This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Venezuela’s economy approaches full-scale hyperinflation
- Russia-spawned Al-Muhajireen terrorists fight Russia’s allies in Syria
- Ex-Guantanamo prisoner dies fighting Assad in Syria
Venezuela’s economy approaches full-scale hyperinflation
Venezuela’s Amuay Refinery explosion, August 25, 2012
According to the latest figures, inflation in Venezuela reached thehyperinflationary level of 45.4% in August. Since the bolivarcurrency was introduce in January 2008, total inflation has been323%. The country is plagued by shortages of everything from milk andcooking oil to toothpaste and toilet paper. The hyperinflation isthought to be caused by the extravagant spending and vote-buying bythe late president, Hugo Chávez. However, the astronomically highinflation of the past few years turned into hyperinflation this yearbecause of an August 2012, explosion at the government-owned AmuayRefinery, killing 42 and reducing Venezuela’s oil exports by 25%.
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, full-scalehyperinflation happens, with very few exceptions, in generationalUnraveling eras. Venezuela is currently in a generational Unravelingera (see “Students riot against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela” from 2007). Germany’s famous Weimarhyperinflation occurred during an Unraveling era, as did Zimbabwe’shyperinflation. In America, there was 30% inflation from 1977 to1980, near the end of America’s Awakening era, but this was well belowthe “hyperinflation” level.
Today, America, Europe, and much of the world are in a generationalCrisis era, a period when the bills come due for all the excesses ofthe previous Unraveling era. Although America did not havehyperinflation during the 1990s, it did have the huge tech stockmarket bubble that led to the Nasdaq crash in 2000 and eventually tothe current financial crisis (which is far from over). There is nohyperinflation during generational Crisis eras, because when the billscome due, people stop spending money and society goes into adeflationary spiral. World Socialist Web Site and Venezuelanalysis
Russia-spawned Al-Muhajireen terrorists fight Russia’s allies in Syria
There’s increasing evidence of the violent blowback threatening Russiathat Russia’s policies in Syria are creating.
Russia’s policy of providing support for and supplying weapons toSyria’s psychopathic president Bashar al-Assad has spawned a major newal-Qaeda linked jihadist group, Jaish al-Muhajireen wa Ansar (the Armyof the Immigrants) in Russia’s own North Caucasus provinces that isfighting against al-Assad in Syria. The group reportedly has over1,400 Russian members, most of them with past military experience inthe North Caucasus, and is headed by a commander from Chechnya, AbuAbdurakhman. According to one Russian official, young people fromChechnya first travel to Azerbaijan, from where they travel to Turkeyand then on to Syria:
“Young people are lured there by allegations thatthere is ‘jihad’ going on [in Syria] and that there is a fatwa byfamous Islamic scholars about that. So they think thatparticipating in the Syrian war is the direct obligation of everyfaithful Muslim.”
Chechen jihadists in particular are attracted to the fight in Syria,according to another official, because of the two wars between Russiaand Chechnya in the 1990s:
“People here know that the Russian government supportsBashar Assad’s regime, so participation in the hostilities againstSyrian authorities is for them a continuation of the war withRussia.”
But jihadists outside Russia are joining al-Muhajireen as well.Citizens of Tunisia, Libya, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have also gone off to Syria to join their Russianbrethren’s fight against al-Assad’s regime.
Another reason for jihadist interest in Syria is because of theconnection to the jihad against Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
These jihadists are getting training and developing skills in infighting Russian weapons and Russian tactics in Syria. When the warends, they’ll have to go somewhere to use all those new skills, andthat might be any country.
As I wrote in “18-Sep-13 World View — Russia and Vladimir Putin pursue a disastrous Syria policy”, Russia’s policies not only harm the United Nations but also are inflaming Shia/Sunni fault lines throughout the Mideast,which will inevitably lead to a wider war. Jamestown and BBC
Ex-Guantanamo prisoner dies fighting Assad in Syria
A jihadist group in Syria has posted the video of a former Guantánamoprisoner who was released by the Bush administration and who went toSyria to fight the jihad there. At the funeral, another formerGuantánamo prisoner delivered the eulogy:
“He went to the jihad in Afghanistan with his familyand children to aid the downtrodden in the name of God.
He went through hardship for the sake of God in the prison of theAmericans in Guantánamo for five years and he was patient throughhis plight and he did not change, waited until God lifted him andhe was released.
He then went to the land of al Sham (Syria) … He saw death anddispossession and destruction, so he went in response to God. …
I knew him, God have mercy on his soul, one of the best youth ofthe community of believers. He was pious, devout and honest andhad God on his tongue at all times. In his heart he had a love forGod and Muslims.”
People talk about Guantánamo prison as a “recruiting tool” foral-Qaeda, but that’s nothing compared to Syria as a recruiting toolfor all kinds of jihadists. Miami Herald
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Venezuela, Hugo Chavez,Weimar hyperinflation, Zimbabwe hyperinflation,Jaish al-Muhajireen wa Ansar, the Army of the Immigrants,Russia, Syria, Bashar al-Assad, Chechnya,Abu Abdurakhman, Guantanamo, Afghanistan
Permanent web link to this article
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.