In Malta in the 70s they joined the MLP and Mintoff in particular.

Give them enough rope now and they’d gladly do it again.

One does not necessarily have to live in an orphanage to have a failed childhood. Some parents can set a terrible example for their children. One teacher once told me that it takes the school a whole term to educate a seriously violent child and only a short stay at home to undo it all.

What an idiotic thing to say, La Redoute. It proves you’re clueless of what I’m talking about.

Read this article by Thierry Meyssan. It seems to tackle the subject with mainstreamers in mind. The gist here is that these are not Jihadists at all. So who are they and who is handling them?

The overarching truth goes way beyond this article, but it’s time you people start waking up.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article186441.html

I’ve been called an empiricist. I don’t mind the label. I just look at facts and try to make sense of them.

In this instance, it seems to me that history teaches us many lessons.

The rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century was fuelled by dire economic circumstances after the First World War.

The rise of extremism and terrorism in North Africa, the Middle East and all the way to the Philippines is fuelled by a demographic bulge in the military-age male cohort, plus dire economic circumstances.

This suggests that one way to fight terrorism is to attack the circumstances which give rise to it.

More empiricism: Northern Ireland simmered down round about the time that the Irish Republic and the UK recovered from the economic disaster of the 1980s.

Of course you need real economic progress, not just modernity (vide the evil Gulf oligarchies, the massive income inequalities, and the terrorism it breeds).

Anyway, I don’t think anyone’s listening so I’m not bothered about labels at this point.

I don’t agree. There a far too many people who have joined terrorist groups that we know nothing about. It is a huge assumption to say that they all had a bad upbringing.

To the point you made when responding to Pb below, I don’t think that many of these troubled people are converting to Islam. Rather, they were Muslim to begin with. So I don’t think you could say that they would have flocked to any sort of violent group.

[Daphne – Oh indeed. They were Muslim in exactly the same way that I am a Roman Catholic. Yes, those moving from Europe (or Australia) to Syria to fight with IS or train with Al Qaeda would have joined any criminal group. This one just happens to be the most famous one at the moment, with plenty of free advertising, so the inevitable happens. As for those already in the Middle East, it’s the obvious group to join. It’s not as though there is a welter of criminal gangs involved in white slavery and drugs and arms running, is there. And I never said ‘bad’ upbringing. People like this are not the products of badness; they are generally the result of a situation in which both parents go AWOL, or one does, leaving the other unable to cope.]

I want to stress again that I am not saying all Muslims are inherently evil and as I have friends of that faith, it angers me when people try to say that. However I do believe there is something within Islam that must catalyse radicalism, especially as I have spoken with Muslim people (normal, middle class, well-brought up) who sympathise with terrorists. They wouldn’t ever carry out an attack themselves but they understand the “rationale” and regard the West as partly to blame. I think that even if they have some sort of real “cause” they lose their right to be heard when they kill innocent people.

Hope this doesn’t come across as belligerent, I think this is an interesting debate and am keen to hear other thoughts.

erratum: in toilets.

Here’s some more hilarious stuff: http://www.infowars.com/suspected-paris-shooter-lived-with-underwear-bomber-in-yemen/

It’s a pity you don’t know the true story behind the ‘underwear bomber’ – you’d have laughed even more.

Check out the Sandy Hook hoax too – very, very funny.

Too boring for the intelligent brain, is it? Try this, Kev: what stops you joining a terrorist group?

But of course! People everywhere need the CIA to tell them that they’re unhappy about their rulers shitting on toilets made of gold as they keep them ignorant, oppressed and screw them out of every penny they get.

Do the likes of the CIA try to get their fingers in the pie? Sure they do! I’ve also tried to bed many women but I wasn’t always successful either.

Pity yourself Kev, you exhibit the mindset as that of a cult member.