be Christians are fighting back. Victims, Christian or Muslim, may be eaten.
Qatar - Middle East, Islamic kingdom. Converts to Christianity face banishment and death. Large population of migrant workers have to keep their faith to themselves.
Kenya - Africa. Like Nigeria but substitute Al Shabaab for Boko Haram. If you're a white, presumably Christian tourist, keep your head down.
Turkmenistan - Central Asia, quasi-dictatorship, officially Muslim. See Uzbekistan.

India - Asia. Officially a secular state but under the ruling BJP effectively "Hindustan". Like Pakistan, only with the persecutors being Hindus. In some states there are anti-conversion laws, and attacks on Christians and church buildings occur frequently. Indian Muslims are recommended to move to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Ethiopia - Horn of Africa. I don't agree with The Guardian on this one, as the majority of Ethiopians are Coptic Christians. But there are Muslim-dominated areas, where Christians report harassment for their faith. The Grauniad says there were 60 violent incidents reported in 2014.
Egypt - Northern Africa, officially Muslim. There is a large(ish) minority of Coptic Christians who were largely left alone until the US-supported overthrow of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, which was followed by a sharp increase in anti-Christian violence, with 65 churches, convents, Christian bookshops and schools attacked. There are fears these attacks will increase as radical Islamist groups gain power in the region.
Djibouti - Horn of Africa, officially Muslim. You'll find it on the map next to Eritrea, which it greatly resembles. That's all you need to know.
Burma - Asia, quasi-dictatorship, officially Buddhists. Included in The Guardian's list (I guess) to show that it's not only the Islamists who have it in for Christians. There has been a rise in nationalist religious movements in the past few years, with nearly two dozen Christians killed in clashes with the army in 2014. Buddhist nationalist groups are putting pressure on the government to adopt laws that would make life harder for Christians, such as limiting conversions and restricting interfaith marriages.

So there you have it -- the 25 worst countries in which to be a Christian. OK, 26 if you count China, which you definitely should. And The Guardian says nothing of the persecution of believers in the True Faith by the secular humanists who have triumphed in post-Christian Europe and North America.

Dear Christian readers, please keep in your minds and hearts the words of St. Paul:
2 Timothy 3:12 - And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Romans 8:35/37 - Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or persecution, or sword? / But in all these things we overcome, because of Him that hath loved us.

Further reading: "Dying for Christianity: millions at risk amid rise in persecution across the globe" (Companion piece to The Guardian's list)

The new boat people: how come nobody wants them?

Two related stories in the meeja this weekend are causing a good deal of handwringing and hypocrisy at urgent sessions of the Disunited Nations, the European Quasi-union and other One-World talking shops. The Brotherhood of Man is being challenged by the arrival of boatloads of 1000s of mostly Muslim "refugees" from north Africa, the Middle East and south Asia now washing up on the shores of Europe and southeast Asia. Although no-one likes to admit it, the real reason no-one wants them is to be found in the two words preceding "refugees" in the previous sentence.

First, the bad news from the Mediterranean. In spite of widely reported drownings of hundreds of refugee wannabes, the tidal wave of dark people keeps increasing in size, and now threatens to inundate Italy and slop over into Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Everyone agrees that Something Must Be Done. Surely we're not going to let those "poor" people drown! But what is to be done? And by whom?

To make matters worse [Is that possible? Ed.] an adviser to the Libyan government [They have a government? Ed.] told BBC News this weekend that Islamic State (IS) fighters are being smuggled into Europe in the midst of the "genuine" refugees. Officials in Italy and Egypt have previously warned that IS militants could reach Europe by migrant boat, but say now -- possibly for fear of being labelled as "racists" or "Islamophobes" -- that it is very difficult to verify or assess such claims.

The Libyan official, Abudul Basit Haroun, based his claim on conversations with smugglers in parts of North Africa controlled by the militants. He "alleged" -- the BBC's word -- that IS was allowing the boat owners to continue their operations in exchange for half of their income. Earlier this year, -- the EU’s "alleged" -- Walt's word -- border control agency, Frontex, warned that it was "possible" that foreign fighters were using "irregular migration routes" to get into Europe.

Egypt’s ambassador to the UK has warned of "boats full of terrorists" if the international community does not act, while the Italian government has expressed fears of militants infiltrating the boats, while emphasizing that the boats are... wait for it... a "humanitarian crisis".

So what to do? BBC News reports today that EU foreign and defence ministers are expected to approve a mission to destroy the boats used by people-smugglers operating in war-torn Libya. (Notice how no-one talks any more about who start the war that destabilized Libya. Ye reap what ye sow.)

Speaking on arrival for an urgent meeting with the sprouts in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "today the main point will be taking the decision to establish the operation, the EU operation at sea to dismantle the criminal networks that are smuggling people in the Mediterranean." She did not say whether the boats would be destroyed before or after they were loaded.

Meanwhile, a parallel "humanitarian crisis" unfolds 1000s of miles away, in the Indian Ocean, where three countires -- Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia -- are being condemned by the do-gooders at the UN for refusing to rescue, let alone accept, 1000s of Muslim migrants adrift in the Andaman Sea.

Last week, at least 700 Bangladeshis and Rohingya from Myanmar were rescued off the Indonesian island of Aceh, bringing the numbers of "refugees" in camps there to at least 1500. The Rohingyas, if you haven't heard of them, are an ethnic group who have lived for yonks in northwest Burma [or Myanmar. Take your pick. Ed.] but are denied citizenship because they are, errr, Muslims, and Burma is a Buddhist country. 1000s of Rohingyas have shipped out, fleeing persecution and poverty in Myanmar. They are stranded at sea along with additional 1000s of Bangladeshis -- also Muslims -- who are just looking for work.

Aid agencies say a "grave humanitarian crisis" is in train as countries in the region refuse to accept the migrants. Visible on the sides of the refugee boats are numerous black marks which appear to have been made by ten-foot poles. Thailand, the closest country to Bangladesh and Burma is, like Burma, a Buddhist country, which doesn't want to be overrun by Muslims. Thailand's reluctance is understandable, given that they already have a problem with Islamic terrorists in their southernmost provinces.

Malaysia and Indonesia are, errr, Muslim countries, but don't seem any more disposed to receive their co-religionists than the Buddhists of Thailand. Indonesian authorities have told fishermen not to help the migrants unless their boats are sinking or they are in the water. Military spokesperson Fuad Basya said fishermen could deliver food, fuel and water to the boats, or help with repairs, but that bringing them to shore would constitute an illegal entry into Indonesia.

The Muslim boat people are believed to be severely malnourished. Survivors who have made it to shore say there have been deadly fights on board over food. UNHCR spokesthingy Vivian Tan called the lack of rescues over the past weekend "a bad sign" and warned that "time is running out" to help the migrants. The BBC quotes her as saying, "We were hoping that more ships would be found, and that more people would be rescued and allowed to come onto shore. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to have happened".

Who will take in the poor Muslim "refugees"? Walt suggests that American and Canadian authorities keep their eyes on their countries' Pacific coast, to see what the tide will bring in. Hey, it's happened before, and of course we "Christians" couldn't refuse entry to these huddled masses, because to do so would be anti-Muslim, racist, etc etc etc.

Migrant crisis: Boat people wash up on Europe's shores

Pictured below, being offloaded from the Italian coast guard vessel AMB Gregoretti is one of the hundreds of victims of what authorities are now calling "the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean".

Over the weekend, hundreds of would-be refugees were drowned lamestream media when two rickety boats operated by human traffickers capsized while trying to reach safety in Italy, Malta or Greece, in flight from the Islamic civil war (not to mention poverty) afflicting northeast Africa.

As Walt writes, foreign ministers of the European Union are gathered for an emergency meeting on the growing crisis as migrants flee the instability in Africa and the Middle East at unprecedented rates. Some are calling for a naval blockade to intercept smugglers' boats as they leave ports in Libya. Others are going so far as to call for another invasion [a re-invasion? Ed.] of Libya to restore order to the failed state left behind by the previous NATO meddling.

Premier Matteo Renzi today told an Italian radio station today he will ask his EU counterparts to confront instability in Libya more decisively than in the past, but, "At this moment to intervene with international forces on the ground is a risk that is absolutely excessive. We cannot think about sending tens of thousands of men without a strategy, on a wave of emotion."

"Sending troops without a strategy on a wave of emotion..." Wasn't that what Britain, France, Italy, Canada and the USA did the first time? Isn't that what America and its camp followers are doing in Iraq and Syria? And yet, something must be done to stop Europe from being inundated by a tidal wave of Muslim refugees. Here are some numbers, published today by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

13,500 - Migrants rescued in just one week (10-17 April), now the burden of Italian taxpayers

1,600 - Migrants thought to have died attempting the crossing so far this year

35,000 - Migrants from North Africa landed in Europe (mainly Italy) so far this year

218,000 - Estimated to have crossed the Mediterranean (mainly to Italy) last year

3,500 - Migrants died attempting the crossing last year

What with all the commotion, hand-wringing and appeals to humanitarianism, little mention is being made of what it is that all these Africans, Arabs (and yes, south Asians) are running away from. That would be militant Islamists. Just yesterday, the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) released a new video purportedly showing the killing in Libya -- by gunshot or beheading -- of two groups of Ethiopian Christians in Libya. The jihad continues.

Canada re-ups for another year of the Obama war

This just in from the second-coldest capital city in the world. Although Americans might wish otherwise, Canadian Prime Minister, Steve "Stephen" Harper has taken note of the fact that the Prez still has nearly two years of his second term left. Two years in which, if Mr. Harper keeps tugging his forelock tugged and his lips pursed over the presidential nether regions, Mr. Obama might change his mind about blocking the Keystone XL pipeline.

Not only that, but the Dear Leader Himself faces an election sometime between now and the middle of October. Mr. Harpoon would dearly love to make it a four-peat, and protecting the Great Formerly-white North from the evil Islamic extremists seems to be playing well with the frost-backed folk in Otter Haunch SK.

Steve's course was therefore clear. In spite of the fact that "ISIL" (as he calls it, because that's what Obama calls it) has already been "degraded" -- stopped in its tracks -- Mr. Harper has bravely volunteered his country's troops and treasure for another year fighting Obama's war, until the spring of 2016. And, yes, it's now officially a combat mission. (Body count so far: 1 killed in Iraq, 2 at home, total 3.)

One more thing... Canadian forces will now pursue the jihadis into Syria. Walt wonders if Mr. Harper will now change the official designation of the enemy to "ISIS". Walt also wonders if Steve has thought through the implications of following the Islamists wherever they go. Since the beginning of the year, they have extended the Muslim civil war into Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. Will "our" operations expand along with theirs?

Whether the Canadian government (S. Harper, Prop.) has thought about anything other than the political benefits of standing shoulder to shoulder with Obama is doubtful. Mr. Harper, like one of his heroes, Margaret Thatcher, is not one for turning.

All that remains now is to make sure that the brave Canadian soldiers and airmen (and/or airwomen -- whatever the term is) understand the mission. That is the point, Walt reckons, of this brilliant editorial cartoon by Brian Gable in today's Globe and Mail.

INTERESTING FOOTNOTE - JUST RECEIVED from CBC News. Iraq's attempt to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS has run into a major problem. More than 80% of the ground forces involved on the government side are Shia militias. Many say they won't keep fighting if the US-led coalition (the one Harper is happy to be a part of) is allowed to conduct airstrikes. According to the Corp, the US has poor relations with the militia groups, many of whom once battled the previous American occupation of Iraq. Looks like the good guys (see above) don't want "our" help. How about that, eh!

UPDATED: Remember Libya and Afghanistan? Forget Iraq and Syria!

Those who think that the government-controlled [and financed! Poor Len] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is simply a mouthpiece for the hawkish Harper should pay attention. The CBC gives a lot of time and space to commentators -- including some of its own staffers -- who are anti-war and (at least mildly) anti-Harper.

One such is Brian Stewart, one of Canada's most experienced journalists and foreign correspondents. Currently he is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. He also sits on the advisory board of Human Rights Watch Canada. In almost four decades of reporting, he has covered many of the world's conflicts and reported from 10 war zones, from El Salvador to Beirut and Afghanistan.

The CBC News website today features a thoughtful piece by Mr. Stewart entitled "Before Canada goes too far into Iraq, remember Libya, Afghanistan". This is a must read for Canadians and Americans too!

Western interventions in Afghanistan and Libya are too recent to have made it into the history books. Mr. Stewart reminds those who weren't paying attention that those "military operations have been followed by the violent rise of the black flag of ISIS jihadism in these same conflict zones.... Not an encouraging record." Indeed.

Mr. Stewart goes on to say that "Canada rarely seems to anticipate the depths of chaos that it's wading into when it unleashes our CF-18s and other combat units on far-flung wars and insurgencies we know very little about." Indeed, (again).

He goes on to say, "We plunge in, it seems, even when our own military warns of dire consequences." He gives the example of Libya. Canada's military intelligence [an oxymoron, surely! Ed.] warned the Harper government in March 2011 that Libya would descend into a lengthy civil war if our planes and other Western bombers helped crush the Qadaffi regime. So that's what they did. Of course.

The result? The NATO coalition "helped unleash a nightmarish civil war and murderous anarchy on a nation that still lacks a stable government four years later." You'd think today's Western leaders -- especially Hellery Clinton-- would realize their mistake. But noooo...

Mr. Stewart goes on to detail the rise of ISIS in Libya and now Afghanistan, and then asks the telling question: "Who anymore can confidently predict the outcome?"

Who? Walt! That's who! My prediction: it will all end in tears and recrimination. Lifetime pct .991.

Further reading on WWW:
"First Canadian soldier killed in mission vs ISIS" - Walt told you so!
"Mark Twain reflects on the folly of trying to civilize barbarians" - So did Mr. Clemens, 117 years ago!

UPDATE (March 13th) -- Click here to read and hear Ron Paul explain why "The World Would Be a Better Place with Saddam Hussein Still in Power". Great minds think alike!

"Radicalized Muslim" calls Cirillo killing an act of retaliation

Once upon a time in Libya [Great beginning! Ed.] there was a mujahideen -- a Muslim terrorist -- named Bulgasem Zehaf. Whether to flee the dictatorship of Muhammar Qaddafi or to spread its Islamist poison, Mr. Zehaf wanted to come to the West. Naturally he applied to enter Canada -- infamous then and now for its ultra-liberal immigration policies -- as a "refugee".

It wasn't long before Mr. Zehaf was welcomed into the Great Not-so-white North, where he met and charmed one Susan Bibeau, who seems to have had a soft spot (or spots) for refugees. (She is now Deputy Chair of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board.) On 16 October 1982, Ms Bibeau gave birth to a son, whose name was recorded as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

The boy's parents settled in Laval, Québec, where the father ran a café. Susan Bibeau started working for the IRB as a Refugee Protection Officer in 1990. When civil war broke out in Libya in 2011, Mr. Zehaf rushed back to his native land to take part. Whether he fought for Qaddafi or against him is unclear.

Around this time Michael decided that he should follow in his father's footsteps. He converted to Islam, and applied for a Canadian passport, possibly to go to Libya, or possibly to Syria to join the Islamic extremists fighting against Assad. Because he was in contact with someone who was on the RCMP's terror watch list, his passport was held up.

Last October, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau went to Ottawa to see about his passport. Evidently it occurred to him that he could strike a blow for the Islamic jihad without going all the way to the Middle East. How? By killing a soldier, just like Martin Couture-Rouleau, who, on October 20th, killed Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent by running him down with his car. Like Zehaf-Bibeau, Rouleau was a recent convert to Islam and told a 911 operator that he killed WO Vincent in the name of Allah.

Instead of a car, Zehaf-Bibeau decided he would use a rifle. With any luck, he could kill not just a soldier or two, but maybe a couple of Members of Parliament. So he made a plan, and a video too, so that his reasons -- he wasn't crazy -- would be understood.

On October 22nd, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. He then stormed into the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, where he was killed in a gun battle with security guards while Prime Minister Steve Harper hid in a closet. For details see "Harper's Islamic chickens come home to roost".

Within 48 hours, the RCMP confirmed that they had seized the shooter's cellphone and the 73-second video which he had recorded, which they would release "soon". Then they changed their mind. (In Canada, the police are unaccountable. They don't have to say or do anything if they don't damn well feel like it.) Parliament Hill insiders speculated that the video, rather than recording the ravings of a drug-crazed lunatic, might instead say something about the Harper government's pro-Israel, pro-American, anti-Islam foreign policies. It just wouldn't do for the Mounties to let the public see anything critical of the Dear Leader!

Walt credits the Canadian lamestream media -- particularly the CBC -- and the opposition parties in the Canadian Parliament, for forcing the RCMP and its political masters to release the video after all. Well, most of it, at least. On Friday, at about the same time Sgt. Andrew Doiron was being killed by "friendly fire" in Iraq, the Mounties released 55 seconds of Zehaf-Bibeau's message. 18 seconds were edited out.

What was the message? What reason did Zehaf-Bibeau give for shooting a soldier who was on ceremonial guard duty -- with no ammunition in his rifle -- and then attacking the parliamentarians? As Walt predicted, the killer said Harper's Canada had made itself the enemy of Islam, and his actions were "in retaliation" for the country’s military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Walt's lifetime pct .989.

Zehaf-Bibeau refers to himself as part of the Mujahideen, the army of holy warriors engaged in jihad​. Walt hopes that the Prez has seen the video, because he still doesn't seem to have got it into his head that there is, in fact, an Islamic "holy war" against the West. Of course there. But who started it? If the West had left the Muslims to fight it out amongst themselves -- it's really an Islamic civil war -- would we now have to cower in fear in our own capital cities?

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. That was Zehaf-Bibeau's message to Harper, Obama and the rest of our so-called leaders. Here are his actual words: "Canada's officially become one of our enemies by fighting and bombing us and creating a lot of terror in our countries and killing us and killing our innocents. So [I'm] just aiming to hit some soldiers just to show that you're not even safe in your own land, and you gotta be careful.​"

Obviously the message hasn't sunk in. The loss of WO Vincent, Cpl. Cirillo, and now Sgt. Doiron makes no difference to the notoriously stubborn and arrogant Prime Minister of Canada. Just yesterday his lickspittle Minister of Defence, Jason Kenney, told the media that the government is not going to change its (alleged) mind about the (alleged) wisdom of joining the American invasion of the Middle East. The mission will be extended, and the killing of Canadians -- and Americans and Westerners -- will continue. And for what? For what?!

Ralph Nader asks: What's happening to Canada?!

Thanks and a tip o' the tuque to Agent 34, who has passed along Ralph Nader's open letter to Canada's Dear Leader Steve Harper, expressing concern about what he (quoting the Globe and Mail) calls Harper's "Secret Policeman Bill".

Just like America's paranoid "Homeland Security Act", Bill C-51 threatens Canadians' civil liberties for the sake of protecting them from the threats of ISIS et al., which wouldn't even be a problem but for Mr. Harpoon's rabid Zionism and pointless meddling in the Muslim civil war in the Middle East.

In his weekly piece on CBC's The National, Rex Murphy warned that the "terror legislation" -- a phrase that cuts two ways -- sits at the intersection of public safety and individual liberty. He said that any proposal to protect the citizenry by abbreviating the liberties of the same citizenry must be examined as to its ultimate necessity, and put to the fullest parliamentary, media and democratic testing. Amen.

Now comes Ralph Nader -- long-time enemy of the abuses of power in the USA -- to ask why Canada is following his country down the Bush-Clinton-Obama road to a police state. Here are excerpts from "What's happening to Canada? Open letter from Ralph Nader to Prime Minister Stephen Harper"

Many Americans love Canada and the specific benefits that have come to our country from our northern neighbor's many achievements. Unfortunately, your latest proposed legislation -- the new anti-terrorism act -- is being described by leading Canadian civil liberties scholars as hazardous to Canadian democracy.

You are quoted as saying that "jihadi terrorism is one of the most dangerous enemies our world has ever faced" as a predicate for your gross over-reaction that "violent jihadism seeks to destroy" Canadian "rights." Really? Pray tell, which rights rooted in Canadian law are "jihadis" fighting in the Middle East to obliterate? You talk like George W. Bush.

How does "jihadism" match up with the lives of tens of millions of innocent civilians, destroyed since 1900 by state terrorism -- west and east, north and south -- or the continuing efforts seeking to seize or occupy territory?

What has all this post-9/11 loss of American life plus injuries and sickness, in addition to trillions of American tax dollars, accomplished? Has it led to the stability of those nations invaded or attacked by the U.S. and its reluctant western "allies?" Just the opposite, the colossal blowback evidenced by the metastasis of al-Qaeda's offshoots and similar new groups like the self-styled Islamic state are now proliferating in and threatening over a dozen countries.

Have you digested what is happening in Iraq and why Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said no to Washington? Or now chaotic Libya, which like Iraq never had any presence of Al-Qaeda before the U.S.'s destabilizing military attacks?

Canadians might be most concerned about your increased dictatorial policies and practices, as well as this bill's provision for secret law and courts in the name of fighting terrorism -- too vaguely defined. Study what comparable practices have done to the United States -- a course that you seem to be mimicking, including the militarization of police forces.

You may think that Canadians will fall prey to a politics of fear before an election. But you may be misreading the extent to which Canadians will allow the attachment of their Maple Leaf to the aggressive talons of a hijacked American Eagle.

Canada could be a model for independence against the backdrop of bankrupt American military adventures steeped in big business profits…a model that might help both nations restore their better angels.

Islamic world disorder

Still more on what's wrong with the Muslims and their religion. Before you accuse Walt of being a racist [Surely not! Ed.], consider the argument that there must be something wrong with a people and a part of the world which is not progressing -- no matter how you measure "progress" -- as quickly as any other part of the world, not even sub-Saharan Africa.

The part of the world to which I refer is the Middle East and north Africa. At least three countries in those regions are actually regressing: Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Two others -- Somalia and Libya -- are "failed states". Somalia has been acknowledged as such for twenty years, and Libya was accorded that "status", more or less, in last week's issue of The Economist.

The people of those regions are followers of the Prophet Mohammed -- Muslims. So are their rulers, some fanatically so. (Hello, Saudis!) Is there, then, some link between their religion and the political, economic and social turmoil -- not forgetting civil and sectarian wars -- now raging in that area?

Thanks to Agent 3 for the link to "How the Muslim world is being left behind", in the current Maclean's. Read the article and judge for yourself. [Unless you're Pope Francis, of course. Ed.]

Scott Gilmore explains the meaning of the charts you see here, and concludes that the Islamic world is in decline. Where he goes wrong is in thinking that if we just reach out and embrace the Muslims, we can pull them up to our level. What do you think of that, gentle reader? Walt think Mr. Gilmore is wrong...WRONG!

Canada's PM Harper hid in closet during attack

Walt cannot resist passing on the revelation (from AFP this morning) that when Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the Islamic terrorist wannabe, stormed down the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block of the parliament buildings, Canuck Prime Minister Steve Harper jumped -- or was shoved, depending on whose version of the story you believe -- into a closet!

Walt wonders if there was enough room for the full-figured Harper, along with his Foreign Affairs Minister, John "Nancy" Baird, and Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism. [sic] Unlike Messrs Baird and Kenney, Mr. Harpoon came out of the closet once the echos of gunfire had died away.

Nancy was quick to deny that there was any link between Zehaf-Bibeau and ISIS [or "ISIL", as Baird keeps calling it. Ed.]. The fact that Mme Bibeau said her son was trying to get a passport to go to Syria to fight perhaps escaped Mr. Baird's notice. So too the report that, having had his passport lifted by the Mounties, Zehaf-Bibeau applied for a passport from, errr, Libya.

Elsewhere... the arch-conservative David Frum -- sometime advisor to Republicans right up to the presidential level, but actually a Canuck! -- has penned (possibly using a quill) "The Allure of Radical Islam in Canada", in which he undertakes to advise Canadians (presumably including Messrs Harper and Baird) what they can do about it.

What is Mr. Frum's advice to a troubled people? In a word, "adapt". No mention of booting the Islamic extremists out of the country, or (even better) letting them go fight their battles in their cultural homeland. No mention of resigning from Obarmy's coalition and leaving the Muslims alone to slaughter each other in the name of the Prophet. Just "adapt".

3 portents of the coming Armageddon

Walt has written several times about Armageddon -- not the movie but the place in present-day Israel which the Bible tells us will be the site of the final battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. See the 16th chapter of the Apocalypse (or Revelation). See "The coffin of civilization", posted here almost two years ago.

Yes, there is such a place -- Tel Megiddo. Since it's more of a plain than a mountain, the prophetic vision of Apoc. 16:16 should not be taken too literally. The traditional view is that "Armageddon" symbolizes the progression of the world toward the "great day of God, the Almighty" in which the great looming mountain of God's just and holy wrath is poured out against unrepentant sinners, led by Satan, in a final confrontation which results in the literal end of the world.

Yet it seems not unlikely (to Walt, at least) that the Armageddon could take place at Megiddo. Look at the map. Even if you believe, as many do, that the actual battle will be at Jerusalem, Apoc. 16:16 tells us the armies will gather at Armageddon... not so far away.

When is this going to happen? Walt suggests that you not make any plans for Thanksgiving! Well, OK, maybe that's a bit extreme, but when you look at current events you have to wonder just how much longer God is going to hold His hand. Here are three items from this week's news which, individually, don't look like much, but added together make me think we're now playing in "extra time".

Item 1: USAF U-2 spy planes and drones have been flying over eastern Syria, most of which is held by the ISIS jihadists. It is thought the Prez may call in an air strike or two, to go with the attacks on ISIS in Iraq. This will be more than a bit embarrassing for Mr. Obama, as he will be obliged to ask permission from Basher Assad, whose regime he (Obama) was talking about overthrowing less than a year ago. Making common cause with the Syrian government will put an exclamation point on the failure of US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Item 2: Last week "unknown" military aircraft made a strike [or a spare, at least. Ed.] against Islamic extremists who were attacking the Tripoli (Libya) airport. The terrorists took the airport anyway, but the news here is that the air strike came as a complete surprise to to the USA and other western nations who, it seems, were not consulted or even notified in advance. Whodunnit? Today we learn it was jets of the United Arab Emirates, operating out of a base in Egypt. The threat here is that if these fractious Middle Eastern states start attacking each other without the involvement of the West, war could spread across the entire region like wildfire.

Item 3: Some would say that war has already started, referring to the fighting between Israel and Hamas. It seems only a matter of time before some other power jumps in -- overtly or covertly -- on the side of the Palestinians. Like who? Like Iran, that's who. Just yesterday the Iranian National Guard announced that it had shot down an Israeli drone which was intercepted flying over an Iranian nuclear facility. The other shoe could drop anytime... with a bomb attached.

The Church tells us to "despise not prophecy". Time to start "cramming for the finals"! If you haven't got time for the entire Bible, just read the Gospel of St. John, to which you may profitably add Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul, reviewed here earlier this month. The time is coming!

Muslims aren't targetting Libyan Christians, sez Vatican; they are so! sez Bishop of Tripoli

For the last week, the Vatican has been hosting one of its periodic talk-fests known as a Synod of Bishops. Roman Catholic bishops from around the world gather for a bit of lightweight theological sparring and lots of hand-wringing over the sorry state of the world and of the Church.

On February 21st, the Holy See Press Office released a statement which began:
"The Holy Father and the Cardinals have elevated to the Lord a special prayer for the many Christians who, in different parts of the world, are increasingly the victims of acts of intolerance or persecution...because of the Gospel."

The statement goes on to say:
"Unfortunately, we have noticed that many of the current conflicts are described as religious in nature, often surreptitiously pitting Christians and Muslims, while the roots of the conflicts are primarily ethnic, political or economic."
In other words, the Church is once again being politically correct by telling us that the killing of Christians by Islamic extremists has nothing to do with religion, and is definitely not some kind of jihad. Perish the thought!

Unfortunately for the relativists who infest the higher echelons of Holy Mother Church, just four days later, a bishop from Libya said exactly the opposite!

On the 25th, Monsignor Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli, told FIDES that the Libya extremists who have become stronger in the wake of the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi are targeting Christians.
"It is not clear what these extremists really want," said the prelate. "They would appear to be shedding the blood of innocent victims to get more visibility. Orthodox Coptic Christians have been their target for some time."
Bishop Martinelli specifically excluded any political or economic motives for the massacre.

Bishop Martinelli made his comments in the wake of the abduction and massacre of seven Egyptian Christians who were living in Libya. This happened on February 23rd in Benghazi, which will be remembered for the attack on the US consulate, which President B. Hussein Obama had nothing to do with Muslim terrorism.

The seven Copts were taken from their homes by armed men. Their bodies were found the next day on the outskirts of the city, riddled with gunshots to the chest and head. The Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi recovered the bodies of the victims and handed them over to the Coptic community.

Globally, the January report of the Pew Research Religion & Life Project on the presence of religious conflicts in various countries, showed a net increase in conflict, which was reported in 33% of countries surveyed in 2012, compared with 29% in 2011 and 20% in 2007. This, of course, has escaped the notice of those in the Vatican who believe that all religions are equally valid, all searching for the same Universal Truth.

VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly puts President O on defensive in pre-Super Bowl interview

William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. hosts the popular political commentary programme The O'Reilly Factor, which airs on the Fox News Channel. Although registered as an "independent", Bill is usually characterized as a "conservative". Let's just call him someone who prefers to think for himself rather than swallow the liberal Kool-Aid*.

Mr. O'Reilly's common-sensical turn of mind makes him feared and disliked by the lamestream media and the liberal elites...all the way to the head liberal, President Obama. You don't believe me? Check out his interview with the Prez which aired just this afternoon ahead of the Super Bowl, now in progress.

According to Erik Wemple's Washington Post blog, Bill aced this one, forcing the President to become not just defensive but downright testy on the Obamacare mess, snooping by the IRS, and the attempted cover-up of Muslim terrorist attack at Benghazi.

Sez Mr. Wemple "If nothing else, [O'Reilly] delivered on his commitment to Super Bowl Sunday, heading up an interview with a high entertainment quotient." Here it is.



* In Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama, (Sentinel, 2012) Ann Coulter reports that the grape-flavoured drink administered by Jim Jones to 100s of his followers was actually cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.

Footnote: One of the liberals who truly despises Bill O'Reilly is Keith Olbermann, who Wikipedia describes as "a sports and political commentator"...in that order. Mr. Olbermann's dislike of Mr. O'Reilly is over matters of principle, of course. The fact that Mr. O used to have a show on MSNBC competing directly with Mr. O'R had nothing to do with the animosity. Or maybe it did. For an account of Olbermann's attempts to get O'Reilly fired for being a "racist", see Ann Coulter's book, cited above, pp. 112-4.

Chaos in the CAR: an African mess gets messier

Sub-Saharan Africa is a mess. Don't let articles written by lamestream journalists wearing rose-coloured specs fool you. Walt's agents are everywhere (especially in southern Africa) and they send us the real news. With the exception of one or two countries, Africa and its people are in worse shape today than during the much-reviled colonial era.

One of the countries which is not an exception to the rule that Africans are demonstrably unfit to govern themselves is the Central African Republic. Walt has written about it before: "
"Pray for Syria" (has a map) and ""Christians attacked every day in Mid-East, Africa and Asia

The CAR used to be a French colony, called Ubangi-Chari, later part of French Equatorial Africa.

Some of the people used to wear huge lip plates as ornaments, to the delight of such as P.T. Barnum who brought them to America to exhibit as freaks. (Before you laugh, check your mirror for tattoos and piercings!)

We'll skip over the post-colonial episode of the Central African Empire, ruled by the Emperor Bokassa 1st who used to keep chunks of his enemies' bodies in the palace freezer so he could eat them later. Bokassa was overthrown with the connivance of the French -- because he was an embarrassment -- and the CAR hasn't had a stable government since.

One of the reasons for the CAR's instability is that it is one of those countries which is torn between the Musilm north and the Christian/animist south, like Mali, Nigeria and the Sudan. As I write, Islamic extremists, supported by invaders from Chad (another basket case), Mali and Libya, are invading the CAR's capital, Bangui. The customary raping, looting and pillage has ensued. Chaos reigns.

The French (embarrassed again) have put 1500 pairs of military boots (and counting) on the ground to combat the Muslim terrorists, but are far from clearing the area. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 refugees are thronging the cathedral and the airport, clamouring for protection from the savages.

Speaking of "savages", here's a quote from Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914, by Max Hastings (William Collins 2013):

Lucien Laby was in charge of an escort taking fourteen German prisoners to the rear, when their little column was suddenly beset by Senegalese troops determined to cut off the Germans' ears. After a violent scuffle, the colonial soldiers were driven back.

One big Senegalese saluted Laby and said wistfully, "O my lieutenant, you might have let me cut off two ears -- just two ears!"

A French army chaplain, while applauding the terror that such colonial infantry inspired among the Germans, deplored the difficulties of dealing with their wounded patients at his hospital: "The blacks from North Africa are almost as civilised as their Berber or Arab compatriots...[but] there are others from West Africa and the French Congo...who are very primitive indeed".

That was 99 years ago. As the French say, plus ça change...

Christians attacked every day in Mid-East, Africa and Asia

News from "the cradle of civilization" continues to be depressing, at least for Christians. All the other "belief systems" -- fanatical Muslims, Hindus, even Jews ("our fathers in faith", as the mainstream Church calls them now) -- keep killing and otherwise persecuting those who hold to the True Faith. Here are three items from yesterday's Catholic World News. We'll include the links so you can read for yourself.

2 Christians shot in Libya after refusing to convert to IslamTwo Coptic Christians were shot in northeastern Libya after they refused to convert to Islam, according to Morning Star News, a news service that reports on the persecution of Christians. . . .

Attack on Catholic mission outpost in Central African RepublicSudanese members of the Séléka rebel coalition, which assumed power in the Central African Republic in March, have ransacked the Catholic mission in Bouar, a city of 40,000 in the western portion of the nation, according to the Fides news agency. . . .

Tombstones smashed in Christian cemetery in JerusalemFour young men whom the Jerusalem Post described as “Jewish nationalists” smashed tombstones and broke off crosses in a Christian cemetery in Jerusalem, according to a story that appeared on the newspaper’s website. . . .

Assassination attempt against Coptic bishop in EgyptA Coptic Orthodox bishop survived an assassination attempt as he was traveling to console the family of a murder victim, according to multiple media reports. . . .

This kind of thing is reported every bloody day! (I chose that adjective deliberately.) And yet the Church and Francis the Party Pope keep telling us that we must love the heathens and the heretics, keep reaching out to them, invite them into our places of worship, not to mention out countries. DAFT, isn't it?

Confession from Ed.: I borrowed the graphic from the cover of this week's Economist because I thought it was about right for this story. Look for the mag at your newsstand. Oh... no more newsstands in your neck of the woods? Walt will keep you posted!