This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:

• Bizarre blasphemy charge against Pakistan girl takes new bizarre twist
• The Gen-X connection with Pakistan's blasphemy laws
• Mali Islamist terrorists claim to have killed an Algerian diplomat
• Two bombs explode in Damascus, Syria, in secure area
• Syria's neighbors overwhelmed by 1.2 million Syrian refugees

Bizarre blasphemy charge against Pakistan girl takes new bizarre twist

On August 16, Rimsha Masih, a developmentally disabled 14-year-old Christian girl in a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan, was arrested for blasphemy, accused of burning papers containing verses from the Quran. The case drew worldwide outrage, as governments and human rights groups demanded that she be released. Even Muslim groups demanded leniency. Suddenly the case has taken a new bizarre twist, as Imam Khalid Jadoon, the Muslim cleric who had originally accused Rimsha of blasphemy, has himself been accused of manufacturing evidence. Jadoon was arrested on Saturday, after his deputy and two of his assistants in his mosque came forward and said that Jadoon had added the burned Quran pages to the garbage that the girl had been carrying. The three said they had tried to talk Jadoon out of doing this, but he said, "You know this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area." It's hoped that Rimsha will be freed from prison on Monday. Dawn (Karachi)

The Gen-X connection with Pakistan's blasphemy laws

The application of blasphemy laws in Pakistan is extremely irrational, as I described in "26-Apr-12 World View -- New report examines terrorism and religious extremism in Pakistan," based on a detailed report by Pakistan's Jinnah Institute. While the blasphemy laws sometimes target Christians, as in the case of Rimsha, they're used by Muslims to target other Muslims in well over 90% of the cases, usually by Sunni Muslims targeting Shia Muslims or Sufis or Ahmadis. Thousands of Pakistanis have been jailed, tortured, or killed by means of the blasphemy laws. But what's really remarkable is ordinary Pakistanis accept this, and they refuse to speak out against it. 

This is exactly the kind of behavior that I've been describing in Generation-Xers in America, where thousands of Gen-X financial engineers created the financial crisis with the purpose of defrauding hated Boomers, without being investigated or sent to jail, because Gen-Xers refuse to blame other Gen-Xers for anything, even serious crimes. It's this refusal to blame other Gen-Xers for crimes that characterizes this generation today versus the Boomers, and it's exactly the same kind of behavior we're seeing in the Pakistani population today.

As I explained in "The Legacy of World War I and the Holocaust," this is also the same behavior that led to the 1930s Holocaust. Germany's Lost Generation (the generational predecessor of today's Generation-X) hated the previous Missionary Generation just as much as today's Gen-Xers hate the previous Boomer Generation. 

These situations occur in all times and places throughout history, and result in history's greatest catastrophes. In each case, the generational conflict morphs into a political conflict, as people in every generation are forced to choose sides in the generational debate. In 1930s Germany, it was the Christians blaming the Jews for German humiliation in World War I. In America today, it's the Democrats blaming the Republicans for the Nasdaq crash in 2000. In Pakistan, it's the Sunnis blaming the Shias. The result is always the same: catastrophe.

Mali Islamist terrorists claim to have killed an Algerian diplomat

The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa [MUJAO], a terrorist group associated with Ansar Dine, the al-Qaeda linked jihadist group that's taken control of much of Mali, claims to have executed a kidnapped Algerian diplomat. Seven Algerian diplomats were kidnapped from a consulate in Gao on April 5 during the takeover of northern Mali. Three of the hostages were freed in July, and MUJAO has threatened to kill the others unless jihadist prisoners are released. Algeria said that the death hasn't been confirmed. 

Ansar Dine, and now MUJAO, have been taking control of increasingly large regions of Mali, and it's feared that the capital Bamako will eventually be threatened. France and Algeria would both like a military force to intervene, since both are vulnerable to terrorist attacks from Ansar Dine, but the United Nations has refused to go farther than issuing the usual condemnation of violence. The death of an Algerian diplomat, if confirmed, would raise the pressure for military intervention. Al-Jazeera

Two bombs explode in Damascus, Syria, in secure area

In a new sign that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has reduced security in Damascus, two terrorist bombs exploded on Sunday in a supposedly secure area near the compound housing the army and air force headquarters in central Damascus. The Ahfad al-Rasul (Grandchildren of the Prophet) battalion of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that they had help from elements of the Syrian Army guarding the compound. The FSA are the Sunni rebels who are fighting the Syrian army and demanding al-Assad's ouster. This is another significant humiliation to al-Assad, though not as bad as the July 18 bombing that killed much of his inner circle. ( "22-Jul-12 World View -- Damascus bombing marks a significant change in Syria") Al-Assad has been rarely seen in public since July 18, presumably because he know longer knows whom he can trust. Daily Star (Beirut) and Al-Jazeera

Syria's neighbors overwhelmed by 1.2 million Syrian refugees

Over 1.2 million refugees from Syria have been flooding into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, and the flood is only increasing, straining the resources of these neighboring countries. Jordan said it does not have the means to handle the 70,000-160,000 refugees that it has so far, and it's requesting international aid of $700 million from the United Nations refugees' agency. Khaleej Times (Dubai)

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